I recently put in a Kenwood head unit in my 04 and all was well except that the FM reception seemed poor. I just got the Helms service and Electrical manuals and see that the car has an antenna amplifier. I'm about to add an amp to the system as well and need to figure out how to wire the system properly using a Metra 70-172 harness adapter. Everything seems fairly obvious on the Metra harness except the following questions

1) Illumination what is the difference between this and the positive dimmer?

2) Positive Dimmer see above

3) Power Antenna If I run the Power Antenna lead from the head unit to this wire on the Metra, will that run the antenna amp on the car?

I realize that I will need an Amp trigger. The Head unit harness offers several options for this (obviously I will not be running the trigger through the Metra harness.)

As a note, I will be installing Focal components in the doors and a 8

 

Ok, I think I got everything figured out except what the positive dimmer on the Metra harness is for. It would match up to pin A19 on the Audio Unit per page 150 of the Electrical Troubleshooting Manual. This wire references over to a few other pages and looks like it must go to ground but I'm not sure.

Anyone have any idea?

JeffA

 

the positive dimmer dims the radio when you turn the lights on

the other one allows you to change the brightness with the dash switch

not all aftermarket radios have one or both, so chances are that one or both wires will remain bare.

 

Ok, I decided to leave the positive dimmer wire capped off.

thanks,

JeffA