Radio Wiring

[DannyH]

Please bear in mind that i'm a complete idiot before answering.

i took the notion to buy a cheapo radio on ebay (just remember folks ebay and alcohol don't mix).

it's now arrived and i'm not quite sure what to do with it

Any advice would be much appreciated.

i can work out the speakers by trial and error but ain't quite sure what to do with the yellow, red and black wires.

i've not had the old radio out yet but it's a Blaupunkt London so i assume the wiring will be standard?

i've trawled through the search results but whilst informative i can't find an exact match.

PS it was really sad to see the amount of answers that the late lamented IanAudi supplied what a wonderful, knowledgeable and helpful guy he was.

[mr.brown]

What wiring does the car have? Bare wires or a pair of ISO connectors?

[DannyH]

Fresh photos of original

[mr.brown]

It looks like it had the ISO connectors and they were chopped up to connect to the older style connectors.

Well, at least you have the basic constituents there - earth (your yellow wire), +12v (the red wire next to it), ignition switched 12v (the other red wire with small spade connector). The last one may or may not be switched 12v - you'll have to test it and see.

Hopefully your speaker wires will be correctly paired - and correctly phased (+/-).

Looks like all you'll need are a load of male and female red bullet connectors to attach to your new stereo's wiring and it will literally be "plug and play"

[DannyH]

Good thinking that man!

ta much for such prompt and good advice

[DannyH]

Hi again Mr B ive just had a closer look at the label on the old radio it reads


Next to earth -
Connected via Ignition Lock (term15)
Or Permanent Voltage (term 30)

Other one -
Permanent Voltage (term30)

as you said i'll need to test them?

so does -

the Black goes to the old yellow and the red next to it to the new red (subject to testing for ignition)?

and that just leaves the new yellow (which has an inline fuse) presumably to the solo red?

Sorry if this is confusing anyone it's cos i'm confused

[mr.brown]

On the new wiring, black will be earth so it will go to the old yellow - although I suspect if you follow this back it will connect to the factory brown earth wire. You'd be better off removing this yellow wire and connecting straight to the brown.

The new yellow wire needs a permanent 12v so should be connected to the red wire with the big spade connector.

The new red should connect to the ignition red of the old wiring, i.e. the smaller spade connector. This doesn't really need to be ignition switched and I bet if you trace the wiring back it probably branches off the red wire above.

[mark1gls]

A car radio is a simple thing to get working, it just needs an earth and power to work, most new radios also need a permanent power feed so it does not lose the time and radio stations once turned off so that is why you need 3 wires to power it and the rest are for speakers.

Do you have a picture of the plug and wires coming out of the back of the new radio and a better picture of the wires the other side of the bullet connectors eg. the original VW wires?