Val Demar Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 How? The RCA inputs are hard-wired to the relay. Or do you mean cut the PCB lines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gas711 Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 To Val Demar, I think you have inadvertently made the error on the radio circuit board. That would mean taking out the radio in order to fix it. I have done a few of these for mvigneau and you should go back to the instructions. You are right, the inputs are hard wired to the relay but you have the wiring switched. The radio IN and the Radio Out go to the normally closed relay contacts so that the normal radio circuit is complete through the NC contacts. When you push the button you are energizing the relay and switching to the normally open contacts which now connect to the Aux in. The popping noise is due to voltage on the contacts and I don't think it can be eliminated....gas711 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Demar Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Not to trying argue but I just don't understand what kind of installation error could lead to AUX-input being erroneously connected to the normally closed contacts. If I somehow messed tuner-out/amp-in connections to the aux-board then AUX-in wouldn't work at all as it would be connecting to tuner output and leaving amp input hanging in the air. More likely than not there is a voltage spike of some kind which causes the relay to be energized on power-up as if the button was pushed, this may be related to not grounding in the right spot in my case, if you remember I had to ground close to audio ground to eliminate the high-pitch noise. Occasionally I can briefly hear FM on powering off while in AUX mode which sort of confirms this theory - the relay is going to normal close on power off and tuner gets connected to amp-input just before the amp cuts off. Anyhow, my install turned out to be a little flaky but still I think this is the best solution available to the missing AUX-input on LGT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephrant Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 Just got mine on order, will be tying it in to a Car PC soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gas711 Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 To Val Demar, If you cut the traces carrying the radio audio on the radio pc board and connected them back properly, you should have the radio audio going to pins 1 & 4 of the relay. Pins 9 & 8 are the relay swingers which then connect the radio audio back to the radio amp, making a normally closed connection for the radio. Your Aux in gets connected to pins 2 & 3 of the relay. When you energize the relay your aux in then appears at pins 9 & 8 which connect to the radio amp. I have helped Mike and installed these for others and I have the complete schematic so what I am telling you is the way it works. There is no voltage spike and the ground you are talking about has nothing to do with the way you have wired up the board. PLAIN AND SIMPLE, the relay output is ALWAYS connected through pins 9 & 8 to the car radio amp in. The inputs are pins 1 & 4 FROM the radio and pins 2 & 3 are FROM the Aux in. This is the best way I can describe the way the relay is designed to work. As I said, I have the schematic but I am not at liberty to give it to anyone. If you are happy with the way it is now working then don't fix it, but it is not wired properly. It is still the best way to go for adding an AUX-IN. All the best, gas711 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Demar Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Funny this should happen now but my board stopped working today. Switching basically doesn't work most of the time - occasionally it does, sort of, but only on the right channel so the radio plays from the right and my MP3 player from the left CDs play fine. I'm thinking the 2N2222A transistor is at fault. Or may be it the relay, however I though reed relays should be very reliable. Or may be the whole thing got separated and there is a short of some kind - the investigation will have to wait until weekend. Do you mind sharing the source of the relays? I checked briefly on mouser.com and couldn't find them there. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gas711 Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 To Val, I see from your post that you are using the 2N2222A transistor. That is an older version and a modification has been made using a 2N3906 and a modification on the 4027 circuit board. The old version had problems with the relay not always pulling in. I can send you instructions for making the change, the only difficult thing is unsoldering the transistor. If you don't feel up to it I will do the mod for free if you send me the board. Now that I see that you have the older version this very well could have been your problem all along......gas711 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Demar Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Well, I actually don't know which transistor it is - I took the type from the soldering instructions file in mvigneau'sthe original post I'll do the radio-surgery this week-end, hopefully, and will double-check the type of the transistor. If it turns out to be the older type then I'll PM you for the instructions. I feel comfortable doing the mod myself, but thanks for the offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gas711 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Val, There is more to it than changing the transistor. One resistor is ommited and another has a value change. There is also a modification to the 4027 socket. I'll gather up the instructions and e-mail them to you. I'm sure you can do it, just be careful taking out the old transistor as the space is small. I clipped off the transistor leads close to the body aand used a solder sucker to remove the leads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gas711 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Val, Here is the solution. Replace the 2N2222A with 2N3906 PNP transistor (flat side facing the relay).Replace R5 with a metal jumper. Replace R8 with a 20K ohm resistor. From the top, cut pin 1 of the 4027 and bend it up so it is "flying". On the copper side of the board, short pins 1 and 2 of the 4027. (PNP logic is reversed from NPN, so now we take the inverted Q output of the JK flip flop). That's it and it works a lot better. Good luck, gas711 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushak Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 So I followed the instructions as best as I can and no workie. Radio is just on and so is the auto climate control. None of the buttons work except power/volume and the temp adjust. Time to buy a new stereo? Assembling the stereo was a royal PITA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Demar Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 May be not. Likely a benign short of some kind. Double-check all soldering points with a magnifier/sufficient light and ensure excess solder didn't end up where it wasn't supposed to. Double and triple check all connections were made correctly. Also check the front panel connectors properly went into their counterparts on the main board sockets (do this first). Working with electronics is a PITA in general, but some seem to like it I opened up my unit and it the older design with 2N2222A. I'm contemplating a poor-man's fix with a mechanical switch in the covered compartment above the stereo, not as nicely integrated but I need a quick reliable solution as I might be selling the car this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushak Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 I ended up pulling it out to double check things. I think the front panel wasn't plugged in all the way due to my power/ground wire routing. I ended up trimming the front metal case to allow room for the wires. Put it back together and the stereo now works as normal minus the aux-in add in. I'm glad my stereo/climate controls are back to normal. I'll have to troubleshoot this another day. Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushak Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Question to anyone that can answer. If I were to remove the aux board entirely from my stereo, will it still continue to work properly without jumpering the cut traces? I'm just curious because my FM radio currently works fine with the aux board, just nothing happens when I press the hidden button. Just trying to figure out where I should focus my attention the next time I decide to pull the stereo out. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Demar Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 The easy way to get it working w/o the board is to connect the in/out thin wires together, they are technically just long jumpers (violet -> red, blue -> red/white considering your wires had the same color). Insulate the tips of other non-connected wires properly to avoid shorts and tuck them somewhere. That's what I did temporarily until I figure out what I want to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushak Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 If that's the case, then it sounds like my aux board is passing the radio signal through it. That's a good start. At least I did something right. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Demar Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 My industrial-grade solution for the wrong transistor type: http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6055/6221063969_5bfe003522_b.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephrant Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Nicely done- I'll have to consider that for my Leptronix switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushak Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 I've given up on this kit. I rechecked everything and I noticed a made a small mistake. I corrected it and still nothing. While removing the CD player I managed to knock a small spring off and now that doesn't work. Sorry to say that I wasted my money on this and I will probably have to buy a new stereo. It's too bad because I think this mod is cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Demar Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 I feel your pain, the process is time-consuming and after all I myself ended up with a $3.50 toggle switch from Fry's Electronics (ok, I did use a quality inline DIN connector and a piece of shielded 6-conductor cable bringing the total cost to about $15 including heat-shrink tubing). For me it was mostly the time which I didn't have to troubleshoot it. However, if you have the time you can use a multimeter to re-check connectivity and voltages. The solder points on the radio PCB are tiny and there is room for error, especially if it is your first exposure to soldering on a PCB, or if you don't have a fine soldering iron. Considering you assembled the board properly and your radio still works it sounds like the problem is either in the supplying power to the board (thick read and black wires) or the switching signal - the thin white wire that connects to the front panel. I'd start looking there if you're positive the board itself is fine. Were you careful not to overheat the components while soldering? Check if the transistor is not soldered backwards, also see if it is not shorted - the hole spacing and arrangement is pretty bad IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushak Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 To me it sounds like the board isn't getting any power. I rechecked all my solder points under a magnifying glass and I couldn't see any solder bridges. I resoldered my power and grounds to make sure they are good. The transistor is soldered the correct way. I double checked the face plate and resoldered those wires. I realized I didn't put the wires all the way through the push holes. Those are a solid connection now. I feel like I'm so close to getting this to work, but my lack of electronic expertise to verify the board is holding me back. I have a multimeter, I just don't know what to do with it...haha. I wonder if I can send the audio board back to the OP and have him test/verify? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Demar Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Check the voltage between the thick black and red wires using the multimeter at the clamping screws, it should be 12V I think. Then check the voltage between the thick black and thin white while pressing the bottom button on the front panel - I don't know the actual value but you should see voltage changes as the button is pressed. Of course you have to do it while the stereo is connected - be careful and make sure your multimeter is in voltage measuring mode (volts) as if it is in the current measuring mode (amps) you can in theory blow the fuse and/or multimeter, and may be other things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushak Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Val, Here is the solution. Replace the 2N2222A with 2N3906 PNP transistor (flat side facing the relay).Replace R5 with a metal jumper. Replace R8 with a 20K ohm resistor. From the top, cut pin 1 of the 4027 and bend it up so it is "flying". On the copper side of the board, short pins 1 and 2 of the 4027. (PNP logic is reversed from NPN, so now we take the inverted Q output of the JK flip flop). That's it and it works a lot better. Good luck, gas711 I wonder if this could be my problem? I don't know which transistor I have (black half-moon), but the instructions don't say anything about shorting pins 1 and 2 of 4027. Currently, they are not shorted on my board. I purchased my kit 2 weeks ago and I have a metal jumper in R5, but not sure about the 20K ohm resistor in R8. I'd have to pull it out to check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Demar Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Sounds like you already have a revised board, 2N2222A is a silver cylinder and you can actually read 2N2222A on it. But then you're right about 4027, may be the change is already on the PCB itself so no cutting/shorting is necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushak Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Check the voltage between the thick black and red wires using the multimeter at the clamping screws, it should be 12V I think. Then check the voltage between the thick black and thin white while pressing the bottom button on the front panel - I don't know the actual value but you should see voltage changes as the button is pressed. Of course you have to do it while the stereo is connected - be careful and make sure your multimeter is in voltage measuring mode (volts) as if it is in the current measuring mode (amps) you can in theory blow the fuse and/or multimeter, and may be other things. I'll see if I can my electronic engineer friend to help me with this. Thanks for your suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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