Custom Aux-In Module
03-22-2005, 08:16 AM
#1001
Mmmmm... Rotary Donut
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Originally Posted by MEGAREDS
My next "investment" will likely be an iJet RF remote, if it releases as scheduled in April. Price should be about $50. With so many songs on the iPod, I'm opening the center console all the time to skip songs. The iJet should let me put the remote on my keyring, and advance songs that way, although I'm not sure the best location for the remote yet. That assumes, of course, that I don't change my mind and just decide to wait for the AUXMOD ADVANCE to be released.
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-interior-audio-electronics-24/creative-zen-touch-remote-installed-51251/
03-22-2005, 09:44 AM
#1002
Goh Mifune
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Hotpot:
You've got the install I'm going for... thanks for the tip on getting there. Also, it's interesting that we're both looking into RF remotes, and that they're not to market yet. I understand the next generation of iPod remotes will have a display at the remote end - giving the remote all the functionality of the iPod itself. When that happens, I've got some space in the trunk all laid out.
It really is surprising to me that Mazda didn't build in the AUXMOD, and I can't congratulate OverLOAD enough on his product.
G8RBoy: I envy you the extra 20 gigs. I'm quickly getting to the iPod's limit. I assume you're not drawing power from the car to charge the Zen? At that location, it looks like it would not be too difficult to do.
You've got the install I'm going for... thanks for the tip on getting there. Also, it's interesting that we're both looking into RF remotes, and that they're not to market yet. I understand the next generation of iPod remotes will have a display at the remote end - giving the remote all the functionality of the iPod itself. When that happens, I've got some space in the trunk all laid out.
It really is surprising to me that Mazda didn't build in the AUXMOD, and I can't congratulate OverLOAD enough on his product.G8RBoy: I envy you the extra 20 gigs. I'm quickly getting to the iPod's limit. I assume you're not drawing power from the car to charge the Zen? At that location, it looks like it would not be too difficult to do.
Last edited by MEGAREDS; 03-22-2005 at 09:50 AM.
03-22-2005, 10:09 AM
#1003
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Originally Posted by MEGAREDS
G8RBoy: I envy you the extra 20 gigs. I'm quickly getting to the iPod's limit. I assume you're not drawing power from the car to charge the Zen? At that location, it looks like it would not be too difficult to do.
I think I'm up to 30GB of tunes, so when my RCA 40gb died, I had to stay with that size or bigger. I almost went for the Apple.... but the Zen was $100 cheaper so I stayed with the "off-brand". It's been great though- I love the interface, and the 24 hour battery life is awesome. I had the RCA powered up with DC, but I haven't bought the Zen's car adapter yet. I plan on hardwiring it behind the cig lighter so I don't take up any of the existing power ports (but with the crazy long battery life it hasn't been a priority yet).
03-22-2005, 11:56 AM
#1004
Originally Posted by MEGAREDS
Mine makes an ever-so-slight hum when the iPod is charging. If the song is very quiet, and if I raise the HU's volume over 6, I can hear the engine reving. The problem is so minor, though, as to not be a concern at all.
Finally, I also looked into bagging the iPod all together and trying to find a dedicated "juke box" device for the car. An interesting option was the DMC Xclef 500 -- an MP3 player capable of 100 Gig of storage! The reviews are not very good, though, and there doesn't seem to be a good remote interface.
It might not be the most elegant solution, but it does the job well and the hard drive can be very large if necessary. 200 GB is no problem
- although I currently have a mere 20 GB drive in there and it's fine for me. Had it for at least 4 years now.I posted a few pics about how it looks in this thread. It also has a small handheld remote apart from the wired one, but it does not integrate with the steering wheel controls. Still works fine for me - and it has an open firmware which is being constantly developed by some enthusiastic folks.
Last edited by Tamas; 03-22-2005 at 12:32 PM.
03-22-2005, 07:51 PM
#1005
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Hi Jerry,
Have you got the bose system? I do, and my 2004 HU makes that sound no matter what, even if I turn off the HU. It's got to be from the trunk mounted amp in the back. It's so imperceptable, that the car has to be off to notice it.
Regards,
OverLOAD
p.s. - MEGAREDS, AuxMod Advanced will do the same thing (shutdown iPOD on ignition off), even if you use the simplest power adapter. I think that the iPOD internally disables the upper remote port when the lower port is plugged in, so this may not work with Advanced if we use the upper remote port like we're planning. There's a few complications, we would really like to use the upper remote plug, since it gets audio & remote in the simplest connector and also avoids us having to make a power adapter. The only reason we don't want to make a power adapter is because we need to get into injection plastic molding (big $$$). Things are moving along.
Have you got the bose system? I do, and my 2004 HU makes that sound no matter what, even if I turn off the HU. It's got to be from the trunk mounted amp in the back. It's so imperceptable, that the car has to be off to notice it.
Regards,
OverLOAD
Originally Posted by JerryR
I installed my AuxMod today, no problems. I used a male-to-female extension cord to plug into the AuxMod. Reassembled everything, realized (at 10pm on Sunday) that I had no female-to-female 1/8" connector with which to connect any of my devices to the cord I built in, went "D'oh!', and grumpily accepted that I had to wait until tomorrow to test it.
Then I turned the ignition to on to make sure the radio and rest of the head unit still worked. It did, yay. However, I noticed with the volume turned down to 0, there's an audible hiss coming from the speakers. The hiss does not increase as I increase the volume. At the point at which the volume is increased to normal listening levels, I cannot hear the hiss below whatever's coming over the radio.
Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone know what might be causing it? When I think about it, I don't know if I've ever sat in the car with the engine off, power on, radio off, under quiet conditions, so I can't swear that the car didn't do this before I installed the AuxMod. Can anyone who doesn't have the AuxMod installed report?
Thanks,
-Jerry
Then I turned the ignition to on to make sure the radio and rest of the head unit still worked. It did, yay. However, I noticed with the volume turned down to 0, there's an audible hiss coming from the speakers. The hiss does not increase as I increase the volume. At the point at which the volume is increased to normal listening levels, I cannot hear the hiss below whatever's coming over the radio.
Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone know what might be causing it? When I think about it, I don't know if I've ever sat in the car with the engine off, power on, radio off, under quiet conditions, so I can't swear that the car didn't do this before I installed the AuxMod. Can anyone who doesn't have the AuxMod installed report?
Thanks,
-Jerry
Last edited by OverLOAD; 03-22-2005 at 08:06 PM.
03-23-2005, 04:49 PM
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Thought I’d share my experience with the I-Pod remote and the lower power adapter/line out…
I have tested this out and found that both the line-out and the headset out do function simultaneously, along with the remote function. I use the Belkin charger with the built-in amp attached to the lower port of the I-Pod and use the in-line remote (with no cable plugged into the dongles out) as my main method for control. This works flawlessly on a 40gig G3, 40gig G4, and Mini.
On a side note, I do find that my Belkin amp does generate a lot of noise with increased engine RPM. Seams like a grounding issue. Fortunately the internal I-Pod amp does not have this issue while being charged via the adapter.
I have tested this out and found that both the line-out and the headset out do function simultaneously, along with the remote function. I use the Belkin charger with the built-in amp attached to the lower port of the I-Pod and use the in-line remote (with no cable plugged into the dongles out) as my main method for control. This works flawlessly on a 40gig G3, 40gig G4, and Mini.
On a side note, I do find that my Belkin amp does generate a lot of noise with increased engine RPM. Seams like a grounding issue. Fortunately the internal I-Pod amp does not have this issue while being charged via the adapter.
03-24-2005, 05:52 PM
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Hi OverLOAD,
Yes, you're right, the car has to be off to even notice it, so I've decided it's silly to worry about.
However, I have since noticed something that does bother me. Similar to what MEGAREDS noted, when I rev the engine I hear a corresponding whine on the speakers. I'm pretty sure it only happens with the AuxMod and not the radio, although I can't swear - I'm going to do further tests, but I just wanted to check with you if you have any info on this. It is noticable when revving above 3000 and the volume is above 5 to 10 (depending on what else is coming over the speakers). It becomes louder the higher I rev, and I can't swear but it seemed to be much louder yesterday after a cold start when it had been raining all day.
-Jerry
Yes, you're right, the car has to be off to even notice it, so I've decided it's silly to worry about.
However, I have since noticed something that does bother me. Similar to what MEGAREDS noted, when I rev the engine I hear a corresponding whine on the speakers. I'm pretty sure it only happens with the AuxMod and not the radio, although I can't swear - I'm going to do further tests, but I just wanted to check with you if you have any info on this. It is noticable when revving above 3000 and the volume is above 5 to 10 (depending on what else is coming over the speakers). It becomes louder the higher I rev, and I can't swear but it seemed to be much louder yesterday after a cold start when it had been raining all day.
-Jerry
Originally Posted by OverLOAD
Hi Jerry,
Have you got the bose system? I do, and my 2004 HU makes that sound no matter what, even if I turn off the HU. It's got to be from the trunk mounted amp in the back. It's so imperceptable, that the car has to be off to notice it.
Regards,
OverLOAD
Have you got the bose system? I do, and my 2004 HU makes that sound no matter what, even if I turn off the HU. It's got to be from the trunk mounted amp in the back. It's so imperceptable, that the car has to be off to notice it.
Regards,
OverLOAD
Last edited by JerryR; 03-24-2005 at 05:54 PM.
03-24-2005, 06:13 PM
#1009
I think I know what is going on...
if you have any conductive part of the aux mod touching the metal frame of the HU you will create a mini ground loop that will take the feedback from the alternator and cycle it, effectively amplifying it...
try to make sure there is some sort of buffer between the unit and the metal frame and if you can cover the entire unit in a non-conductive material that still allows for heat to escape
Everything works fine on my PIE unit but as soon as any of the components of the unit aren't properly grounded I have a similar problem
if you have any conductive part of the aux mod touching the metal frame of the HU you will create a mini ground loop that will take the feedback from the alternator and cycle it, effectively amplifying it...
try to make sure there is some sort of buffer between the unit and the metal frame and if you can cover the entire unit in a non-conductive material that still allows for heat to escape
Everything works fine on my PIE unit but as soon as any of the components of the unit aren't properly grounded I have a similar problem
03-24-2005, 06:29 PM
#1010
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The signal ground for for left and right channel (pin 14) should not be tied to power ground on the custom aux-in unit unless a capacitor is in place to filter. I have not seen the aux unit so maybe this point has been covered?
Over all, sounds like the aux-in works good-great job.
Over all, sounds like the aux-in works good-great job.
03-24-2005, 07:36 PM
#1011
Hyper Space RX-8 _,.-^'`
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Hi mazradiodoc,
We actually have the two ground sources separated, as we anticipated possible problems from tying the two grounds together. We consider putting a cap between the two for a filter if there were issues with leaving them open.
I havn't seen any self-powered devices have any issues with buzzing so far. I think that it's only devices that are powered throught he ACC lighter port.
In the future, at least with AuxMod advanced, we are considering adding a differential op-amp stage to eliminate the ground loop feedback.
I hope people realize that we are aiming for continuous improvement, and we may improve future generations of our products. We hope that the product stands on its own merit at any point. Based on the feedback, I would say that it's very positive.
Regards,
OverLOAD
We actually have the two ground sources separated, as we anticipated possible problems from tying the two grounds together. We consider putting a cap between the two for a filter if there were issues with leaving them open.
I havn't seen any self-powered devices have any issues with buzzing so far. I think that it's only devices that are powered throught he ACC lighter port.
In the future, at least with AuxMod advanced, we are considering adding a differential op-amp stage to eliminate the ground loop feedback.
I hope people realize that we are aiming for continuous improvement, and we may improve future generations of our products. We hope that the product stands on its own merit at any point. Based on the feedback, I would say that it's very positive.
Regards,
OverLOAD
03-24-2005, 11:49 PM
#1012
Goh Mifune
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Originally Posted by OverLOAD
I havn't seen any self-powered devices have any issues with buzzing so far. I think that it's only devices that are powered throught he ACC lighter port.
03-25-2005, 10:26 AM
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You're absolutely right about the ACC - I tried it and the whine only occurs when the XM is plugged into the cigarette lighter. Also, most of the time I don't notice it unless I'm looking for it, as some of you said. The exception is that one day when it had been slightly colder and raining out the whole day, when I started up the car I had the XM tuned to a talk station, and the whine was really loud and noticable.
Is there anything I might be able to do to minimize or eliminate it? I've only had it installed a couple of days now, and other than that, I've been completely happy with it.
Is there anything I might be able to do to minimize or eliminate it? I've only had it installed a couple of days now, and other than that, I've been completely happy with it.
03-25-2005, 10:35 AM
#1014
use the HU's ground for the XM ground...even better, if the XM has an audio specific ground, ground it to the HU's ground....you can take the hot + from anywhere, but best would be an auxiliary fuse no need for a seperately fused and relayed direct battery line.
03-25-2005, 11:14 AM
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Originally Posted by truemagellen
use the HU's ground for the XM ground...even better, if the XM has an audio specific ground, ground it to the HU's ground....you can take the hot + from anywhere, but best would be an auxiliary fuse no need for a seperately fused and relayed direct battery line.
I was planning on buying a cigarette lighter type receptacle from Radio Shack and wiring it in under the center console so the XM's power wouldn't take up a cigarette lighter (plus it would be hidden). So what you're saying is that is should wire the ground lead on that to the HU's ground, and the other (hot) lead to any 12V power line. Ok, so where's the HU's ground?
03-29-2005, 12:05 PM
#1017
Originally Posted by JerryR
I'm not sure what you mean about audio specific ground - the XM unit (Roady2) has a power connector (6V), a 1/8" line out for audio, and an antenna connector.
I was planning on buying a cigarette lighter type receptacle from Radio Shack and wiring it in under the center console so the XM's power wouldn't take up a cigarette lighter (plus it would be hidden). So what you're saying is that is should wire the ground lead on that to the HU's ground, and the other (hot) lead to any 12V power line. Ok, so where's the HU's ground?
I was planning on buying a cigarette lighter type receptacle from Radio Shack and wiring it in under the center console so the XM's power wouldn't take up a cigarette lighter (plus it would be hidden). So what you're saying is that is should wire the ground lead on that to the HU's ground, and the other (hot) lead to any 12V power line. Ok, so where's the HU's ground?
just tap the Postitive (live) wire from in the center console straight off the ACC line...use a guillotine style Tap for the XM...if this means cutting up your XM power wire do it
then with the LEAST amount of cable necessary ground the XM's ground with the HU's ground closest to the chassis
you ground off the back fo the HU but it may create a ground loop (GL)
you want to maintain the Star Ground that the 8's entertainment (audio/nav if you have it) already maintains
if there is some GL problems try a GLI Ground loop isolator, if that doesnt work then shorten the ground wire and/or try to use better wire and/or try different grounding points
03-30-2005, 04:18 PM
#1018
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TrueMagellen,
Thanks for the suggestions. I think I can't just tap straight into ACC because the XM wants 6V. Isn't ACC 12? The XM power plug must have a voltage converter in it in addition to the fuse. Also I feel a little safer having the fuse between the XM and the ACC.
But anyway, does where I get power from matter as far as the ground/whine problem? I'll try grounding off the back of the HU and see if that helps.
Can anyone suggest a proper wire from the back of the HU to connect to?
What is "Star" Ground?
Thanks for the suggestions. I think I can't just tap straight into ACC because the XM wants 6V. Isn't ACC 12? The XM power plug must have a voltage converter in it in addition to the fuse. Also I feel a little safer having the fuse between the XM and the ACC.
But anyway, does where I get power from matter as far as the ground/whine problem? I'll try grounding off the back of the HU and see if that helps.
Can anyone suggest a proper wire from the back of the HU to connect to?
What is "Star" Ground?
03-30-2005, 07:29 PM
#1019
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Originally Posted by electricJ
Hey Overload,
How is the rollout on the waiting list going? What position are you up to now?
How is the rollout on the waiting list going? What position are you up to now?
03-30-2005, 07:42 PM
#1020
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Originally Posted by JerryR
TrueMagellen,
Thanks for the suggestions. I think I can't just tap straight into ACC because the XM wants 6V. Isn't ACC 12? The XM power plug must have a voltage converter in it in addition to the fuse. Also I feel a little safer having the fuse between the XM and the ACC.
But anyway, does where I get power from matter as far as the ground/whine problem? I'll try grounding off the back of the HU and see if that helps.
Can anyone suggest a proper wire from the back of the HU to connect to?
What is "Star" Ground?
Thanks for the suggestions. I think I can't just tap straight into ACC because the XM wants 6V. Isn't ACC 12? The XM power plug must have a voltage converter in it in addition to the fuse. Also I feel a little safer having the fuse between the XM and the ACC.
But anyway, does where I get power from matter as far as the ground/whine problem? I'll try grounding off the back of the HU and see if that helps.
Can anyone suggest a proper wire from the back of the HU to connect to?
What is "Star" Ground?
Soldered 2 wires, ground and hot and tapped in on the cigarette lighter.
Works fine and no whine.
Last edited by modena; 03-30-2005 at 08:25 PM.
03-30-2005, 10:51 PM
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Originally Posted by modena
I Rewired the XM adapter plug, (sins the plug holds the converter)
Soldered 2 wires, ground and hot and tapped in on the cigarette lighter.
Works fine and no whine.
Soldered 2 wires, ground and hot and tapped in on the cigarette lighter.
Works fine and no whine.
03-31-2005, 10:09 AM
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Ok, then that doesn't help me because I get the whine going through the cigarette lighter. This weekend maybe I'll have some time to try going through the HU chassis for ground and I'll report on what I find.
