Ok, got a few questions. Going to be installing a farenheit screen hopefully tomorrow... and I guess I have to tap the power from the radio... so how do I do that? Is it just removing the cover from the wire and connecting another wire to it? I'm assuming I just need to ground the ground to something... oh yeah, and is it safe to tap a tap wire? Because I've got a PAC adapter which (I'm assuming) taps the power (The only thing the passthrough section of the adapter does is branch of a red wire... which I'm assuming is power... uh... now that I think about it, that is power right?) Anyone got a recommendation for a good grounding point behind the center console? Is anything metal ok?

And I read in other posts about people hardwiring a power inverter in the back? Anyone have a writeup or basic explaination on how to do that?

Thanks guys!

 

Bump! Need to know what to do here.

So I've installed the screen (farenheit), but when I tapped power and grounded it, the radio started making all sorts of wierd noises, so I got scared and disconnected it.

Any ideas anyone?

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure it was grounded but maybe I didn't ground it correctly?

 

I'm willing to bet that you didn't tap into the correct +12V power wire. You should run your monitor's ground straight to the chasis medal with a screw - or lift one that mounts something a bit and then tighen it on to the monitor's ground lug.

There's a few wires that have +12V on them and only one of them is going to be the right one.

1. There's a battery "memory" wire. (for sure)
2. There's a +12V output to the amplifier. (possible)
3. There's a +12V output to the antenna amplifier. (possible)
4. There's the dashboard illumination voltage.
5. There's the accessory - key controlled - voltage that you most likely want so that the screen goes out when you shut the car off.

Do you have a volt meter?

 

Thanks Paul for your reply, I have a multimeter that can read volts, I'm just not sure how to use it to solve my problem.

 

You'll need to check which wire has constant power or supplies power when the car is on. Tap into either one, preferably the second.

 

You know, I really should have been able to put 1 + 1 together on this one. Hehehe, sometimes da brain don't wurk so gud no mo.

Found out what my problem was, it was a bad ground. Just some notes if anyone cares:

1) The stock bose headunit makes wierd noises when it's been disconnected from it's harness for a while

2) The screws along the side of the center console area are not good ground points.

3) I grounded to a point underneath the section where the cable to the top gauges run. There's a section of exposed metal tube with a hole in it.

4) If you have a PAC - AAI - NIS adapter, the red wire coming from the 10 point harness is the accessory power. Turns on and off with the key.

Thanks guys for your help!

 

whenever you ground to the chassis and use your own screw, you should always grind the metal around where you are going to drill the screw into first to remove any paint from it first because that will make it a better ground. Then, to test it, use your volt meter and put the + needle of the volt meter on the + terminal of your battery and the - needle of the volt meter on the ground you just installed. If you get a +12V reading, you have a working ground.