How to: Install Car Radio in Bus

[cullengw]

Hi all,

I gots me's a radio from my car. Its a Kenwood sumthin sumthin.

Anyways, has anyone else tried this? I am not sure how any of the plugs work but all i know is there was a radio in the bus that was "similar" to the one I have but it only had one plug into it and the car radio one has like 3 different plugs. any ideas on how to make the car radio work in the bus?

bus plug is like an 8 pin female.
Car radio plug does not have that

please help!

[Booyah45828]

Before you do anything, check and make sure the ohm rating of the speakers. The last bus I swapped a radio on had 2 ohm speakers(found out the hard way). Most car radios use 4 ohm speakers.

You'll likely have to create your own custom harness in order to mount it anyways, unless you get a direct replacement from the body manufacturer.

[Ernst]

Adapters from DIN to Kenwood connectors can easily be found on eBay or AliExpress.

In my bus (BB 1998 ) I found out all roof loudspeakers work wit a common ground. This will blow up the final amplifier of most modern radios.
I had to draw new wires, but at the same time was able to create 4 groups: LF, RF, LR and RR.

BTW Later I replaced the two front speakers with Sony ones with exactly the same size. The sound makes a world of difference!

[crazycal]

You need a bus radio.

[Ernst]

Has your bus a 12 V DC installation? Then a car radio (with enough output power) will work fine.
If you have a 24 V bus, you need a voltage step down converter.

[cullengw]

Well then riddle me this....if i have 2 batteries to start the bus and obviously those would power the radio.........is that 12 or 24v?

The moutning is no problem. The previous radio in the bus was also a kenwood model...... so it fits almost precisley

I will post pics of the cables tonight?
I really want to do this so i can take advantage of the 6 speakers installed in the bus already. GOTTA CHECK THE OHM RATING!!!!

[Ernst]

I also have two batteries to start. They are connected in parallel, so the voltage still is 12 V. However the capacity is 2 * 230 Ah = 460 Ah.

If the batteries are connected in series, the voltage is 24 V.

If you're not familiar with electric circuits, the easiest way is to use a volt meter (the cheapest will do) and measure the voltage between the supply lead for the radio and ground. Or look at the figures on any light bulb.

[wauto]

Just went through this with my bus last friday. My used kenwood had a small sticker on the bottom of it that stated what color wire went where. That helped. However figured out the speaker dilema also. Ended up adding a set of Clarion speakers and it sounds aswesome.

[Ernst]

I thought for a moment that my radio is a Kenwood too. But no, it's a JVC. They're very similar. I replaced the old Blaupunkt because I wanted DAB+ reception. It offers studio quality and in most European countries it's slowly taking over FM. AM is being phased out right now.