Radio install: red wire, red with white stripe wire question 69 Skylark

Discussion in 'Sparky's corner' started by daveyt, Aug 31, 2020.

  1. daveyt

    daveyt Member

    Hi everyone, I looked around the forum for the answer but couldn't find it so here I am. I'm installing an aftermarket radio and the original radio had a red wire, black wire, and a red wire with a white stripe going down it, hooked into some kind of fuse box. What's the difference in the 2 red wires? 69 Buick Skylark Custom.

    Thanks in advance

    Dave
     
  2. twood

    twood Active Member

    Take a test light and check to see if the red/white is all time power and the red is ignition power....or the opposite
     
    daveyt likes this.
  3. jaye

    jaye Well-Known Member

    On my 69 I had an orange wire that powered the radio, just unplugged it
     
  4. twood

    twood Active Member

    On my 69 I had a red that was ignition power and an orange that was all time power that I used for memory upkeep. Didn't know if they were from original radio, but went with it.
     
    daveyt likes this.
  5. daveyt

    daveyt Member

    On closer inspection, those colored wires were not matched to the colors plugged into the fuse box under the dash. So here's my story!...

    Bought a pair of Rockford Fosgate 6x9's, a Sony head unit (guy said that was a mistake lol), and had some 15" Carvin PA speakers laying around to use as subwoofers and went looking for install deals. The kid said don't use those 15" Carvin PA speakers. OK. So I kid you not, other dude said for 1 400w amp, 2 15" speakers, a box to house them, and the install -which he said on a classic could be an issue- MY ASS IT WOULD would cost $1700 and I'd have to leave the car for 3 days.

    BYE

    Over the next 2 weeks I put in 6 gauge wire from the battery to the amp with the appropriate fuse at the battery, ran all the wire under the seats to the trunk and used my 15" Carvin PA speakers. Installed the head unit. NO POWER to the head. Disappointing! Came on here and got your advice. Couldn't figure it out.

    SO

    Waited 45 minutes for a guy to tell me 2 wires were not matched to the correct colors, went home and corrected it, and it came to life! Then died. Had to fucking disassemble to glove compartment AGAIN and couldn't figure out the new problem. Drove back to the audio place again and they told me, sorry, too busy, SO I drove to the fucking hood and guy told me he'd look at it (THANK YOU) and got it working (there was a noise suppressor/fuse unit between the fuse box under the dash and the head unit that, unbeknownst to me, had just failed, so he cut it loose.) He asked for $20 and I paid him $30 for his help, plus he was a nice guy and gave me his time as a walk-in. BTW he made the worst connection ever to feed power to my amp (which was acting up when I got home) appears he cut of 2 inches of insulation off and just twirled it onto the other wire and just wrapped some electrical tape over the savagery lol.

    So I parked in a grocery store parking lot in a secluded corner and got to work on assembling everything back to the glove compartment and getting power to that amp, and playing with the amp settings to get some balance in the cockpit. BLUETOOTH coming in loud and clear! No CD player but it has a USB drive that plays .wav files and all the rest. Pretty colors that fade into the next like a rainbow haha.

    Glad I did most of it myself but still just dumb enough not to get the whole job done by myself.

    Cranking up RUSH and SCORPIONS to test my settings

    Thanks for reading

    Dave
     
  6. jaye

    jaye Well-Known Member

    For my amp I went directly to the battery, there is a blue wire that attaches to the head unit’s power antenna wire. Or ignition on wire, which will power the amp on when you turn the stereo on. All my speakers went to the amp and RCA plugs from head unit to amp.
     

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