fitting a dvd in a corsa

[dotty.]

the sony dvd player has 2 black plugs but the wiring in the car has 3, 2 that the two plugs on the dvd fit and a third that is slightly wider. there is no power going to the player seeminlgly, i have replaced the 10amp or watt fuse in the back of the dvd player, what am i not doing? i plugged the ariel connection in.

[Buenchico]

>>>what am i not doing?

The answer to that, Dotty, has to be 'making sense'!
(Sorry!)

I've never come across an in-car DVD-player that has either a built-in radio or a built-in TV tuner, so there should never be a reason to connect an aerial. Further, the vast majority of in-car DVD players take their power from the cigarette-lighter socket, so I'm lost when it comes to references to any number of (mysterious) 'black plugs!

Let's start at the beginning. Please tell us the model number (or name) of the Sony DVD player, so that (after a quick bit of googling) we can work out exactly what it is that you're trying to install.

Chris

PS: Nice to see you back ;-)

[shoota]

Perhaps its a CD player?

[dotty.]

yes it's a cd player, i corrected my error in my CB post but didn;t get back here!

[douglas9401]

First of all dotty you have to test the two live wires on the loom supplied with the player. They're usually yellow and red.
The yellow should be a constant live and the red goes live when you turn the key to accessory or ignition. If you find that the red is the constant live it's just a matter of swapping them round, red to yellow and yellow to red.
Depending on the year of the Corsa there may not be a switched live in the loom so you may have to supply a switched feed from a suitable location in the main wiring loom (remembering to fit an in-line fuse to your new wire fairly close to your connection to the main loom). This wire should be soldered into place not just wrapped round the car wiring and be finished off with insulating tape.
Don't assume that red or yellow wires in the main loom are "lives", always test first with a multimeter NOT a power probe or similar. That way lies major problems.
If this seems too much work and you have a constant power supply then joining red and yellow from the unit side to the constant feed from the car will get the set working but you'll have to switch it off manually.
Hope this helps.

[dotty.]

Huh? gulp.....

[douglas9401]

Okay dotty, just the last paragraph then. :)

[boxtops]

I'm so sorry, I need to go to bed - in Latest Posts, this read "fitting a DVD in a coma"... :-(

[Buenchico]

Ah, now it makes more sense.

If it was my car and radio/CD unit, I'd be looking at the wiring diagram for the unit and swapping a few wires around (with the help of a soldering iron and/or some connector blocks) but, unless you're confident enough to do the same, I'd strongly recommend getting a car audio specialist to sort out the problem. (Vauxhall, like Ford, tend to assume that nobody would ever want to put a third-party unit into one of their vehicles!).

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

[wolf63]

dotty - pay someone to do it for you. Much simpler. :-)

[boxtops]

That's what I'd do, too.

[douglas9401]

There is also a loom adaptor which comes with the lives pre-positioned to take account of the different positioning of the lives if two are present in the loom. It's available from all good car audio stockists, and Halfords. £15.00 top money.
Saves any alterations making it easier to refit the factory unit when you sell the car.

[dotty.]

right ok thanks, is a soldering iron similar to my steam iron? Do I need an extension lead from indoors to the car or can i take the ironing board outside?

[douglas9401]

Don't use a steam iron dotty, unless you want a flat battery. (er boom boom)

[dotty.]

no you're right, if it rained it could give me a shock too i suppose