New stereo finally installed!

[X61guy]

Got it! Finally!

As mentioned, it took several hours to get it to work, but I finally got it.

I'll go ahead and assume a lot of the blame for initial headaches with the PAC, and then similar ones with the Axxess...DON'T USE T-TAPS! They are of the devil!

Every other connection on my system was soldered, but I didn't want to risk soldering in the car. Plus, I'm non-committal on most of my mods, and I wanted to easily be able to put the stock HU back in with no issues on the steering wheel controls.

I'm over it, now.

We're talking small differences in resistance over 2 signal wires, so any funny business through a shoddy tap is going to confuse the system almost as much as the operator trying to make it work.

Anyway, after spending a few hours pouring over the service manual last night, I discovered that the signals from the steering wheel actually go to the telephone module first. It's behind the glove box. According the the supplemental instructions for Bluetooth from Axxess, you've got to get back there anyway to disconnect it and jump the inputs and outputs.

Instead, I just made my connections there - both signal wires and the ground wire (and grounded that to chassis). Could have picked up power from the same connector, but already had power done behind the HU.

I can give more detail for anyone interested on wires and such.

Unit still didn't auto program, but I was able to teach it pretty easily once all connections were reliable.

Even have Bluetooth buttons working!

Everything functions as intended on stock set-up. Btw, my set-up is a Pioneer Z120bt.


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[guyvia]

x61guy - you are my new favorite dude. with a few months until the appradio 2 comes out, this is just in time.

[Nachojuice]

Could you give me as much info as possible for my installers, I have the PAC so I'm not sure if its gonna be the same but I would love for them to install this and me have every button working the way it should. Or was this only for the Axxess?

[ARF]

That would be fantastic. I had put this project down out of frustration.


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[X61guy]

Knowing what I know now, I would try the PAC again. The Axxess wouldn't auto-program anyway, so the only remaining benefit is that the Axxess wiring is a little simpler (don't have to use an external resistor).

Down to business...

There are 2 signal wires and a ground coming from the steering wheel. Instructions for both adapters tell you to use Pin 6 (white), Pin 16 (light green), and Pin 15 (pink) on the factory HU connector.

Instead, unplug the 32-pin connector from the Tel Adapter Unit (to the right after you take out the glove box). We will be using Pin 12 (green), Pin 13 (red), and Pin 14 (violet). You will leave this connector disconnected from the TAU.

So...

HU Pin 6 = TAU Pin 12 = Signal A
HU Pin 16 = TAU Pin 13 = Signal B
HU Pin 15 = TAU Pin 14 = Ground

Signal A: Source, Seek Up, Seek Down, Off-Hook (or PTT)

Signal B: Volume Down, Volume Up, On-Hook (hang up)

For the Axxess, I connected the Grey/Red wire to Signal A (12) and the Grey/Blue wire to Signal B (13). Connect the ground wire (14) to chassis ground. You can also attach the ground wire for the adapter to the same point on the chassis. This must be grounded to the chassis!

I already had my switched power for the adapter run to my HU harness, but you could probably use Pin 2 on the TAU.

All that's left is to plug the SW adapter jack into your aftermarket HU and start programming.

Zip tie the connector to something to prevent rattles, find a good spot for the SW adapter, and reinstall your glove box.

For my AVIC Z120BT, I programmed the PTT function to the "Off Hook" button (instead of the Off Hook function). This gave me voice control of the entire head unit (not just phone function). This may vary by HU, so use what makes the most sense in your application. Or, program whatever you want to those buttons! They all work!


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[X61guy]

x61guy - you are my new favorite dude. with a few months until the appradio 2 comes out, this is just in time.

No problem, guyvia. Glad to finally be contributing to the cause! Been lurking on here for many months - long before I got my Juke!

Good luck with the AppRadio 2. I hope its a helluva different animal from the original. The first one was such a great concept, but just horrible in execution. Shop where I got my Z120BT was practically begging me to buy the AppRadio, and kept lowering the price trying to get me to bite. Too bad they let me hook up my iPhone to their display model. No dice!


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[Nachojuice]

HU finally getting installed today, printed out your instructions for the PAC module so that all my buttons will hopefully work the way they are supposed to. I'll report back as soon as I have the car and take some pictures once it's all finished.

[guyvia]

Too bad they let me hook up my iPhone to their display model. No dice!

Could you go into that a bit more? I'm hoping to get something that lets me us my Android navigation with a head unit, but I don't want to end up with a crappy solution all around. I'll definitely make sure to try my phone with the head unit.

[X61guy]

I don't think the original AppRadio was compatible with anything but iPhone. Not sure about the newer version.

I read several reviews online about what was lackluster in the unit. I was able to confirm all with my 3GS. The unit was extremely laggy Functions took a full second or more to take effect. Netflix never would connect, but this may have been due to the lack of an e-brake switch on the display model.

There really weren't a lot of apps available. I don't know if that's improved, but I kind of doubt it. I don't even think it had an internal tuner or disk drive. So, if you were just going out for a quick drive and didn't feel like plugging up, it was going to be a quiet trip. Don't recall if it had BT built in.

Take a look at the reviews on Amazon for more details.

Like I said earlier, you can't help but hope that it works like you think it should. It's such a great concept. It just wasn't executed well and felt rushed to market. No wonder they were begging folks to buy them for $250-$300 a few months ago.

Maybe version 2 will be better...


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[Nachojuice]

This is a little delayed but hoping someone here can help. I got my HU installed, looks great, finally got the right cable for it so I could hook up my ipod, gonna have to play around with the settings as the sound isn't quite as good as I would like it but that's not the issue. For my steering wheel controls, when a cd/dvd is in the drive and I press on the up tab to switch tracks it switches to the next album instead, and when I turn the input to my ipod it doesn't do anything at all ... any ideas?