Gents,

I FINALLY got around to losing the Shaker 500 head unit and am wiring in a Kenwood DNX890HD. This system has provisions for reverse and forward cameras (not currently purchased), so I wanted to get all the wiring done while I am in install mode. The problem I have encountered is that it APPEARS my car does NOT match the factory wiring diagram for reverse!

So I have checked the wiring diagrams and found that the voltage to the reverse lights should be at pins 13 and 26 (white with yellow stripe and dark green with orange stripe) on the 52 pin connector on the SJB. The connector was easy to find and the pins were clearly labeled on the face of the connector. The problem was there was no PINS installed in those positions of the connector.

I pulled the connectors out of the right angle shell (easy to do and all the wiring is on two block, a black one for 1-26 and a gray one for 27-52) and there are no wires in 13 and 52... I double checked the connector image in the service manual and it does appear that I am looking at the correct connector as well (the other two connectors are very different and NOT 52 pin connectors).

My reverse lights DO work, so they are wired up correctly somehow, but it does not appear to be the way the factory says they are wired up. Has anyone else had this issue? Where did they find the reverse lights? I really don't want to run another wire all the way back to the reverse lights just to get a signal. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Never mind! The problem was I was looking at the connectors on the FRONT of the SJB, but the one I need is on the BACK of this little bastard!

My plan was to use a piece of enameled magnet wire with the insulation burned off the end to tap the connector without doing any physical damage. The end of the wire goes inside the female pin (13 or 26). When the connector is mated, that very thin piece of wire is lightly wedged between the male and female pins, making a connection. This is only a signal wire, so it is VERY low current (miliamps at most) and even 30awg wire can handle this for a short ways. The other end of the wire (just a couple of inches or so) is also stripped, then wrapped around the stripped in our our wire going to the headunit, then a wire nut is installed. The end of the head unit wire and the wire nut are then tapped to one of the wiring harnesses under there to act as a strain relief and we are in business.

I've used this method on a couple of different projects and it works great. Plus, it is completely reversible with no damage to the factory wiring or connectors. But, I have to pull the damned SJB to do it. I guess that goes one way or the other (find the wire and splice in), so probably might as well stick to the plan.

 

So here it is 5 years later and I am replacing the HD890 with a DDX9906XR. Given that it boots from cold shutdown (aka: on the bench with NO power applied at all..) in just over 8 seconds vs approximately 45 seconds the HD890 took, I decided I might actually USE a back up camera with this unit (with the old one, I was almost always on the road and rolling before the stupid thing even finished booting!), so it's off to the races to find that damned wire!

After (once more) digging into the front 52 pin connector and not finding the reverse signal, I did a bit more googling and found my old post from 2014... And it had the answer I was looking for!

This time, I did pull the SJB out a bit to get to the rear connector (identical to the front one), hooked up a meter to the white/yellow stripe wire (who in the WORLD thought THAT was a good color combination for wire identification??? Moron!!) and tested it. And it worked. 12V when in reverse and 0V when not.

Now to run the head unit wire and connect it up. But that will most definitely wait until tomorrow.

 

Looked at the DDX9906XR and it looks nice! But so expensive. Good luck with your wire up.
Im looking to replace my unit again with an updated OEM one... its not going to be easy.

 

What I don't understand is how in the HELL the DNX996XR can be $400 more expensive than the DDX9906XR. Especially when you consider that BOTH units have the GPS receiver built and both come with a GPS antenna (DDX uses it when using CarPlay). The only difference is the stupid Garmin software.

But let's see, you can BUY a freaking Garmin for around $100 or so the last time looked... So why in the world isn't the DNX $100 more expensive than the DDX? I sure don't know. Marketing would be my guess.

But, I've had it installed and running for nearly a week now and I LOVE it. It completely solves my three main *****es about the HD890:

1. It boots up in 8.5 seconds (vs 45!!!!! seconds for the HD890). Backup camera might actually be used.
2. The phone app (aka: interfacing to my phone via bluetooth for placing and receiving call) is nearly instant. On the HD890, it could take up to 2 MINUTES before I could place a call because the stupid thing kept rereading my phone address book over and over again. The DDX9906XR is pretty much just there. I haven't been able to detect any connection/downloading time lag at all.
3. My base navigation maps got messed up a few years ago on the HD890 because some engineer though putting the microSD card right in the middle of all the heat sources was a good idea. Morons.

The touch screen on this thing is very nice and it works very smoothly. I also like how well it handles album art for both HD Radio, phone, bluetooth, etc.

In my job I was doing a lot of travel and was able to get some very nice, very new cars for the week. One feature I DID come to really appreciate was CarPlay as I could use my phones GPS just like it was built in. That was one feature that made my 2005 GT feel a bit outdated when I took it on a 250 mile road trip this summer. For a while, I was seriously looking at the 2019 GT.

Thankfully, I came to my senses and realized I could fix the one "outdated" issue I had with my car for only $800. That saved me $44,200 in a new car...