Speakers and Doors...what I learned today

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buddy guy

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My first experience in decades taking door panels off a vehicle. Saw it had screws..how hard can it be? well folks, if you don't read Dodge doors for Dummies, tougher than you think! First door I did was the drivers front. Wrestled a bit to get it off, fought like hell and swore to get it back on. One side wouldn't line up, handle would get through, lock pin and rod wouldn't, only about 7 slots you have to insert the panel into..finally got it..WTH? So I decide I've got to youtube this, first 2 aren't detailed enough. 3rd one I had an aha moment even though the creator didn't point out how important it was to REMOVE THE BEZEL AROUND THE DAMN DOOR HANDLE! After that, the other 3 doors were a cake walk to take off and put in. I was almost having fun and ready to do another truck's worth (not really) so that was aha moment number one.

Then, replaced the stock speakers. In the old days, if you had the wires backwards, you might have a speaker out of phase and that was pretty much the consequence. In the new millenium, if the wires are backwards, the speaker doesn't work at all. And then if you just switch the wires without completely shutting off the vehicle so the audio system does the "reload" message, it still won't work. (ie turn your key off for a few seconds then turn it back on. nope) I got lucky the first door and worked the first time. 2nd time I thought hell, maybe the left rear speaker never worked in the first place, but now i've cut the wires, not a warranty item, not paying a Dodge dealer 140 an hour to fix it, don't want to pay a 16 year old working at an audio shop 75 bucks an hour to fix it. So....I drank a beer. and decided to just switch the wires, solder it up knowing that the speaker was fine and maybe given it was a rear speaker, live with it until I can't. I'm far past the days of using my backseat so not a huge loss. So I solder it up, put the speaker and door on and voila, it worked. that's when i had my second aha moment of the night.


160 canadian for 4- 6x 9 pioneer speakers that sound VASTLY better than the stock. its like a new stereo. I was listening to the great bass line on the Doobie Bros Taking it to the streets and the definition was excellent. very pleased, learned a couple of things today.
 

17CrewCab1500

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Buddy, you sound like a rookie with these trucks! :)

KIDDING EH! :)

I've had these door panels off a few times in my day. Pretty simple once you do it like you said. Getting that inner door panel off is a real PITA!!

I haven't replaced the speakers yet, hadn't had the need to. My Alpine system just rocks it.

There are these adapters that you could have bought that are super cheap. They plug into the factory harness and then plug into your aftermarket speaker! Those things you can get from Ebay or Crutchfield. Making returning to stock easy if you ever want to go back in a trade in or something..

Sounds like you spent some good quality time with the truck and a beer... oh and learned a few things! WIN in my book..
 

canadiankodiak700

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Have never heard of a speaker not working with wires reversed. it only changes the phase of the speaker.
it would appear that you had a faulty connection causing it not to work.
 
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buddy guy

buddy guy

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Have never heard of a speaker not working with wires reversed. it only changes the phase of the speaker.
it would appear that you had a faulty connection causing it not to work.

No I have not. that's why i was surprised at this.

I can guarantee it wasn't a faulty connection issue. I wasn't just holding the wires and touching against lugs. Everything was connecte securely. Matter of fact when I noticed this the 2nd was already soldered and didn't work. And I tested 2 other new speakers as well on the same connector before figuring this out. Now, is it possible with wires backwards they would have worked if I had figured out the reset sooner? I would say no. By the time I got to the 3rd speaker I figured out the process of turning the truck off completely and letting sit longer enough to trigger the complete stereo restart. I'm pretty confident that I tried the "reset' process with wires both ways and it only worked one way.

But for certain, I can say you can't be listening to the stereo with a speaker disconnected then simply add a speaker while the stereo is still working. not on the 5" stereo version anyway and not like you used to be able to do in the old days. there's some kind of protection circuit bult into the system for each speaker connection.
 
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buddy guy

buddy guy

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Buddy, you sound like a rookie with these trucks! :)

KIDDING EH! :)

I've had these door panels off a few times in my day. Pretty simple once you do it like you said. Getting that inner door panel off is a real PITA!!

I haven't replaced the speakers yet, hadn't had the need to. My Alpine system just rocks it.

There are these adapters that you could have bought that are super cheap. They plug into the factory harness and then plug into your aftermarket speaker! Those things you can get from Ebay or Crutchfield. Making returning to stock easy if you ever want to go back in a trade in or something..

Sounds like you spent some good quality time with the truck and a beer... oh and learned a few things! WIN in my book..

I am a rookie with these trucks, but learning bit by bit! I had other motives beyond the speakers for wanting to take the door panels off (maybe swap out the panels for some nicer used ones from a wrecker down the road). I looked into the adapters. a) i was impatient b) If i sell the truck at the price, they can keep the speakers given how inexpensive they were or i can solder the original connectors back on. c) they ain't cheap locally. I asked the place I bought them if I could buy 4 adapters off their install shop. about 20 bucks canadian per connector. wasn't worth another 80 bucks to me!

Anytime I learn more about my vehicles is a win. I'm not sure I learn as fast as I used to, so these days its a BIG win:) thanks!
 

canadiankodiak700

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No I have not. that's why i was surprised at this.

I can guarantee it wasn't a faulty connection issue. I wasn't just holding the wires and touching against lugs. Everything was connecte securely. Matter of fact when I noticed this the 2nd was already soldered and didn't work. And I tested 2 other new speakers as well on the same connector before figuring this out. Now, is it possible with wires backwards they would have worked if I had figured out the reset sooner? I would say no. By the time I got to the 3rd speaker I figured out the process of turning the truck off completely and letting sit longer enough to trigger the complete stereo restart. I'm pretty confident that I tried the "reset' process with wires both ways and it only worked one way.

But for certain, I can say you can't be listening to the stereo with a speaker disconnected then simply add a speaker while the stereo is still working. not on the 5" stereo version anyway and not like you used to be able to do in the old days. there's some kind of protection circuit bult into the system for each speaker connection.
I'm not calling you a liar or anything, but there is definitely a glitch with your truck regarding the polarity issue.
but you are correct about unhooking a speaker and it not working until reset. the uconnect head units are load sensing, they need to see a 'speaker' or say a 33ohm 5w resistor in line with say an LOC when running speakers off an amp instead of directly off the oem stereo.
 

WY-Dave

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Lil late for you, but incase someone else is looking for wiring info. Here is a connector repair site that gives you both the color codes and a computer drawn connector for most any connector

http://connectors.dcctools.com/home.htm

R,F Door
Pin Information
Cav Circuit Gauge Color Function
1 X292 0.80 DG/YE RIGHT FRONT SPEAKER (-)
3 X202 0.80 DG/VT RIGHT FRONT SPEAKER (+)

L, F Door
Pin Information
Cav Circuit Gauge Color Function
1 X291 0.80 GY/YE LEFT FRONT SPEAKER (-)
3 X201 0.80 GY/VT LEFT FRONT SPEAKER (+)

R, R Door
Pin Information
Cav Circuit Gauge Color Function
1 X296 0.80 DG/GY RIGHT REAR SPEAKER (-)
3 X206 0.80 DG/GN RIGHT REAR SPEAKER (+)


L, R Door
Pin Information
Cav Circuit Gauge Color Function
1 X295 0.80 GY/DG LEFT REAR SPEAKER (-)
3 X205 0.80 GY/GN LEFT REAR SPEAKER (+)
 
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buddy guy

buddy guy

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I'm not calling you a liar or anything, but there is definitely a glitch with your truck regarding the polarity issue.
but you are correct about unhooking a speaker and it not working until reset. the uconnect head units are load sensing, they need to see a 'speaker' or say a 33ohm 5w resistor in line with say an LOC when running speakers off an amp instead of directly off the oem stereo.


So if I understand correctly, you're saying that stereo has a separate amp somewhere? (vp2 radio uconnect 3 with 5" screen) I was under the impression the amp was integrated into that oem radio. Just curious.
 

magician

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I'm not calling you a liar or anything, but there is definitely a glitch with your truck regarding the polarity issue.
but you are correct about unhooking a speaker and it not working until reset. the uconnect head units are load sensing, they need to see a 'speaker' or say a 33ohm 5w resistor in line with say an LOC when running speakers off an amp instead of directly off the oem stereo.

This is the second time I’ve heard of this and both times it’s been on something newer than my 15. I know for a fact that my truck doesn’t do that when I’ve changed speakers and added amps. I do know this for a fact however, my work truck which is a RAM 2500 had to have lights and radios installed for use on runways. When we tried vampiring some of these the trucks would shut down the entire circuit until the load was corrected. One truck even died on a taxiway when the lights were on and more than one radio was keyed. All the trucks ended up having to have the Mopar Aux switches installed and all the accessories ran off those. Another guy posted some thing like this a few months back on his stereo install.
 

0rion

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Just another reason I prefer the older stuff :D New stuff is cool and shiney but there's alot to be said for simple
 

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