Technical speaker wiring

[gaz.d]

have decided not to take car apart and route all new wires for the speakers, so im using the existing wiring and up-grading the speakers

but how do you know which one is pos and which one is neg

i dont want to wire them up the wrong way round and risk breaking the speakers

the wires dont have any markings on them, apart from there colour, how would i find out which is +/- , i have looked in owners manual and stereo manual but no success

thanks

 

[darkcircuitUK]

Black is nearly always earth so just assume that the other colour is positive. You can also go by light and dark (dark being negative).

Dave

 

[gaz.d]

so every wire that has either black or a dark colour will be neg

i will go and have a look and see what i find

thanks

 

[darkcircuitUK]

You won't damage your speaker if you wire it up backwards. It should be fairly easy to tell when you have wired them up wrong. If in doubt, try the wires one way and then the other and choose what sounds best to you and then replicate that throughout the car. If I remember correctly my Mk2 has pink wiring for positive and dark purple wiring for negative.

Dave

 

[gaz.d]

ah have just been to look and its a rainbow of colours

but the standard headunit has a wiring diagram on it, so from that i will try and identify the right coloured wires

 

[darkcircuitUK]

hmmm its a nice idea in theory but doesn't always turn out that way. I tried that with my front door speakers and I couldn't find the same colour wires in the doors. After a bit of investigation I found out that before the wiring goes into the door it goes into a plug, and out the other side of the plug comes different colour wires. Nightmare!!!

Dave

 

[The Negotiator]

Gaz, put a voltmetre onto the speaker cables, when you have a positive PD then your red voltmetre probe is on the positive wire.

 

[gaz.d]

oh the joys of fiat

i spent most of yesterday trying to wire in a head unit cause fiat only use one power supply :bang:

what is a volt meter, can i make one blue peter stylee

 

[darkcircuitUK]

errr no I don't think you could bodge one together, but you never know. Maybe a job for google?

Dave

 

[The Negotiator]

Gaz you have one! A multimetre is another name. I am sure you have one, you have everything like that. It's a little box with a screen and usually two wires coming out of it Oh and a big selector knob.

There's probably a very similar thing you can do to confirm, i.e. the size of the spades at the end, just I don't know it.

 

[gaz.d]

i havent got one of them, i want one though, they sound cool

spades are same size :bang:

looks like i will just have to test them, fire extinguisher at the ready

 

[The Negotiator]

Go buy one, a few quid from maplin

 

[The Negotiator]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=37279&doy=13m5

 

[gaz.d]

used to use them in school

will go pop to local maplin am in no real rush, have still got my standard speakers

what else they used for, looks like something you would see on star trek

 

[The Negotiator]

Lots of things, most will measure voltages from say 0-1, 0-2, 0-10, 0-20, 0-100 etc.

Some measure current for you (amps), they can check for continuity, i.e. test whether a switch is open or closed in a certain way, whether a fuse has blown etc.

Some has transistor testers, some can allow measurement of temperature even.

You get the idea.

 

[darkcircuitUK]

I know you have probably checked this but is there any indication on the old speaker about which one is positive and which one is negative? Sometimes the positive can have a little bump on metal on the spade.

Oh and by the way, the positive spade is usually larger than the negative.

Dave

 

[The Negotiator]

David, this is Gaz we're talking about, he has properly broken the speakers already and/or removed the plugs and fitted them the wrong way around

 

[gaz.d]

the cheek

the standard speaker connectors are the same size and have no markings

will see what the diagram on the h/u tells me, and soon see if the colour continues throughout the car, hope it does