Testing a deck not installed in car

[DryBear]

Is there a way to safely test a radio deck without installing it in the car? I have the OEM tape deck with equalizer that I want to check to see if it works. Edited April 20, 2010 by DryBear

[conquest707]

touch the wire to your car battery with the car off. red(+) and yellow(ACC) on + black(Grnd) on -. should work jsut as it would when installed.. minus the sound part. but jsut wire in a speaker or two for that.

 

EDIT: nvm. stock deck. could look up the wiring for the harness and test it the same though i guess.

Edited April 20, 2010 by conquest707

[mikec]

You need the wiring diagram from the factory service manual and will have to make up your own connectors... or at least some female ends that'll slip over the male terminals in the stereo. It's a fair bit of work. There are a couple of +12volt terminals (memory power & regular/switched radio power from the ignition key ACC/ON posts). The radio chassis is the main ground - you'll need to clamp a wire to the chassis. On the 87-later stereos at least, one connector is the power and speaker + leads; the other connector is the speaker - leads and the power antenna control wire. The small/square connector diagonally opposite the main connectors is for the steering wheel buttons. And of course you'll need a source of +12volts.

 

If you live in an area with plentiful radio stations, a short wire or even a small screwdriver stuck into the center slot of the antenna post is enough of an antenna. Testing the AM, FM, and tape deck is fairly straightforward. Testing the steering wheel buttons though is not easy without installing the stereo into the car.

 

mike c.

[bigred1781]

Idk about the stock stereos but most won't work without the antenna being hooked up. Most need the ground from the antenna to power up. I found out the hard way. Went through 5 head units till I figured out that they wouldn't turn on untill the antenna was plugged in, even with all the other wires hooked up. Like I said idk about the stock head unit but a lot of A/M ones work like that.

[Komeuppance]

Idk about the stock stereos but most won't work without the antenna being hooked up. Most need the ground from the antenna to power up. I found out the hard way. Went through 5 head units till I figured out that they wouldn't turn on untill the antenna was plugged in, even with all the other wires hooked up. Like I said idk about the stock head unit but a lot of A/M ones work like that.

 

A lot of factory and older head units receive their ground from the chassis, not the antenna.

 

84-89 Wiring colors

Constant 12V+ Red/Black

Switched 12V+ Blue

Ground n/a

Illumination Black/Yellow

Dimmer n/a

Antenna Trigger White/Black

Antenna Right Front

Front Speakers 4" Doors

Left Front (+) White/Blue

Left Front (-) Black/Blue

Right Front (+) White/Red

Right Front (-) Black/Red

Rear Speakers 5 1/4" Side Panels

Left Rear (+) Yellow/Blue

Left Rear (-) Gray/Blue

Right Rear (+) Yellow/Red

Right Rear (-) Gray/Red

 

Here are the pin outs for an 87+ stereo:

http://carstereohelp.net/images/WireHarnessMit1a.jpg

1 ILL+

2 ACC

3 ILL-

4 BATT +

5 RL+

6 RR+

7 FL+

8 FR+

9 N.C.

 

http://carstereohelp.net/images/WireHarnessMit1b.jpg

1 FL-

2 FR-

3 ANT B+

4 RL-

5 RR-

 

-Robert

[devil machine]

get a 12v wall adapter and splice the wires you can connect them to the power/memory wire together on the positive and the negative to negative i would also link a fuse in between just incase. then you just wire a couple of speakers and you can test the radio. (if its oem youll need to find a harness from another car and cut it off so you can have wires hanging off to connect to.

[Burton]

Idk about the stock stereos but most won't work without the antenna being hooked up. Most need the ground from the antenna to power up. I found out the hard way. Went through 5 head units till I figured out that they wouldn't turn on untill the antenna was plugged in, even with all the other wires hooked up. Like I said idk about the stock head unit but a lot of A/M ones work like that.

 

 

9 times out of 10, this is because the ground wire to the radio is meesed up, and it will only work with the antenna plugged in because that's the only ground it can get. If this is the case, you need to run a new ground wire to the chassis of the car, and to the frame of the radio (or figure out why the factory ground is not grounding). Getting a ground from an antenna is not a solid enough ground to allow any radio to work to it's fullest potential.

Edited May 12, 2013 by Burton

[tux]

one of these has proven to be invaluable http://bit.ly/11zJNpp

[nugget43]

You can use a power supply from a desktop computer as well just hook up yellow to (+) and blacks to (-) then you have to connect a green wire to another color can't remember off the top of my head but I think maybe a yellow wire

[jszucs]

You can use a power supply from a desktop computer as well just hook up yellow to (+) and blacks to (-) then you have to connect a green wire to another color can't remember off the top of my head but I think maybe a yellow wire

 

If it's a newer power supply your going to have to jumper a wire on the powersuppy to get the power suppy to turn on outside a PC. You can google for how to do it if using that type I think it's ATX and later power supplys. Do note that most supply a 5V+ a 5V - and a 12V+ So make sure you are using the right wire.