I recall seeing a picture once of the Bose amp in a thread here, and IIRC, it was a little metal box about the size of a deck of cards. Surely any wiring Nissan used would be inadequate for any aftermarket amp.

I made sure when I bought my '08 that it had the basic audio system, as I knew it would eventually be trashed.

 

lol, i guess i was just hoping that nissan would have thought to wire it with a big fat wire just in case someone wanted to tear out the system. oh well

 

when looking for a place to ground the 12v socket i'm installing, can i just ground it to the metal frame that holds the center dashboard in place? or can i use electrical tape to tape it down to the top metal part exposed on the transmission?

 

Use a crimp-on or solder-on ring terminal on your ground wire, and secure it under one of the screws. Or, you can use one of the Scotch-lock power taps to tie into an existing ground wire. You can't tape a ground wire in place.

 

i couldnt find the scotch-lock power taps! where did you get some anyway? do I really have to order them online? no one will sell me just one or two, they all come in 50 packs or something online.

I got a lock on generic tap from radioshack but it was complete crap, the wire refuses to go through the blade thing and you cant use pliers to secure the connection. The 12v female socket I bought came with a 3 foot negative cable with a ring terminal on the end so im set on that, i just need a good place to ground it.

The easiest thing to do would be to ground it to the metal bracket that holds the stereo/ac/cubby thing up, I *think* when it is screwed in all the way into the car, it makes contact with other metal all the way through. I could get one of those screws that drills into metal surrounding the area around the dashboard but I dont know the consequences. I really dont want to drill into the transmission's top metal plate that's exposed when you . Honestly I dont want to drill into anything metal in that area that I cant see the other side of...

I guess I'll find out when I get my gps and open up the dash again. Since I cant find a good power tap (unless you tell me a source locally to get the 3m ones), I'll just cut, strip and splice with a wire nut as I have been doing in home wiring.

 

These seem to be an exact knockoff of the real 3M's, and I've never had any trouble with them. I got them at either AutoZone or Advance Auto Parts - 25 for maybe $5 or $6.



Any of those Philips-head screws that hold the radio bracket in place will be OK for your ground wire.

 

So the 12v socket came with one of those taps like in your picture. the wire gauge for the 12v socket is 18 AWG and the stock radio wiring harness is 22AWG. im wondering that tap in that picture will work with the 22AWG wire.

thanks for all the help bro

 

I'd try it. That's what I used to tap into the front power socket on my car. I know the package says 14-16ga., but I've never seen them come in any other size, and I've never had an issue with smaller ga. wiring.

 

Where mine was.

 

looks great and discrete! i guess you have a fully functional HU from which you can control the ipod from. That's a really great place to put it if you dont ever have to touch the ipod. I think i like my location so far. I couldn't have accessed it while driving at all if I had put it in my original location in the center console.

 

okay well I installed the 205w into my car today and it turns on and off with the stereo, just what I wanted. Thanks everyone who contributed to this thread, but especially to dcains for answering all my inane and newb questions. thank you so much for your patience and talking me through this. The installation was as painless as it could have been thanks to you. Anyway here is how I mounted the wires and connections, please chime in one final time if something looks odd or dangerous to you. Thanks again guys.

This is where I ran the groundwire, to the chassis of the metal bracket holding the double din stock radio. It this chassis connects to another metal chassis via two screws at the bottom, near the A/C panel so I think it's a valid grounding spot, but PLEASE tell me if it isnt:


where I tapped the 12v switched power line from the stock bose radio harness:


I left the 12v socket that I added, along with all the wiring above the stock bose radio, sandwiched between the cubby and the radio space. Not sure if that'll create heat issues? :


seeing the wiring from the front, above the stock radio, below the cubby:


finished:

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I dont know about the mount itself, I have it mounted right now with the stock mount and obviously that wont work becasue it interferes with the door closing. Besides that, I had to use velcro to mount the gps to the back of the cubby. It will NOT work on the plastic by itself by its own suction which is lame. The velcro I used jiggles the mount when I push on the screen, I'm not sure how sturdy it will be during driving as I havent really dont a road test.

How do you all have it mounted? did you drill into the cubby and secure it with some screws? or did you use superglue or velcro?

 

Looks good, and the wiring is fine. Didn't I mention I used a shorter mount for the GPS? This pulls it back further into the cubby, so you can close the door and have more room, too. Look back on the first page, as I think I linked to it on amazon.com. I used two screws to attach the base of the GPS mount to the back of the cubby (the hole for my wiring is in the top right corner), so it's very solid. Initially, I was worried that the GPS wouldn't have good enough reception from the satellites, but mine locks on right away, and works as well as any other GPS I've used.

 

Dcains thanks for everything bro, I seriously wouldn't have been able to do this without your advice. I did see the shorter mount you mentioned. I actually ordered it from amazon but it has not arrived yet. But I got so impatient, I had a 1.5" x 1.5" piece of wood, and I cut two 1" blocks, and screwed that to the back of the cubby, and velcro'd the garmin to the inside of the wood blocks. I had to cut 1" to clear the usb power adapter but I think it looks really good now, at least for my purposes, and the door closes just fine, and feels pretty solid when I push on the buttons. All day project and I just finished everything.

the wood blocks arent completely even and I can kind of see a bit of a tilt. I might go back in there a bit and balance it out later.

 

Glad it all worked out. I have my GPS angled a bit towards me, which cuts down some of the glare from the screen, and since the cubby door on the later cars doesn't retract when it's open, that makes a nice sun shield, too.

 

here are the wood blocks with the velcro attached:




from the drivers POV:


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Nice solution.

 

nice guide here, I'll be referencing this soon, when I install mine

 

Can someone please explain EXACTLY what the adapter. Does this just plug directly into something behind the dash so I can plug in the adapter that came with my GPS.

I'm referring to http://www.powerwerx.com/adapter-ext...powerpole.html


Thanks. Sorry for the newb questions I've been doing my searching but couldn't figure this one out.