I have a compass/temp rearview mirror. It just has 3 wires: 2 for 12v ignition and one ground (12v= one black/yellow, one black/red, and ground is all black). When I had a JVC headunit the two 12v ignitions were spliced in with the radio wiring harness (ford-to-JVC) red wire, and the ground was spliced into the black).

I have put the stock headunit back in so I removed the adapting wiring harness. I see the stock wiring for the headunit has a red and black but I'm not sure they are doing the same thing and they seem like such a thin guage.

My questions are: 1) Should I splice into the radio wiring at all? 2) If so, which wires? and 3) if neither, where is the optimum place to connect the mirror wires? I'm not an expert but I can do the easy stuff (some splicing and soldering).

Thanks, Angel

 

black/pink = power
black/lt green = ground (there are two of them, use either one).

These wires are in the harness to the 16-pin factory radio plug.

 

Awesome! Thank you very much. Okay, those are definitely correct. If I just stick the wires into the harness connector, the mirror powers on (when ignition is on). One more question but it is probably very stupid.

Can I leave it hooked up like this (but with the wires more in the connector and electrical tape securing it), or should I cut back the insulation on the harness wiring and solder these to them? I know probably better to do the latter, but I'm very nervous about cutting back the insul and then breaking the wire.



TIA.

 

You probably can't make a reliable connection by simply taping it. If you don't want to solder, you can use a scotchlok tap or something similar. I don't like to use them where the weather can get at them but I find them very reliable for interior use.

Be sure to get the right size connector for the wire you are using - they are color coded and the acceptable wire sizes are listed on the package.


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Thanks! I figured out the picture thing - I was rushing earlier. I'll head to Radio Shack and get the taps tomorrow. I have no problem soldering - although there is very little slack so I'd have to do some crazy balancing to do it - but I don't trust my stripping skills! Thanks for the suggestion - I didn't think of that!