Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 09:51:15 -0400
Reply-To: Bill Knight <bill.knight@USA.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Bill Knight <bill.knight@USA.NET>
Subject: Re: '97 VW Stereo Install Complete
In-Reply-To: <85256AE8.00461919.00@CDCLN08.LVS.DUPONT.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
That mystery wire is probably the diagnostic line. 97-98 VW
radios have this connection to the K-line pin on the
diagnostic connector. You can disregard this wire.
HOWEVER, your son must beware! There is an issue with
aftermarket radios being connected in these vehicles that
can cause the K-line to be shorted to 12v causing an
unsuspecting repair technician's diagnostic tool to be
blown! See a good write-up about this at:
http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/aftermarket-radio.html
Bill Knight
Raleigh, NC
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List
[mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of Jay L Snyder
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 9:30 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: '97 VW Stereo Install Complete
I finished installing the '97 VW stereo into my '85 camper
last night. I
thought I would supply some general insights to the results.
First of all,
it fits like a glove, looks stock and has an excellent
tuner, both AM and
FM. It is also capable of controlling a factory cd
changer. Crutchfield
sells a Clarion changer that works with this unit for $200.
The wiring is
a little work, but not difficult. The stereo came out of
my son's '97 K2
Golf. I was able to get the two wiring harnesses from a
local junk yard.
The speaker wires were pretty straight forward, because I
had already
re-wired the back speakers to get around the common ground
set-up my '85
had from the factory. The power harness took a little
detective work to ID
the wires, but with some help from some list members,
everything worked out
OK. The large red/white wire is hot all the time and the
brown is ground.
Gray/blue is for the "dimmer" instrument lighting and
another small
brown/red wire is the switched 12V. There was one mystery
wire, a small
brown/white wire which put out about a 0.5V when the stereo
was on. I
don't know what it is for. I know the K2 had the amplified
antenna. Maybe
it had something to do with that.
I have a switch in my dash (an extra rear-window defroster
switch) that I
use to control the switched power lead, rather than using
the ignition
feed. This way I can have keyless music. If you hot wire
the switched
lead (tie it together with the hot "memory" wire), the alarm
mode won't
work. (The blinking light only works when there is no
current to the
switched lead.) I guess if you didn't mind not having the
blinking alarm
light, you could hot wire both 12V leads together? I also
would guess if
someone stole it wired this way, the anti-theft lock out
would still work?
This unit does not have a clock. When it is off, it is
off--no display at
all.
Jay
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