Okay, so I purchased a wiring harness to install a single din radio into my 2005 Dodge Dakota. Never have I ever been so confused on a radio install.

I purchased a Scosche CR02RB harness. Got my single din all setup and fitted into place. Got no power. After researching several times I figured I got the wrong harness and ordered a Scosche CR04B harness. When I was wiring everything I realized the Dakotas have a separate line needed for the ACC, figure that out no problem by doing a wire tape into my cigarette lighter. When to click everything in and couldn't get the CR04B to connect. This is were I am desperately confused/frustrated.

The CR04B should fit for the Dakota 2005 as listed however the plastic clamp does not fit. The CR02RB does fit my Dakota, however when I first wired it, I still got no power to the unit (even with the ACC wrong on the initial connection, the unit would have powered on but not turned off).

Before I got re-wiring for the 3rd time now. I can't seem to comprehend which harness is the correct one. If anyone has run into this problem and can give me an idea of what I am missing that would be great, it seems the aftermarket information isn't a ton to go off of on searches.


Fits my Dakota, but provides no power, also has 2 yellow/contant wires

Doesn't fit but is listed as a 05 Dakota harness and provided a ACC separate bypass wire

 

I don't think either one will work as is. I had an 05 and now have an 2011. I recall my 05 also needed a can-bus adapter to power the radio. The factory ACC wire isn't a true switched ACC power. It is a can-bus trigger to tell the factory radio to turn on and off. The aftermarket adapter converts that can-bus ACC signal to send 12+ from the red constant to the yellow ACC output for the aftermarket radio.

Check Crutchfield for the right piece.

I think this is the one I have in my 2011
https://www.amazon.com/PAC-C2R-CHY4-Replacement-Interface-Chrysler/dp/B001U3ULQO

 

On my 2005, the one additional step I had to do to get my aftermarket radio to work was to tap into the cigarette lighter for the ACC switching (dark blue-pink wire on the lighter). I did NOT need a CAN-bus adapter to get it to work.

I don't remember which harness manufacturer I used, but it did fit the factory plug. I would stick with whichever harness fits the factory plug, and wire it accordingly to the aftermarket radio plug, EXCEPT for the ACC switching wire: Whichever wire on the harness is for ACC switching (usually red), do NOT connect that wire to the aftermarket radio plug...leave it disconnected. Instead, connect the ACC switching wire on the aftermarket radio plug (should be red) to the dark blue-pink wire on the cigarette lighter. The constant 12v wire (usually yellow) should be connected from the harness to the aftermarket radio plug as normal.

One final detail:

Inside the fuse box under the hood, the fuse for the cigarette lighter actually has the ability to be placed among two different positions within the same "fuse number": If placed in one fuse position, the cigarette lighter is ALWAYS hot, even without a key in (if the fuse is in this position, your aftermarket radio will not turn off with the key)...If the fuse is placed in the other position, the cigarette lighter WILL TURN OFF when the key is removed (or turned to the "off" position), and therefore, so will your aftermarket radio. See below:




Good luck.

 

This is what I figured. However my only concern is that when I installed the wiring harness that fitted correctly I got no power regardless, even though the ACC wasn't wired properly. I would assume the unit would have power even without correct ACC but have issues turning off. I got no power when I originally hooked it up wrong. Unless I'm missing something on the ACC that has a trip signal for the power to the unit.

 

Go at it with a multimeter to see if you're getting 12v where you're supposed to. Also, you have two yellow 12v constant wires? On my harness, I believe those two were combined.. maybe I can take a picture sometimes, but definitely try twisting those two together. Also for it to turn on, you'll need to manually hold the power button on your radio if it's not getting the switched 12v.

 

I used the Crux SOOCR-26 harness on my 2005 and didn't run into any of these issues. I also didn't need the canbus adapter.

 

Long story short for anyone searching for these specific harnesses, I finally got it working Scosche just has bad packing for their harness for the models they list on parts.

The CR02RB is what I needed. It fit the harness on the OEM stereo, however the CR04B is packaged with a separate ACC wiring for those models. So for some reason Scosche packages separate ACC wires for other Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge models, however for this specific harness (CR02RB) they do not package one with the harness. So plan to either have extra wire on hand to wire tap (or tap into the fuse box) or use a Cannbus controller/different harness.