Question on Maxima radio
 

I wasn't sure where to post this thread, but I have a question on a couple Maxima radios. One is for the 4th generation (Bose PN-2121D) and one for the 5th (non Bose PN-2415D). I was going to sell them so that someone could get some use out of them instead of just throwing them away. I remember them working, but I believe one of them had an issue with some of the backlighting when the instrument lights were on. It becomes a little difficult to check them since I don't have either of those cars anymore. I was able to hook both of them up to a battery box with the correct pin locations on the back (both have the same connector types on the back - (1) 10 pin and (1) 6 pin). However, I'm not sure how to supply power to get the backlighting going or to switch it go that mode. I've found a few places online that mark one of the pins Ill. (I assume Illumination), but others have that marked as a speaker output. Does anyone have any info on how I could manually get the buttons to light up? Thanks for you time!

First, click on the link and go to page 121.
http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/1998/EL.pdf

This is the Bose radio diagram. At the bottom of the page are drawings of the connectors used in the diagram. Look at the connectors that have the dashed line around them. These connectors are the same for the 4th and 5th gen Maximas, Bose and non-bose.

For the backlighting, you are interested in the ILL(umination) pin that is in the larger connector.

For both the Bose and the non-bose radio, illumination is two pins, 7 & 8. This is because the backlighting worked off of the dimmer control. So you have to put 12 volts on pin 8 and ground on pin 7.

*** BIG CAUTION ***

In the connector drawing in the link above, it is drawn looking at the end of the wire harness connector. You are looking at the radio so this means that left and right are reversed. In the drawing, pin 8 is on the left side of the connector. On the radio, pin 8 is on the right side.

DennisMik, thanks SO much for the response and info. I was able to use your info and get the illumination to work perfectly. Thank you!!!

It seems Nissan used two different style Bose radios in the 4th gen {the location of the buttons are different}. Does anyone know if the harness or the connectors were changed also?

There are 3 different Bose radio’s for the 4th gen. 95-96, 97-98, and 99. All are interchangeable.

Thanx for that response and info!!