Notes, pix on PAC aux-pod Vibe-to-iPod interface.

[tomas]

I'm a newbie here out of Western Massachusetts drivin' a base 04. I just successfully installed (with the help of many genvibe posts) the PAC Aux-Pod iPod interface.I'm now rocking out with my ipod-connected tunes, it sounds great. I thought I'd share some pix and notes on the install.I was really bummed that there was NO accessible aux input on my single CD factory radio. Not afraid of a little soldering I was all set to do Vibration's and johnsoax's excellent audio aux-in hack (at http://forums.genvibe.com/zero...age=5 )That would work great for a generic aux-in, BUT tired of running down the ipod's battery and wanting to avoid a mess of wired over the dash, I became obsessed, and wanted something cooler for the ipod-vibe integration.The 'PAC Aux-Pod' iPod interface seemed like a decent compromise. It provides a single ipod dock cable that powers the ipod and connects the pod's audio into the stock radio, as well as song/track control via the up/down buttons on the stock radio. It does this by pretending to be a standard CD-changer on the radio side. While it would be the ultimate in cool if it did, the Aux-Pod does NOT provide a way to manage playlists on the ipod. It also does NOT display the song ID tags on the radio display, just track numbers ( T1…). I need to choose the playlist directly from the ipod before playing it.Some notes on installation:I found that the 'GM class 2' dip switch settings of 1,3,8 works best. This appears to activate the ipod from the radio's AUX button. Connecting the 12+ and ground was a bit of a pain. GMJAP's article at http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=19522 helped a lot.There's not much play in the radio harness. Radio Shack's little yellow/blue 'wire tapins' would have work well here. ( http://www.radioshack.com/prod...03312 )The 12+ and ground are the only two manual connections the installer needs to make, the rest of the connections are snap-ins. I kept the manual connections as short and tight as possible and get no detectable hum or feedback others complained about. The sound is clean and crisp from the ipod.Baltovibe post on removing the radio also helped, check out the pdf: http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=21420 Now I just need to figure out a good place to mount the ipod. I'm currently connecting it to the dock cable and sticking it in the little space in front of the cup holders.Suggestions are welcome!(attached pix shows ipod playing thru single-CD stock radio…)

Attached files

[tomas]

Pix of the PAC aux-pod kit.

260174=9437-001aux-box-kit.jpg

[tomas]

Radio sans cover

260175=9438-002radio_sans_cover.jpg

[tomas]

Pix of radio_harness brown (ground) wire.

260176=9439-003radio_harness_brown_ground.jpg

[tomas]

Pix of aux-pod 1,3,8 'on' dip swtches.

260177=9440-004aux-box-dip_swtches.jpg

[viberationz]

too technical for me... i like going through books and books of cd's and tossing them in the back-seat. what about mounting it up-right on the dash? or maybe in that little 'compartment' on your left hand side?

[Jahntassa]

Maybe try getting one of those universal cellphone cradles and mounting it on the dash somewhere?I use a pro-fit mount that creates a mounting point to the right of the AC controls, costs about $30 or so. (For my XM)

[tomas]

Thanks! I found the pro-fit site at http://www.pro-fit-intl.com, they seem to have all kinds of crazy options for iPod, pda, etc, dash car mounts.They have device mounts that are close to what I'm looking for, but not exactly what I want. I'll keep 'em in mind, suggestions still welcome.t.

[mikey00]

I just ran the cable down to the compartment under the shifter and keep my ipod out of sight in there. The cable is long enough that I can bring it out and place it in the cup holder if I want control from the ipod.Did your 'PAC Aux-Pod' come with the AB-GM12 interface cable? That is the one I used and it didn't require a seperate ground connection. Just the yellow to +12v and the rest was plug ins. It gets the ground in the plug in harness. Install was a snap. I used a snap on wire tap to get a switched 12v off the antenna amplifier power wire. If you used a constant 12v instead of a switched 12v be careful and unplug your ipod, as PAC cautions, if parking for an extended period. The ipod draws 200ma while charging and continues to draw 20ma even after it is fully charged.I wanted to know that after I shut the key off there is no draw on the battery. The last thing I need is to be parked at the airport and on a plane wondering if I unplugged the ipod.

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by silverawd26 »whats an I podWhat's an iPod?

[tomas]

Hmm, sounds like the exact same setup, but I needed the ground hookup.Here's the aux-pod kit I got: http://forums.genvibe.com/zero...t.jpgYou can see that there's a yellow wire for 12+ and brown for the gnd.Maybe you got a newer kit that handles the gnd in the connector.t.

[bender]

Quote, originally posted by tomas »Hmm, sounds like the exact same setup, but I needed the ground hookup.Here's the aux-pod kit I got: http://forums.genvibe.com/zero...t.jpgYou can see that there's a yellow wire for 12+ and brown for the gnd.Maybe you got a newer kit that handles the gnd in the connector.t.Hi,Sorry to bump an old post but, on that last picture, the harness.one plug goes in the aux unit (or ipod2car) box, the next plugs into the back of the CD/cassette radio. Then theres the 12v and ground wire. Were did you guys plug that other grey connector? Does it even need to be plugged in?I bought the ipod2car kit for my matrix xrs, first off, the GM3 harness was not included in the asian import box, even if my model year was listed on the box. Had to bring it back and exchange it with the GM kit. Nobody seems to know how this gets installed... frustrating day. I'm just about to quit on this and return it alltogether.

313059=11111-001aux-box-kit.jpg

[GMJAP]

Quote, originally posted by bender »Hi,Sorry to bump an old post but, on that last picture, the harness.one plug goes in the aux unit (or ipod2car) box, the next plugs into the back of the CD/cassette radio. Then theres the 12v and ground wire. Were did you guys plug that other grey connector? Does it even need to be plugged in?I bought the ipod2car kit for my matrix xrs, first off, the GM3 harness was not included in the asian import box, even if my model year was listed on the box. Had to bring it back and exchange it with the GM kit. Nobody seems to know how this gets installed... frustrating day. I'm just about to quit on this and return it alltogether. The grey connector is to connect a plug that used to be in the radio 12-pin for pass-through. If there wasn't a plug already in the smaller connector on the back of your radio, you don't need to do anything with it. (Moon & Tunes use this plug, base audio systems don't)The yellow wire should be spliced to the Blue/Yellow (Blue/White on some cars) - that's blue with yellow stripe - on one corner of the larger radio 24-pin connector. The black wire should be spliced to the Brown wire on a corner at the other side of the 24-pin connector.

[bender]

thanks for the info.I've got an extra question though. On which radio button will I have to press when it is installed to select the ipod. I did buy the ipod2car, not the ipod2aux. On the picture of the HU at the top of this thread, you can see a button called 'Band' and one called 'CD/AUX'Well, my Band button is ' FM/AM' and the other one is CD/tape.

313103=11113-xrsradio.jpg

[GMJAP]

Quote, originally posted by bender »thanks for the info.I've got an extra question though. On which radio button will I have to press when it is installed to select the ipod. I did buy the ipod2car, not the ipod2aux. On the picture of the HU at the top of this thread, you can see a button called 'Band' and one called 'CD/AUX'Well, my Band button is ' FM/AM' and the other one is CD/tape.It didn't register with me when you said "CD/Cassette radio" in the previous post, but I'm fairly sure that you cannot use an AUX adapter with the Matrix cassette head unit.