My Sony XAV-64BT just came in yesterday. I can't figure out what to hook my orange/white illumination wire to or my parking brake wire. I assume I just splice the parking brake wire into the actual parking brake wire (the little blue one that's at the base of the brake handle).

I really wanna get this thing working without taking it to electronic express because they charge 100 bucks to hook it up.


2005 base L's 2.2.

Thanks!

 

What diagram are you using?

 

The one that came with the stereo. It just shows the illumination and parking brake going to a positive. It doesn't say anything else.

 

The illumination wire goes to the illuniation wire in the stock harness. It should have a connect on the harness adapter. Parking brake has to go to the wire coming off of the hand brake, the positive one. It will be the one that isnt grounded to the frame or the only wire there. However, I recommend searching google for your stereo models hack method. You should be able to connect that wire to a relay so the video functions work while you drive the car.

 

That's what I was wanting to do. I looked on a site and it said the 05 cobalt doesn't have an illumination wire. I know that's a lie because I've seen others just like mine. It may not have a dedicated wire for illumination but somewhere I can hook it up. I just can't find which wire it is that I hookup to.

 

In that case you can do two things. Tap the wire to a light that comes on with the dash lights (illumination on the HVAC panel, etc.) or you can hook it to the +12v switched wire in the stock harness. I cant really think of why it wouldnt have a dedicated illumination wire tho.

 

What color is the wire on the HVAC? I may just splice into it

 

Anyone??

 

our cars dont have illumination because they use the GM LAN data for this on the stock radio. The only legit way to get an ill wire is if you buy the expensive harness. now there are places to hook your ill wire to if you really want it but ultimately having that wire hooked up isn't at all necessary (it just dims the radio when the headlights turn on) If you do end up taping a wire to get illumination be sure to fuse it immediately wherever you tap as well as testing the wire thoroughly to ensure you have the correct wire. Its not worth breaking the car or the radio for a non essential wire

And yes the parking break wire goes to the only wire that comes off the parking break

 

So I don't even need to hook up the ill wire?

 

I had everything except the ill wire and parking brake wire connected and the stereo wouldn't even come on. Is it because the brake wire not connected?

 

^ no, it will dim the radio when the lights come on, you would neeed to hook it up to something that powers up when the headlights come on.

I would google the radio for a parking brake bypass. on my avic, i just had to put the ebrake wire in a different pin in the harness and ground it. you may not have to splice, or use you ebrake to watch a movie.

 

no neither wire "has to be connected" the ill wire only does anything when connected. parking brake just has to do with displaying videos.

Did you run the red acc wire to the fuse box? Which harness are you using btw

 

I spliced the red wire with my dash controls. I got the cheap harness. I think it was 85 cents from amazon?

 

yeah man idk. i would spend the money for the right harness, things are alot easier and the risk of frying everything isnt there.

what is your car exactly?

guessing 2005 LS no onstar no xm?

 

Any particular slot I should run the red wire to?

 

Yeah its just base everything. I've a aftermarket hu in it since march 2012 and everything's been fine

 

where was the power wire before?

 

I connected it to the dash information power wire

 

Well everything's connected. I just can't get the damn thing to turn on

 

Wow. Me and all my "infinite" knowledge forgot to check the damn fuse box. Blown radio fuse got the bitch up and running now

 

My Alpine Nav had an auto dimming setting in the setup menu. it uses a sensor on the front of the radio to automatically dim depending on the brightness in the car, just like your smartphone does. no need to hook up to the illumination wire. I wonder if your Sony is the same way?

 

possibly but highly doubtful

 

of course it has an illumination wire, if all else fails. connect illumination wire at ur dimmer switch. if ur stereo can dim like to diff levels, use the wire coming out of the dimmer switch to the lighting in the car, if its led and it just dims to one lever, use the wire going into the dimmer switch that's straight 12 volt all the time. that should work. that is if that's how dimmers are still wired

 

be vary careful as dimmer and illumination are not the same. some radios will have both however most newer ones just have illumination. They are not compatible with each other