(G) Fitting stereo head unit

My Uno handbook that came with the car seems to imply that fitting a stereo is really easy. I pushed out the panel underneath the fan knobs and was expecting to see some wiring there, but there's nothing.

What do I do? Do I have to literally wire EVERYTHING up from scratch? At the worst I was expecting to only need to wire the speakers etc. There also doesn't seem to be a fuse for a stereo on the fuse board?

Under the glove box area I can see one connecting wire, that isn't being used by anything. I don't know what it is. Looks like a simple power supply feed. Maybe it's something to do with a stereo?

Someone please spell it out for me - Things were so much easier with our Marea!

Hi!

First off do you have a mk1 Uno?
I ask this because I do and had exactly the same problem.
All that is present is a single powerlead - and if you have a base model (without a cigarette lighter), this lead isn't even shown on the Haynes Manual wiring diagram.
Anyhow, this powerlead is a constant power source, and so all you will need in addition to get a system up and running basically is to get yourself an earth cable. I found the best way to do this was to connect a lead into the negative cable coming out of the heater (as this is quite close to where you will be working) using one of those funky clip connectors that allow you to connect a cable into an existing cable.
If you are installing a new stereo, chances are that it will have an ISO socket on the back, and so the easiest way of wiring in your powerleads and speakers is to get a cable that has an ISO connector on the end and then solder all of the corresponding cables together. The cable you need incidently, if you purchase an Autoleads or Halfords one is a PC3-08.

I hope this helps - I found that it all went surprisingly well in my case - as for fuses - I'm not sure if that powerlead is fused, but you will find that most head units will have a fuse in the back of them anyhow.

Regards,

Marko

Yeah, its a bit of a problem with the MK1 uno,
I had mine running from the ciggy constant power lead, but it didnt like the instintanious current draw that my head unit wanted, and turned off when you wound the volume up too much.

I ended up running a direct power cable from the battery, it still wants a dirty great big capacitor in there somewhere though, but thats due to the head unit being a high power one, and isnt normally required.

you'll still need to find a cable that turns on when the key is turned to the auxillary posisiion, so the radio turns off with the key. other wise you'll have to remember to turn the unit off when ever you leave the car, or else your battery flats out pretty quick.



have a go, see what happens, you cant really make fiat electrical systems any wose...


Cheers,


Matt

Take it to a car electrician and get it done. It'll only cost you about £20!

Well... I've fitted quite a number of stereos to Unos, here's what I do

The power lead that you have found should have a brown and white wire. It is shared with the cigarette lighter, so it comes from the same fuse. It is a constant 12V, good for about 8A.

Take off the heater knobs and heater panel fascia. You will find a blue/black wire that supplies the heater fan switch, which you can tap with a wire-tap connector. This is switched with the ignition, so makes a good ACC 12V source for the stereo (most stereos use only 0.5A or so on this wire).

While you have the fascia off, note the yellow/red wire for the illumination bulb (also attaches to the cigarette lighter illumination). Good stereos use this wire (marked ILLUM or similar) to dim the display when the headlights are on - worth hooking up with another wire-tap connector.

You can use the black wire to the cigarette lighter as an earth, or you can run a wire to a ring terminal and fit it to one of the nuts securing the heater to the bulkhead - a good solid earth is always a good idea. Just crawl under the dash and you should see the nuts I'm talking about - 10mm head right on the bulkhead.

I find the most economical and universal way to make the connections to the stereo harness is to use a 12-way terminal block (screw-terminal strip), which you can then fasten to the underside of the heater. This lets you hook up your speakers (8 wires), 12V continous (just cut off the plug, it's no use anyway), 12V ACC, Earth, and illumination... you can then wire on some ISO plugs or whatever your stereo needs.

It might sound difficult, but at least you know it's done right when you've finished...

-Alex

Brilliant, cheers guys. I had a good look today I think I know what to do. I think I'll take a feed from the battery and connect that into a (seperate fused) distribution box. Same with the earth. I hope your right with those cable colours Alex!

I've wired up a head unit 'manually' before in a friend's Corolla, but the difference then was that all the required wires were just there behind the blanking plate. This Uno clearly requires a bit more. Not too difficult really once you know what the colours are.

Steve: £20 is 10% the car's purchase price. Equally, that would be boring and I wouldn't learn anything. Also this way I can know install a load of other things, like a boot fridge, 150W domestic 3-ping plug, fixed Nokia car charger. Pimp machine!

Anyway, need to find a dry weekend now.

OK ts86,
The only colours that I am not sure of are the heater fan supply, I THINK it's blue/black but this colour is also used for other items such as the indicators :-( so potentially some nasty surprises await.

I suggest you take off heater control panel (prise off knobs with screwdriver shaft, tip stays pressed against fascia edge, and undo two small Phillips screws). Unscrew switch, and check those wiring colours - try to follow them back towards the fusebox, should be pretty easy.

BTW, think to yourself, what's the worst that can happen :-)
I came a cropper with a FIAT Croma once, I used the heated rear window switch as a source for the ignition-on power. Trouble is, I used the wrong side of the switch. Stereo worked fine until the winter time (by which stage I had forgotten what I had done). One night, driving along, turn on heated rear window - and suddenly the stereo goes off. I tried to ignore it, and the next day it seemed to be working fine, took some time to remember the correlation.

Thanks,
-Alex

Just learnt some more stuff about my car... It's a Mk2, so shouldn't there definately be all the wiring there already ready for use?

Ok can't do much regardless but it would be good to know why my Mk2 Uno is a mix of both revisions!

Nope, mines a Mk2 and had naff all wiring for the stereo.

Steve. I'd like to buy some parts. Actually ONE part, but SOME prats would be great this time. After an attempted break-in the lock-cylinder on the driver's side (left side for me...) is totally ruined and can be opened with a screw driver.

I want the complete door handle (easiest that way) and a key. If you'd rather sell the complete set with locks all over, please let me know.

Morten.

Haha, something tells me I did a major wrong-post.

Morten.