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polarity

schmuck

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dose anyone know the polarity of the stock rear speaker wires in an 85 i think the left is light blue and dark blue and the right is light brown and dark brown thankx
 
Use the old "9V Battery" trick....

Apply power (briefly) to the speaker using a battery, and note whether the speaker travels OUT or IN...

If it goes OUT, then note the wire position on the battery you are using, because they are CORRECT (postive is POSITIVE, negative is NEGATIVE)

If the speaker pulls IN, then the polarity is reversed on your test battery.

This works well for subs and coax's and stuff like that...it's pretty useless for standalone tweeters since you'll never be able to see them move....they do sell expensive equipment to "detect" polarity. Looks kind of like a "stud finder" with some LEDs that indicate positive of negative pulses coming off the speaker....cool stuff!
 
i know the polrity of the speakers but not the wires my factory speakers were not in the truck when i got it the speakers were marked and i dont trust the jack leg who owned the truck before me
 
[ QUOTE ]
i know the polrity of the speakers but not the wires my factory speakers were not in the truck when i got it the speakers were marked and i dont trust the jack leg who owned the truck before me

[/ QUOTE ] Might be a PITA, but you could run all new wires to be on the safe side.
 
Just a suggestion, don't know if it will work on speaker wires but try hooking a voltmeter (a digital would be best for this) on dc setting to the wires with the volume turned up to that speaker. You should be able to tell by either a negative voltage reading or positive. If negative then your positive lead is on the negative wire and vice versa. I don't have my Haynes manual handy or I'd see if it was in there for you.
 
This doesn't make any sense.... /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

If the wires are attached to the back of the deck already (is this a factory deck or aftermarket?) there should be markings to tell you what is what. It sounds like the factory speaker wire is being used throughout the truck....correct?

Worst Case scenario: Pick a wire from each pair as your "positive" one....I generally use anything with a stripe on it as positive. Hook them up on the speaker end. THEN, go to the back of the deck and disconnect each pair of wires (one at a time) and do the "battery test" to see if they were attached correctly. If so, re-attach to original locations, if not, swap the two wires....DONE.
 
no the deck is not factory, its a real PITA to pull it out, and when i got the truck there were no speakers in the back just wires i was just hoping that the person who put the raido in kept the polaritys the same and that someone knows what tha factory used but i guess ill have to pull the deck thanks anyway
 
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