2018 ram 1500 overhead mics after dash harness upgrade from a 2016 ram 1500

[MeleeGaming]

Hello I recently went through the hastle of changing out the entire dash harness in my truck to accommodate a radio upgrade from the uconnect 5.0 to 8.4 and unlock a few other features later on. My truck is a 2018 ram 1500 slt crew cab. The dash wire harness I swapped in is from a 2016 year range laramie truck so there are a few differences most of which ive got figured out and solved aside from 1. So far everything works aside from the overhead microphones now. My truck came with Bluetooth overhead mics from factory so its already wired and pinned from the mics down the a pillar to the green connector behind the drivers side panel.
My question is what do I need to do to get the mics working from the 8.4 (which is out of a 2015 truck). I noticed that there are a few pins missing from the dash harness side of things that is on my trucks side of the connector but not sure how the wiring works for the 2016 year range because I know they used to have the mic in the rear view mirror.
If there are any pictures required for anyone to help me out let me know. Greatly appreciated!

 

[ric221]

I really can't help with your issue. But I'm a little confused. Why you started with a 18. down graded wiring from a 16, added a radio from a 15 just to upgrade your radio to the 8.4. Why did you not just upgrade to the 8.4 radio from a 18 model year? I don't believe you would be having this issue had you gone that route.

 

[MeleeGaming]

Well it was more of an after thought honestly. Didn't do enough searching into the issue prior to install but had no idea that the wiring was changed from 16 to 17 for the mics. Just haven't been able to locate a radio and wire harness from an 18 at this time yet in my area for a decent price. The radio itself works fine no issues there it's just not updated obviously but I got a killer deal on it like 2 to 3 years ago and then the wire harness from the 16 truck in my area finally popped up at the start of the year. I know it's not the ideal way to go about it but if anyone knows the difference in wiring of the Bluetooth mics that's all I care to figure out now if I don't find a newer harness before then. I did see a few options in the closet wrecker an hour away but haven't been able to go look yet. In Canada it's a bit tougher to look for used parts on 2018 and up trucks but I have been keeping an eye out

 

[Atcer2018]

Well it was more of an after thought honestly. Didn't do enough searching into the issue prior to install but had no idea that the wiring was changed from 16 to 17 for the mics. Just haven't been able to locate a radio and wire harness from an 18 at this time yet in my area for a decent price. The radio itself works fine no issues there it's just not updated obviously but I got a killer deal on it like 2 to 3 years ago and then the wire harness from the 16 truck in my area finally popped up at the start of the year. I know it's not the ideal way to go about it but if anyone knows the difference in wiring of the Bluetooth mics that's all I care to figure out now if I don't find a newer harness before then. I did see a few options in the closet wrecker an hour away but haven't been able to go look yet. In Canada it's a bit tougher to look for used parts on 2018 and up trucks but I have been keeping an eye out

Some information for you concerning your truck and new radio. Your truck being a 2018 has a security gateway harness that will need to be bypassed to access the CANBUS system if you plan on making changes to the BCM with an interface like AlfaOBD. The bypass cable is about $50.

Starting in 2018 Ram changed radios from a Harmon Kardon head unit to a Panasonic head unit. The wiring is slightly different. The Panasonic radios are android auto CarPlay capable.

Reach out to forum member MPGrimm on this form as he is the resident expert on radio upgrades. He also runs a small business that specializes in wiring harnesses for your type of radio swap. His upgrade parts are outstanding quality and reasonably priced.

The few articles I’ve read from other posts confirm your findings. It’s more complicated to take a newer truck and add an older radio than it is to take an older truck and add a newer radio. Good luck!