I put a new stereo into my 1990 Jimmy and all seemed OK until I realized that every time I put on my lights, the fuse for the tail lights blows out. I had to remove the radio completely to stop the problem. Anyone have any idea where would even begin to try and track down the source of this problem?
Where were you hooking the radio’s power wires to? And what make and model of stereo is it?
The tail lights and dash illumination are typically on the same circuit. Radios usually have an internal lamp on this circuit. I would guess that the factory radio illumination wire was connected to a grounded wire in the replacement radio.
I’ve installed a crapload of aftermarket car stereos, and I can’t recall one that had a separate power wire for illumination. Usually there is the main (red) power wire that gets tied into a switched ACC. line, and often a separate (usually pink) clock and memory backup wire that gets tied directly to B+.
The factory radio in the Jimmy had an illumination wire from the tail light/instrument illumination circuit. If the aftermarket radio didn’t, that wire should have been left disconnected. Assuming all the factory wires were connected to something, then that illumination wire must have been connected to a ground.
basto, check the factory wiring plugs with a test light or voltmeter. One wire should show power only when the light switch is turned on (gray, according to my wiring diagram). That’s the one to leave disconnected (or to connect to the radio’s illumination, if it has a separate input wire for that).
If that’s the case, don’t just leave it unconnected; wrap the end with some electrical tape to keep it from shorting to the chassis at some point.
thanks for all the suggestions…actually I had a diagram of what each wire was from when I removed the old sterero (the stereo had marked on it what each wire was for), so attaching the new one was pretty simple. There were two wires that didn’t appear to go to the radio, it looks like they may have gone to the cigarette lighter and came off when I removed the part of the dashboard that was necessary to get the old radio out. I taped up the ends of those two wires since I couldn’t find out where to reconnect them.
As for the make of the stereo, I’ve actually tried two different Sony units. I don’t have the exact model # available right now, but they both caused the same problem.
Going to the Dead show tomorrow so I won’t be able to screw around with it til Sunday.
Gary T was right…the stereo was incorrectly connected to the dashboard illumination. It’s working great now–thanks for all the help!