Several types of connectors for car audio systems are used.
Splicing wires
Splicing wires used in
car audio are mainly for power, ground, amplifier and antenna, speakers, phone and others.
Power and ground
* ACC (red), supplies +12V power to car audio and other accessories, only when the car's
ignition is switched on.
* Constant (yellow), also called BAT or Battery, provides permanent +12V power from battery. This allows the radio to retain settings (for example, stored radio stations) when the ignition is switched off.
* Illumination (orange with white stripe) or
dimmer, when it is night and cars lights are turned on, head unit screen illumination is dimmed.
*
Ground, abbrev. as GND (black), 0V, usually connected to the
vehicle's metal chassis and body.
Speakers
Wires with black stripes are for negative power:
* Right front speaker: gray.
* Left front speaker: white.
* Right rear: purple.
* Left rear: green.
Amplifier and Antenna
They have low
electric current, which is activated when the radio is turned on.
* Antenna: blue.
*
Amplifier
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost t ...
remote turn on: blue with white stripe.
Phone And Others
* Phone: the cable to mute when receiving a call is brown.
* Back view, orange with white strip, works when
reverse gear light is on, and it is used to turn on the back camera screen (i.e. when parking).
* Steering Wheel Controls, SWC or Key, brown with black stripe, usually employs
CAN bus.
ISO 10487 Harness Adapter
ISO
ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization.
ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance
* Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007
* Iso ...
10487 was created in 1995 and defines a standard for connectors for the
head unit
An automotive head unit, sometimes called the infotainment system, is a component providing a unified hardware interface for the system, including screens, buttons and system controls for numerous integrated information and entertainment func ...
to the car's electrical system, consisting of a system of four different
connectors typically used in
head unit
An automotive head unit, sometimes called the infotainment system, is a component providing a unified hardware interface for the system, including screens, buttons and system controls for numerous integrated information and entertainment func ...
s for
car audio.
Parts
Part 1 of the standard is dedicated to "Dimensions and general requirements" and Part 2 to "Performance requirements".
Power (A)
The first connector A is always present, is usually black in colour, and contains pins for power supply, off/on (typically controlled by the ignition key), optional control for a motorised antenna and so on.
* On some cars the +12V Ignition and Battery positions are reversed, such as later
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...
cars,
Peugeot 106
The Peugeot 106 is a supermini produced by French automaker Peugeot between 1991 and 2003. Launched in September 1991, it was Peugeot's entry level offering throughout its production life, and was initially sold only as a three door hatchback, w ...
,
Vauxhall Astra
The Vauxhall Astra is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) that has been sold by Vauxhall since 1980. It is currently produced at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England.
For its first two generations, the nameplate was applied to right-han ...
,
Citroën C3 and some
JCB tractors.
* Pin 1 is optional; used for speed-dependent volume control and possibly navigation.
* Pin 2 is optional; used for phone mute
* Pin 3 is optional; used for reversing lamp signal on Becker radios with navigation.
* Pin 6 is optional; used for vehicle instrument illumination
Loudspeaker (B)
The second connector B is for connecting four
loudspeaker
A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or ...
s, front, rear, left and right, and is usually brown in colour.
Miscellaneous (C)
Connector C is optional. Sometimes it appears as one 20-pin connector, often red in colour, or it may be divided into three separate connectors which may be hooked together, in which case C1 is usually yellow, C2 is typically green and C3 is generally blue in colour. The contact spacing is narrower than the other connectors, so the C connector is sometimes referred to as ''mini-ISO''.
Note: ISO 10487 only defines the ''physical'' attributes of the connectors, ''not'' the pin/signal designations, which are ''manufacturer-defined''.
The example above is oriented towards VW vehicles only.
Navigation (D)
The connector D is for
satellite navigation systems. It has ten pins.
Quadlock
From 2000 and onwards, manufacturers, such as
BMW,
Citroën,
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
,
Mercedes Benz,
Peugeot,
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
,
Rover,
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
Th ...
,
SEAT,
Opel or
Škoda have sometimes started using a 40-pin connector instead, called the ''Quadlock''.
Unfortunately, ''Quadlock'' may not be the description used by manufacturers of the connector components. Therefore, searching for ''Quadlock'' components may be unsuccessful; for example, Molex refers to a typical component of the connector as ''MOST Frame Receptacle Housing'' (part number 986811001).
The Quadlock connector consists of a block of 16 flat pins analogous to the two main ISO 10487 connectors.
While the physical contact pins are the same, the pin allocation is not entirely the same, and the connector housing is not compatible. In addition to the 16 pins, like ISO 10487, there are minor connectors for optional equipment. They fit within the frame of the main connector, and have coding so that they cannot be interchanged. Minor connector B has 12 pins for audio output signals. Minor connector C has 12 pins for various audio sources such as
CD-changers,
MP3 players
A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
.
See also
*
CAN bus
*
Car antenna jack
*
Car radio
*
Dashboard For business applications, see Dashboard (business).
A dashboard (also called dash, instrument panel (IP), or fascia) is a control panel set within the central console of a vehicle or small aircraft. Usually located directly ahead of the drive ...
*
Dashcam
*
Fuse (automotive)
Automotive fuses are a class of fuses used to protect the wiring and electrical equipment for vehicles. They are generally rated for circuits no higher than 32 volts direct current, but some types are rated for 42-volt electrical systems. They ...
*
ISO 7736 ISO 7736 is a standard size for dashboard mounted head units, for car audio. It was originally established by the German national organization for standardization, the Deutsches Institut für Normung, as DIN 75490, and is therefore commonly referre ...
, standard for car radio enclosures
*
Car
*
Universal steering wheel control interface
References
External links
Car Audio ISOconnector
pinout
In electronics, a pinout (sometimes written "pin-out") is a cross-reference between the contacts, or ''pins'', of an electrical connector or electronic component, and their functions. "Pinout" now supersedes the term "basing diagram" that was the s ...
.
ISO 10487 Passenger car radio connections** Part 1: Dimensions and general requirements
** Part 2: Performance requirements
Molex part information for MOST Frame Receptacle Housing with Lever and Cable Cover A.K.A Quadlock
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iso 10487
Consumer electronics
In-car entertainment