Wiring a stereo in

[powelly]

Once my car is back from the body shop one of the jobs to do is fit a stereo. My car has no stereo wiring at all, except that is for a random couple of red wires that went straight to the battery with no fuse, as I would prefer not to set fire to my car I need to ask where you would take the live feeds from to power a stereo, basically all I need is a permanent live and an ignition live, the earth is easy as i`ll just drill a hole and use a self tapper and ring terminal somewhere on the body.

[powelly]

Got the harness that plugs in to the special equipment socket in the glovebox, came from 001 mobile in Hersham, £14.95

[Royalratch]

You can get an adpater that makes old E30 wiring compatible with all modern units - just in case anyone has ever wanted to get modern gear, you don't need to re-wire it (like I did).

[powelly]

Thats exactly what I have bought, it terminates in a modern conventional ISO plug, it also has provision for speakers although these are just tails. Once I pick it up i`ll take a pic and post it on here, it might help someone.

[tomtomiS]

Thats exactly what I have bought, it terminates in a modern conventional ISO plug, it also has provision for speakers although these are just tails. Once I pick it up i`ll take a pic and post it on here, it might help someone.

i'm keen to see what quality it is. i like the idea that it plugs straight behind glovebox, i hate the fact i had to cut the wire harness on my alpine when i fitted it even tho nobody else will see it i know that it's been cut and joined again ( i did a decent job with neat soldering and shrink wrap over the top, but thats not the point)

[pictonroad]

Got the harness that plugs in to the special equipment socket in the glovebox, came from 001 mobile in Hersham, £14.95

Contact details please,

I need something like this, my stereo 'wiring' was carried out by some sort of erratic monkey like creature with 3 thumbs and a pair of scissors.

[mybmw6]

Got the harness that plugs in to the special equipment socket in the glovebox, came from 001 mobile in Hersham, £14.95

Contact details please,

I need something like this, my stereo 'wiring' was carried out by some sort of erratic monkey like creature with 3 thumbs and a pair of scissors.

You forgot to mention the monkey creatures' wings... That's the only way I can think, it was able to get all the way over here to my car

[powelly]

001 Mobile Hersham 01932 253001, Cartronics (Formerly Paula Marks Car Radio) in Byfleet have one in stock, call them on 01932 354350.

Must be someone more local to you though that stocks them, I'm going to go collect it tomorrow, I'll take a photo and let you all know who it`s made by, you might be able to source one locally then.

[powelly]

Just picked the ISO lead, personally I think the quality looks very good, all the wires from the connector blocks are run through some nice heavy duty plastic sheath to protect and the wires look as good as any OE stereo wiring I have come across.



The plug on the far left is for speakers, i`ll probably do away with that though
the ISO plug is a one piece moulded plug to accept the two ISO plugs you`ll find ony any new car stereo and the white plug is I assume what plugs in to the socket behind the glove box, the power side of the ISO plug has, IGN+, permanent +, earth and an illumination live.

[Estoril-5]

what is the white connector and the thin black connector??

[Royalratch]

he said what does what buddy.

The plug on the far left is for speakers, the ISO plug is a one piece moulded plug to accept the two ISO plugs you`ll find ony any new car stereo and the white plug is I assume what plugs in to the socket behind the glove box.

I'm not sure that white plug is shaped to fit any accessory panel socket I've seen. Could be wrong. Will you let us know if it works?

[powelly]

The thin black connector is speakers, I plan to chop this off, i`ll run new speaker cables and solder them direct to the speaker tails on the ISO plug, the white connector is I hope what plugs in to the Special equipment socket.

[Royalratch]

The power side of the ISO plug has, IGN+, permanent +, earth and an illumination live.

If you wanted your head unit backlights to come on with your hedlamps (but with the head unit switched off), which of the above would you give a feed and where would you take the feed from?

Cheers again.

[powelly]

If it was me i`d take it from the switched live to the headlight relay, basically the positive feed from the headlight switch to relay. Surely the circuitry in the head unit would dictate whether or not the back lights came on with the head unit turned off.

[Royalratch]

I just checked my accessory panel and the there is a space for that White connector - only one place for it.

Regarding the back lights, I have 2 cars and the smae headunit in both so I know they have this. Just wired in worng on this one.

[Brianmoooore]

basically the positive feed from the headlight switch to relay. .

There isn't one - the headlamp relay is energised by the headlamp switch earthing it.

[Brianmoooore]

The connector on the accesories socket provides earth, permanent live for radio memory, ignition switched 12V+, and a supply for panel lights, that provides 12 volts when the headlamp switch is in position 1 or 2.

[powelly]

powelly wrote:
basically the positive feed from the headlight switch to relay. .
There isn't one - the headlamp relay is energised by the headlamp switch earthing it.
I was just guessing, never had an E30 before, I was just thinking back to some cars I have had in the past.

[Brianmoooore]

never had an E30 before, I was just thinking back to some cars I have had in the past

Exactly! You've moved on to BMW now. Not as other makes.

[powelly]

You are quite right, seems I have a fair bit to learn about the electrics, can't wait to get the car back so I can crack on, i'll check straight away if the loom fits the SE socket, the label on the box says it;s for BMW 3 series 1991 on.

[Royalratch]

The connector on the accesories socket provides earth, permanent live for radio memory, ignition switched 12V+, and a supply for panel lights, that provides 12 volts when the headlamp switch is in position 1 or 2.

So this lead should illuminate the head unit panel when the lights are switched on? I've ordered the same loom as above so thanks for that.

[pictonroad]

Where EXACTLY is this socket "at the back of the glovebox" please?

J

[Brianmoooore]

Where EXACTLY is this socket "at the back of the glovebox" please?

The largely empty one in the back left corner.
You can't miss it, once you taken the panel above the glovebox off.

[Royalratch]

Hello peeps. Powelly, hope you don't mind me barging in but I think this will help all.

I've ordered the below part on Powellys reccoemmndation - thanks bud.



I started taking apart all the old wiring and found that some of the power feeds for the head unit were coming off
the hazard light - am I correct in assuming this was a bodge by the previous owner?



Also, I traced 2 speaker wires back to a device that was above the accessories panel and looks like some kind of
factory fitted alarm stereo thing. Why are there speaker wires coming from this?



Basically, wiring an ISO stereo in with powellys loom seems very simple but now I've seen how my original Stereo was wired I'm bot sure.

[Brianmoooore]

Fairly common for cowboys take a power feed from a hazard light switch, as everyone knows it has a permanent live feed.
Never seen anything like your Philips box. Maybe it detects speakers being disconnected from the radio and triggers the alarm?

[Royalratch]

It ticks and tocks (quartz) and it's for sure something to do with an alarm. Your idea that it is an anti-theft devise is very smart tho!

Also, it looks like it was meant to fit there, from factory.

Weird.

So the stereo is bodged? Where should the feed be coming from assuming you don't have the retrofit loom as above?

[Brianmoooore]

Radio power feed is from the accessories socket, via a small loom that all E30s seem to have come with, with the four pin stepped plug on the end. Think the other end was just plain wires, to be connected to the radio by whatever means.

[Royalratch]

That's what Powelly has found. My stereo wasn't wired in that way. I've finished guttting all the wiring and will now install from fresh soon as I get's my loom.

I ordered my loom from these guys:
http://www.bluespot.co.uk/install/show_model.asp?id=23

You need the one below. It's the same as powellys and it's £10 INC postage!


Will post pix!

Cheers all.

[powelly]

Blimey, I paid £15 for mine, still haven't got my car back yet so still haven't had chance totry the loom out.

Am I correct in thinking that the stepped plug, plugs in to the white socket thingy in the glove box?????

[Royalratch]

That's correct. You can see it in one of the pix I uploaded. Plug and play!

Just drop the glovebox down, remove the black panle to the left and behind that is a pabel of sockets.
There's only one place for the stepped White plug to go - you'll see it right away.

Then just wire in speakers into the ISO end and the aerial will have it'w own plug in the head unit.

That's an awesome find powelly - I was getting ready for hours of wiring!

[powelly]

Excellent, I heard from the bodyshop at the weekend, they said my car would be ready this week, hopefully i`ll get the new interior in at the weekend and then I can start on putting the stereo in.

[Conrad]

I assume the pin assignment on Blaupunkt stereo's is the same as every other ISO connector?

I.e. I have a JVC head unit, this will surely work with that wiring harness regardless of it being made by/for "blaupunkt"?

I'll have a look at my E30 later on and see what sort of mess is behind the glove box... Hopefully the socket is there unmolested.

All I have in the DIN socket are stripped speaker cables dangling down... No power cables as such so maybe I got very lucky?

Cheers

Con

[Royalratch]

ISO is the standard and all head units that are ISO (which is all of them these days) are configured the same way.

The difference is at the car end but as we all have E30's it's cool.

Where head units still differ is with extra connectors like iPod / CD changers etc. They are still unique to each manufacturer.

[Conrad]

Cool, I just remember in the past I had a problem with a wiring harness and I had to swap the yellow and red's round (on a Kenwood), but the Kenwood wiring harness gave you the ability to do this via bullet connectors.

Has anyone actually seen an E30 with standard stereo wiring left intact? would be interesting to see!

Cheers,

Con

[Royalratch]

Was it an ISO adapter or an complete Car to ISO loom?

The above goes from the dedicated panel from assigned by BMW for radio wiring (it's just a power feed to be honest) to an ISO plug. Some ISO plug are just wires on the other end designed to fiddled into old school wiring.

That's what I want to avoid.