incorrect wiring leading to blown fuses

verdana
   1994 ford explorer.. i'm trying to install a blaupunkt mp3/cd unit.. the 2 harness plugs fit, but the loose wire connections are a problem. there is a red, a black, a yellow, a green, 2 blues (neg and pos), and 3 orange wires (neg and pos for the dimmer and one solid orange that says illumination)   the back of the blaupunkt has 1 red, 1 black, 1 yellow, 1 green, 1 blue, and 1 orange.....

   i wired red to red, black to black, yellow to yellow, blue neg and pos to blue, and orange neg and pos as well as orange solid to orange, green was not needed.. the result was that the unit works but the instrument panel lights fuse blew..   any ideas about what i should have done?

first of all, most of the time it's always best to just cap off the orange wires.  The illumination wires on an aftermarket deck are rarely used(at least i always cap them).  Also, you HAVE to use a green wire.  That's a speaker lead.  Without it, there won't be sound.  If the fuses blow, that means there is too much current.  Disconnect the orange wires and then see what happens.  However, every other wire should connect(unless you have any brown wires).  The basic colors are as follows: green, gray, white and purple - speaker leads   blue/white is a remote turn on for the amp  blue- is for power antenna, if you have it. black is obviously ground.  yellow is your constant power(memory) and red is your switched power(accessory) finally, you may have a brown wire-mute as well as a couple orange-illumination.  the wires that aren't absolutely necessary are the brown and orange.......everything else, you probably need.   Regardless of whether you have power antenna or not(which you probably don't), connect all the blue wires together.......then it should work fine.....if not, your explorer is screwed

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Brent

MECP Advanced Installer
"I don't claim to know it all, just more than you."

the green is for the telephone mute and i haven't got a car telephone.. it's a single wire and there is no corresponding wire in the aftermarket harness.   it's the 3 orange wires that i'm not sure about, or maybe more to the point, the single solid orange one, because i could hook the orange neg and pos (dims the instrument panel lights) wired to the orange wire coming from the blaupunkt... that would leave the solid orange unhooked. could i wire that to the red?

That seems really weird.  All of the more recent radios have the wiring that i mentioned.  Look at this picture on eBay.  It has the same 16-pin harness that I mentioned.  I really don't know what to do with the harness you're describing.  Just cap off the orange wires.  They don't matter.

https://cgi.ebay.com/BLAUPUNKT-wire-WIRING-Harness-PHOENIX-BPV755-BPV650-NEW_W0QQitemZ190020359568QQcmdZViewItem

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Brent

MECP Advanced Installer
"I don't claim to know it all, just more than you."