Well I figured this out on my own, the dimmer wire on my pioneer HU was orange/white, and putting it to the orange/white on the harness didn't dim. I routed it to the orange wire on the metra harness and now the unit dims.

 

I think I ran into the same issue as you V-fit. When I looked into the color codes for the Metra wire harness, it says:
Orange - Illumination
Orange/White - Dimmer

On my Clarion CX501 install instructions:
Orange/White - Illumination lead

According to Crutchfield the CX501 does dim. It tells you to connect the orange/white to each other. But solid orange doesn't connect at all, don't I need that?

 

Did you figure out what wire to connect to what for dimming? Thanks again in advnace.

 

Both worked for me. I did one, turned the lights on, dimmed, same with the other.

 

Thanks. You are most helpful.

 

so following the stock instructions worked and using orange as a dimmer worked as well?

 

Installed my PIONEER AVIC with the metra harness and blew 2 fuses before I found this thread.

The Orange Illumination on the metra harness is way wrong and it blew the fuse for the radio itself and then the fuse for the HVAC.

 

so what do i need to do to NOT blow fuses? my stuff come in today.. seee...

 

^^What unit are you running?

 

iam running a clarion vx401

 

ok clarion headunit here... iam about to weld together the wires tomorrow morning... just follow the colors right? or are the colors wrong?

 

Will probably be my first modification I do come this summer

 

Quick question, how do you fit the honda pilot metra trim piece onto the pioneer with the factory honda fit dash piece (I can't figure out a way to lock it in)? Thanks!

 

I never been able to fugyre that out. I just left it on without locking it and it never fell off, so I'm leaving it alone.

 

Yep put it in, put tape on the back, and let gravity do the rest.

 

If anyone is looking for the harness, dash kit and antenna harness I have a set. It came with my radio from Crutchfield, but I didn't need it.

 

Did you ever figure what to do not to blow a fuse? I'm getting the jvc kwnt700, and am hoping the metra harness and antenna adapter work with this.

 

I don't think the Clarion is able to dim using the Fit's dash light dimmer control. I have the NX501 with the orange/white illumination wire and the Metra harness with the orange, and the orange/white wire. I went crazy looking all over different threads for the correct connections and just ended up more confused because of conflicting information. In the end I didn't connect any of these wires. What I believe is that the Clarion looks for a 12V signal when you turn on the headlights so that it can dim the display for night driving. If you use the Metra orange/white wire the Clarion does not see the correct voltage. There were even rports of electrical damage if you go orange/white to orange/white. So this leaves the option of connecting the orange/white on the Clarion to the orange on the Metra. I was thinking of making this connection when I had my HU out this weekend to connect a microphone. Then I decided to leave well enough alone. I don't really need my HU to dim. It's not all that bright to begin with. Btw PM me if you want my wiring diagram. It has the connections for the antenna adapter, as well as the parking brake bypass.

 

hmm I supposed its possible to test it with a multimeter or test light. then you can find out for sure what does what. Reading an older post on this thread, it would seem that the illumination and dimmer pins on the metra harness should be the other way around. apparently following their layout can cause fuses to blow.. I just ordered the metra harness and antenna adapter. Hopefully these will work properly with my JVC unit. I will have my installer double check the dimming and illumination pins just to be sure the info in this thread is correct.

 

Crutchfield:
"Illumination Dimmer: The receiver's display automatically dims to a preset brightness when the vehicle's headlights are turned on. The wiring harness includes an orange/white lead that should be connected to the vehicle's parking light circuit in order for the dimmer feature to operate."

From other research it's pretty clear that you shouldn't connect the Clarion orange/white to the Metra orange/white "dimmer" lead. Apeears that you can connect the Clarion orange/white to the Metra orange "illumination" lead. This should dim the unit when you turn on the headlights, however you will not be able to use the vehicle's dimmer rotary control to adjust the level of illumination.

If you leave everything disconnected the HU will remain the same brightness regardless if the headlights are on or off. You can manually adjust the brightness through the HU controls.