Component Speaker Installs

how did you fail? in which way?

 

DITTO.....

unscrew, match colors, plug in harness ?

 

Just remember, some folks can burn water.

Explain how you ruined the harness and maybe we can help.

 

I went to the hardware store to get the crimp caps and a guy who worked there told me to get the "butts" instead. They are about an inch long and you just put the wires into each end and crimp it. It was pretty hard because they were so small but I thought I had them perfect.

I went to try and test it out and but nothing happened. I did the wire harness pretty bad so I really wasn't expecting it to work.

So basically I just couldn't connect the two wire harnesses together to plug into the stock wire harness and headunit.

 

Dang, sorry to hear that.
I still think you can do it though
Just grab the crimp caps, undo what you did and re-do it carefully
I bet if you just saw it you'd be like 'ah ha'..?
Why doesn't someone local go help out Pat real quick ?

or..

If you've lost all hope and it was really challenging, and the locals won't charge too much then maybe just let them bang it out real quick for you if you don't mind dropping a little coin.

 

Yeah I think I might try to re do it tomorrow but if that doesn't work best buy only charges $50 for it to be done.


Hopefully my speakers come in soon enough.


Like GoBlueFan said.... Ill try to get some pics up if my camera decides to work.

 

I know this may be a controversial topic, but ********* pic walkthrough is decent enough.

<Edited link>
http://*********.com/tacoma/installation/stereosystem/

not sure if this counts as pics to ward off goBlue's recommendation for pics tho

 

no We need to see wiring harness carnage.

It can't be THAT bad can it?

 

I mean its not terrible... visually it looks fine I just think that all of the wires didn't go through the "hole in the butt" all the way. Wow that sounds wrong...


The wires are crimped but I think I can still salvage them and re try it tomorrow with the actual crimp clamps.

 

did you strip the wires before you crimped them? did you blow a fuse in the process of installing/ removing stereo?

 

dont crimp solder and electrical tape

 

Solder definately, but heatshrink is the way to go. it never gets gooey and falls off, and it is much sturdier and it looks way better than electrical tape. the double walled stuff is better, if you can find it.

 

I agree that soldering is a best practice approach. However, it is more difficult (until you get good at it). There is nothing wrong with crimp connectors, but I find I get more secure connections by twisting wires. I know some will cringe by that, but if done properly, they can be very secure connections. Heat shrink tubing is pretty cool stuff and does look better than tape, especially after a summer in the hot dash.

 

No offense to OP...

Guys...he had difficulty with butt connectors...let's not introduce a hot soldering iron and possibly drippy solder to his interior.

Wish you were closer, I'd teach you a few basics in electrical wiring. It's not hard once you see it done correctly. It's the little technique things that make it easy. I've had many years to learn/fine tune my technique. You gotta start somewhere.

 

I would have suggested the same about getting butt connectors over crimp caps simply because crimp caps are both more expensive and butt connectors can provide a more reliable connection. However, crimp caps are easier to get right.
The trick with butt connectors is to get the right size. If the wire is too small, you can double it back on itself to make it thicker so that when you crimp down on the butt, you have more wire for it to grab.

Most likely you didn't strip your wire back far enough or you don't have a good crimp - very possible.


Came across this real quick... I can't see his pics because I didn't sign up for an account, but it sounds like he's doing everything right.


http://hondaswap.com/general-tech-articles/crimping-tutorial-connecting-wires-70792/

 

The quality of the crimp tool used is a big impact to the quality of the crimp. If you are using a stripper crimp tool that is ultra flimsy sometimes it's just hard to get a decent crimp. OP if you are having trouble with the crimp tool either buy a decent one or ditch it for a regular pair of pliers and crimp GENTLY.

I also think soldering is pretty straight forward and would recommend the heat shrink tube for 90% of people looking to do electrical connections.

 

GoBlueFan is correct, in that soldering connections, for someone that is new to soldering (and electrical work in general) is not a great idea in the cab. Perhaps if the connections were to be made outside, like to the speaker binding posts or something, then you could practice. But, it would really suck to get solder in, on, or around anything undesired in the cab. It'll ruin some plastic pretty quickly.

I'd still recommend doing the twisted pair connection over crimp connectors, if you just take the time to make sure they are tightly twisted and are not going to pull apart. It is a very good connection for signal transfer, if done correctly.

 

LOL...
Please take COST out of this equation considering he's connecting 5 or less wires

 

I went and got the crimp caps today and tried it again. They were much easier to get right then the butt connectors. So I got the headunit in now and its working great. Thanks for the help with me trying to get it in.

Now hopefully my speakers will come in soon... I got em from Taco tunes

I got the Image Dynamic 6.5 components for the front and regular 6.5 for the back. I ordered them about 2 and a half weeks ago. They said they would ship out last Wed, Thur at the latest and I would get a tracking number but nothing yet. Hopefully I didn't make a mistake going with Taco tunes.

Anyways back to my endless questions...

I talked to a guy today at a local car audio shop about the speakers I was getting. I was there because they had the crimp caps and it was closer to go there then Home Depot. The guy, who happened to be the owner of the store, told me that I will defiantly need an amp to go with those speakers. He said the ID speakers are notoriously "power hungry" speakers. So are any of you guys running amps with your Image Dynamic speakers or speakers in general? From the catalog I looked at, the amp he recommended was $650! Its the Alpine PDX's. I see that one of them is 150 watts and the other is 100 watts. Will 50 watts make a big difference?

Thanks for the help!