Dimmer wire for headunit

Hey all,

Ok, I have a simple question, although i can not figure it out. I have a 89 honda civic hb, with a pioneer deh-34 head unit. I am trying to make the head unit dim with the rest of the dash.

The headunit has a wire with dimmer written on the side of it coming out the back. And I ran a test wire from the back of the dimmer control to the other wire, but it will not work for some reason.

The wire coming out of the dimmer control is 12+ when off, and 0 when on. Does anyone here see what I am doing wrong, thanks scott

Did your factory radio dim with the lights? If so, there should be a wire in the factory harness that will do what your asking. Not sure what color it would be but if you got an adapter then you should be able to figure it out. Anyway, if that won't work, you could, but I wouldn't condone, giving the wire a positive signal and see if that does it. But it's your fault if the unit fries. I warned ya. Good luck.
Nate

Thanks for the info Nate, yeah i got the car with no radio installed, so i dont know if the factroy one dimmed or not. But still thanks for the info. Scott

well, first and foremost I'd make sure that the dimmer is on on the headunit. I've had 3 pioneer decks and I've had to turn the dimmer on with all three of them.

I'll look for a wiring diagram and see which wire from the factory harness is the dimmer wire. They do dim, I had a 90 Civic EX and the cd player dimmed along with the clock and everything when I hit the headlights.

The dimming may need to be enabled as mentioned.

How would I go about enableing it? thanks scott

I've never heard of having to enable dimming... but i found a wire diagram that might help you out. It says it might be different for different years, but its a good place to start. good luck with this

On my DEH-P4400, With power off hold "function" it will give options for clock set and also dimmer option can be set on.

I've never heard of having to enable dimming
every aftermarket headunit i've come across has a the option of turning on or off the dimmer.

wow duh sorry. When i read that i thought it ment something inside the car NOT the radio. but that diagram i saw was at http://carstereohelp.net/wireharness_Honda1.htm so i hope it helps you out.