after getting no replies from anyone else, i'll post here

the yellow wire on the left is what i have in the car right now to supply power to the head unit
the head unit then supplies power to the 2 head rest screens and the remote powers the amp

the wire on the right, orange with the black stripe, is the wire that's come with the loom for the new headunit i've got
this wire also powers the dvd player under the seat, both headrest screen, the 6 changer 6 box and the sat nav dvd player
the remote feed doesn't do these things

both of these wires need to be the memory feed for the radio so it's not a case of running another wire with a relay for a switched ignition feed

so my question is this

am i ok to run the power from the original wire? seeing as it's deemed to be suitable to run stuff as it's the patch lead between old and new or do i need to run a new wire?

what would you do?

because the wiring instructions to retrofit the stuff i'm fitting say nothing other than just plug and play it all together so am i over thinking this or am i playing it safe?

cheers

 

Depends on the size of the wire really


As its only low voltage (12/24v DC) and low current draw i would not be concerned.

 

that's what i thought, but seeing as there is a wire running alongside it for the fag lighter plug i'm going to use that instead

the fag lighters been replaced with a usb set of plugs and i've got another one in the car anyway in case i need to use it so job jobbed

 

Just be careful that you dont cause interference by doing that. A radio or similar can be very easily upset by electrical interference and if you have something plugged in to the cigarette lighter it may cause you problems

 

i know if i charge my phone in the non usb version it caused all sorts of interference but with the dedicated usb charger ports wired up that's gone away

 

The thickness of insulation on the wire can be deceiving, there could be less wire strands in the orange cable than the yellow. As long as the wires are adequately fused then I don't see an issue. Personally, I would want each item run from an individually fused distribution block, but that's up to you.

 

I powered my dvd head rest from the permanent live from the electric front seat.

What radio are you using Dojj??

 

i'm retro fitting the ford sat nav unit

it's a bit complicated to say the least

i've had the car apart for weeks now because i do bits at a time, but it's an almost full interior strip out as the carpet and complete dash has to come out in order to run the wires

plus a lot of the wires are in different places to the normal stereo set up

then you have to figure out the can bus and the headlining has to come out because of the ariel and all sorts

this is before you figure out that the new wires you need to run are too fat to fit into the normal clips, i've already broken a side panel trim and the seat belt cover

also got the strip the seats down as they've got the headrests in them and the motor for the 8 way seats gets in the way of the dvd unit

i'm also going from pre face lift heated seats to face lifted climate seats

and while i'm there i'm going to fix the handbrake switch

 

I fitted an aftermarket head unit to my mondeo. It's got everything,dvd,sat navigation,Bluetooth,cd player sd card reader. I've also got 2 head rest monitors and a reverse camera wired into it.