[Jezzaaa]

Hi all,
Good to be a member here Been reading as a guest for a while and am very impressed with the level of knowledge/friendly advice. Apologies for my first post being a question!!
I've got a 2009 S197 V8 GT, and I'm about to change the Shaker 500 head unit for a double DIN Kenwood unit. And I'm out here in Abu Dhabi, being originally from England.
I've bought a Best Kits BHA5800R harness, which includes the J1 connector and the extra J4 connector to connect the Kenwood head unit AV outs to the Shaker amplifier, plus the amp power switch connections. I got the connections diagram from this site, so hoping some knowledgeable folk will be familiar with it.
I've also bought a voltage regulator to connect between the +12v output from the Kenwood head unit and the +5v wake-up connection on the Shaker amplifier.
I have two problems:
1. The Amp connection. I'm looking at the wiring diagrams for the Mustang sockets, and it shows that the J4 connector has 4 connections for the audio signals on pins 1 to 4. But no connections at all for the amp power on pins 7 and 8.
However, my Best Kits wiring harness has 2 blue/white wires on pins 7+8 which, I'm supposed to connect to the voltage regulator input pin. But if the wiring diagram for the car is correct, then they're not connected to anything in the car!
Are there any differences between the amp/head unit wiring on the 2005, 2007 and 2008 Stang's?? Or is the wiring diagram I have wrong, showing a non-shaker system? Or have I been lied to about needing the voltage regulator?!! :-)
2. I've just connected the J1 connector up in the car and turn the ignition on to check that it all works before I solder the connections permanently. The Red wire is supposed to be the Key in Ignition Positive connection. However, when I connect it all up, I just get a flashing red power light on the Kenwood unit. If I then connect both the Red and Yellow leads from the Kenwood to the Yellow wired on the BHA5800R harness, the Kenwood powers up. So, the Red cable on the BHA harness is obviously wrong. Any one got any ideas which Pin on the Mustang J1 socket I need to change the red wire to?
Apologies for my ignorance on this...usually when I'm at home in the UK, I just buy a pre-soldered harness that fits both ends and plug them together!! Being out here in the UAE parts are hard to come by, so I'm having to do some soldering etc! All new to me so your help would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Jezza.

[Jezzaaa]

Hi All - following my question above, I've now fitted the new Head Unit and it all works very well, including the Shaker Amp and bass speakers :-)

The answer to my first question above is; it just works and there are two connections on pins 7+8 to the amp. I can only assume that the diagram of the pin outs I had was from a car without the Shaker 500/1000. So sorted on that front.

My second question is still unanswered, and for the moment so that it works, I have connected both head unit power wires (battery and switched battery) to the Yellow battery lead from the car's harness.

I examined the car's harness and connector J1 carefully. Aside from the speaker wires, black earth wire and yellow battery wire, all the other wires in the BHA5800R harness are incorrectly mapped for the Mustang. I guess it's because the BHA is designed for alot of other ford vehicles. So on the Mustang J1 connector, theres a single additional wire which (having tested it on a voltmeter) doesn't appear to have any voltage running through it, regardless of the ignition being turned or not.

I was thinking about the way that the stock head unit operates and have come to the conclusion that there's more going on than could be achieved with just a basic switched ignition connection. e.g. when you stop the engine, the radio continues to play until you open a door.

So the next question is, where can I get a switched power wire from, or can I wire the new Head Unit up so that it exhibits the same behaviour as the old radio? Is there a switched power connection in the third connector that goes to the stock radio but is unused for the new head unit (connector J3)?

Cheers all,

Jeremy.

However,

[nippywiffle]

This isn't an answer to your question, sorry... I just wanted to say, I am also a British Mustang owner, been in the US for 4 years.

Congratulations on knowing a good car when you see one, rather than exhibiting the same "american cars suck" attitude that too many British people have, out of the jealousy that we are able to buy V8 muscle cars, for the price of a British mid-level Focus :-D

[smoke4170]

Hey Jezz, I can help you, as I just went through all of this last week. I looked all over for a switched ignition source for my Pioneer. I tried everything, I've definitely done my fair share of car audio installation, and could not find it! Finally I broke down and went to the local car audio shop, bruised ego and all, and come to find out, the installer there told me that there is no switched ignition fuses or wires on some of the newer cars. He said that some other car companies have been doing it for a while now, and Ford has recently begun too, not sure how true all this is, just going by what he told me and the fact that I couldn't find one ANYWHERE! I even went and bought an "Add-a-Fuse" and tried all the empty fuse slots, either inside kickpanel or under the hood, but none worked! The solution............... take the dash piece under the steering wheel off and wire the red "ACC" wire right to the ignition, good to go! Hope this solves your problem #2.

[Jezzaaa]

Hi Smoke...thanks for the reply mate. What that guy told you sounds weird, but it also has the ring of truth about it, since neither of us have been able to find one on the radio harness! Since I'm going to be doing a splice for that, I feel I should also be making the effort to wire in the illumination wire to the head light switch too!

Appreciate your advice mate...thanks

J.

[smoke4170]

It sounded weird to me too, but I really didn't care, as long as my headunit is working properly now! I honestly don't think you need to hook the illumination wire up, I didn't hook up mine and everything works normal, but your HU might be different than mine. If you hook it to your headlight switch, wouldn't you only be able to see everything only when the headlights were on?? I'm not sure if you wanna do that.