Aftermarket Stereo Wiring

[sixty7ss]

I'm wiring up a basic car stereo system and I noticed that the ORANGE/white wire, on the stereo harness, is labeled "ILLUMINATION". On the OEM harness, the ORANGE/white wire is labeled "DIMMER". There is an ORANGE wire that is labeled "ILLUMINATION", however.

Do I need to wire them together? Do I ignore the color differences and wire up the two labeled "ILLUMINATION"? Any thoughts?

 

[Ben824]

You don't have to mess with them at all if you don't want to. It just controls how all the little lights on the radio are. Like when you turn your headlights on anything lite up already like an overhead console or digital mileage display dims and you can control the brightness with the dimmer built into the headlight switch. I worked at as an install technician and we never hooked up those wires unless a customer specifically asked for it to be or came back complaining of the radio being too bright at night.

 

[GrimmJeeper]

Usually the illumination wire is not hooked up with an aftermarket radio. just tape it off and tuck it away.