Many dodges have a factory amplifier installed and you can either bypass it by connect a ton of wires yourself, or you can just get this wiring harness and bypass. I'd get the wiring harness...
If you're looking for 12v in most cars that turns on when the car comes on just hook a wire to your cigarette lighter.
This is an old thread, but I am responding because I just ran into this because I recently purchased an old 2006 Dakota. I can speak to my circumstance and I am not making any assumptions on my particular circumstance. Mine did not have an amp. I had the default low-end factory stereo, it had a CD player, AM/FM, and a line in jack on the front. The line in jack was busted off (common complaint) and the volume control had become erratic and would not work (also a common complaint). So I installed my new head unit with just the chrysler/dodge wiring harness adapter and the antenna adapter - each are available online for about $6 for a total of $12. I paid double that because I bought at the local O'Reilly's auto parts, and these are likely available at Autozone or possibly Walmart (not intending to pick any place or advertise, just supplying information where I got my parts). I will pay a little extra for the convenience of getting it locally rather than waiting for it.
Here is what happened. I wired the adapter to the stereo harness by soldering and using shrink wrap (the right way). I hooked it up and nothing. I traced it to there was no accessory power as stated here. I downloaded a wiring diagram from online and it confirmed this. I spliced into the Accessory/Cigarette lighter power wire and ran that to the Accessory power input into my stereo. That was the issue keeping it from working. So I didn't need that box at all. You can get the accessory power from the cigarette lighter. There is plenty enough power there too, not like a lot of current is required. The stereo has it's own fuse in the back of it too. So it is a clean and viable solution, better than getting an elaborate box and connecting all the wires associated with that (much more complex and expensive). A box is NOT required for the basic system! Save your money, save time, and take my word (and VulgarDisplay's sage advice). There is no problem with the stock wiring adapter - this dodge wiring harness does not have an accessory power on it - so the adapter connects to a spot that does not have a wire on it. It is not wired to another spot on the factory plug, there isn't one on the factory plug. I could not find anywhere online that spelled this out except for here, and it appears no one has taken the advice (everyone is saying the box is required when it isn't).
I cannot speak if that box or a separate box is required for steering wheel controls or any additional functionality. Mine is a stripped down vehicle with no audio controls on on the steering wheel. I don't have an infinity or alpine factory system that has an amp. I don't know about the illumination control - that may not do anything without the module (it is bright and does not dim with the other lights). On my particular unit I put a double din inside the dash of a "din and a half" dodge radio, so I had to do some additional hacking to get it to fit (on the front bezel and removing and inside shelf inside the dash). No one makes an inexpensive kit for these units because a double-din officially will not fit. But I will have a very basic carplay and android auto functionality now, and won't need to add any $40-70 boxes. So my old dodge can have similar functionality to my newer cars - GPS, handsfree phone, messaging, and soon a backup camera. Once more, when they update the software on the phone I get added and improved functionality. If I get a nicer phone things work better and faster too. My maps don't need updating, and if I need to be rerouted I can be in near real time. I will put on a backup camera too just as soon as I figure out how to best run the wire from the back license to the reverse lights and head unit. I bought the branded camera for $25 locally even though I could have gotten one from online for under $10 because I didn't want to wait for it to arrive as well, and could see this was a little nicer than the cheapest ones online as well.
So, VulgarDisplay was right on the money - most of you could probably do without the adapter. And if you only wanted a single din unit you could get a front mounting dash bezel and not have to worry about carving the stock one up. There are a lot of assumptions in the thread that this adapter box is required - and it likely is not. Mine works fine without it. Now if you want the CAN bus to turn it all on and off, or you have an amp, you
may need it. But you don't need it for accessory power. Also, you may need an adapter for the steering wheel controls - but that may be a second adapter and mine didn't have those. I had to do this on my other vehicles.
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