how does a car stereo wire harness exactly work?

Question

I'm a little confused on how to hook up my new stereo in my car. When i first got my car, it already had another car stereo in it(not the original stereo that came in the car) and im assuming that it already had a wire harness for the stereo in it. So im guessing that i dont need to buy another wire harness for a new stereo that i got, right?

I was wondering something, does the wire harness thats already cut and spliced in the care already, just have to go into the new stereo i got? all i would need to do is make sure the wires match the one in the new stereo's digram?

Also, whats the point of a new stereo coming with its own wires if whenever its put into a car, it needs a specific wire harness to your car?

sorry if its confusing, im just trying to write down what i exactly mean.

Answer 1

All stock cars have a stock plug that has all of the speaker/power/antenna/etc... wires that hooks into the back of the stock stereo... I will call this the "Stock Plug". Now... different after market stereo companies tend to use a different input plug in the back of their units, so each company makes their own input plug that comes with the stereo, we will call this the "New Plug"



Now in order to integrate your existing speakers from your Stock Plug to your New Plug, you either need to completely chop off the Stock Plug and splice together the the bare wires with the New Plug... OR you can buy a wiring harness which is basically an extension of your Stock Plug, with the other end being bare wires. By splicing your wiring harness to the New Plug, all you are doing is making a Stock Plug to New Plug Converter, this way if you want to put your stock stereo back in, its as simple as un-plugging it, if you don't use a wiring harness, then you have to go find that Stock Plug you chopped off and re-splice the wires back into that plug.



You won't need to buy a new wiring harness if you don't mind chopping up the one you have now, or if the new stereo uses the same "New Plug" as the other stereo, which could be likely if they are made by the same parent companies.



To summarize (maybe make this a tad less confusing), the "New Plug" that comes with your stereo, spliced together with a wiring harness for your car is, in essence, building your own "adapter" so that the new stereo has the same female plug as your cars male "Stock Plug".



Hope this helped.

Answer 2

Wire Harness For Car Stereo

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

how does a car stereo wire harness exactly work?

I'm a little confused on how to hook up my new stereo in my car. When i first got my car, it already had another car stereo in it(not the original stereo that came in the car) and im assuming that it already had a wire harness for the stereo in it. So im guessing that i dont need to buy another...

Answer 4

the yellow wire is supposed to go to constant power. the pink wire is supposed to go to a switchable power source. usually an ACC wire.