Parking Brake Wire?

[DJ_B_Easy]

Anyone know where to get easy access to the parking brake wire in the Coupe? Im installing a DVD head unit and Ive never had to do this before.

[QR25DE]

Honestly it works as a ground... if it's an older pioneer or JVC unit without a gyro in it. You can twist the parking brake wire coming off the head unit into the ground wire (or ground it somewhere). The reason it needs to be on the parking brake wire is because when the car is "not in motion" the e-brake will be on to allow you to watch video. To bypass it just ground that wire somewhere else and you can watch video while driving. That's really the only reason why it is there.

I grounded mine to the same spot I put the ground wire for the head unit. Done.

[DJ_B_Easy]

Its a Clarion unit, 2009 I think. It's telling me I need to tap into the cord from the parking brake to the light in the dash that shows that the brake is engaged. I'll give this a try though, thanks.

[DJ_B_Easy]

This didnt work for me. Could I possibly have a bad ground? I wired it right into the same place as I grounded the head unit, if I had a bad ground the whole thing wouldn't work, correct?

[bundy26]

What does it say in the installation drawing?

[DJ_B_Easy]

It says to use an electro tap and connect it to the parking brake signal cord, which should run from the parking brake to the parking brake lamp in the meter panel.

[bundy26]

I checked it out on youtube and it i the same as my radio, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KByd6wzYzis/about 2min and 20 sec. into video.

[DJ_B_Easy]

Well I thought I had it permanently grounded (no switch) but I guess thats not the case. Does that mean my head unit isnt grounded either? I just screwed them in to the metal brake on the left side of the opening whenthe radio is out? Eh?

I wired it right into the same place as I grounded the head unit, if I had a bad ground the whole thing wouldn't work, correct?

[bundy26]

Try disconnecting it and connecting it again with the DVD playing, that's what I had to do with mine.

[DJ_B_Easy]

Will do, getting dark and Im not going to do it tonight. I am correct that if I had a bad ground the head unit wouldnt work at all, right? Everything works except DVD playback.

[QR25DE]

I wouldn't ground it to the frame of the stereo. Try somewhere else. There may be other things going on (like it detecting the same voltage). It's hard to say with the newer units. I know the Pioneer units have a hardware and a software hack (you can do either). I did the hardware one.

The old Jensen flip out screen I had worked fine when I grounded both the parking brake and the ground wire together in one spot to the frame of the car.

[DJ_B_Easy]

No, not grounded to the frame of the stereo, parking wire and head unit are grounded to the same place on the frame...I think.

Well I thought I had it permanently grounded (no switch) but I guess thats not the case. Does that mean my head unit isnt grounded either? I just screwed them in to the metal brace on the left side of the opening when the radio is out? Eh?

I just took it for a ride for a sweet Quick Check sub and now the instrument panel is dimming A LOT when the head lights are on. Any thoughts on that?

HELP! First time I did my own install!

[DJ_B_Easy]

Disregard instrument panel comment, didnt realize that reset with the auto window and airbags. All good...

[bundy26]

If you got any doubts email me , if I'm close maybe I can give you a hand. Hope you get the parking brake wire solved.

[DJ_B_Easy]

Will do, going to send a thread asking for pics of where others have grounded their units to see if Im in the right area.

[bundy26]

I grounded mine with any screw that was behind the radio in the dash.

[Infinite-T]

When you ground your unit, you want to make sure of the following:

-The piece you are grounding to is metal (obviously).-The metal piece you have grounded to is connected to another metal peice. There is more and more plastic in cars now and even tho there may bea metal bracket it may me connected to a plastic frame or something. If you have a continuity tester you can always test this by putting one lead to a known ground (Like a structual member, the back of the firewall (behind the insulation)), and the other lead to whatever you are trying to test, if you get the cont. light and/or beep, its a good ground.

-Make sure the metal peice you are grounding to is clean and bare. Paint, primer and other coatings and rust will inhibbit a solid ground connection. You can usually take a peice of light grit sand paper and polish the surface nice and clean.

Try googling your stereo to look for a bypass. IE "Pioneer Avic D-3 bypass" chances are pretty good someone has done it and posted a walkthru, that Is how i found it for mine. Chances are pretty good you will find one that works. I think manufacturers are required to put this feature on them but still "allow" it to be bypassed because they know a lot of their customers will do it. And if the unit wont fuction bypassed they will loose sales to units that can be.

[Infinite-T]

PS, all the times I have grounded units like this, I have either

-Grounded it to the existing ground wire. (Probably best not to ground more than 1 unit to the stock ground wire)-Grounded it to a screw/bolt on the metal stereo frame-Attatched a crimp on Y or O ring on to the ground wire and used a self tapping "Tek" screw to screw into a metal chassis.

[DJ_B_Easy]

Yeah I know what to do to ground and how to ground it, etc...I just dont know if the point I connected to is a proper ground or not. Its a huge solid metal piece to the left (and right for that matter) of the radio opening. There was a small hole through it, I passed a bolt through and then threaded a nut from the other side (behind steering wheel/instrument panel), put a washer on the radio side, and tightened it down on the ground lead terminal. It looked to me like it was supporting the entire dash so I think Im OK, just not 100% sure.

[bundy26]

That should be OK to ground a wire to, you should have no problems.

[DJ_B_Easy]

Thanks Bundy, thats all I needed, someone who knows what they are doing to say OK.

And I think I may have solution for the parking brake wire...reset the unit. Since I had the wire grounded before I re-connected the battery, I think the unit is not sensing the difference (or lack thereof) of current. With it now connected, I should be able to just reset the whole thing so that it senses the ground and thinks the car is in park immediately. If that doesnt work Ill try disconnecting and reconnecting the park wire like you did, just dont want to have to take apart the whole dash again.

Will let you know how it goes. Thanks to all for the help.

[bundy26]

You are welcome DJ, good luck.