Hello All!

I'm new to the whole stereo game, and was wondering if you guys could offer some help.

I am installing a Clarion DXZ385USB into my Ranger and noticed that the clarion has two battery cables (3A and 15A), while the wiring kit has only one.

Do both wires on the Clarion get attached to the single one on the kit? Or is it one or the other? Which one?

More---I have starting the basic wiring and am having further issues (please bear with me as it's my first attempt at doing this myself):

One the wiring kit I have four wires left

Black/white stripe - Amp ground
Black - ground
Orange/black stripe - Dimmer minus
Orange - illumination

On the stereo I have left:

Black - ground
Orange - illumination
Blue/white stripe - amp turn on lead

I have no amp. I also find it odd that there is a dimmer (-) wire but no dimmer (+), which is listed in the kit package as being orange/white stripe.

Can I just go illumination and ground and leave the other wires capped?

 

The two yellows on the deck can connect to the one yellow on the kit. Clarion intends that the 15a one goes directly to the battery but this is unnecessary.
Forget about the orange wires. Do you ever dim your dash lights? Most people don't.
The Black/White on the wiring kit is if you have a factory amp. Leave it disconnected. If you think you might have a factory amp (most Explorers, Mustangs, others) then you connect it to the black to ground it.
The black on the deck connects to the black on the kit.
The Blue/White on the deck is to turn an amp on an off (remote turn on lead). If you are not putting in an amp, it does not get connected.

 

would connecting the 15A directly to the battery avoid the radio to shut off when starting the the car?

I have that Issue with my Kenwood DNX9140. Seems like the ground cuts off when in start position (starter running). Still trying to find a solution for this...

 

If the 15A is yellow hen it can go directly to battery if you wish. But you can just tie it and the other (3A) to the constant power wire in the vehicle wiring harness.

The deck's red wire is the one that controls when the deck is on or off.

Also, the deck is supposed to turn off during crank. To make it easier on your battery.

 

The ground should never cut off, only the red power wire should be off (0volts) when cranking.

 

Thanks Kevin, Actually, you're totally right about the radio turning off when cranking. Had not realize the Clarion mentioned above was a standard 1DIN unit. In my case though, it is a Windows CE driven GUI and the reboot is just killing me (30 secs.).

When I did my initial testing, I always had power when cranking. So I finally thought maybe I do not have enough power to keep the HU up and running while cranking. So I assembled a couple of capacitors and when I turn OFF the key, they had sufficient power to keep the radio running for 15 seconds. Yet, when cranking, the unit still shuts down and my caps are still full. So this is where I came to think it may be the ground cutting off but I have not yet tested this theory. Although, power windows still run when cranking...

Any ideas or suggestions you may have are welcome. Car is a 2006 Nissan X-TRAIL LE.

 

^ The car will have a true ignition circuit as well that has power even while cranking. You could tap this for the red wire.

Is that the Clarion with the outboard brain? I remember those :shudder:

 

Another possibility is the internal amps are powered from the yellow lead. That's why its fused at 15A. My old panasonic was that way. So even while you still have the unit powered (display stays on) the amps will shut off unless that yellow wire is connected to constant power. I think we found the root of the problem and a solution