Car Stereo Wiring Guide

Manufacturers have made connecting a car stereo to an wiring harness relatively easy with color coded wires. In the table below, we show what those wires do and what the colors mean.

Wire Color Legend

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	Wire Color	Polarity	Function
	Yellow	+	Constant 12 volt power source regardless of key position.
	Red	+	Accessory 12 volt power source requires turning of the key position.
	Ground	-	Chassis ground.
	Orange	+	Illumination wire, provides 0 volts when lights are off and 12 volts when the vehicle exterior lights are on.
	Orange / White stripe	+	Dimmer wire, provides 0 - 12 volts from the vehicle and is adjustable with interior light dimmer control.
	Blue	+	Power antenna, provides 12 volts from the receiver when the FM or AM radio is being used. Turns off on any other source.
	Blue / White stripe	+	Amplifier turn on, provides 12 volts from the receiver when receiver is turned on.
	Brown	+	Audio Mute (Not common and not used in most applications).
	Light Green	-	Parking brake, vehicle provides a ground signal when parking brake is pulled up.
	Light Violet	+	Reverse trigger (+12 volts when vehicle is placed in reverse)
	Pink	+	V.S.S. - Vehicle speed sense (PWM signal / square wave)