gmb2000

I have a Kenwood KDC-X794 radio. I am going to wire it to the scosche harness. My question is that on the kenwood wire harness there is a orange/white wire. Do I connect it to the solid orange wire or the orange/white wire on the scosche kit? Help please.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

DO NOT CONNECT any orange wires! tape them up and leave them alone. better yet, de-pin the wires from the harness and throw away.

gmb2000

Why would I not use the orange wire?

amamdani15

from what i remember, the orange with stripe is connected to your dimmer switch and the solid orange turns on with your parking lights but you have no control over the light intensity. i used the solid orange to connect to my tachometer so the it would illuminate when my parking lights turned on. the orange with stripe wire was opposite of the dimmer for some reason (as i turned the dimmer higher, the light on the tach would get closer to off...and when i turned down the dimmer the light on the tachometer would get brighter lmao).

ive heard ppl having problems, sayig that it burnt out some fuse in their cluster that they had to solder with some wire but ive had no problems as of yet. worst case senario you would have to open up the cluster and solder in a piece of wire, which i would not mind doing

amamdani15

i dont think i answered your question tho.

if i were you i would connect it to the orange with white wire and use the dimmer to test it out before i buttoned everything up. if you like how it works then you're good to go. or else hook the wire to the solid orange wire and see if you like that.

gmb2000

I dont know if I really need to hook that up. Its not important to dim the lights on the radio. You maybe right about that getting shorted out. I do plan on soldering my wires. Any tips on soldering?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

i like to twist the wires together, solder, then cover with shrink tubing (home depot has it). a 30w iron is recommended to get it hot enough for a good connection. stay away from those orange wires because if they are hooked up wrong, you can blow out all your dash and gauge lights. if you really want to dim the deck down, you can do it manually from the settings.

gmb2000

What type of soldering metal should I use? Do I just tape off the orange wires off?

gmb2000

What size shrink tubing should I get?

amamdani15

i use wire nuts, twist them together and put the nut on. i have never had an issue and i have been doing this for years. it good so that if you need to replace the radio or take it out before you sell it, its really easy to take apart.

i have friends that solder their connections but the audio quality is not any better.

Stock 99

I just finished doing mine. Soldering it together..

If you do solder get silver solder and flux paste

- flux both wires
- tin both wires
- hold the 2 wires together and apply heat until the solder melts.
- handle gently for the first 30 seconds