9 replies to this topic

[CMcB]

can anyone help identify what each of these wiresfor the stereo is for please? I believe black is earth.

The colours are - black; blue or purple; light green; and red with a green or brown stripe.

I have a connector for my new head unit which has 4 pins for: constant live; ignition live; power anntennae; earth

thanks

[danie garry]

not too sure but if u dont get an answer any time soon, its just as easy to test the wires, black is earth but i'm not too sure which is ignition or constant live. do you have a power antenna?? never seen that red/green wire before

[CMcB]

I have this multimeter but have no idea how to use it

[daveomini]

I’ve wired in my cd player in my 1985 mini at its easy i just gust and hard wired it in but my mates was already wired in by the previous owner and it was a nightmare it had all sorts of different colour wires and if he puts the indicates on it turns the cd player on and of with indicates
i think im right in saying
that as far as i no the colours like purples greys whites and greens are for the speakers but they normally have a black or white line through them intercating if they are positife or not

the black is for earth normally connected to the body under the bottom dash rail

the red is constant live dont no if red and green is live but red on its own is

the green is the ignition live this was conected to a wire under the bottom dash rail in my old mini right next to a fuse which goes to the ignition (my mates is connected to the flasher for the indicates)

and as i said before purple is normally speaker but there is normally a blue wire which connects to the amp if you had sound system in it which is called remote on but i have no idea if the power antennae is the same as the remote on but it doesn’t need it
try connecting all of them accept the purple and see if it works if it dose leave it of if you have a spare head unit try that first

Edited by daveomini, 11 May 2010 - 06:22 PM.

[Shifty]

Not sure which does what but I can tell you how to check with the meter

First...Turn it on...Big red button at the top

Next rotate the dial so you select 20 DC Volts, this is as the dial is set in the picture, this means the the meter will read up to 20 vdc, as the battery in the mini is 12v this is the correct setting. So leave it as set in the picture or if its been adjusted,adjust it back!!

Next connect the leads, the black one goes into the black socket(marked COM for common)

The red one goes into the red socket to the right of it.

Now you're ready to test!!

To test the the meter, touch the black lead(the metal end!!) onto the earth(-) connection of the battery and the red onto the positive(+), the LCD should show 12v(ish) maybe 11.8 or 12.2.

Don't worry if you connect the leads round the wrong way, all that will happen is a - will be shown on the display (ie -12.7), this means the power is flowing in the wrong direction(from - to +)

The black lead goes to earth, thats any nice metal point on the car, as the battery is earthed this means that the power will flow back through the meter to the battery.

Now you can touch the red lead onto the wires in turn to find out what they do.

1 wire will be 12v all the time
1 wire will be 12 v when the ignitions on
1 wire will be 12v when the lights are turned on(this is to dim the display at night)
1 wire will be the earth.

To check the earth connect the black lead to the wire you think is earth and then check all the wires again, all should read 12v(with no - in front)

There you go a shifty guide to testing!!

[CMcB]

thanks buddy

[Dan]

These are standard BS wiring colours. Black is earth, purple is constant live, light green is accessory live, reg/green is sidelights.

[CMcB]

These are standard BS wiring colours. Black is earth, purple is constant live, light green is accessory live, reg/green is sidelights.

at last someone - thankyou!!

[jwb_moto]

Its also worth noting that figures upto around 14v can see depending how good your alternator is.

To check which wire is the earth turn your multimeter to the Ohms setting, the meter should read O/L until you touch the probes against something.

hold the black probe against any clean part of the body and then the red probe onto each wire in turn. The wire where you get as close to zero Ohms (i.e. the easiest path) this is your earth.

for the sake of an extra couple of quid get yourself a pair of iso connectors so that if you want to change to a different stereo in the future you have the standard plug which nearly all stereos have

[danie garry]

These are standard BS wiring colours. Black is earth, purple is constant live, light green is accessory live, reg/green is sidelights.

at last someone - thankyou!!

can always rely on dan!!!