Steering Wheel Stereo Control Problem

[manc01]

Hi there,

I have just had a cruise control installed thanks to a purchase from Commsman & an installation from John at Marvey Tech in Adelaide. I can't however seem to get all of the audio steering wheel controls working. It appears art though it has been wired up correctly. I am using a unit from http://motorformula.myshopify.com/ (LX68). The unit works really well but I can't get the other stereo controls working. I was wondering if someone could offer come advise on how to correct this? The unit can be programmed from the head unit but I am not able to get it to work properly.

I also have a problem with the radio where the volume just seems to drop by half every now & then, mainly on the radio. Finally I was wondering if someone could suggest a good Digital TV antenna.

[Nightcrawler]

Did the steering wheel volume controls have resistors included to solder in-line with the stock wiring? My understanding is that wihtout these no unit will work.

I am in Adelaide too, and John had no idea how to wire up the SWI-PAC unit I got to fit to my V35 to work with my JVC head-unit - that was about a year ago now though.

He does awesome work though - has done quite a bit of audio gear for my current and previous cars, and does most of the auto elec. stuff on a whole heap of SAU:SA Members cars.

[Commsman]

These are the resistances that are placed across the common/ground wire (pin 17) & the other 2 wires (pins 16 & 20) when the various buttons are pushed.

If your unit was looking for resistance, and these were assigned/learned, then it should work. If your unit is looking for voltage changes, ie it places a voltage on the wires & the variation when a button is pushed determines the function, then maybe some of these are out of spec & additional resistors are required. It would be helpful at this point to have a manual for your system.

There's a guy with an M35 that had a similar issue with only some of the audio controls working (not supplied by me, btw) so it could just be a case of 'it is what it is'....

Edited December 21, 2011 by Commsman

[manc01]

John did a great job on the cruise control install of my car. He took a long time to complete it but did not charge me excessively. The pricing was very fair. I could not recommend him highly enough. I am not sure but from what I understood the steering wheel control just plugged into a part on the stereo. I was not aware of any soldering but he may have done it. I may have to check with him. The only controls that work are the volume up on the steering wheel & "mode" which was set to mute & seek was set to next radio seek increment.

Is the unit actually called a PAC-SWI (not SWI-PAC)? Or does it go under another name? I can't seem to find anything so if someone can tell me where to get such a unit if I need it then it would be appreciated. Any links would be appreciated. I can only seem to find PAC SWI units mainly in the US on eBay. Is this the sort of thing I need? http://www.ebay.com....#ht_1066wt_1144

[Commsman]

Paul. here's the one that the M35 owner used: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0039H2W66/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=g35audiassi-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=B0039H2W66

Here's what he said about it: "It worked straight out of the box but the tune buttons work in reverse. The power and mode buttons don't work. You're supposed to be able to manually configure the buttons but the unit didn't want to play. As it stands, you can adjust volume and change the radio or mp3 etc tracks so that will do."

It's worth noting that he was using the older JDM spec switches, which are most likely to be exactly the same as yours (electrically), but I can't be 100% sure.

I also don't know what headunit he is using, but the device would be another option for you to try if you want.

[Nightcrawler]

John did a great job on the cruise control install of my car. He took a long time to complete it but did not charge me excessively. The pricing was very fair. I could not recommend him highly enough. I am not sure but from what I understood the steering wheel control just plugged into a part on the stereo. I was not aware of any soldering but he may have done it. I may have to check with him. The only controls that work are the volume up on the steering wheel & "mode" which was set to mute & seek was set to next radio seek increment.

Is the unit actually called a PAC-SWI (not SWI-PAC)? Or does it go under another name? I can't seem to find anything so if someone can tell me where to get such a unit if I need it then it would be appreciated. Any links would be appreciated. I can only seem to find PAC SWI units mainly in the US on eBay. Is this the sort of thing I need? http://www.ebay.com....#ht_1066wt_1144

Er yeah my mistake - I am pretty sure that is the unit I have. Please note that I have still not actually fitted it yet - I haven't been abot ot figure out where exactly to wire it in.

I bought mine from Chris Rogers on here. And there are instructions floating around on the net for install in to a G35/V35 too.

[Paul Mapp]

edit

Edited December 22, 2011 by Paul Mapp

[manc01]

Well at least I havesome progress. The volume up button is mapped correctly. The volume down buttonis mapped to "seek up". Mute is mapped to "mode". Volumedown, seek down & power do not seem to work with any commands whereas theones mentioned seem to be able to accept any commands

[Chris Rogers]

the MF unit is a 2 wire resistive reading . so half the ladder goes on one wire and the other half goes on the other. tie the common to ground. done. I am one of his preferred installers for brisbane.

[manc01]

Chris do you think that it may be a simple fix where something has not been wired correctly?

[Chris Rogers]

possibly.

speak to Ash at tonkins have your wallet handy.