Need help identifying car stereo connector - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Lomax
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2018, 11:32:06 am
content: Helping a friend rewire his boat - he's got a Pioneer car stereo with a very flimsy (and too short) wiring harness that needs to be replaced, but I've only been able to find pre-populated connectors which all have very short wires. Due to the location of the car stereo I need to either extend the wires on a ready made harness, or find a source for housings and crimp contacts and make my own (preferable). But who makes these connectors, and what are they called!? It appears to have 14 signal positions and two chunkier power positions top & bottom, with another eight larger positions in the middle?

author: Lomax
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2018, 11:39:37 am
content: The more I look into car stereo harness multi-connectors, the more I get the impression that their nature is a jealously guarded secret... Is it really that profitable to hide this information?

author: drussell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2018, 01:11:47 pm
content: Car stereo connectors used to typically use standard, off-the shelf connectors, which made it easy to make new harnesses, adapters to plug multiple different head units into a car easily, etc.. Unfortunately, over the years they have mostly gone to custom versions, likely to shave a few cents off the cost, just like everything these days, it seems.Those are most likely based on a Molex / TE / AMP / Hirose design but I don't see any 14+2 versions in any of their standard catalog items, so it is probably a custom version.The nice thing is, you DO have a housing! The best thing to do is pull one of each sized contact, figure out whatthoseare, especially since even similar contacts will usually fit in another manufacturer's similar housing. Just buy the contacts, make your own cable harness, and stick them in the housing you have.I keep a nice bin of all sorts of random contacts from previous projects and always buy extra pins and contacts when I buy them for something just so that I have extras for repairing and modifying other connectors. I'm sure I could find something that would fit and clip into that housing for your application in my stash box.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 12, 2018, 01:17:34 pm
content: Quote from: Lomax on September 12, 2018, 11:32:06 amBack in the 90's I did my share of car stereo installations for side money. All the harnesses are too short. They are made to be wired to the harnesses with the radio. Just add wire and waterproof the connections. Hopefully, the boat has a waterproof housing for the stereo. If not, he should probably think about getting one.

author: Lomax
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2018, 03:03:04 pm
content: Thanks guys. The question on my mind is "if these are secret custom parts, then where the hell do all the Wan-Lung-Hosupplierscowboys get the contacts for the laughable 0.0000002mm2harnesses they flog on eBay?" The one that's there appears to be identical to the harness below, apart from the ISO plug having been cut, and the flimsy wires extended with (non-waterproof) crimp butt splices. Yes, that'stwo splices per lead, despite the leads being no more than 40cm long:Unsurprisingly, several connections are unreliable, and the harness sometimes needs to be wiggled around for the stereo to work (yes, really). Hence my involvement...

author: Lomax
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2018, 03:13:13 pm
content: I would use tinned 0.5mm2wire (of the correct colours) for the signal wires, and tinned 1.5mm2for the positive & negative feed. Then either solder and glue-lined heatshrink to the existing wiring, or mount a 10 position terminal block and join them up there. The annoying thing is that the existing wiring in the boat is rather short; I only have about 10cm to work with on many of them. Hence the need for a Pioneer harness with longer wires.Edit:I'll make sure to get a photo of what's there, for your amusement

author: drussell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2018, 05:03:22 pm
content: Solder and heat-shrink is my preferred method for car stereo wiring.

author: Lomax
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2018, 05:31:07 pm
content: Mission accomplished. Here's a before and after, followed by a picture of the excised tumour:Quote from: drussell on September 12, 2018, 05:03:22 pmI opted for a terminal block to make it easier to switch to another brand/model stereo in the future. The existing wiring is so short that I think another "rewire" would be a real struggle. All cables were ferruled, heatshrinked and labelled.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2018, 07:39:46 pm
content: I don't really like screw terminal blocks in an automotive setting

author: Lomax
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2018, 08:22:59 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on September 19, 2018, 07:39:46 pmMe neither, but what's a man to do; solder is out, not only due to cramped space (if you had seen the 16x20cm aperture through which this was done, you would understand, I had to work either one handed with limited visibility, or two handed by feel only), but also because it would foul a precious cm or two of the already absurdly short wiring (which cannot be replaced), thus rendering any future changes of stereo (and connector) even more acrobatic. Ring terminals would have been my choice, but there's not quite enough room to operate the crimping tool inside the cabinet. I also considered fitting a pair of "ISO" connectors, as are found in many (most?) modern cars, but baulked at the price for housings and terminals, and it would have been a major struggle to crimp the terminals on.