In over my head : Pioneer AVIC-X950BH wiring questions!

[mclaughlin006]

Greetings all, thanks for reading my thread.

I'm gutting and redoing my 98 tahoe, inside and out. Part of this was installing a double din head unit with GPS and all the bells and whistles. After reading loads of reviews, the head unit with the most features I wanted in my price range was the Pioneer X950.

Fastforward: I got my double din kit from TheDetailSS, and I have all of that completed. Everything is ready to go, HVAC has been moved, everything fits nicely, and he dash bezel is in place (just needs sanded and painting at this point). I'm feeling pretty good as I got the wiring harness with my double din kit, and I'd seen some videos showing people easily matching color to color, then I actually look at the wiring harness that came with my head unit.... uh oh.

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Here's the lovely wiring harness that came with my double din kit, fits like a glove on the existing wiring inside the Tahoe.

Now, to what came with the unit:

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What in the world do I do with this!? The wires from the head unit's harness are labeled, and I have the following:

1. Rear Output
2. Front Output
3. Subwoofer Output
4. Audio Input
5. Rear Monitor Output X 2 (no rear monitors, so no need for these)
6. Rear View Camera In (will make use of this later when I pick up a rear view camera)

Also, there is another harness for GPS and rear camera functions:

1. Car Speed Signal Input
2. Reverse Gear Signal Input
3. Parking Break (would love to know how to bypass this)
4. System Remote Control

So, as you can see, the ends of the head unit harness look like RCA jacks, kinda. What do I do to get this wired up? I probably should have gotten this installed, but I was trying to do as much of the work to my baby myself.

Thanks for any help!

Mike

 

[kamokevin]

What in the world do I do with this!? The wires from the head unit's harness are labeled, and I have the following:

1. Rear Output
Plug in your RCA's from your amp that powers your rear speakers (if you have an amp)
2. Front Output
Plug in your RCA's from your amp that powers your front speakers (if you have an amp)
3. Subwoofer Output
Plug in your RCA's from your amp that powers your subwoofers (if you have one)
4. Audio Input
Not sure, maybe the audio input from something like an xbox?
5. Rear Monitor Output X 2 (no rear monitors, so no need for these)
Don't worry about it, cut them off if you need the room and know you'll never use them
6. Rear View Camera In (will make use of this later when I pick up a rear view camera)
Leave these be for now

Also, there is another harness for GPS and rear camera functions:

1. Car Speed Signal Input
Don't know if this is applicable to our trucks, may affect GPS function
2. Reverse Gear Signal Input
Not sure, hook it up to the reverse lights?
3. Parking Break (would love to know how to bypass this)
I know it can be done, but not sure how. Seems Pioneer is making it harder and harder to bypass
4. System Remote Control
Switched 12V? Not sure

So, as you can see, the ends of the head unit harness look like RCA jacks, kinda. What do I do to get this wired up? I probably should have gotten this installed, but I was trying to do as much of the work to my baby myself.

Thanks for any help!

Mike

Answers are bolded above

 

[eiriktveiten]

for the parking brake wire, on most units you can run a switch to that wire and ground the other end. U may have to flip the switch when u want to use the video feature. Dont cut any of those rcas tho, if they touch anything grounded in the dash it could cause noise.

 

[ChrisAU]

You are missing the main harness for the head unit. Those units have two, look at the back of the unit there will be plug you don't have accounted for. I've installed many of those units.

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[ChrisAU]

You should have this, or need to get one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PIONEER-AVI...3848?pt=US_Wire_Harnesses&hash=item258084e868

 

[mclaughlin006]

First of all, thanks for all of the quick responses!

@kamokevin: No amp here, it's just the way it came in 1998. Wishing I had one now, sure would make things easier to just be able to plug in RCAs

@eirik: Video won't be an issue as the only thing I plan to use it for is GPS and normal radio/music functions. What else does the parking break switch affect?

@ChrisAU: I should have taken a picture of it last night, but here is the other wiring harness:

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I'm seeing a lot of matching colors, here! This will sound stupid to you, because it is, but I just assumed the larger one was the main harness... I really know NOTHING about car audio...
The only thing I see that doesn't match up is the blue wire off the wiring harness that came with my double din kit. I see the packaging says it's for a power antenna/factory amp remote turn on. What is this for, and how should I address it? There IS a blue wire on the pioneer harness, it's labeled System Remote Control, but it's blue with a white stripe up it, while the one on the kit harness does not have that.

Thanks again for all the help!

What is that blue box in the first picture you posted? I definitely don't have one of those.

 

[ChrisAU]

That blue box was my steering wheel control module when I was installing one of those in my 2007 Tahoe. That blue wire is just a wire you would use to tie in the remote wire for an amplifier if you had one rather than rigging one into a key-on accessory fuse or wire.

 

[mclaughlin006]

Chris, you're making it difficult for me to dislike all Auburn fans...

Seriously, thank you so much for your help. This reverse signal input and car speed signal input: what do I hook these up to? Are they even necessary? (I'm sure the reverse one will be when I pop in the rear camera)

Also, what do you do with the parking brake wire? It just says its required by law, but that's something that'd never come up, I'd imagine. It was mentioned earlier to switch the wire and ground the other end. How/what do I do to accomplish this?

 

[ChrisAU]

Search YouTube for AVIC parking brake wire bypass. It's simple and I've done it on all of mine. And yeah the reverse signal input is for the rear view camera to know to turn on; I've always wired them to the reverse light positive wire. The speed signal wire is one you will have to dig for; I always found a specific wire by searching google long and hard haha. It's for the GPS to work properly.

 

[mclaughlin006]

Chris,

Thanks for the search terms, they actually helped a ton. Instantly found the parking break bypass, and you're correct on it being really easy/ Found the reverse signal wire and a couple of solid ideas on the speed signal wire.

Another question, however. The only thing that will be hooked up that RCA wiring harness is the bypass loop, with a rear view camera coming soon. Can i just put that in the dash as is, or do I need to wrap the RCA and wires in something to prevent interference or other issues?

Thanks again!