Help with wires Please! Not a commodore lol

[MG's VH Wag]

Hi guys. I am putting a CD player in my girlfriends 89 pulsar and i have a problem with the wires. i have sussed out which wire is positive/ constant etc. My problem is with the speakers there is only 1 wire coming out of the back of the old head unit for each speaker. So all up there are 7 wires comin out the back, ones the positive, ones the constant, ones the ground and 4 are for the 4 speakers. So when i hook up the new headunit do i just run for example the FL- and FL+ into the FL speaker wire?

Any help would be much appreciated. let me know if you want it explained any better.

Cheers!

[SweetWagon]

Hi guys. I am putting a CD player in my girlfriends 89 pulsar and i have a problem with the wires. i have sussed out which wire is positive/ constant etc. My problem is with the speakers there is only 1 wire coming out of the back of the old head unit for each speaker. So all up there are 7 wires comin out the back, ones the positive, ones the constant, ones the ground and 4 are for the 4 speakers. So when i hook up the new headunit do i just run for example the FL- and FL+ into the FL speaker wire?

Any help would be much appreciated. let me know if you want it explained any better.

Cheers!

You will need to run new speaker wire to each speaker to suit the new deck

[holdenboy]

Yep, do not connect speaker wires together. Im surprised it has old "common earth" speaker wiring in it being an 89 model, but yeah.......you'll need to run new wiring to each speaker.

[MG's VH Wag]

Thanks guys

Well i don't think it has the earth wire i just assumed lol, i was just gonna run another earth wire. It has the positive, constant and the 4 speaker wires. I'm not sure what the last wire is but when i unplug it the radio still plays but only to about a quarter of the volume.

Does anyone know what this wire is?

[holdenboy]

Nope, no idea what the other wire is, just run new wiring altogether.....youre going to the trouble of running 1 wire to each speaker, its no more work to run 2

[jaisvz]

hmm, 89 model. common earth. doesn't sound likely.
are you sure the original head unit is 4 chan?

4 speaker wires... maybe 2 channels?

for best result, i would just re wire all speaker wiring.

[Ryan.mate]

pull the panels off and find out which colours are what. like on the old speakers

[ryno_vrx]

run your speakers off of a amp lad just as much work as running new wiring to the head deck if not easier and you'll get better sound

[holdenboy]

run your speakers off of a amp lad just as much work as running new wiring to the head deck if not easier and you'll get better sound

What??????

Lets see:

Work needed to install an amplifier:
* Run power cable from battery to amp
* Run RCA cables from head-unit to amp
* Install earth cable from amp to ground
* Run 4 x speaker cables from amp to each speaker

Costs: Wiring kit - $60-$70, Amplifier - $100-$200


Work needed to run new speaker wiring:
* Run 4 x speaker cables from head-unit to each speaker.

Costs: 15-20m of speaker wire - $10-$15



Seriously, WTF? yes, he will get better sound...but just as much work, if not easier? NO

[MG's VH Wag]

pull the panels off and find out which colours are what. like on the old speakers

Yeah done that i really wouldn't have a clue what the go is i pulled out the two front speakers which had two wires running to each and the colour of those wires do not match any of the wires coming out the back of the radio. There are 4 speaker wires that come out and each of those wires run to each speaker, i unplugged them one at a time and as i would unplug one wire one speaker would stop working then plug it back up the speaker would work, unplug the next wire and the next speaker would stop working and so on.

It is very weird it seems like the wire splits into two somewhere along the line. cause there are 4 speakers but only 4 speaker wires instead of 8

I think i will just run new wires all together it will save alot of confusion lol.

[MG's VH Wag]

What??????

Lets see:

Work needed to install an amplifier:
* Run power cable from battery to amp
* Run RCA cables from head-unit to amp
* Install earth cable from amp to ground
* Run 4 x speaker cables from amp to each speaker

Costs: Wiring kit - $60-$70, Amplifier - $100-$200


Work needed to run new speaker wiring:
* Run 4 x speaker cables from head-unit to each speaker.

Costs: 15-20m of speaker wire - $10-$15



Seriously, WTF? yes, he will get better sound...but just as much work, if not easier? NO

haha yeah true, also its my girlfriends car i'd rather spend that money on my own lol.

[holdenboy]

Whats going is the speakers / head-unit uses a system called "common earth", this means each speaker has the negative wire running to earth, whereas the positive wire runs to the head-unit. This was the "norm" in the 70s and early-mid 80s. But by the late 80s most cars switched to a "rare earth" (well, atleast thats what i think its called) setup which results in better sound, havent looked back since. Even the VNs had this setup, so i amazed Nissan stayed with a common earth setup in 1989.

Anyway, run new wiring.......i think ive mentioned that already?

[MG's VH Wag]

Oh i see it all makes sense now. Yes i guess my best bet is to run some new wiring, shouldn't be too hard these cars aren't very complicated, took me like 2 mins to pull out the old radio it was so easy.

Thanks for the help

[ryno_vrx]

What??????

Lets see:

Work needed to install an amplifier:
* Run power cable from battery to amp
* Run RCA cables from head-unit to amp
* Install earth cable from amp to ground
* Run 4 x speaker cables from amp to each speaker

Costs: Wiring kit - $60-$70, Amplifier - $100-$200


Work needed to run new speaker wiring:
* Run 4 x speaker cables from head-unit to each speaker.

Costs: 15-20m of speaker wire - $10-$15



Seriously, WTF? yes, he will get better sound...but just as much work, if not easier? NO

well when you say it like that it sounds like a lot of work but installing a cheap 4 channel amp and running wires is piss easy, but maybe thats just me cause i hate dealing with head decks for some reason, besides $200's isnt much for a better sound

[MG's VH Wag]

well when you say it like that it sounds like a lot of work but installing a cheap 4 channel amp and running wires is piss easy, but maybe thats just me cause i hate dealing with head decks for some reason, besides $200's isnt much for a better sound

yeah true but again its my girlfriends car she doesn't really care how good it sounds aslong as its got a cd player and for her $200 is alot just to spend on car audio (poor like many other uni students lol)

[ryno_vrx]

thats fair enough lad

[ari666]

Yeah done that i really wouldn't have a clue what the go is i pulled out the two front speakers which had two wires running to each and the colour of those wires do not match any of the wires coming out the back of the radio.

you may find a noise supressor fitted to early nissans. i only know location on 89 and up R32's. its a round alloy thing about the size of a cd around and two inches thick. and located under the parcel shelf. a white plug in it with around 11 wires. the problem is a green wire will go in, but a pink wire will come out. no idea why they changed colours. anyway, if fitting any aftermarket sound systems you will need to bypass the supressor. or else do as suggested and run new wires. much easier to run wires.

p.s. 89 model nissan DO NOT run a shared earth. last jap car to have that was around the 60's

[MG's VH Wag]

Ok guys i have the speakers all wired up and ready to go. When i tested the cd player to see if it worked i had the speaker wires connected and i just held the positive and constant wires together with my hands and it all worked fine. I soldered the wires together and it did not work. Anyone have any idea what could have happened? I checked and i didn't solder the wrong wires together.

But my plan now is to run new positive and constant wire. I know i can hook the constant wires up in the fuse box but how do i go about running a positive wire? Do i just run it straight to the battery?

Cheers!

[StoneX]

p.s. 89 model nissan DO NOT run a shared earth. last jap car to have that was around the 60's

1989 Nissan Pulsar N13 has common ground speaker wiring. Stop giving out incorrect information, it confuses people who don't know any better.

But my plan now is to run new positive and constant wire. I know i can hook the constant wires up in the fuse box but how do i go about running a positive wire? Do i just run it straight to the battery?

Yes, straight to the battery but put a 10-15A fuse near the battery.

[MG's VH Wag]

Yeah i thought so i didn't wanna argue with that guy because i knew that it had common ground wiring cause i saw it with my own eyes lol.

Ok thanks mate, does the constant wire switch the cd player on and off when you turn the car on and off?

Thanks!

[StoneX]

No, the constant wire is constant, so it gives the unit power to store settings and time even when the key is not in the ignition.

The ingnition/accessory wire is the one that turns it on/off with the car.

[MG's VH Wag]

Ok i have the positive wire hooked up and the ACC wire going to the cigarette lighter in the fuse box but it still doesn't store the settings. Does anyone know what that could be?

also i went and bought another headunit because the one i was putting in i accidentally let the positive wire touch the metal outside of the unit and it didn't work after that, wasn't very happy but it was my fault for not disconnecting the battery. Have i fried something in it? could it be repaired.

Cheers!

[ryno_vrx]

check the fuses in the back of the head deck i've blown them a few times lol doing silly mistakes

[MG's VH Wag]

Nah the fuse was the first thing i checked and its fine.

[holdenboy]

Yeah i'd say it will either be the fuse in the cars fusebox, or the fuse on the back of the unit.....rarely ever does a boo-boo like that permanently damage a head-unit.

Back to your wiring, so you have the yellow wire connecting to a wire that runs to the battery and the red wire connecting to the cig. lighter wiring?

Maybe you should do yourself a favour (and save a heap of time) by getting yourself a test light. They cost about $5.00 from places like SCA or Autobarn. This will tell you what wire turns on with the accessories (goes to red wire) and what wire is constant power (goes to yellow wire), it will also tell you if any power cables you ran have power going to them.