hehe, sounds like a pro.
But looks like this somewhat verifies what I was thinking. By using the chassis below the ashtray as ground; that is essentially the same place I was talking about trying (where my PAC SWI is grounded). So you bypassed the ground in the old mazda harness. I bet the ground you made yourself is probably the best possible; big piece of metal that is then connected directly to the chassis. The sheet of metal is good for getting rid of EMI and connecting to the car chassis seems to get rid of any ground loop problems.
Damn, wish I still lived in Knoxville, could have asked for help with my setup, lol.

 

I'm certainly no pro, but I have done many complex installs including in my Denali with an N3 indash, tracvision live directv, sirius, tv tuner, 6 additional monitors (4 headrest, 1 console rear, 1 passenger visor), PS2, 2 amps for subs and mids, etc.

I used no metal plate (I think you are thinking of a ground distribution block?). I simply ground the paint off a small spot on the chassis/unibody between the shifter and ashtray area, and screwed my 3 wires/screws into it with a drill. Since it is covered up, I made it none to pretty but of course it is functional.

I tied the metra harness adapter's ground wire into one of my extra ground wires just in case it fed back into some other function elsewhere that may benefit from a better ground. I used standard 14 gauge primary wire to run my grounds.

How are the steering controls using your PAC module? I programmed mine per directions, but it seems to be less than 100% sensitive to instructions on the wheel..I find that I have to hold the button on the wheel about .75-1 second to obtain any results on the head unit. With the stock head unit, I could tap the volume button 3 times (0.25 seconds per tap) and obtain 3 numbers down on volume. This will not work with the new module.

I used the same module in my Denali with the N3 install, and it works 95% perfectly...much more sensitive/responsive than the install in the rx8.

 

yeah unfortunately, the slight delay in the steering remote is a common occurrence. Seems most people are seeing this. One thing you can do about the volume issue is hold it down to increase or decrease the volume rapidly rather than tapping it several times in succession. Eventually I got the hang of it; hold it down for a certain amount of time and get three pips of volume, etc. The forward button and mute works fine. I just hold them until I hear the song to the next or the sound mute. Unfortunately, this delay make it near impossible to skip back a whole song on my system (kenwood dnx5120), I can skip to the beginning, but the delay in response time doesn't register another skip back command fast enough to skip back. Luckily I almost never use it.

 

Im slightly confused about the process of cutting the rcas and connecting them to cut out feedback. Is there anyone that can elaborate on this process?

 

A set of RCA's has 2 plugs on each end...white and red. White is left, red is right.

IF you cut a set in half, you'll have 2 sets, each with 2 ends.

Each wire in a set, has 2 smaller wires inside. IF you carefully trim back the outer jacket, you will expose these 2 wires in each jacket. One will be jacketed the same color as the plug (white or red) in most cases, and the other will be bare.

So you seperate these wires. You'll have 2 sets of wires, each set with 4 wire ends exposed, total of 8 wires.

Then find the 8 wire leads on your harness adapter. Start with front left...since left is the white RCA, pick a pair of your cut RCA wires to attatch, find the white/bare set, and connect them to the FL set of wires on your harness. White to FL+ and bare to FL-. Repeat for front right. Now, connect this set of RCA plugs to the "front output RCA" of your head unit. Repeat for rear.

 

I just did the Metra kit install with Pioneer 900 BT DVD and everything works fine except for the lights on steering wheel, shifter and tiny door lights don't come on. Do you guys know what might be the problem.

 

sounds like you popped a fuse for interior illumination...

 

damn man, i hope thats what it is. fan works fine, ac works fine, dash lights work fine along with the dimmer, but i checked the fuses and they seem to be fine as well. i hope its nothing major

 

and what is that static sound when i bluetooth my iphone to the deck, kind of annoying.

 

Thanks for explaining that, I will go into this with a little more knowledge now.

 

YKRABOI:

If you did the DVD-bypass on the unit and forgot to ground the mute wire it will make a little bit of noise, and the illumination lights are controlled by the orange / white stripe wire on the harness, make sure you connected that. If you didn't then connect it. (If the harness has a dimmer then also connect this as well.)

 

i'm bout to take it to an electrician tomorrow if i can't fix it. and how come my steering wheel controls aren't working, is there another things i have to get from metra.

 

I just have it installed today..and it makes a little bit of static noise..what is this mute wire thing?? everything else works fine.
Also..does anyone else have like a whistling sound...kinda like turbo spooling that follows as you step on the gas?
It feels like it's linked to my gas pedal..anyone experiencing this?
At last, there is one time when I turned on my car, the red bar display went crazy..just constant flashing numbers. I restarted it and it worked fine..any potential problem?

sorry I lack knowledge on electric stuff....

 

YKRABOI:
Steering wheel controls are an extra. You can get an adapter from PAC, or any remote connection for a mazda -> pioneer for steering wheel controls.

setsuwa:
If you read back a couple posts they were talking about this. Its noise from power wires, also called "Engine noise" or "Feedback". I think it started on post 715 of this topic....

 

You have to buy a seperate control module/adapter. PAC SWI-PS is the one for Pioneer/Sony/Jensen decks, costs about $50 from stereo shops or online retailers. IF you have a different deck you'll have to check online for the proper PAC interface for your unit. OR you can go to crutchfield.com and see which unit they recommend for your head unit.

 

thanx quinchu. another quick question. my hazards work fine, but as soon as turn my headlights on, they turn off. Is that because of my interior lighting problem? thanx

 

ground loop isolator.

 

Usually noises in the audio system are poor grounding at some point. Or it could be an insufficient ground for the new equipment you are running...sometimes it is helpful to run more than one, or a larger than stock, ground to your equipment, being sure the connection one each end is tight, clean, and coming from bare metal.

It is not unusual for stereo setups, especially amplified ones, to have "alternator whine" that raises in pitch as the engine rpm accelerates. This can sometimes be cured by changing your grounding setup, and sometimes a noise filter is necessary . If you have external amps for subs etc. then you never run your RCA signal wires and your amp power supply wires on the same side of the car, as the low voltage RCA's pick up interference from the power wires quite easily.

 

You have some wierd **** going on bro. I have no clue.

 

The hazards problem doesn't have anything to do with the radio / interior lights at all. My guess is when you pulled out the deck, and unplugged the hazard switch you might have had the vehicle on (Maybe), and it might have just thrown a fuse.

Use a test-light or a volt-meter to check for bad fuses.

 

Thanks for the response...
any direction I should look into for a noise filter? how does this concept work?

 

checked for fuses, they are good. its hella weird how the hazards work fine, but as soon as i turn on headlights they turn off. but whats bugging me are the interior lights, the led for ac unit and defrost work fine, but all the other one's are not, including the one's that shine on shifter controls. now its midnight in cali and i can't fall asleep thinking bout this s*&^. thanx for replies maybe one day i'll help out novices like myself.........)))

 

oh another thing, while taking everything apart and putting back together, i scratched the silver panels that run along the shifter and cup holders. any way i can take those scratches out? gracias

 

YKRABOI:
Those scratch easy, and you just have to put up with it. Or replace them! Sadly.
Did you check the fuses in the driver kick panel, and the ones in the engine bay compartment? Also, check this for me, when the headlights are on, do the signal lights work?

setsuwa:
I would follow what RotaryResurrection said to do with splicing the RCA's on the kit and plugging them into the back of the headunit.

 

checked the fuses, they are fine, hood and driver side. haven't checked the signal lights with headlights on, will do first thing. hopefully this won't happen to noone, its a pain in the butt. and would i have to take everything apart to install steering will interface or what?