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

[bemani]

Where are the boards?

[jazzymt]

Where are the boards?

Heh, no worries, they made it to my house. Damn these things are small, but they are perfect for our needs. To start with, the boards are v. nice. Perfectly sized & spaced holes + pre-tinned + solder mask + good soldering iron = 100 times easier to assemble. Putting these things together should go relatively easily now.

 

On to the install: I've gotten pretty good at ripping my car & stereo apart now, so I'd guess it took me about 45 minutes from start to finish including the time it took to pose at every friggin step and take pictures. You start by removing the stereo from the dash (obviously). I'm going to include some instructions for this with the board, but for the forums, I'll skip it cuz there's already a half dozen or so.

 

Next, disassemble the stereo. Start by removing the two mounting brackets on each side, each bracket has 4 screws. Next, you remove the heat sink on the back of the radio, 7 screws here. Then you take off the two top corner screws & pop the lid off. Two more screws and the hazard switch comes out. 6 (i think) more screws to loosen the face plate, then you gently pry up a few tabs (9 or so) and the whole thing just slips off.

 

Next we want to separate the CD changer from the HU. Looking at the front we revealed by taking off the face (controls), remove the 4 middle screws nearest the top (not the top left & right corners) and the whole changer just lifts out. Carefully unplug the ribbon cable from the HU and you're out. Next, we jack the CD changer into the aux-in board and set that aside for a sec.

 

Now you're ready to route your aux-in patch cable. I chose to run it in through one of the empty plug slots and then zip tied it to the frame for the missing plug. Electrical tape around the plug helps prevent shorts (since this one has a huge bare metal portion). Once we're ready with that, we can put the CD changer & HU next to eachother, plug in the patch cord, and then plug the board's ribbon cable into the HU where the CD changer was plugged in. Now we can slip the CD changer back into place, reassemble the radio, put it in our dash and away we go!

[ralphyralph5]

B-e-a-u-tiful............................

[mvigneau]

I figured out something even better and it works!! Anyways, I don't want to hijack so check out my Another Aux-In thread for details.

[sdgt]

caught wind of this thread over on nasioc...

 

i'm assuming my 6-disc indash is very similar to the lgt unit and i'd be very interested in getting one of these for my '06 wrx wagon. the EE in me has been trying to think up ways this week to get an aux in, but they also taught me in school to choose the least complicated method...

 

i will check later, but i'm pretty sure the connections will be the same. if so, count me in!!

 

btw... can you perhaps give me a pin count on the connectors so i can confirm?

[c_hunter]

I am really impressed how small the boards are!! That should make it real easy to mount inside the radio, and is a very important advantage to this particular implementation. And I think it's important to note that this implementation does not preclude someone from wiring up a switch to mute AM/FM if they were so inclined to pursue that. Whichever implementation is used, the basic function is to mix in the aux signal with the other signals. A blank CD is one way to stifle the CD signal in this case, but mvigneau showed there are other solutions. I think there is plenty of room for innovation here, and jazzymt's board is the basic key ingredient that makes it easy to explore. We're lucky to have two choices -- a basic solution for $35 and a more complex solution for $125. There is a lot of room for tinkering between those price points!

 

Craig

[c_hunter]

I wouldn't bet that the radios are the same -- the 05+ Leg/OB radio is very different from previous Subaru units, which all used to be quite similar. We really won't know until someone tries it out....

 

There are 14 pins on the flex cable going to the CD-changer, BTW.

 

Craig

 

--

 

 

caught wind of this thread over on nasioc...

 

i'm assuming my 6-disc indash is very similar to the lgt unit and i'd be very interested in getting one of these for my '06 wrx wagon. the EE in me has been trying to think up ways this week to get an aux in, but they also taught me in school to choose the least complicated method...

 

i will check later, but i'm pretty sure the connections will be the same. if so, count me in!!

 

btw... can you perhaps give me a pin count on the connectors so i can confirm?

[jazzymt]

I'm glad you like how small the boards are c_hunter. As is the case so often when you're working things out on a computer, you can forget how small (or big, for the machinery I normally design) what you're working on really is. It definitely helps to use a magnifying glass while soldering since they're this small.

 

As far as using FM, I actually debated using an FM modulator w/no signal to simply mute an FM channel and use the aux in on that (since it's always active)...but, I don't actually have a separate FM modulator, just the one built into my XM, and that wouldn't be a clean, silent signal. It would just superimpose bad sound on top of good sound, so I ripped it out and just use the silent CD, which I don't even notice to be honest.

 

So, for another update: I finished the instructions today & had them reviewed by a friend. ...doesn't mean there isn't a mistake in there, but I think it should be fairly informative. For anyone that wants them *before* you get your board (paper version will ship w/the board) I can email it to you. Once I get my website up and running (might be awhile) I'll post it there obviously.

 

I also picked up shipping materials to send out the first orders Monday; boxes, tape, packing peanuts (biodegradable), labels, etc. So, everything's on track. Most of the orders so far should arrive Wednesday.

 

Tonight I'll work on the test fixture and will run all the boards through their paces on that tomorrow before shipping them on Monday.

[ProjectS15]

sweet! you'll be expecting my payment tomorrow

btw whats ur paypal email?

[jazzymt]

Great, but I'd prefer to organize it with paypal invoices for now...you'll get my return address when I send you the email/invoice though. Just PM me your email (no reason to post everyone's name + email on the boards where it can be stolen/attacked by scripts).

[ProjectS15]

done and done, thanks for the email

[jazzymt]

Someone asked me if the US radios are the same as AUS today, so I'm posting a pic & model number to help figure that out. The 6-CD non-MP3 I have is "P-201UH" & here's the pic.

[Ken S]

Jazzy -- the photos look great! I can't wait to get mine!

 

BTW, the shrink wrap on the board isn't included right? Also, did you simply leave the board floating in the HU?

 

Ken

[jazzymt]

Jazzy -- the photos look great! I can't wait to get mine!

 

BTW, the shrink wrap on the board isn't included right? Also, did you simply leave the board floating in the HU?

 

Ken

No, the heat shrink is included, but if you don't like it, it's very easy to cut off...and yea, I just left it "floating" inside. Between the two ribbon cables and the aux patch cable, it's so small that it pretty much stays wherever you put it.

[jazzymt]

G' morning fellow scooby owners.

 

Well, it was a long Sunday night and quite a bit more work than I anticipated to solder, heat shrink, cut openings, burn CD's, copy instructions, tape, package, tape & label all these dang orders. Whew!

 

Anyway, for several of you, your order will ship today. Once I've actually shipped them out via. USPS over lunch, I'll send you an email to let you know your package is on the way.

 

Included in each package is a paper set of instructions, but there's also a PDF copy of them on the Silent CD for your reference as well.

 

And now for the bad news. For one, I ran out of capacitors, so I'm only shipping 2/3 of the orders that have paid. If you didn't pay, your order definitely isn't going out today, and if you ordered in the last few days, you're probably going to have to wait a couple more days while I wait for parts. Sorry. I tried Radio Shack but they only had like 2 capacitors and they wanted $1.30 each for them. Screw that.

 

For two, I totally botched the test platform for testing these guys...not that it would have proved there wasn't going to be a problem, but I would have liked to have taken that extra step. Anyway, I ran out of time and I didn't think you'd want me to delay shipping just to set my mind at ease. All boards are v. carefully inspected and I'm not expecting any problems, but if there are any, obviously I'll replace your board at no cost.

 

Other than that, I hope you all have a good week. I'll keep you updated as soon as I receive the rest of the parts and will email all those that have orders going out today after lunch.

[ProjectS15]

its worth the wait

so it doesnt matter to me when its sent out, i got plenty of time b4 i take my next road trip

[Drift Monkey]

its worth the wait

so it doesnt matter to me when its sent out, i got plenty of time b4 i take my next road trip

To FL? Weaksauce.

[c_hunter]

Thanks for the hard work! I still think you should get the boards fully fabbed, it would really offload a lot of work and you could probably still make a good profit. Maybe keep that in mind for the next batch, after you use up all the current boards.

 

Craig

 

--

 

G' morning fellow scooby owners.

 

Well, it was a long Sunday night and quite a bit more work than I anticipated to solder, heat shrink, cut openings, burn CD's, copy instructions, tape, package, tape & label all these dang orders. Whew!

 

Anyway, for several of you, your order will ship today. Once I've actually shipped them out via. USPS over lunch, I'll send you an email to let you know your package is on the way.

 

Included in each package is a paper set of instructions, but there's also a PDF copy of them on the Silent CD for your reference as well.

 

And now for the bad news. For one, I ran out of capacitors, so I'm only shipping 2/3 of the orders that have paid. If you didn't pay, your order definitely isn't going out today, and if you ordered in the last few days, you're probably going to have to wait a couple more days while I wait for parts. Sorry. I tried Radio Shack but they only had like 2 capacitors and they wanted $1.30 each for them. Screw that.

 

For two, I totally botched the test platform for testing these guys...not that it would have proved there wasn't going to be a problem, but I would have liked to have taken that extra step. Anyway, I ran out of time and I didn't think you'd want me to delay shipping just to set my mind at ease. All boards are v. carefully inspected and I'm not expecting any problems, but if there are any, obviously I'll replace your board at no cost.

 

Other than that, I hope you all have a good week. I'll keep you updated as soon as I receive the rest of the parts and will email all those that have orders going out today after lunch.

[jazzymt]

Thanks for the hard work! I still think you should get the boards fully fabbed, it would really offload a lot of work and you could probably still make a good profit. Maybe keep that in mind for the next batch, after you use up all the current boards.

 

Craig

 

--

Heh, you know...soldering the boards is about the only step I sort of enjoy, and with perfectly sized thru-tinned holes, soldermask and a good iron, it really is not that hard. I figured out that I soldered 1104 holes this weekend. Not bad.

 

The grunt of the work is pretty much all in packaging. Folding & taping the boxes, heat shrinking and then cutting access holes in that heat shrink is really tough...that's probably the step I like the least...and not one that's v. easy to export unfortunately. It doesn't sound like much, but it's a PITA to carefully razor cut small access holes in that heat shrink (it's thick!) without cutting anything else...especially me.

 

I'm sure you don't know, but my "profit margin" is also pretty damn small. If I sent anything out of house, I'd have to raise the price not to loose money and I'm just not ready to do that...at least, not on this board, not yet. When I have the time & money to reverse eng. this stereo and make the fully featured digital board, I probably will have the whole thing done by a pro, but that's a whole other ball of wax. In the mean time, I'll just grin & bear it

 

It's the numbers really, I don't expect to be making this many every week either, it was just to catch up to 3 weeks of demand...of course...I could be wrong... How long do you think it will take to sell the "first batch" anyway? I bought 100 boards?!

[Ken S]

Thanks again for all the hard work. I can imagine that the packaging is the hard and tedious part! I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my board!

 

You mean you haven't sold 100 yet?

 

Ken

[ProjectS15]

got a question

which states are you sending the boards to

i wanna see the demand of those little things

[jazzymt]

got a question

which states are you sending the boards to

i wanna see the demand of those little things

So far:

 

AZ

CA

CO

CT

GA

MA

MI

NJ

NV

NY

OH

OR

SC

TX

VA

WA

WI

WV

 

11 to California (not all paid), they're by far the biggest demand.

[ProjectS15]

and the list is still growing

[myUsername]

Woohooo!! Got my shipping confirmation. Thanks Jazzy!! I'm so glad that you find some pleasure in creating them.

 

I'm 1 of the 11 from Cali.

[jazzymt]

Heh. Well, hopefully tomorrow people will be raving about the boxes they received and not just the emails.

 

I got shipping confirmation on the other parts yesterday night. Hopefully they'll be here tomorrow, but probably not until Thursday. Anyway, I'll be sure to ship everyone else's order Friday at the latest. After that, I'll make a couple extras and try to keep a few in stock so that I can ship future orders immediately on payment.

 

For those that haven't paid...if you're no longer interested, please let me know so I can cancel your order. If you are interested and want one on this next shipment, you should probably pay soon. If you're still interested, but you want to wait awhile, you're fine doin' nothing.

 

Well, I should probably get some real work done. 'can't wait to hear from the first install.