Lazy-Ferret
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2012
- Messages
- 5,217
Well, with this home confinement, I have decided to catch up on a few jobs on Jiggly.
I have been going to change the Nissan radio for ages, but I knew it was not going to be one of those 5min jobs, as it would lead to having to do a list of other jobs as well.
So first job was to remove all the dodgy bayonet fit LED replacement bulbs from the main dash, that I had fitted a couple of years ago, and would annoyingly flash on and off as you went over bumps. The new idea is to actually solder in proper LED's. Some time ago, I found a site that sold 12v LEDs, which do not need a current limiting resistor, so I got some in Red, white and blue. I then set to work, adding blue LEDs behind the dash, as well as some strategically placed red and white ones, to make things like the needles glow properly.
Pretty happy with the outcome. It actually looks better than the photo, as the camera seems to have made hotspots, which you do not see with the eye.
I then set to work on the heater controls, as most of the lights in them were not working, making it very hard to find at night. I did the same thing, soldering Blue LED's and again added a few extra red and white ones, to make the display look right.
I forgot to take a picture.
Then I set to work on the radio. First job was to work out the Hazard light switch, as I have read so many posts on here, but you can't beat actually looking at the real thing. I found a site that had the pin-outs of the radio, which I then found was wrong... Glad I did not trust it, and metered all the cables. The good news is, the ISO conversion lead CT20NS02 is perfect for the all the radio connections, so the brown plug is not needed at all for that.
As mentioned in many posts, the Brown plug is the Hazard switch wires. The good news is, not only is the hazard wire on there, but also an illumination wire, so you can connect a hazard switch to that and have it light up at night. I removed the loom tape back along the wires to the brown plug, and added a 4 pin connector in parallel to the Brown connector, so I can still put the old radio back in should I need to.
Green/Red Hazard Signal
Black Hazard Ground
Red/Blue Illumination
Black illumination Ground
Both grounds are connected together, and just a normal ground, nothing special.
Connecting the Green/Red to ground, turns on the Hazard lights.
I got this really nice latching hazard switch from Ebay, which is also illuminated. What made this one particularly good, is it has separate pins for the light, to the switch pins, as a lot of the switches I found were not usable using a common pin for the light and switch.
The last couple of days, I have been busy fitting the radio and CD changer.
I have made up brackets, so it is fixed into the main dash, rather than using a slide in cage, as someone on here, back in 2017, said they were using an FP-11-04 Toyota Corolla stereo surround to make the 1.5DIN hole left in the dash when you remove the Nissan radio into a single DIN one. It was only about £10 verses the £100 Nissan one. I bought it at the time, and hid it in the garage. Took me 3 days to find it!!
Anyway, Radio is all fitted, and the new autochanger fitted under the seat. I just need to wait for a microphone to come, for the hands free, and the black paint to dry on the facia, as the one I got was originally grey, and looked terrible in the dash.
I will post some more pictures once that it is finished.
I have been going to change the Nissan radio for ages, but I knew it was not going to be one of those 5min jobs, as it would lead to having to do a list of other jobs as well.
So first job was to remove all the dodgy bayonet fit LED replacement bulbs from the main dash, that I had fitted a couple of years ago, and would annoyingly flash on and off as you went over bumps. The new idea is to actually solder in proper LED's. Some time ago, I found a site that sold 12v LEDs, which do not need a current limiting resistor, so I got some in Red, white and blue. I then set to work, adding blue LEDs behind the dash, as well as some strategically placed red and white ones, to make things like the needles glow properly.
Pretty happy with the outcome. It actually looks better than the photo, as the camera seems to have made hotspots, which you do not see with the eye.
I then set to work on the heater controls, as most of the lights in them were not working, making it very hard to find at night. I did the same thing, soldering Blue LED's and again added a few extra red and white ones, to make the display look right.
I forgot to take a picture.
Then I set to work on the radio. First job was to work out the Hazard light switch, as I have read so many posts on here, but you can't beat actually looking at the real thing. I found a site that had the pin-outs of the radio, which I then found was wrong... Glad I did not trust it, and metered all the cables. The good news is, the ISO conversion lead CT20NS02 is perfect for the all the radio connections, so the brown plug is not needed at all for that.
As mentioned in many posts, the Brown plug is the Hazard switch wires. The good news is, not only is the hazard wire on there, but also an illumination wire, so you can connect a hazard switch to that and have it light up at night. I removed the loom tape back along the wires to the brown plug, and added a 4 pin connector in parallel to the Brown connector, so I can still put the old radio back in should I need to.
Green/Red Hazard Signal
Black Hazard Ground
Red/Blue Illumination
Black illumination Ground
Both grounds are connected together, and just a normal ground, nothing special.
Connecting the Green/Red to ground, turns on the Hazard lights.
I got this really nice latching hazard switch from Ebay, which is also illuminated. What made this one particularly good, is it has separate pins for the light, to the switch pins, as a lot of the switches I found were not usable using a common pin for the light and switch.
The last couple of days, I have been busy fitting the radio and CD changer.
I have made up brackets, so it is fixed into the main dash, rather than using a slide in cage, as someone on here, back in 2017, said they were using an FP-11-04 Toyota Corolla stereo surround to make the 1.5DIN hole left in the dash when you remove the Nissan radio into a single DIN one. It was only about £10 verses the £100 Nissan one. I bought it at the time, and hid it in the garage. Took me 3 days to find it!!
Anyway, Radio is all fitted, and the new autochanger fitted under the seat. I just need to wait for a microphone to come, for the hands free, and the black paint to dry on the facia, as the one I got was originally grey, and looked terrible in the dash.
I will post some more pictures once that it is finished.
