usaplanb Posted January 15, 2005 Share Posted January 15, 2005 Ok... I'm in baltimore... that drive to NJ is about 3 hours w/out traffic from here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usaplanb Posted January 18, 2005 Share Posted January 18, 2005 Well, I have my car, and I love the setup, but now, the speakers on the right side of the car cut out when I hit a bump. Sometimes they don't come back on for a long time. Incredibly annoying! So I'm a little frustrated with the whole thing. I may take it apart and check it out myself. Going to call the guy who installed it very shortly. In the meantime, I'm off to pick up my accessport! :-D EDIT: DAMN UPS! I'll be picking up my accessport tomorrow now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n8gray Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 Wow! If you can get your guy to give us some details you would make lots of folks around here [B]really[/B] happy. I'm dying to hear a line-in solution that can be done by splicing into a ribbon cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_hunter Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 [quote name='n8gray']Wow! If you can get your guy to give us some details you would make lots of folks around here [B]really[/B] happy. I'm dying to hear a line-in solution that can be done by splicing into a ribbon cable.[/QUOTE] Ummm, how about this one -- been there since September! [url]http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2936[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n8gray Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 Yes, I'm aware of that solution, but from centerpunch's post: [quote name='centerpunch']SKILLS REQUIRED: This involves delicate cutting and connecting to a thin flex cable. Car stereo installation skills are not good enough here! You should be experienced hand soldering tiny SMD parts to have the skills to do this. (I'm not trying to knock anybody here, but trying to make sure you have the right experience, or find someone with the right experience before attempting this modification). You will be very pissed if you have to buy a new radio!!!!!!! [/QUOTE] There was also some bit about cutting a hole in the metal backing of the HVAC unit. This sounds more involved than swapping out a ribbon cable. Reading more of the follow-up comments now, however, I see that there was a discussion of a ribbon-cable solution there. Maybe I'll give that a closer look... Thanks! -n8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWDFan Posted January 21, 2005 Author Share Posted January 21, 2005 [quote name='c_hunter']Ummm, how about this one -- been there since September! [url="http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2936"]http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2936[/url][/QUOTE] Quite true, that thread was first. However, the process is rather involved and not for everyone. The nice thing about usaplanb's install is that it was done by a professional installer, and thus could presumably be duplicated for other Legacy owners wanting this done and living within driving distance on NJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWDFan Posted January 21, 2005 Author Share Posted January 21, 2005 [quote name='usaplanb']Well, I have my car, and I love the setup, but now, the speakers on the right side of the car cut out when I hit a bump. Sometimes they don't come back on for a long time. Incredibly annoying! So I'm a little frustrated with the whole thing. I may take it apart and check it out myself. Going to call the guy who installed it very shortly.[/QUOTE] Sounds like a loose connection somewhere. Should be easy to fix once you figure out what's loose. BTW, if you are going to come to one of the meets in Rockville some Friday, please let me know. I'd like to see your new setup in person, if you don't mind. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usaplanb Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 Yeah. I was installing my accessport yesterday and thought the installer had taped the green connectors somewhere away behind the radio or something (turns out I just had to pull a wire out from behind the metal ECU cover) so i took the radio out to look for them. I didn't really see too much of what he had done. There were 4 wires going to i believe 4 rca plugs coming out of the back of the HU. I didn't open the HU to look inside though. Then he had the RCA plugs connected to a modified Belkin power adaptor/line out. Not sure what the switch is doing though. Since I put it back together, it hasn't had the right side going out problem, but I informed him of the problem and I'm still going to have him fix it the next time I go home. My only complaint now is that there is sometimes a fairly significant amount of noise in the system. A friend who had a similar iPod car adaptor had a lot of noise as well, which went away when he unplugged the power part of the adaptor, so I'm guessing it's coming from the belkin adaptor's power, but I'm going to ask if there's a way to fix it and still be able to charge the iPod. Hopefully I'll make it up to one of those meets (never been to one) some friday soon. maybe next week will work out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n8gray Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 If the noise goes away when you disconnect the power from the iPod then the problem is most likely a ground loop -- the iPod's ground doesn't match the stereo's. You can either install a ground loop isolator (available at radio shack) or install a wire connecting the ground from the cig lighter where you plug in the iPod to the chassis of the radio. That way the two will have a (better) common ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usaplanb Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 Cool... thanks for the advice... I'll give that setup a try the next time i pull my radio out. I figured there'd be a fairly straightforward fix for that, but don't know enough about car audio to figure it out myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centerpunch Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 [quote name='n8gray']If the noise goes away when you disconnect the power from the iPod then the problem is most likely a ground loop -- the iPod's ground doesn't match the stereo's. You can either install a ground loop isolator (available at radio shack) or install a wire connecting the ground from the cig lighter where you plug in the iPod to the chassis of the radio. That way the two will have a (better) common ground.[/QUOTE] I tried all kinds of different ways to ground the system, but the only thing that worked was using one of the Radio Shack ground isolators (which just plugs in). [url]http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=270-054[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centerpunch Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 [quote name='usaplanb']He didn't tell me much about it... said he spent about four hours figuring some stuff out, but that may have been fabricating this ribbon... and if he had to do it again, he wouldn't need to do all the reverse engineering. I'm gonna give him a call once i get my car back and ask him about what was involved and tell him there's a lot of people that would love to have this done. Where are you from by the way? He's in piscataway, NJ, which is kinda central northern-ish jersey. I could tell you how far the trip might be. Can't wait til sunday night and i get to see it![/QUOTE] Actually, I did all the "reverse engineering" on this. Your installer just followed the instructions in my very long "iPod Direct-connection successful! (but VERY difficult)" posts! That said, it is A LOT of work to do this mod. You couldn't pay me enough to do it on someone else's car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_hunter Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 [quote name='usaplanb']My only complaint now is that there is sometimes a fairly significant amount of noise in the system. A friend who had a similar iPod car adaptor had a lot of noise as well, which went away when he unplugged the power part of the adaptor, so I'm guessing it's coming from the belkin adaptor's power, but I'm going to ask if there's a way to fix it and still be able to charge the iPod. Hopefully I'll make it up to one of those meets (never been to one) some friday soon. maybe next week will work out.[/QUOTE] I noticed the same noise, and tried a ground-loop isolator which did not help. So I usually run the iPod in-car on batteries and charge it at home. On long trips, I take the Belkin auto kit and put up with the extra noise. I did not have any noise problems at all in my WRX, where the Belkin kit was connected to the line-in of my Alpine deck. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usaplanb Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 centerpunch- sorry for not giving credit to where it's due. I have no idea what he actually did, but my guess is that he did basically follow your instructions (I read the entire thread myself, but decided it was a bit over my head). It doesn't seem to be the identical setup, but i would guess you made his life a whole lot easier. I was mostly impressed that he was experienced enough to do this in the first place. Thanks again for doing all the hard work to figure this out. thanks also for the advice on the noise issue... i'll head over to radioshack soon. Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centerpunch Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 No biggie. But after reading this post: [quote name='AWDFan'] However, the "iPod Direct-connection successful! (but VERY difficult)" process is rather involved and not for everyone. The nice thing about usaplanb's install is that it was done by a professional installer, and thus could presumably be duplicated for other Legacy owners wanting this done and living within driving distance on NJ.[/QUOTE] I just wanted other readers to know that in fact there is NOT a second ipod solution that is easier. There's only one way, whether you are a "professional installer" or not, and that is to tap into the ribbon cable inside the head unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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