I am quite a newbie when it comes to installing electronics and what not--I tried installing an XM Commander today. Cosmetically, I think I did a pretty good job. Functionally, not so good. I was not sure as to how to go about getting power to the unit (12v unswitched, acc, and ground) so I tapped into the harness for my Eclipse AVN 5435. I used a multimeter to figure out which wires were which (the installation instructions didn't help because the wires on the harness were of completely different colors.) I did this attaching the neg of the multimeter to a known ground, and then testing the wires w/ the key in the "off" position to see which one bring up a reading of about 12v. I did the same when looking for the "acc" wire with the key in the "Acc" position. Did I do something wrong here?

So, I tapped into both those wires and the ground from the stereo w/ t-taps from the ratshack, and voila! I got power to the xm commander.

Now this is where it gets funky...

As I was sitting there my brother turned on the dash lights and headlights and we both noticed that the commander powered down. When we turned them off, the commander would power back on. I don't understand why this would be, except for the fact that the eclipse screen switches to "night" mode when the dash lights are turned on.

I had to run to a gig, so I couldn't fiddle around with this anymore. As I was driving, the dash lights quit on me, and the eclipse screen went to "day" mode (which I could not switch back to night mode as it didn't give me the option anymore). No more sound was coming out of the stereo when I put it on "aux" (for the commander).

After the gig, I checked the fuse box and found that I blew the fuse for the panel, which I will replace tomorrow. I also disconnected all the taps I performed that day.

I would like to finish this myself...where did I go wrong? Should I have not tapped the power from the stereo harness? Where else can I do it? I thought about the cig lighter but I realized that I also needed an unswitched 12v too, so I just figured I get them all from the stereo harness. People sometimes say "run it straight from the battery", but I have no clue as to how to do that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

 

what you have done was that instead of tapping the ground wire you actually tapped into your dimmer wire. dimmer wire has a small ground output when not in use but as soon as you turn on you lights it switches to positive. good thing it was just a fuse and nothing major.

if you are looking for the right wires

radio harness
ground = brown
ign/acc = gray
12v constant = blue/yellow

but if you already have your HU installed you can also tap from the radio harness
ground = black
ign/acc = red
12v constant = yellow

hope this helps,

 

Thanks..I'll check it out tomorrow... do you think I might have damaged anything else?

 

probably not that's what fuses are for but check all of them just incase...

 

Thanks for the info--helped me get all this straightened out...It's all good now...

 

Another option for power is called an add-a-tap. Get it for the mini sized blade fuse. You can install it into an open slot on the fuse panel or piggyback an existing fuse and get clean power.

 

no problem man as long as everythings working as it should!