Hey all, been a while.

So my original 1 DIN tape deck radio stopped working in my 85 Delta and I swapped in a 12 + 2 pin 1.5 DIN in as an upgrade.

The original 12 pin (3 busses) go in no problem although the order is reversed from the original 1 DIN (Blue/white/black instead of Black/white/blue)

I hooked the +2 bus up, orange for hot at all times for the clock/radio memory to the cigarette lighter (removed the cigarette lighter and put in a USB port, and that’s wired as it’s own circuit so the orange was open, and all that stuff was on the same fuse anyway) so that’s working fine

now the constant illumination wire is another story.

I wired that into a gray dash wire. So I had two illumination wires on dimmer circuits. That is wrong.

So I ran the constant wire to the headlight switch, and spliced into the brown wire which is for the lights, and is not a dimmer, but it still won’t light, with the lights on. Radio goes dark, and clock display goes out. If this wire isn’t hooked up, it doesn’t light up, but the clock does stay lit.

the question is, did I blow out the circuit, or should it be hooked into a different wire? Thinking the yellow wire. (Referred as the blue wire in some diagrams)

yellow wire is “to dimmer circuit”

Thank you in advance

 

Yellow is power with the ignition in run or accessory. Gray is dash lamps, changes with the dimmer **** on the headlight switch. Brown is parking lamps (dims the display with the headlights on) keep in mind there is another brown wire that is a speaker wire. Orange is for the clock and memory presets. There is also a pink wire for power antenna trigger. It’s so much easier just to buy the adapter harness. Of course that’s not an option if the plug has already been cut off.

 

The orange and brown wires are in question here.



the brown and orange wires in the diagram, I ran the brown wire over to the headlight switch and tapped into the brown wire on the headlight switch. Is that the correct wire?


orange is hooked into a hot at all times, I removed the cigarette lighter since it was broken and used that power wire for the radio. Replaced cig lighter with a USB port and that’s on its own line.

all the speaker wires are untouched.

 

I think the way factory Delco radios worked was the brown wire dimmer the display (radios with a digital fidplay) the gray wire provided the power for the back lighting for the buttons. Most aftermarket radios need just the brown wire to dim the display, assuming the radio has that ability.

Orange is constant power, the cigarette lighter power feed will work. You could also use a orange wire for the courtesy lamps.

 

Actually it’s gray for dimmer and brown for constant.

I ran the brown wire to the brown wire on the headlight switch. Turn on lights, radio goes dark. Still plays, but no lights, no display

if I have to run the brown wire to a actual parking light, so be it, but I prefer to figure out which wire to hook into at the headlight switch

 

What is the brand and model of the radio unit? Some of the new double-DIN units have more wires than you need. If having the brown wire connected to the brown light circuit wire causes the display to go out, disconnect it. It obviously isn't doing what is expected. If the grey dimmer wire dims the display lighting correctly, that is all you need.
The factory dash power wiring is usually enough.
Yellow for acc/ign
Orange for constant 12v clock/memory
Black for 12v negative. Ground
Grey for dash light dimmer circuit
Pink for power antenna
Unless you have an extremely high powered stereo, the factory radio wiring is adequate for any aftermarket unit.

 

It’s a standard 1.5 DIN out of an 88 Custom Cruiser. One the the first generation Digital display radios.

yes, unhooking the brown wire the display won’t go dark or light up. I was at the junkyard today and came across a 95 silhouette but their wiring is on the side, and IDK if I’ll have the room to wire that up, but yes they have a constant 12 volt and a switched 12 volt and just the dimmer wire.