BigBadGTA

I have a 1988 Trans Am GTA and I just bought a new head unit and HD tuner for it. Now, I have some questions on how to wire it together. This is my first install of anything car audio, and I want it done right. Now the car had a pioneer head unit in it with an aftermarket harness plugged into the factory. so now, im going to take apart that harness and reuse it so I don't have to buy another one. Now im going to explain this as best as i can. I bought this head unit: Link
and this hd tuner: Link

Now What I want to know is can I hook them both up to draw power from the same yellow cable in the harness? and also, my new radio has a fuse built into it, and the old one had it wired in the harness. So, im assuming that the new radio doesn't need this fuse wired in right? Thanks alot, if you need me to clarify it any more id be glad to.

baliva1

I've never put in an HD radio, but used to do a lot of car audio years ago. My assumption was that the HD tuner was the same as a satelite tuner, but my sat tuner doesnt have a "power" hook up - power comes through the deck (kenwood in my case). Thee are a few options, I would say that yes, you can hook both up into the same power wire, it never hurts to keep a fuse, it would help protect your tuner that doesn't have it's own fuse protection built in. These tuners really dont use much power at all so i doubt you will run into any problems with it blowing, unless there is a short happening. This being said, if the inline fuse is creating a problem you can probably remove it - you'll still be protected by the fuse box. Now, if you get everything hooked up and you can turn the radio on with the car off and the key out you are using the wrong power wire - there are 2, a switched and a constant (switched for powering the stereo, constant for keeping the clock and your presets etc). From the sounds of your inline fuse, i believe you are using the right one. IF however you can turn that radio on when your key is out of the car, you have a problem because the HD tuner likely will never shut off and it will run your battery down. Just be sure that when you hook everything up that the radio in the car doesnt turn on with the key out.

Another option is dependant on where you are putting the tuner....if you put it under the seat you can always patch in with any "switched" accessory cable - meaning a power wire that runs an accessory when the vehicle is running....power seat wouldnt work, again, it would always be on so you'd run your battery down constantly running the tuner.

Last option would be if there is an "accessory", "remote" or power antenna wire coming out of the harness (the sony Harness) - this would be perfect to hook the tuner up to, it only gets power when the radio is on (not the car).

There is my 2 cents - hopefully this helps out and I didnt confuse you more. Long and short, yes you can likely patch it in with no problems, there are several ways to do this.

BigBadGTA

thanks alot for your help. Today I crimped together the harness and put the head unit in the car because the hd tuner is on back order. (I got an awesome deal from Crutchfeild, I bought the deck, and I got the HD tuner for only $9.) But I put it in and it sounds absolutely awesome, and it works perfectly. And the sony harness does have a blue power antenna wire so thats what I will use. I was going to put it under the dash on the passenger side, do you think it will fit? thanks for all of your help.

BigBadGTA

here check this out im excited, it looks so good, it looks stock! oh i have another question for you, is there some way to wire the deck so that the lighted buttons don't come on unless i turn the headlights on? anyway, i love it.

this is a pic i just took a sec ago, i didn't put the trim or anything back on because the car is in for the winter, and im waiting till i get that tuner to reassemble.

mtwlkn122

Nice install. Looks good. I like the way it matches the cars interior lights. I personally have a real nice alpine unit with bluetooth, hd radio, and satilight radio in it. Only option i didnt hook up was the hd radio because i dont listin to regular radio due to the satilight radio. As for wiring it so the buttons dont come on...thats a negative on that one. It COULD be possible that your radio has a build in feature to turn them off. My alpine has a build in dimmer control so when you turn the head lights on it dims the buttons and scroll **** light. That feature i DID have to wire as part of the harness. I love that feature...ive had alot of radios in the past which were very bright and distracting at night.

BigBadGTA

well I just looked at the owners manual to the antenna and there is a a black ground, a yellow power cable and a blue Antenna Rem coming out of the antenna so what do I do? do I connect the antenna rem on the antenna and the sony harness, then connect the yellow power cable to the one that I have the head unit connected to already?