How to test a Car stereo without a car?

Ok, so recently my stereo got messed up when a theif tried to steal it, they took a screwdriver and messed up a bunch of pins on the stereo where it connects to the faceplate. I attempted to fix them, but not until after my insurance already got a new stereo installed. Now i want to see if i did in fact fix the stereo but the wiring harness is completely different on the new stereo and i dont feel like cutting any wires. Anywho, is there a way to test it without hooking it up? I tried to hook the 2 power wires off the connector on the stereo to my car battery but it didnt even power on, which it was before it was taken out, i just couldnt put in the faceplate. Do i have to do anything with the remote control wire? there's also one called Accy and Ill. Can anyone help?? The deck is a pioneer by the way.

You have to have both the acc and power wire connected to 12+ and the negative connected for it to work.

:iagree: you have to put red (acc) and yellow (memory) from harness to the + side of battery and black (ground) to - side.

U can also buy a 12 volt battery at like radio shack and test it out... I have one of these handy for when I need to test things like these out... Like they said, Acc wire, and power wire to the positive, and the ground wire to the negative... Should power up... U wont hear anything tho... But u can just wire a speaker to one of the 8 wires that are usually for speakers, I think usually they are green or purple... They will be close to the same color, but one will have a stripe or something... Polarity dosnt really matter when testing it out, just attach the 2 closest to each other to a speaker...

Another thing that's great for testing radios is a computer power supply. It's got 5v and 12v outs - so it's awesome for testing stuff like stereos and what not.

I know the speakers work, i just need to see if the faceplate will control any of the features which i'll be able to see on the screen. Do i connect BOTH the Accy and Memory wires plus the positive to the positive on the battery? or just the accy and the power and no memory wire?

Another thing that's great for testing radios is a computer power supply. It's got 5v and 12v outs - so it's awesome for testing stuff like stereos and what not.


Definately... I sold a wing on ebay a while back and used my PSU to show the LED lit up... :naughty: Just make sure u used the yellow wire, the red is 5v...

I know the speakers work, i just need to see if the faceplate will control any of the features which i'll be able to see on the screen. Do i connect BOTH the Accy and Memory wires plus the positive to the positive on the battery? or just the accy and the power and no memory wire?

I meant like if u wanted to make sure the preamp outs work, a deck might light up, but if the preamp is blown you will not hear any sound when its hooked up...

As for the wires, you only need to connect 3 wires, 2 are for power and goto the positive, should be red and yellow (atleast on all the decks Ive installed) and then ground (usually black) to the neg terminal or simply ground it to the chasis anywhere on the car (if ur using the cars battery)...

Thanks all, i hooked it up and it worked! Now i have a spare pioneer DEH-7300 deck! in addition to my new DEH-860!