I got the Best Buy guy to "accidently" sell me the display unit XM Commander that wasnt even out of the box yet. I installed it in the ashtray/lighter compartment. I will post some pics within the next day or so... It sounds INCREDIBLE and looks like it came with the car! The guy said that the commander will be available within a week or two. I have the first XM Commander in all of Indiana... but thats not saying much is it?? =)

Please post pics. How did you integrate with the existing radio??

Great! I've been following the Commander and wondering if it would be a good solution for XM Radio in the RX-8. Can't wait to see some pics!

Pix pix pix! Plus installation tips.

Originally posted by VelocityRedRX8
How did you integrate with the existing radio??

More than likely just through the FM modulator.

May we see your photos please?

--SL01

I'm also waiting for pix!

While flyboyindy is putting his pix together - I also went to Best Buy this past weekend and was surprised to see the XM Commander in stock.

I also placed it in the ashtray - fit perfectly and the door closes so it's sort of stealth. The satellite unit is very small and fit under the passenger side near the glove box. Several weeks ago I used the great "tutorial" Overload provided and put in a tape deck, so i could get an aux input. Therefore i used it for the audio coming out of the XM Commander - no FM Modulator!

I only had time for a couple pix - 1) of the ashtray install; 2) of the display unit at night; and 3) of the very small (new from Terk - comes with unit) antenna placed on roof.

Enjoy!

2) At night...

3) antenna...

Man...nothin like getting a good ribbing for not posting the pics! =) I wanted to cut a piece of plastic to trim it out a little better... but here is what it looks like now... Ill send the FINISHED product as soon as i get it done.

i get really good reception with the antenna on the deck lid...

Awesome. Looks great! Thanks for the pics and info folks.

I've heard of people putting XM antennas inside their cars, like on the dash. I know XM doesn't recommend this, but they say they get great reception. Will this not work for the antenna that comes with the Commander? I'd rather not have the antenna on the exterior of my car, if I can help it.

Thanks.

I have the Delphi Roady instead of the XM Commander, but they have the same antenna. Mine is mounted inside, tucked in the center where the rear window meets the rear deck. My reception is excellent -- the only places I get dropouts are the same places I got dropouts in my truck with the antenna mounted on the roof.

(I live in a rural area where there are no ground-based repeaters; the dropouts are due to tree cover and hillsides right next to the road).

Originally posted by jtimbck2
I have the Delphi Roady instead of the XM Commander, but they have the same antenna. Mine is mounted inside, tucked in the center where the rear window meets the rear deck. My reception is excellent -- the only places I get dropouts are the same places I got dropouts in my truck with the antenna mounted on the roof.

(I live in a rural area where there are no ground-based repeaters; the dropouts are due to tree cover and hillsides right next to the road).

Thanks for the info. That's what I wanted to hear! :)

Neat job guys. How do you feed the antenna wire through the window seam?
________
CANNABIS SEEDS (http://marijuanaseeds.org/)

How did you guys mount the control panel in the ash tray? Did you have to do any cutting or such?

--SL01

Originally posted by SL01
How did you guys mount the control panel in the ash tray? Did you have to do any cutting or such?

--SL01

I'm not one of the folks who did this, but I did feed the wires through the ashtray on mine, so I know how they did it. If you remove the ashtray "liner" (the removable part that you empty), there's a metal clip that holds it in. If you remove the clip, you get a hole perfect for feeding wires through so you can thread them behind the center console, radio, etc.

allmazdas,
were did you get that shifter from
very nice

Originally posted by jtimbck2
I'm not one of the folks who did this, but I did feed the wires through the ashtray on mine, so I know how they did it. If you remove the ashtray "liner" (the removable part that you empty), there's a metal clip that holds it in. If you remove the clip, you get a hole perfect for feeding wires through so you can thread them behind the center console, radio, etc.

Cool, thanks.

For you guys who have installed the Commander, how about mounting the control panel itself? Is there room inside the ashtray compartment without cutting away any of the plastic? Or does some of that stuff pop out?

--SL01

Mike,
It's the optional one for the automatics.

-JiM

Originally posted by j1mb0x99
Mike,
It's the optional one for the automatics.

-JiM

optional like from the dealer

that one is extra right?
can I get it from the dealer

Thats the spot where i put my neo jukebox mp3 player remote. I set it up basically the same way, but i wasnt bold enough to cut away at the ashtray as some of you did :).

Mikeb - it's a standard Mazda accessory - Part #F154-V8-170F-XX Comes in three colors black like mine, black and red, and black and chaparral.

Pur NRG - got the line thru the window seam with coat hanger and filled around with black sealant.

Slo1 - the ashtray part comes out and the cigarette lighter pops out too...got the power cigarette lighter. jtimbck2 had it right, the lighter left a hole to run the single wire thru. If you look closely mine did not put what they call the "cradle" around the display, so it was smaller than what flyboyindy did. Very little to cut out of the ashtray housing.

Hope that answers all your questions.

-allmazdas

Okay... a week later and I finally got the results I was looking for... I bought a black plastic binder at Staples that had a cover that matched the interior of the RX8... I cant believe how good of a match it was. I cut a template out of card board and trimmed the piece to fit the opening. I removed the astray insert and then removed the clip as mentioned earlier in the thread... Gives a great access hole. The actual tuner box fits nicely behind the radio and you dont have to do any special cutting. (The thought of cutting holes in my car makes me cringe =) Anyways here are a few more pics of how it turned out. Let me know what you think...

Frank

one more...

flyboyindy,
The addition of the black plastic from the binder really gives it a finished look especially if you can still close the ash try lid for a stealth look. Nice job!!! :D

Excellent install. I am very impressed and will try to imitate it when I get some courage.

flyboyindy,

That's an awesome install! If I had mine to do over I'd do the same thing. Good job!

Jtimbck2,
How did you do it on yours? I thought about installing it on the outside of the door, but the curve looked like it would make it not look right ... I like how mine turned out... I just wish I could close the door... Im thinking I might start over again... am i being too picky? =P

Originally posted by flyboyindy
Jtimbck2,
How did you do it on yours? I thought about installing it on the outside of the door, but the curve looked like it would make it not look right ... I like how mine turned out... I just wish I could close the door... Im thinking I might start over again... am i being too picky? =P

I installed a Delphi Roady, not an XM Commander. The Roady is too big to fit inside the ashtray compartment, so I had to mount it on the cover. I can close it except for the wires (I'll probably dremel out a little slot for the wires so it will close better). I can open the ashtray cover if I snap the Roady out of its bracket.

I overcame the curve in the ashtray cover by using a double thickness of very heavy duty double-sided foam tape to attach the Roady's bracket to it.

A full description of my installation with pics is at this thread:

http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11842

I had the XM SkyFi installed (I wanted to remove it to use in my office). Had pros do the install and they did a great job (not even a finger print was left on my Zaino!). I had the chord come out next to the cigarette lighter in the CD holder place between the two front seats with about 18 inches of cable. I can drop it on the passenger seat and use it without having to lose sight of the road. It also fits nicely where the cup holders are, and I can slide the lid over it.

Put the antenna front and center on the roof. Even with the sun storms, I've had no receptions problems.

Here's a picture of my xm commander install. I liked all of the previous installs I've seen on this site, but I wanted to be able to close the ashtray. To begin, I gutted out the ashtray including the plastic divider. I then made a cardboard template of the back of ashtray (used playdough to get a mold of the dimensions). I wrapped black flock paper over the cardboard. The unit actually fits nicely inside of the ashtray and most importantly ashtray closes. The black flock paper finishes the install nicely and it almost looks like the faceplate was made for it. As for the antenna, I placed it inside the left front winshield. I get a full signal with no reception problems.

Sorry, I thought I had attached both files. Here's the unit.

attachment

Nice job, PlanMan! I can't wait to get mine. No one around here has them yet. I think I'm going to print out some of the installs in this thread and show them to the install people at Crutchfield before they do mine. These look very professional!

Are you guys all using a fm modulator to connect it to the factor HU?

Yeah... the sound is clear and sounds good, but not as crisp as a CD... sounds like a really good FM broadcast. Its good enough... Ill keep it till someone comes out with a better solution. I dont want to buy a tape deck and have to put the dummy tape and all that stuff in...

Does anyone know if the XM will work in Canada? I couldn't find anything on their website to indicate if it did or not.

Also, is there anyway the xm commander could fit in the panel where the optional cassette deck goes or is it too tall?

how does the xm commander get its power? I am thinking of picking one up tomorrow

_________________________________________________
how does the xm commander get its power? I am thinking of picking one up tomorrow
_________________________________________________

miata2rx8-


I am installing an XM Commander and a Nokia hands free Bluetooth cell phone adapter into my RX-8 right now.

The XM Commander's Display Control Module is the small, visible, user interface part. I'm putting my display controller in the ash tray as other contributors to this thread have done with fantastic results. The Display Controller gets power & data from the Receiver Module which is hidden somewhere on the vehicle. The Receiver Module has three power wires connected to the vehicle:
1 - B+ (always hot, YELLOW, fused);
2 - Ignition/acc (on when key is in acc or car is running, Red);
3 - Ground (Black):

The Receiver Module also gets its antenna feed input from the small satellite antenna and sends an output signal to the radio via two possible methods:
1 - baseband into radios 'AUX in' line (if you are lucky enough to have this);
2 - by feeding into the RX-8 radio's antenna input jack on the back of your radio in line with the original antenna feed.

You also get a wireless remote control.

so where exactly did you get the power? The instructions suggest not tapping into existing wires due to overheating issues....

I think they are being too conservative, perhaps worried that someone might attempt to hook a very high power amplifier or accessory that exceeds the capacity of the radio power circuit. Fortunately the XM Commander is a relatively low power device - much lower than an audio power amplifier or a motor driven device such as the Mazda RX-8 cassette player option.

Without having a shop manual I lacked a good schematic of the car.

I was initially planning to get power from behind the fuse panel at the drivers foot. If you install Mazda's Foot Light upgrade, the instructions direct you to use an Electro Tap (a.k.a "vampire clip") connector to tap into a Blue/Red B+ wire that goes into a 54 pin connetor right behind the fuse block. I assumed that I could also probe around on the fuse panel while turning the key on and off to find the required switched 12 ACC source.

I talked with installers at Car Toys and Best Buy and they almost always install XM radios by tapping into the wiring going to the original radios. They somewhat avoid warrantee issues with the manufacturer related to cutting into OEM wiring by unplugging the main wiring harness plug from the back of the radio and inserting a vehicle specific wiring harness "extender" between the wiring harness plug and the jack on the back of the radio. This way they tap into new wires for power but not into original equipment.

After I removed the radio and saw how the 6 Disk CD changer and Cassette tape player options connect to the back of the basic radio to get power, I decided the MAZDA power circuit supplying the radio has to be beefy enough to run additional equipment, even relatively high current options that contain motors (i.e. a cassette player option).

I already have the basic radio plus a 6-CD changer but I don't have anything in the lower option slot. I reasoned that if I added a cassette player (which I won't) it would certainly derive its power from the original radio power circuit so I decided to do it like Best Buy and Car Toys and tap the power lines going into the existing radio.

I didn't buy the extension harness, I just probed with a voltmeter and found the "always on" and "switched" power and used vampire clips to tap in. Sorry, I didn't write down the wire colors but they were easily located. I also added a handsfree Bluetooth cell phone adapter while I was at it.

I am up and running now and everything works great.

Sorry about the long email.

tell me about the blue tooth cell phone adapter

I got mine working- used vampire plugs and it works like a charm- there is another thread which describes which wires are hot and which are acc. I ended up using the cig lighter for the acc wire.

now if I could just get my soldering skills to allow the cassette hack to work!

miata2rx8 -

I am glad to hear your install went smoothly. The tips on this forum really helped me out.

You asked about the Bluetooth hands free. I have a Nokia Model 3650 cell phone which has "Bluetooth" wireless capability. I can use a wireless headphone or a wireless vehicle hands free adapter CARK-112.
http://www.nokiausa.com/nokia_accessories/3600/1,1424,40,00.html
The neat thing about the wireless vehicle adapter is that I don't have to hook my phone to anything when I get in the car - it can stay in my pocket or if I am talking on the phone when I walk out to my car the conversation automatically switches to the car's speakers & mic when I get in.

Originally posted by loco4rx8
I've heard of people putting XM antennas inside their cars, like on the dash. I know XM doesn't recommend this, but they say they get great reception. Will this not work for the antenna that comes with the Commander? I'd rather not have the antenna on the exterior of my car, if I can help it.
Thanks.

I had the XM antenna on the inside of my RX-7 and it worked fine..

I just got the XM SkyFI over the weekend. Wanted a portable unit to switch between cars and to put in the house. Had the head unit installed in the glovebox so it wouldnt clutter up the interior and ruin the sweet look of the dash! Had the antenna mounted inside the back window on tht rear deck. No reception problems except in extremely wooded/canopy roads.

These are pics of my new install. There is no need to put the antenna outside of the vehicle. It works great on the dash. No worries about the paint, etc. Very clean. Comments are welcome, but none on the song on the display!! :D

What are you using around the display? Looks like some sort of foam? Also, how do you guys like XM? I had sirius in my last car and i am waiting for Sirius to make something like the XM Commander to go cleanly into my 8. why havent any of you used the PIE cable to avoid the tape deck or FM mod?

It's a custom face plate made by my installer. XM is great. I've never listened to Sirius, but Mazda is offering it in the 2005's from the factory.

These are pics of my new install. There is no need to put the antenna outside of the vehicle. It works great on the dash. No worries about the paint, etc. Very clean. Comments are welcome, but none on the song on the display!! :D

Looks sweet! That is exactly what I want for Christmas. Nice clean install.

Thanks foxman. It is my Christmas present. I just got it early. Check out the XM radio forum. I found a promo code to get a free activation if you activate before 12/31/04.

Got my XM for Xmas! Researching and setting up the install now. I need that code.

When you call into XM for activation, give them this code.

PROMO CODE: NEWSPRFA4

Enjoy!! :D