Best way to test a stereo...?

[Loki]

Hey, I have kind of an odd question. After I got my totaled car back I took out the stereo and speakers, but I have no idea if they even still work. I really don't feel like ripping apart my new car's dash and hooking it up through that, so is there any way I can hook up the stereo and two speakers in my house and see if they work?

[xekushnr]

Sorry. They are 12 volt only. Unless you have a inverter (or is it converter?) from 120 volts to 12 volts you will have to test it on your car. The easiest way to do this is to take some wire, connect one end to the battery, and the other gets hooked up to the red and yellow wires on the radio wire. Hold the black ground wire from the radio against the block. It should turn on if its good. Hook up a speaker to the speaker wire and pop in a cd. Ghetto, but it works and will probably take less time.

[the converted]

yeah that's pretty much it.

[Loki]

Sorry. They are 12 volt only. Unless you have a inverter (or is it converter?) from 120 volts to 12 volts you will have to test it on your car. The easiest way to do this is to take some wire, connect one end to the battery, and the other gets hooked up to the red and yellow wires on the radio wire. Hold the black ground wire from the radio against the block. It should turn on if its good. Hook up a speaker to the speaker wire and pop in a cd. Ghetto, but it works and will probably take less time.

Mm, that's what I was going to do, but I wanted to see if there was another way. BTW, on the back of my stereo it has a wire guide, and it says the red goes to "Accessory". It's also much thinner than the black and yellow wires. Would I just ground the black and put yellow to the battery? There's also an orange wire for "Illumination", I'm wondering if that's what lights up the display on the head unit?

Oh and also, should I be careful where I put the speakers (like on top of the stereo) because of the magnets in them? Or are they not strong enough to do any real harm? thanks

[xekushnr]

The red accessory wire just tells the radio when to turn on. The yellow wire gives it the power. Thats why its smaller.

The orange wire does not need to be hooked up. I dont exactly remember why, I was just always taught not to hook it up. I have done this for a living at two different places, and they both told me the same thing.

If you can, sit the speaker on something plastic like your airbox. if not just hold it. I doubt having it sit on metal would do anything to the speaker, but just for safety's sake put something under it.

[Broadfield]

The orange wire does not need to be hooked up. I dont exactly remember why, I was just always taught not to hook it up. I have done this for a living at two different places, and they both told me the same thing.

The orange wire is for dimming the display when you turn on your parking lights/headlights. Whoever told you that it should not be hooked up should be slapped on the wrist for making you believe in their ignorant ways.

[PoorManQ45]

The orange wire is for dimming the display when you turn on your parking lights/headlights. Whoever told you that it should not be hooked up should be slapped on the wrist for making you believe in their ignorant ways.

I chose not to hook up the dimmer wire in my car. For some reason when I turn the lights on the HU dims a little and when I dim the dash lights it doesn't change the brightness of the HU lights. But, when I turn the dash lights all the way to off the display brightens up to its original brightness.

The HU is an Alpine 9856 and the car is a 1992 Buick Century

I'm all for connecting the dimmer, but in this particular car it's just retarded. I'd love to be able to dim the HU as it's extremely bright at night

[the converted]

I'm all for connecting the dimmer, but in this particular car it's just retarded. I'd love to be able to dim the HU as it's extremely bright at night

Well connecting it would at least get it dimmed down a little bit.

[Broadfield]

I chose not to hook up the dimmer wire in my car. For some reason when I turn the lights on the HU dims a little and when I dim the dash lights it doesn't change the brightness of the HU lights. But, when I turn the dash lights all the way to off the display brightens up to its original brightness.

The HU is an Alpine 9856 and the car is a 1992 Buick Century

I'm all for connecting the dimmer, but in this particular car it's just retarded. I'd love to be able to dim the HU as it's extremely bright at night

You have it hooked to the wrong wire! You have it wired to the factory dimmer wire. You need to wire it to the factory illumination wire. The illumination wire reads 12v+ when the lights are on and will tell the Alpine to dim the face. No aftermarket radios have adjustable illumination like OEM does. So it is only going to dim the Alpine to a preset dim. The reason yours is doing what it does is because the dimmer all the way down rests at 12v+. This in turn dims your Apine. But when you start to turn the dimmer up it applies a varying resistance to ground thus turning off the dimmer signal to the Alpine.

[Loki]

Just went out and hooked it up. After a bit of fiddling, IT WORKS! Yay After all this time I've finally been able to take my CD out

Thanks guys. Now I'm tempted to go buy a converter and hook it all up in my room

[xekushnr]

I chose not to hook up the dimmer wire in my car. For some reason when I turn the lights on the HU dims a little and when I dim the dash lights it doesn't change the brightness of the HU lights. But, when I turn the dash lights all the way to off the display brightens up to its original brightness.

The HU is an Alpine 9856 and the car is a 1992 Buick Century

I'm all for connecting the dimmer, but in this particular car it's just retarded. I'd love to be able to dim the HU as it's extremely bright at night

This is probably why I was told not to do it. I bet customers notice it and think something is wrong with the head unit. If its not going to dim like the factory unit, why hook it up?