I have an Alpine CDE-SXM145BT, I used the Metra connector to connect with the wires, the Metra connector has 1orange wire labeled "illumination" and an orange/white wire labeled "dimmer" the head unit has 1 orange wire for illumination, I hooked both metra connectors to the 1 alpine connector but when I turn on the head lights the radio faintly dims---am I only supposed to have just the dimmer wire hooked up? the radio looks annoyingly bright at night

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Pat Jones

most aftermarket head units have display settings that user can adjust, I'd use that if that's the case on that unit (read owners manual)
What wire on from the fiero is feeding the wires on that meta adapter,
is the adapter orange wire fed from a switched +, and the dimmer wire (orange/white) to the fiero radio dimmer fed+?
or both fed off the same wire from the fiero?

[This message has been edited by E.Furgal (edited 02-09-2015).]

When I hooked up my Pioneer head unit IIRC the illumination control wire was orange on the head unit harness and I spliced that to orange-white wire on the car harness adapter that plugs into the car. I remember that I used a multi-meter to double check if that wire got power when turning the lights on and off, and my radio dims as it should when headlights come on... I believe that wire goes to the grey wire on the vehicle's actual harness. I don't remember that part unfortunately.

FWIW, this post from TheDude557 helped me wire up my radio.

quote Originally posted by thedude557: Power: orange Acc: yellow Gnd: black Lf +: tan Lf -: grey Rf +: light green Rf -: dark green Lr +: brown Lr -: yellow Rr+: dark blue Rr -:light blue

I would go double check for you and take better pictures but it's 20 degrees out right now and my Fiero is under a foot of snow... The picture I did take when I did my stereo wiring may not help too much but ill put it up anyway!

Larger version of image

Thinking about it, IIRC when I was wiring up my gauges and radio last summer, most if not all the wires that control the dim signal on the gauge illumination brightness circuit are the brown wires. I am sorry I got confused and mixed the two separate jobs I did at the same time up! :P

Edit: to change some info after thinking about it for awhile

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"Discord"
Red 1988 GT under restoration!

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[This message has been edited by Shho13 (edited 02-09-2015).]

thanks for the replies, the orange wire from the metra is fed by the power wire which is switched (the separate plug with the yellow wire) not sure where the orange/white goes to---just wondering if I need to disconnect the orange wire--I don't recall seeing any brown wires--the car is an 88

quote Originally posted by 88FieroGT TTops: thanks for the replies, the orange wire from the metra is fed by the power wire which is switched (the separate plug with the yellow wire) not sure where the orange/white goes to---just wondering if I need to disconnect the orange wire--I don't recall seeing any brown wires--the car is an 88

Yeah sorry man I messed up in the post above, I corrected it. I have an 88 as well so it should be the same!

The harness end that plugs into the vehicle side might have your orange wire in the wrong pin on the connector. I have seen that happen before, since different vehicles use the same harness but have a a slight difference in pin outs. In my picture above if you look closely the orange white wire goes into the pin in between the solid grey wire and the black wire, respectively.

Here is a direct link to the picture, it's a bigger version that is easier to see.

About the brown wire I mentioned earlier, I got confused and mixed the two jobs I did at the same time up! I spliced off the brown wires in my case because I installed backbit Speedhut guage faces and used that circuit. I corrected my above post!

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"Discord"
Red 1988 GT under restoration!

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[This message has been edited by Shho13 (edited 02-09-2015).]

ok so you have just the orange/white wire hooked up--I will disconnect the orange wire and see if that helps--thanks for the help!!

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Pat Jones

I confused even myself above. Let me go more in depth... I am sorry if I confused you! let me phrase this super easy because I am psychotic!

I am looking at the wiring diagrams for the radio right now.

The main power 12v constant for the radio from the car is SOLID ORANGE. The YELLOW wire from the adapter harness should be spliced to that. This is your main power to the radio.
The ignition accessory on is YELLOW coming from the car. RED from the adapter harness should be spliced to that. This is so the radio comes on when you turn the car on.
The dimmer coming from the car is GREY. After the adapter harness plugs into the car's harness, the GREY WIRE is ORANGE from here on out. The ORANGE from the radio harness should get spliced to the adapter ORANGE wire. This is what controls the dimming when the exterior lighting is activated.
BLACK is ground.
The rest of the speaker hook ups are self explanatory. They are the same colors across the harness 99% of the time.

Soooo:
Orange from car>Yellow
Yellow from car>Red
Grey from car>Orange on adapter harness>Orange on radio
Black>Black
Speaker colors>speaker colors





Edit: better pictures and elaboration!
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"Discord"
Red 1988 GT under restoration!

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[This message has been edited by Shho13 (edited 02-10-2015).]