huesmann

Got part way through the old wiring instructions from Dennis. Connected the blue and yellow, and the speaker wires to the head unit harness. As I understand it, the orange/white illumination wire from the HU gets connected to the cream/yellow wire on the HVAC harness. This leaves 4 wires on the ROEM-VET1 connector unconnected: blue/white, red, black, orange.

I assume the ROEM-VET1 black wire goes to the black wire on the HU?

The instructions say to connect the red wire from the HU to a switched source on the vehicle. Do I connect the red wire on the HU to the red wire on the ROEM-VET1 plug, and then connect the free red wire coming out the back of the ROEM-VET1 plug to switched power?

What to do with the blue/white and orange wires left over on the ROEM-VET1 plug?

This is for a Kenwood DDX573BH, FWIW.

huesmann

Oh, also, the other end of the ROEM-VET1 has a plug with a connector that I assume plugs into one of the other OEM HU plugs, plus a blue wire with a white stripe and a red connector on the end—what's that for?

huesmann

jrprich

I haven't used the pac-roem-vet1 but perhaps these links may help

https://pac-audio.com/index.php?cont...ttachment=1308

https://pac-audio.com/index.php?cont..._attachment=90

https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...-corvette.html

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...o-install.html

https://www.google.com/search?q=roem...hrome&ie=UTF-8

huesmann

OK, I think I've got it mostly figured out. The only missing piece of the puzzle is the dimmer function. Dennis's old instructions say to connect the orange/white ILLUM wire from the head unit to the light yellow wire on the digital HVAC panel, but I don't think that's right, at least for this head unit. I think it wants a 12V source only (because it doesn't dim!), whereas the HVAC wire is variable depending on the dimmer switch. What wire can I tap that's 12V (only) when the lights are on (both hi and lo beam)?

jrprich

Just did this myself.
Pop out your hatch release/fog lamp switch and tap the solid brown wire in the harness.
Run the tapped wire to the brown wire under the dash and up to the radio harness.
Connect this wire to your "dimmer" wire.
Worked for my Kenwood but the unit only dims a bit.

huesmann

Thanks man, I'll give it a try. Even a little dimmer is better than full bright.

BrodysFRC

I have the same questions you had. What did you do with the black and red? Hook them up to the radio side? Then take the red coming from the roem unit and connect it to switched 12v?

huesmann

I hooked up red to switched power and black to ground. The blue/white I left because no amp to trigger. I tried a couple of locations for the orange illumination trigger but was never able to get the dimmer function to work, so I just learned to live with the bright HU at night.

BrodysFRC

Okay, then what did you do with the red wire seen in my pic?

huesmann

TBH I don't recall, it was like 9 months ago now! Recommend searching for a switched power source. Try this: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...hed-power.html

BrodysFRC

No problem. It looks like I can go black to black and red to red between the ROEM and radio, then run that red wire in the picture to switched power. I am going to call Pac to confirm.

huesmann

The whole "brown accessory" wire thing from that thread sounds familiar.

GCG

Yes

The PAC ROEM-VET1 requires a switched power source in its red wire. Since the factory radio connector does not have a switched power source (OEM radio is controlled via Serial Bus) it has to be obtained somewhere else. The most common place to do so in 97-03 cars is from the yellow wire that is part of the unused 3 wires taped together in the passenger's footwell (yellow: switched via Fuse 11, orange: always hot via Fuse 7 and black: ground).

The other cables mentioned are spliced directly between the radio connector and the PAC connector:

• Red from radio to Red from PAC
• Black from radio to Black from PAC
• Yellow from radio to Yellow from PAC

Important exception: BLUE-WHITE from radio goes to BLUE on the PAC ROEM-VET1. If you wire it "blue-white" to "blue-white" instead, your door subwoofers will not turn on and then you'll have no real bass.

For dimming/illumination you can tap the Parking Lights circuit. Check Post 6 above for details.

BrodysFRC

So this exception is saying to connect blue/white (amp signal) from radio to blue (power antenna) on the ROEM??? And not connect it to the blue/white (amp trigger) on the ROEM??
What does the blue wire (power antenna) on the ROEM even do? Is that for an antenna that extends/retracts?

For dimming, I could use the cream wire in the climate control harness too, right? Any reason not to use that?

huesmann

You can try. I tried a couple of wires, including that one, but the dimming never worked.

GCG

Yes, confirmed: BLUE/WHITE (Amp Trigger) from radio to BLUE (Power Antenna) on the PAC ROEM-VET1.

As already mentioned above, if you wire it "blue-white" to "blue-white" instead, your door subwoofers will not turn on and then you'll have no real bass.

The Blue on the PAC actually passes on to the OEM harness the trigger to turn on several things:

• Power antenna (if convertible)
• Bose DSP module
• Door-mounted subwoofer amps

Yes, you can try. It's been reported that for some headunits it may not work and that going to the Parking Lights circuit provides an alternate solution.

BrodysFRC

Oh, weird. I will probe the connector before I splice to see if it is outputting voltage when light are turned on.

BrodysFRC

That makes more sense. Thanks for the explanation. I can splice the blue/white ROEM into the blue-blue/white connection also to enable me to use the provided loose blue/white wire exiting the ROEM module for amp signal, correct?

GCG

It would be interesting if you could read the voltage in that wire using a multimeter with lights ON and OFF and report back.