[JackPhil]

Hi guys.

I put in a new head unit on a 2002 Sentra. At first first the stereo worked fine and the headlights worked fine, but the dash lights would not function.

After replacing and upgrading a blown fuse to A15 the dash lights and the tone for lights on and doors open resumed ringing. But the stereo would not turn on.

As another remedy, i upgraded both the fuses to A20 on the car and A15 on the stereo. Now, the dashboard lights will not turn on, and if i turn on the head lights, the stereo shuts off.

I am out of ideas and solutions. any help to get my car back to night driving would be much appreciated.

 

[i68k]

you have mis-wired something, theres a short somewhere, or bad ground. your headlights are independent of all those other things, so your headlights should turn on/off regardless if you even have the key in. other than that, maybe your battery is dead/dying and wont hold the load anymore. make sure your terminals are tight, and good ground to bare metal, then check your battery voltage motor on&off. btw, you shouldnt need to 'upgrade' your fuses with just a headunit. then double check your harness connections, maybe you wired the dimmer incorrectly or something, so double check your wiring.

 

[jdmulloy]

Never, ever "upgrade" a fuse. A particular amperage is used for a reason, by using a higher amperage fuse you reduce the amount of protection you have. The wiring for a circuit can only handle a certain amount of current safely. If you're blowing fuses your overloading the line or you have a short. Unless you put in a very powerful head unit you likely have a short in your wiring. Make sure that you connected everything right. Remember that you have to make sure that you match up the functionality of the wires, not just the color. Although the color of wiring harnesses often match, there isn't a guarantee. How did you wire your head unit? Did you use a harness or did you cut the plug off the end of the stock wiring? Cutting the stock harness is definitely not recommended. Did you splice the wires with nuts or solder? If you used regular wire nuts one of them may have come loose or undone, which could lead to a short.