dash lights not working after cd player install

installed my first cd player yesterday. everything went fine but that night when i turned my headlights on the dash lights went out (speedometer, fuel, etc.). when i would turn my headlights back off, the dash lights behind the steering wheel would come back on. this morning i took out the cd player and noticed i had connected the orange/black wire from the harness to the orange/white from the player. i dc'ed them but now the dash lights do not come on at all, whether the headlights are on or off. the ac and heat lights under the player still work fine, my tailights work fine, pretty everything EXCEPT the dash lights works fine. i also checked what i think is the correct fuse and it does not appear to be blown. that is as far as i have gotten. anyone have any ideas?

also, the dimmer is turned all the way up, it is not the dimmer dial to the left of the steering wheel.

 

next time just get the wire harness adapter its 7 bucks, then all you do is attach the wires from the new CD players harness to the harness adapter then it just plugs into the trucks wiring harness. i think you mixed up the wires in terms of the dimmer. i think its just a straight orange wire to a orange white wire, i did not see any orange black wires on any of the harness's

 

not sure if these will help at all but i am very new to this and thought maybe i ordered something wrong or just made a stupid mistake.

 

I have heard that connecting the Orange wire incorrectly burns out the dimmer rheostat. I'm not sure where the thread is on here at the moment. I'll see if I can find it.

Here, read the last 10 posts:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/audio-video/51156-after-market-install-gage-light-not-working.html

 

well i guess that's what i get for installing it at night with very little light. could have sworn it was orange to orange when i put it in. thanks for the help though.

 

There are different ways that Mfgs dim the dash lights. When it comes to the orange/white or orange wires, I usually don't connect them at all. Better than having things go wrong. This dimmer rheostat isn't cheap.

 

you arent even supposed to connect the orange wire to anything.

 

On some cars/trucks it works fine. On others it can be a disaster. You gotta do your homework first.