Plug n Play Aux-in mod for 2005 6cd radios

Got home yesterday and mine had arrived.

 

Very nice job with the whole packaging and instructions. I was pleasantly surprised at the effort you put into making this happen. Thanks again!

 

I'll probably install the board this weekend. I'm also going to be ditching my FM modulator. Will let you know how it goes!

 

Ken

What would happen if you plug the ribbon cable in the wrong way?

Well...without knowing all the pinouts for the stereo, I'd have to honestly say I don't know...hence the very specific instruction on how to correctly plug in the ribbon cable.

 

I can only guess that whatever engineer designed this had enough foresight to know that the odd assembly person would screw this up and made the reverse pin for the power not connected/used so that it wouldn't do anything, but that's a generous guess.

 

Just don't do it eh?

Holy moly that heat shrink is thick!!! Glad I suggested it..

 

Looks good, like the quality of the product, great job man!

 

Made my Aux in cable last night. I plan on mounting a 1/8 stereo jack inside the center console, where the 12V plug is, so all I have sticking out is my, yet to be delivered, Ipod cable.

Well...without knowing all the pinouts for the stereo, I'd have to honestly say I don't know...hence the very specific instruction on how to correctly plug in the ribbon cable.

 

I can only guess that whatever engineer designed this had enough foresight to know that the odd assembly person would screw this up and made the reverse pin for the power not connected/used so that it wouldn't do anything, but that's a generous guess.

 

Just don't do it eh?

 

The reason I ask is because the instruction is pretty confusing regarding that part, what with the driver side/passenger side thing. Maybe it will be a no-brainer once I open it up, but just reading it without actually seeing the stereo confuses the heck out of me.

The reason I ask is because the instruction is pretty confusing regarding that part, what with the driver side/passenger side thing. Maybe it will be a no-brainer once I open it up, but just reading it without actually seeing the stereo confuses the heck out of me.

I see... well... I'm thinking... ... ... I can't really come up with another way to say it that won't just be more confusing.

 

If it's not clear enough, I think the best thing to do is, when you take out your changer, mark the passenger side of the changer with a marker on the side. It probably wouldn't hurt to mark all the passenger sides of the ribbon cables either just to make sure you've got your bearings straight.

 

The way the board is constructed, when the board is plugged into the ribbon cable & it's straight (the ribbon), the stereo jack on it (aux in port) should point to one side or the other of the car/radio. The side you want it to open to, or point to is the passenger side of the radio & changer. If it's pointing towards the driver's side, you have it in backwards.

 

Does that help or am I only succeeding in futher confusing you? I'd like make sure it's clear and not just with your radio in pieces in front of you. It shouldn't take that to explain it, although I do think it will help. I'll put a couple big pictures here in a sec that should help too...

Oh yea, I also received parts today, so everyone else's order will ship tomorrow.

Did that post & pictures help at all bemani? Let me know if I can help any more..

It's clearer - I'll be installing tonight, I'll let you know if I have any questions

Hey, just installed this little bugger last night, for use with my XM and PDA. When I have the power adapter (cigarette lighter style) plugged into my XM I get this high pitched noise, and it goes up and down with the engine. No noise without the power plugged in.

 

I'm guessing a ground loop? What is the best way to cure that?

about how long did it take you guys to install it....start to finish?

Hey, just installed this little bugger last night, for use with my XM and PDA. When I have the power adapter (cigarette lighter style) plugged into my XM I get this high pitched noise, and it goes up and down with the engine. No noise without the power plugged in.

 

I'm guessing a ground loop? What is the best way to cure that?

 

I have the exact same noise with my Belkin TuneBase. I ran my cord through the ashtray where it plugs right into the line out jack on the TuneBase. Now my Ipod is positioned perfectly, gets charged, and is direct-connect line out, but I get that annoying whine.

 

Doesn't do it when plugged directly into the Ipod, and it didn't do it when using the TuneBase as an FM transmitter. Would love if someone had an idea for a solution.

 

BTW, the whole aux-in package was done very well. Good workmanship and directions. I only had one issue with installation. There was a ground wire connected to one of the bracket screws on my radio. The screw would not come out, I ended up stripping it. I just clipped the wire and then connected it to a different bracket screw upon reinstallation. Not being able to remove that screw meant I had to bend the bracket to clear the top cover on the radio. Not a show stopper, just a speedbump along the way.

 

Thanks for putting this together, it is sooooo much better than the FM transmitter, and a steal at $35.

 

Oh, and it took me about an hour and a half, start to finish. Probably could have done it faster without the stripped screw issue and having to be sneaky because I was still at work.

If you check out post #112 in the original thread, you'll see I had the same problem, and solved it with a $17 Radio Shack ground loop fixer thinigie!

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=270-054

Errr ... can you guys check if your L and R channels are reversed? Mine is for the aux-in. The CD player is okay though.

I think I might know what the source of your ground loops are... I think what's causing the problem is resistance to ground in the cigarette lighter outlets you're using...I think... I hardwired my XM unit to the wires coming off the back of the cigarette lighter & have no ground loop noise at all. I would recommend hardwiring your adapters, preferably wiring your ground line to the chassis directly, although I used both the ground and hot wires on the cigarette lighter.

 

You could try tying the ground of your audio cable to the chassis via a jumper wire too to see if that helps. Cigarette lighter chargers are notorious for creating ground loops.

Errr ... can you guys check if your L and R channels are reversed? Mine is for the aux-in. The CD player is okay though.

*doh* well...sorry...not much I can do about that now...

Errr ... can you guys check if your L and R channels are reversed? Mine is for the aux-in. The CD player is okay though.

 

How would you be able to tell?

It took me several hours start to finish, but I had to take out the radio twice because the patch cable to the MP3 player didn't fully seat the first time around. Turns out the fancy cable I had bought had a much larger end than most, and it was hitting the shrink wrap. Simple trim, and everything was fine. My L and R channels are not reversed as far as I can tell...

 

The only thing that surprised me is how hard it was to get the trim off... I really thought I was going to break a few of them. They didn't break though, and they went back on. I managed to only lose one screw that fell into the nether regions of the car... I supposed I'll have a rattle now When I first read the instructions, I wondered why I needed a magnetic pick up tool - now I know!

How would you be able to tell?

 

I put the output balance to L or R only.

 

The only thing that surprised me is how hard it was to get the trim off... I really thought I was going to break a few of them. They didn't break though, and they went back on. I managed to only lose one screw that fell into the nether regions of the car... I supposed I'll have a rattle now When I first read the instructions, I wondered why I needed a magnetic pick up tool - now I know!

 

I think the face plate is the biggest PITA. First of all, you have to protect it because you don't want to scratch it. Second, its got those screws, and little clips to hold it on. You either use screws, or clips, you don't use both damn it. Took forever to pry it off.

 

BTW jazzy, it really was no problem to figure out the ribbon cable once I saw it. If you reorder the boards, you might think about rerouting the line-in to face the driver side instead so that the stereo cable won't get in the way of the radio tuner or whatever that big silver box is.

Even after all the initial interest, I'd be a tad suprised if there was enough people to sell all 100 boards I had made. If I do get close however, I'll just work on the next "gen" board and probably ditch this one. I'll keep routing & stuff in mind for that one though...probably use dual RCA jacks pointing straight towards the back.

 

Anyway, the install is a bit of a PITA the first time (hopefully the last time for most of ya...I doubt it for me ) but I think it's worth it. I'm not too experienced with ground loops & problem solving them, but someone that's experiencing it should try connecting the ground wire of their power adapter directly to the chassis to see if that helps... If that doesn't work, I guess the ground loop isolator is the way to go...I dunno what else to suggest unfortunately.

 

I was also a tad worried about the heat shrink & tried to either tuck it under or cut it away from the stereo jack, but it's pretty thick. Everyone should just double check that the cable is flush against the jack or it's not all the way in & probably needs some more trimming.

 

Still looking forward to more install stories ...

Would the RCA version be any better (sounding), or does that just stop the need to buy an adapter?

IThere was a ground wire connected to one of the bracket screws on my radio. The screw would not come out, I ended up stripping it. I just clipped the wire and then connected it to a different bracket screw upon reinstallation. Not being able to remove that screw meant I had to bend the bracket to clear the top cover on the radio. Not a show stopper, just a speedbump along the way.

 

Oh-oh. I think I might have that problem too. I noticed that ground wire too back when I installed my FM modulator, but I was able to work around it. I tried removing it then and remember that the screw wouldn't budge.

 

I'm not sure why some vehicles have it and others don't.

 

Ken

Here's what I tried initially:

 

1) hardwired to both pos and neg of cig lighter (I soldered them to the cigarette lighter) - noise.

 

2) hardwired positive to cigarette lighter (soldered), ground to chassis (bolt over the transmission, metal on metal) - noise

 

3) put my cig charger back together the way it was - noise

 

I don't mind trying a jumper for the audio lines, but I'd rather not if possible (I suppose they are shielded.

 

Any input or suggestions to fix this?

 

With power plugged in, everything works great, I am also using the aux in for my PDA with GPS, so music is playing, and when my GPS wants to tell me to turn, the music momentarily cuts off, GPS speaks, and then music comes back on!! That was an added feature, don't even know why that happens.

 

Thanks

Would the RCA version be any better (sounding), or does that just stop the need to buy an adapter?

I'm not sure if there's really any advantage to working in RCA because it's a mix. Car audio components work mostly with RCA. However, most portable audio stuff and electronics (computers, ipods, mp3, XM) just have an 1/8" stereo jack. Basically, no matter what I use, someone is going to have to use adapters. Plus, someone on here mentioned that RCA's are slightly more vibration resistant than 1/8" jacks. Personally, I don't think it really matters too much, I was just trying to keep everyone happy with whatever was easiest.

 

As far as the grounding screw on the bracket...that sucks. Cutting it off or drilling it out is dangerous with the components inside, so I guess that only leaves cutting the wire and bending the bracket if you can't get it to back out. I guess you just want to be extra firm and make sure you don't strip it to try and break it free. I bet they used loctite to bind it in there though...could be tough.

 

Hrm...actually...there might be an alternative to bending. It would involve more disassembly, but I think you could still be able to remove the main board (radio) instead of the CD changer and gain access from the underside...maybe not...I can't tell from my pictures and I didn't try it.