pioneer illumination wire

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

The metra wire harness adapter has the orange wire with white stripe labeled illumination which is the same as my head unit. However there is no pin in the illumination spot on the factory harness that the metra adapter plugs into. So to get the radios dimmer to work do I need a 12v circuit with headlights on or a variable voltage circuit(cars dimmer knob for dash lights) with headlights on?

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[Chromatic]

What Make, Model, and Year of vehicle?

Anyhow -- The Illumination is not usually a "dimmer" in the traditional sense where your headunit dims in increments as you dim your dash lights. It has two brightness settings basically and when you switch on the headlights one comes on, with lights off the other is on.

So if you don't want to try to find the wire's color.

Get your meter out -- and start testing the wires back there.. flipping on and off your headlights. You should get a 12v signal on a wire ONLY when your headlights are switched on.. then it should drop back to 0 with them off.. That's the wire you want. It could even be a wire from the cluster lights,.. the headunit just needs a 12v source that toggles on and off at nighttime.

Many people never hook their Illumination wires up -- as you can manually set the brightness of headunits.. and some people don't want it changed.

Since I don't know your vehicle, it's tough to help more than that. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

Its in a 2013 civic si, the radios brightness is not adjustable and terribly bright at night time. I can tap a switched 12v wire with headlights from my hazard switch which is right next to the radio.

 

[CrossoverOre 10+ year member]

are you using an interface module or just a plain harness? According to pac these are mscan databus radios. If you are using an interface module then the orange/white coming off the box is the wire for ill. if not using an interface modyle you may want to go directly to a known 12v output when the lights are on and that will probably entail connecting to the parking light output of the vehicle.

 

[Chromatic]

Its in a 2013 civic si,

Maybe this will help:

2012 Honda Civic Si Car Radio Wiring Instructions

Car Radio Battery Constant 12V+ Wire: White

Car Radio Accessory Switched 12V+ Wire: Violet

Car Radio Ground Wire: Black

Car Radio Illumination Wire: Gray

Car Radio Dimmer Wire: Red

Car Radio Antenna Trigger Wire: Black

A 2013 should definitely have factory Illum. Wiring,.. you shouldn't have to "rig" another 12v source up (although it won't hurt anything to do so)..

See if that little wiring guide checks out.. if so, you should be able to wire with confidence here.

Take care,

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

don't use adapter harnesses .

 

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

don't use adapter harnesses .

What are you supposed to use then?

 

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

Using this guy Metra 70-1730 (met-701730) Head Unit Wiring Harness for 2008-up which plugs into my factory harness and then gets spliced to the harness that comes with your new radio. The metra harness has an illumination wire but its pin location does not match the factories pin location. I know its the gray wire I need, the illumination wire runs all over the place behind your dash. Im gonna try and move the pin location on the metra harness to match the factory connector. I know it says for 2008 accord and up but all other wires match just fine and I needed this one for the rca's to keep factory amp.

 

[CrossoverOre 10+ year member]

BestKits

probably should be using something like this. Personally I would just run to the parking light wire instead of messing around with the pin configuration. By the time you get done messing with the harness you could have a new wire run. According to my resource parking light + is red @ dash fuse panel, top green plug on right side.

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

bullet connectors male and female

 

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

bullet connectors male and female

I soldered all my connections so no worries there //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Chromatic]

So how'd it work out?

 

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

So how'd it work out?

The radio has been in just never got around to fixing the illumination wire. I live in North Carolina and we just got dumped on with atleast 6 inches of frozen rain and yesterday and last night so I haven't had much time to mess with the car. Waiting for a warm sunny day.