huffa12

I've installed a after market head unit and bought the harness to connect it up but have no power to it with key on. 09 f150. My yellow wire has power but red does not

huffa12

Heel70

What type of harness did you buy? Sure many here espically on the audio forum have ran into this before. Just grasping at possible problems not knowing the specifics of the harness but i'd check to make sure you have a solid connection on the red wire, and possibly, hope you dis-connected battery before cutting and splicing into the main harness...you may have taken out a fuse if you didn't dis-connect the battery. If you aren't familiar with the audio forum check the link below, good luck.
https://www.f150forum.com/f30/

huffa12

I am on mobile right now so it's kind-of hard to navigate this site. I bought a smart harness I'm gonna try it to see if it will work

orntar

You don't (and he didn't) cut and splice into the main harness.

huffa12

The smart harness worked. It was like $55 at auto zone. Also had to buy a antenna adapter

orntar

That's good to hear, but I wonder what the difference is?

KaiGywer

I had the exact same issue in my 11. Sounds like you figured it out with the more expensive harness, but otherwise, you could have ran a wire from the passenger side fuse box with a "add a fuse" adapter. That's what I ended up doing and then the $5 Metra harness worked.

morehousej

^^^^^ this exactly.... i did it first try after reading about it in the audio forum on here.... I think it's even a sticky in there.

huffa12

It has a little box that's like a computer so the trucks computer sees the radio and turns it on from what my understanding is.