Factory Cd/radio

sceptre · January 26, 2009

I have a 2006 GMC Sierra SLE VortecMAX with Bose 7 speaker system (including amp and sub) but no onstar.

long story short...i bought a GMAH24B last year..been having battery troubles since and have narrowed it down to the GMAH24B. I dont use the factory amp anymore I am looking for a cheaper solution to connect my headunit.

but my main concern is...why can't i use a 10 dollar harness and run an accessory wire to the fuse panel? My stock radio is definitely nothing special (plain POS really), and I dont even want the various chimes. Is there anything else that the radio controls? I've heard everything from airbags, to interior door marker lights, to check engine light....even to had a guy tell me it controlled the low fuel light. And I've also heard people tell me it does nothing....so what the heck does it really do??

EDIT: I just noticed under fit list that these same expensive harnesses are recommended for an 03-04 S10 but had an 03 ZR2 and I used a 10 dollar harness

anybody with any solid information would be GREATLY appreciated.

Nick

ScottyBoy · January 26, 2009

You CAN use a 10 dollar harness and run an accsy wire from the fuse panel. but there is a catch. You won't be able to use the bose amps to power your speakers anymore(you'll have to run new wires from your head unit to each speaker). And you will also lose your "chimes", the door open chime, headlights on chime, low fuel chime, and keys left in the ign chime.(maybe a few other chimes as well) The best solution is to go buy a harness from Wal-mart for 38 bucks. Its a harness made by Scosche and has a chime module included in the harness, plus an accsy wire. (You'll still have to run new wires to your speakers to bypass the bose amps). That how I usually install radios in 03-06 trucks, unless they they could care less about the chimes. But I think 38$ is far more reasonable than 100$ for a harness.

sceptre · January 27, 2009

sorry i left out the part that i scrapped the factory sub and amp months and months ago...am now using full alpine system (type R speakers and sub) and alpine deck

ScottyBoy · January 27, 2009

Ok, so you've already installed an alpine using the GMAH24B and bypassed the bose amps already, right? Now you say the the GMAH24B is acting up and causing your battery to go dead? Just wire it up with the regular harness. You wont lose any other functions besides the chimes for keys left in the ign, headlight left on, low fuel chime, etc. Only chimes, nothing else is affected, just the actual "ding ding" noise that different warnings produce. (As for the guy who told you it controls the low fuel light, hes half wrong, the low fuel light will still come on, but it won't make the "ding ding" sound anymore). So if you could care less about that, then just wire it up with the regular harness and grab your accessory wire from the fuse panel. But there is one feature you will lose besides the chimes by doing it like that. Your radio will turn off with the key. It will NOT stay on until you open a door, it will shut off as soon as the key is hut off. Other than that, it will work fine.

sceptre · January 27, 2009

Thanks a million for the information. Thats exactly what I was looking for.

Nick

ScottyBoy · January 28, 2009

No problemo.

sceptre · February 1, 2009

everything is working great using the harness that i removed from the 03 ZR2 before i traded it in (only actually using constant 12v and ground from it...haha). picked up an add-a-fuse and ran wire from the fuse panel for switched power and it works great. even ran wire from headlight switch for auto dimmer on the deck and it works as well.

just have one question...have a fuse in the panel labelled as RR-WPR...I'm assuming it means Rear Wiper, which I obviously dont have but the fuse is in there (15A) and it has power on it. Does anyone know what it would be for? Right now I'm running off IGN3, but if RR-WPR doesn't have anything on it, I would prefer to use that

otherwise, its great and beats paying $160 (cheapest I could find around here without ordering something online...damn canada)

Thanks a million for the information Scottie