Installing Interface Aftermarket Products in Complex Vehicle Electrical Systems

By Mugs

Today car audio is about connectivity and convenience and being able to interface aftermarket products seamlessly into the complex vehicle electrical systems.  Whereas certain interface modules would work for specific manufacturers vehicles across the board that is no longer the case today.  Today it is make, model, year specific to match the interface with the intended vehicle.  This is a challenge that even the most experienced installers feel helpless and exasperated at times.

What is happening is that we are “wired” so to speak to install any device “point to point” in that I mean we would physically hard wire each wire to a specific point into the vehicles wiring looms.  Through years of experience and literally thousands of cars an installer earned his “chops” and became very aware of each characteristic of each vehicles wiring and electrical systems.  Any aftermarket device could be “hardwired” into the electrical system without causing a “check engine” (light on dash) event to occur or any other indicator lights to turn on.   All an installer really needed for tools was a multi-meter, a pair of crimps, some t-taps and electrical tape and stand back and watch the magic happen.  Installing is still an art but it has become so much more technical and knowledge is power.

So what is my point of all this?  Well when you call “Sounds Good to Me”, car audio installation specialists in Tempe, AZ, near Phoenix, Arizona, and we can look up each vehicle in our database and determine what if any interface is available in order to do what it is you want it to do in order to save you and us time and money, making sure that interface will work in advance.  I can’t count the number of times customers have brought in a particular interface for us to install at to Sounds Good to Me only to find out it is not compatible to their vehicle.

“Well the web site I purchased it on said it would work” is what we hear the most.  Problem is the plug is wrong and the radio doesn’t recognize the interface and has locked itself up.  So now what?  Who is at fault in this situation?  Nobody is but it is a scene replayed over and over everywhere.  We explain to each customer who brings us their own interface that we are not familiar with that we will install it per instructions however if it causes event indicators to light up or radios to lock up or freeze up we are not going to be held responsible.

WARNING: Some P.O.S. no-name interface that comes from somewhere in China with instructions in broken English and no real support is a crap shoot at best.  Sure I will call the manufacturers number on the instructions but the clock is still running because it is time you are paying for.  We try like hell to insure everything we do is done correctly but in situations like this we can only do what we can do and I can’t read French, Chinese, or Russian.  I love this job.  I do but sometimes the people can be made to believe anything.

Please feel free to call or email me with any questions or comments about our web site or my blogs.   We love talking about car audio, security, entertainment systems in vehicles, boats, trucks.  We are easy to talk to, and speak in easy to understand language too.

Sounds Good To Me car audio & video electronics and security alarm system installation specialists are located in Tempe, AZ, servicing the entire metro Phoenix area including Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale, Glendale and Gilbert, Arizona. Call us at (480) 968-8543 or visit us at https://www.soundzgood2me.com. Contact Muggs by email at [email protected].

Mugs