blown stereo fuse or short circuit or ruined new stereo?

[Jonhutson]

92 pathfinder, I'm entirely inexperienced, but thought it'd be a good idea to install a brand new stereo without reading directions, switching any wires, or disconnecting the negative terminal.

 

So now I've got no power to the stereo head, can't find the fuse (kick or underhood) and am unsure of a solid place to start.

 

Am I at a loss? Or is it just a matter of finding a fuse? I do not know where to start. I appreciate your time and replies ahead of time.

[Slartibartfast]

IIRC the stereo uses the room lamp fuse in the fuse block in the driver's side dashboard.

[Jonhutson]

IIRC the stereo uses the room lamp fuse in the fuse block in the driver's side dashboard.

That fuse is fine, as far as I can tell. I'll test it on the morning, but what happens if the fuse is fine?

[hawairish]

Some radios have a fuse on the back of them, might want to check there.

 

What else can you tell us about what might have happen? Are you using wiring adapters? Do you have a voltmeter handy to test power leads?

[Jonhutson]

Some radios have a fuse on the back of them, might want to check there.

 

What else can you tell us about what might have happen? Are you using wiring adapters? Do you have a voltmeter handy to test power leads?

Neither of the stereos are getting power. All I did was pull out the old, looked at the plastic plug and saw that it could fit into the new stereo, so I plugged it in, heard it through the speakers, and my cigarette lighter usb charger lit up (though my keys were out of the ignition).

 

Idk what wiring adapters are, and I do have a voltmeter, could you send me a link with a good description on what to test for in this scenario?

[hawairish]

Neither of the stereos are getting power. All I did was pull out the old, looked at the plastic plug and saw that it could fit into the new stereo, so I plugged it in, heard it through the speakers, and my cigarette lighter usb charger lit up (though my keys were out of the ignition).

 

Idk what wiring adapters are, and I do have a voltmeter, could you send me a link with a good description on what to test for in this scenario?

 

Unless your "new" radio is from another Nissan before say, 2004, then assuming the plastic plug was probably a really bad assumption. What radio did you get?

 

I'm guessing that what you heard through the speakers was some noise (i.e., not music), and that the cigarette lighter USB charger lit up only briefly? Again, need more details here.

 

If plugging the stock radio back in produces nothing, it's almost certainly a fuse. Try checking any fuse labelled interior, radio...I don't have a 92, so I can only guess at this point what fuses exist, and where they are.

 

Wiring adapters are cheap harnesses that allow you to connect aftermarket radios to the OE wiring harnesses (i.e., the part that plugs into the back of your stock radio) without having to cut/splice anything on the truck. You connect the radio's wiring harness to the wiring adapter, then you plug the wiring adapter to the factory harness. It's all color coded. It would've saved you a ton of headache probably.

 

If you have a voltmeter, and know how to use it, then a good description shouldn't be necessary...but, basically, set your volt meter to a DC rating to the lowest setting above 12V. Put the red probe on the truck's wire that you suspect should be giving you 12V under a specific condition (i.e., ignition OFF vs ignition ACC/ON). Put the black probe on some exposed (unpainted) metal on the truck. The voltmeter should read around 12V-14V.

[Jonhutson]

 

Unless your "new" radio is from another Nissan before say, 2004, then assuming the plastic plug was probably a really bad assumption. What radio did you get?

 

I'm guessing that what you heard through the speakers was some noise (i.e., not music), and that the cigarette lighter USB charger lit up only briefly? Again, need more details here.

 

If plugging the stock radio back in produces nothing, it's almost certainly a fuse. Try checking any fuse labelled interior, radio...I don't have a 92, so I can only guess at this point what fuses exist, and where they are.

 

Wiring adapters are cheap harnesses that allow you to

 

connect aftermarket radios to the OE wiring harnesses (i.e., the part that plugs into the back of your stock radio) without having to cut/splice anything on the truck. You connect the radio's wiring harness to the wiring adapter, then you plug the wiring adapter to the factory harness. It's all color coded. It would've saved you a ton of headache probably.

 

If you have a voltmeter, and know how to use it, then a good description shouldn't be necessary...but, basically, set your volt meter to a DC rating to the lowest setting above 12V. Put the red probe on the truck's wire that you suspect should be giving you 12V under a specific condition (i.e., ignition OFF vs ignition ACC/ON). Put the black probe on some exposed (unpainted) metal on the truck. The voltmeter should read around 12V-14V.

Just a quick reply: when I plugged the plastic wiring adapter into the stereo, the speakers made a slight pop (just tested it, and they still do) like plugging into a guitar while the guitar amp isoniazid, or plugging an aux cable into a port while the other end is plugged into a loud stereo. Still makes that sound for both stereos. And the light on the lighter USB adapter was just a quick light up (still does this).

[hawairish]

I'd stop plugging things in until you've tracked the problem. Otherwise you'll worsen things, break something else, or start a fire because of an electrical short.

 

Though, if you can repeat the noise with both radios, I'm less inclined to think it's a fuse.

 

It'd help a lot to know what stereo you've got, let alone some pictures for reference of the harnesses, wiring, and radio. Maybe even more details about the truck. I don't think we're getting the full picture.

 

Has the factory wiring been altered?

Do you have any other stereo equipment?

Any other electrical "mods"?

Factory or aftermarket?

Is the original radio OE (doubtful)?

What prompted the radio change?

Was it working before?

What position is the ignition switch in when you're testing?

[Jonhutson]

I'd stop plugging things in until you've tracked the problem. Otherwise you'll worsen things, break something else, or start a fire because of an electrical short.

 

Though, if you can repeat the noise with both radios, I'm less inclined to think it's a fuse.

 

It'd help a lot to know what stereo you've got, let alone some pictures for reference of the harnesses, wiring, and radio. Maybe even more details about the truck. I don't think we're getting the full picture.

 

Has the factory wiring been altered?

Do you have any other stereo equipment?

Any other electrical "mods"?

Factory or aftermarket?

Is the original radio OE (doubtful)?

What prompted the radio change?

Was it working before?

What position is the ignition switch in when you're testing?

I got the old stereo (pioneer deh 245) to work, the new stereo (a cheap sdc26b by ssl) doesn't work, and none of the wires seem to color match.

 

I bought the truck for 300 because the previous owner kept getting into drunk driving accidents with it, so he thought it was destitute. Im unsure if the wiring has been modified, no other mods, not an OE stereo, the stereo was 4/10 but worked, I wanted an update, no keys in the ignition.

[hawairish]

Cool, that helps significantly.

 

So, yes, it appears that the DEH245 and SDC26B harnesses are very similar (pics below). I can understand why you might think they'd be compatible. It seems clear to me the popping noise...the power and speaker leads are in different pin positions. Hopefully there's not additional damage to new radio. There should be no problems with the old radio, unless you've damaged the plug in some way and created a short (note that the plug has both square and semi-round "tubes" around each wire...this to prevent mismatching harnesses). But seems like it was a perfect fit?

 

Anyway, if the harness does indeed fit, the easiest fix is to re-arrange the wires on the truck's harness to match what the new radio expects. They are color coded. Looks like you'd need to remove all the pins. It's pretty simple...you can usually do it with a push-pin or needle and a little patience. There's a little barb on the metal piece that's crimped on the wire and inserted into the harness. You use the push-pin to depress the barb and then you can slide the wire out and re-arrange them.

 

Otherwise, you'll need to cut off the old harness on the truck and can then match up the colors to the new harness.

 

If you follow that Pioneer harness back, is it spliced into other wires or do you still have another harness or two?

 

DEH245:

 

 

SDC26B:

[Terranovation]

From my own experience with installing a new stereo, the original had a proper 'cage' slot which needed to be screwed onto the new one so it would fit properly. The wiring connector wouldn't fit the new one. Lucky the p.o. had fitted screw down type connectors..on each wire. So it was a matter of unscrew wire, put in new wire. 15 minutes later all the original wires were connected to the new adapter. The worse part about the whole thing was the p.o. wrapped everything in like 3 metres of electrical tape and everything was sticky. I really hate electrical tape!

Also a handy tip, the red wire was left blank not inserted into anything because it runs off the battery so everytime you turn the key, the stereo will not automatically turn on. Some people like it that way but I don't want the stereo on auto. Be careful though because not all our Pathys are the same electrical wise but mine was yellow to battery, black to ground and red wire just leave hanging with some tape on the end.

[hawairish]

From my own experience with installing a new stereo, the original had a proper 'cage' slot which needed to be screwed onto the new one so it would fit properly. The wiring connector wouldn't fit the new one. Lucky the p.o. had fitted screw down type connectors..on each wire. So it was a matter of unscrew wire, put in new wire. 15 minutes later all the original wires were connected to the new adapter. The worse part about the whole thing was the p.o. wrapped everything in like 3 metres of electrical tape and everything was sticky. I really hate electrical tape!

Also a handy tip, the red wire was left blank not inserted into anything because it runs off the battery so everytime you turn the key, the stereo will not automatically turn on. Some people like it that way but I don't want the stereo on auto. Be careful though because not all our Pathys are the same electrical wise but mine was yellow to battery, black to ground and red wire just leave hanging with some tape on the end.

 

That sounds like a weird setup. I'm not sure I've seen a radio (I've installed maybe 2 dozen of them over the past 15 years) that will even turn on without power to both yellow and red leads, though if anything, the red would have to be connected and you'd just lose your memory settings each time the radio turned off. But not sure that would stop it from turning on automatically.

 

But if what I'm seeing on the harnesses is correct as far as colors go for the OP, the wires are crossed. But he shouldn't be having any problems if he puts the original radio back in, unless I'm missing some puzzle piece (like an amp in the mix).

[Terranovation]

Well that's correct, the wires are color coded. Purple to purple, green to green, brown to brown etc. What I'm thinking is he has accidentally got one solid color wire mixed up with the same color wire but with a black line on it. There's a positive and negative wire for each color so one is a solid and the other had a black strip.

Yes, you are correct about my arrangement of wiring. It's just the way I happened to find it when I pulled the 2nd hand stereo out. Lucky it wasn't a mess back there and I could see what the p.o. did.

[hawairish]

That's funny, though the stripes on the purple, green, white, and grey wires are just for polarity of the speakers. The speakers will still work fine if those are swapped, but it's not optimal.

 

In the OP's case, if the Pioneer harness does in fact fit the SSL radio, it puts 12V into the speaker outputs on the radio...an easy not-good. The reason his USB lights up briefly and the pop is probably because the power socket and radio are on the same circuit and the radio is "absorbing" (for lack of a better term) the short through the radio audio output circuitry.

[Terranovation]

I'm thinking somehow a speaker wire is connected to a wire on the cig lighter socket which might account for a blown fuse on the stereo. Or the black ground wire is screwed onto the cig lighter socket.

[Jonhutson]

 

That sounds like a weird setup. I'm not sure I've seen a radio (I've installed maybe 2 dozen of them over the past 15 years) that will even turn on without power to both yellow and red leads, though if anything, the red would have to be connected and you'd just lose your memory settings each time the radio turned off. But not sure that would stop it from turning on automatically.

 

But if what I'm seeing on the harnesses is correct as far as colors go for the OP, the wires are crossed. But he shouldn't be having any problems if he puts the original radio back in, unless I'm missing some puzzle piece (like an amp in the mix).

What do you think the red wire is for then? It says acc+ fuse:.5A. Can't figure out what to do with it. Edited July 24, 2015 by Jonhutson

[Jonhutson]

 

That sounds like a weird setup. I'm not sure I've seen a radio (I've installed maybe 2 dozen of them over the past 15 years) that will even turn on without power to both yellow and red leads, though if anything, the red would have to be connected and you'd just lose your memory settings each time the radio turned off. But not sure that would stop it from turning on automatically.

 

But if what I'm seeing on the harnesses is correct as far as colors go for the OP, the wires are crossed. But he shouldn't be having any problems if he puts the original radio back in, unless I'm missing some puzzle piece (like an amp in the mix).

Yellow is the main power, this doesn't make sense to what I'm seeing.

[Jonhutson]

Cool, that helps significantly.

 

So, yes, it appears that the DEH245 and SDC26B harnesses are very similar (pics below). I can understand why you might think they'd be compatible. It seems clear to me the popping noise...the power and speaker leads are in different pin positions. Hopefully there's not additional damage to new radio. There should be no problems with the old radio, unless you've damaged the plug in some way and created a short (note that the plug has both square and semi-round "tubes" around each wire...this to prevent mismatching harnesses). But seems like it was a perfect fit?

 

Anyway, if the harness does indeed fit, the easiest fix is to re-arrange the wires on the truck's harness to match what the new radio expects. They are color coded. Looks like you'd need to remove all the pins. It's pretty simple...you can usually do it with a push-pin or needle and a little patience. There's a little barb on the metal piece that's crimped on the wire and inserted into the harness. You use the push-pin to depress the barb and then you can slide the wire out and re-arrange them.

 

Otherwise, you'll need to cut off the old harness on the truck and can then match up the colors to the new harness.

 

If you follow that Pioneer harness back, is it spliced into other wires or do you still have another harness or two]

I can't figure out what to take the new stereo's red wire (labelled ACC+ Fuse:.5A) to on the pathy's wire bundle. 12 volt power?

[Jonhutson]

Success! I backtracked and wired everything up right and it works now. Thanks everybody. I'll ask another silly question in the near future.

[Jonhutson]

Cool, that helps significantly.

 

So, yes, it appears that the DEH245 and SDC26B harnesses are very similar (pics below). I can understand why you might think they'd be compatible. It seems clear to me the popping noise...the power and speaker leads are in different pin positions. Hopefully there's not additional damage to new radio. There should be no problems with the old radio, unless you've damaged the plug in some way and created a short (note that the plug has both square and semi-round "tubes" around each wire...this to prevent mismatching harnesses). But seems like it was a perfect fit?

 

Anyway, if the harness does indeed fit, the easiest fix is to re-arrange the wires on the truck's harness to match what the new radio expects. They are color coded. Looks like you'd need to remove all the pins. It's pretty simple...you can usually do it with a push-pin or needle and a little patience. There's a little barb on the metal piece that's crimped on the wire and inserted into the harness. You use the push-pin to depress the barb and then you can slide the wire out and re-arrange them.

 

Otherwise, you'll need to cut off the old harness on the truck and can then match up the colors to the new harness.

 

If you follow that Pioneer harness back, is it spliced into other wires or do you still have another harness or two?

 

DEH245:

 

 

SDC26B:

Hey thanks for the help, guy!

[hawairish]

No problem, glad you got it sorted. Sorry I couldn't reply in between your latter questions, but to answer them for future knowledge:

 

Yellow is the 12V constant...power is always supplied to the radio to keep radio settings, channels, etc. The radio won't turn on, but uses a tiny amount of power. If your radio settings are lost after you power of the truck, then you don't have a constant 12V wired to it.

 

Red is the ACC 12V...when the ignition switch is turned to the ACC or ON positions, 12V is sent to the radio. The radio will only turn on when power exists on this wire. The cigarette lighter is probably also on an ACC/ON circuit...again, probably the same circuit as the radio...meaning it also doesn't have power unless the key is turned to ACC or ON. The 5A is the max current draw the line accepts, but not really relevant to discussions here.

 

The FUSE part is because both the yellow and red wires appear to have in-line fuses, according to the picture. If you gently pry open those black plastic things, there should be a 5A fuse in them. Unlike the ATC/mATC fuses you normally see in vehicles, these are small glass tubes with a thin wire inside and metal end caps. Like any other fuse, any amperage over the rating will cause the wire to burn and open the circuit (to prevent destroying other radio components).

 

Class dismissed!