kristian

Skip the Auto Kit--the amp is really a joke. Mine was constantly over heating on me unless I ran the volume at next to nothing (or unless I removed my GLI and then I got engine noise through the speakers). With the Kit volume low, I had to crank the head unit volume up to 30-40 to have decent volume. At that level, the bass was muted some. Worse, I actually overheated the head unit amp on a road trip--it made a popping sound and the head unit turned off. It was fine when I turned it back on so it must be some sort of circuit breaker. I ran the Belkin Kit inside my center console with the plastic removed for better cooling. This eventually was the downfall to the Kit as I developed a short. I replaced it with the iPod doc from Jazzy which is very similar to the one you linked to above. The adapter from Jazzy requires a little more installation than a cigarette lighter plug because you have to hard wire it, but the sound quality is much better than the Belkin.

I did that when my wife wasn't home . If there is a way, I didn't see it and I have a nice hole in the cubby now. Drilling it was kinda a pain too because I couldn't remove the whole cubby from the car because of the seat heater switches. Luckily I didn't end up drilling the seat too!

I wasn't clear from your description if you are going to plug the GLI directly into the Jazzy or if you were going to use some sort of patch cable between the Jazzy and the GLI. Since you are planning on using an Auto Kit, I would suggest NOT connecting the GLI directly to the Jazzy in case you have the same problems that some of us have had with the GLI causing the Auto Kit to cut out. (the problem is probably due to heat build up on the Auto Kit). If you use a separate patch coming off of the Jazzy, it is a fairly easy task to remove the GLI if you are having problems. If you plug the GLI directly into the Jazzy and you want to remove the GLI, it will involve the extra step of taking the head unit apart which adds about 30 minutes of time and is definitely the most putzy part of the install. A further note on the cut out issue: I exprimented last night with placing a brass key on the backside of the super hot resistor on the Auto Kit as a ghetto heat sink and that seemed to help. I will try to find a heat sink small enough to fit the resistor and see if that can be a more perminent solution.

I plugged in the Jazzy/PAC GLI last night and sure enough, I'm getting cut out issues with my Belkin Auto Kit. I pulled the white cap off the Belkin and the chip inside does get quite hot. If I play the Belkin at about 1/4 volume and the HU at 20+, it doesn't cut out very much, but it's still annoying. Plus, I would like to have the HU at a similar volume to where I would listen to the radio just in case I want to listen to a traffic report or something. I guess I'll have to either try the heat sink idea, or go back to a straight cable and deal with the ground loop noise (which I only notice on soft songs with low volume).

So what volume are you using on the head unit, and approximately how much volume are you using on the Belkin? If I used more than 1/4 of the Belkin wheel's travel, I was getting a cut out, and that wasn't enough amp for the volume I wanted to listen. I need to try it with the Jazzy GLI under the hopes that it isn't as sensitive as the Radio Shack. Another option for Belkin owners is to disconnect/bypass the amp. There are threads on iLounge.com on how to do this mod which requires some basic soldering.

You're having the same problem I had with the Belkin Auto Kit. It worked fine when plugged in via the iPod headphone out but it would cut out when plugged into the iPod line out (only when the engine was running). Through process of elimination (I tried two different Auto Kits too), I discovered that the problem was with the Radio Shack GLI I was using. With the GLI removed and using a normal 1/8 to 1/8 cable, I don't have any cut out problems but I do have ground loop noise when there is no music playing. I bought a PAC GLI from Jazzy to try it instead of the Radio Shack, but I haven't taken the time to install it yet. Hopefully it will get rid of the ground noise but it won't cause the Auto Kit to cut out like the Radio Shack did.

Interesting... So does anyone know what direction the Radio Shack GLI is? (meaning which end of the connection should the cylindrical part go?). I don't remember seeing anything directional on it, but I probably didnt' read the directions either . I had the cylindrical part near the iPod and the normal cable end connected to the Jazzy. I wonder if that had something to do with my Belkin problem...