Since no one could help me out in my previous thread about wite colour, is it possible to use interfaces such as those for the commo's to retain use of the steering wheel controls?

there is one listed for a ford in my stinger book - not sure if the BA is supported though. I'll have to check.

Thanks mate

nope- au-au3

time to make a voltage ladder I think. that way you can compare it to the AU3 item. I can get my hands on that data easy enough.

I was going to have a go at making my own, but first wanted to know if there was an aftermarket solution, and where it goes, that way I could go about designing my own.

ok if you are doing it that way-

PIC16f84. work out the voltage ladder. a/d that on one of the inputs. from that write the code to spit out the appropriate IR or TTL command based on the button you press. thats how most of them work.

You read my mind. My only real problem is I don't know what wire to use/look for. Not keen on prodding around to find it, and ive gone through all the wiring diagrams for the car, but can't find a thing!

ok do it this way. D/C the battery and REMOVE it from the car. (that way you cannot accidentally power the car up.) remove the drivers air bag. these are on a Torx bolt from memory and I think its a 30.

find the switch bank you are after- note the wires. I'm not sure if these wheels light up. if they do there will be a BRN wire in there. with a meter set on Ohms do a poke and a prod available wires in the harness that is visible in the wheel. now on theswitch bank whilst pushing the buttons one at a time you will see a resistance change to earth. note that wire. check the other switches and make sure the wire color remains the same. follow it through the clockring and to the car side. wire should still be there and you should have similar readings when pusing buttons.

if you have gotten this far then you have the wire.

reassemble the wheel and power up the car.

check the wire again with power applied and the unit on ( do voltage this time.) should be a SOLID 5.01v or thereabouts with no buttons pressed. now press the buttons and note the voltages. they should have a 200mV window.

when you do the voltage a/d on the PIC16f84 use the 200mV window. this allows for the clockring resistance to vary a bit ( and they do over time.) and the unit still to work.

does all that make sense?

if I get to a wrecker over the next few days I'll pull an airbag out and take a photo for you. however try what I said above.

Beauty, too easy. Thanks champ, I'll definately give that a go.

6 months later...
I finally have working steering wheel controls
It's still early and the code is a bit messy, but it works. I'm going to port it over to a 16f88 and use it's internal ADC, because at the moment I'm using an extra micro just to do the ADC.

ok so its a resistive ladder? that will be a bit easier to set up.

Yeah resistive ladder.
0v = vol down
1v = vol up
2v = seek
3v = mode
5v = nothing pressed

geez they spaced the well.
got specifics (pm me.)

What are you after?



Thats the plug where the wire is located. That's at the base of the plastic over the steering column. Red wire.

that'll do. I'm about to do teh same thing here. thinking about doin g a comparison between AU and BA. ( I have a AU patch here.)

Ah right, let me know what the differences are.

considered writing a tut on this? i have a ba with a kenwood hu and would be very interested in this

its not that simple - trust us.

To give you an idea of what it takes to get something like this going, you need to first work out is the protocol your headunit uses. I have come accross a program that tells you this, which I found quite handy. Then you need to program some form of microprocessor to transmit data that's modulated with a 38kHz carrier(555 timer is the easiest way to do it). The micro also has to do your analog to digital conversions.
If you know how to program a micro, then the above is enough info to design your own.
I wish it was easy enough to just write a tute , because I have spent maybe 10 hours or so on the programming and analysing the IR codes so far.

ok, so I have a Nissan, poor me...
I would like to fit steering wheel controls, and use the Alpine Wired Remote input - I couldn't find any info on the net, and all I got from a car audio shop was "If it's a VT, you're sweet, but otherwise get a IR one" which I don't think should be necessary.
How hard is it to fit steering wheel controls, and how to get the wire from the wheel to the column loom? - same way as horn/airbag connection?
Ta, p.s. if it's not too complicated, I can program a PIC for myself - did that for Pioneer IR remote to PC.

if you can lift the entire column its easy. I have done this once. the van I drive has a vectra steering wheel,clockring and partial harness. the rest of it is an airbag column from a hatch. bit of mixing and matching and you have it.

finding something to suit your application is the fun part, OPEL can with SWC so parts swapping is easy as 90% of the bits swap from car to car.

I might be able to get an 'Almera' Steering wheel from UK, as it is a pulsar, and has steering controls..

but you need the wheel , clockring and shroud, what do you drive exaclty - n15,16?

N16
yes, the clockring (hehehe) and shroud..
ok, maybe just find a local car with the same colour (and thinner spokes on the wheel - to reduce blocking of the speakers..)

The next best thing is maybe stalk mount volume controls. Have you considered this?
Or to see if your clockspring has any spare wires by some chance on it, which are unused. Then you could graft some steering wheel controls on.

would you be able to tell me what the model number of that part is and where i might be able to get one? i have an AU2 and would like to use my controls with my Eclipse CD-5435 h/u

cheers

there isn't one for it to my knowlegde. there is a generic one that will run the 4-5 main brands but not eclipse.
I keep the blaupunkt one on hand but its not for any other brand.
until someone codes one then I think you are stuck.

damn, thats a shame. i was actually told by the guy i know at the dealer i got it from that Eclipse were in the process of making firmware for the h/u that would allow me to use my controls, but i have not heard anything since. do you know anything about that?

quite possible. I help a fellow do them from time to time but eclipse I dont think was on his agenda.

Get me an eclipse remote and I might be able to code one up after I finish doing mine.

dont you think it'd be possible to make this up as a quasi-kit? you could pre-build the units, and code the input voltages to the ir signals you transmit as per the persons request. a lot of the standards are the same - jvc & kenwood have had the same signals on a lot of their units for years now... so you could build a few standard mappings..

just an idea.. could make a bit of $

Jase

one fellow has already done this and marketed it in oz to several MAJOR stores and one distributor.
(give you a guess who..)

bob,
if your inclined- run with it.

galapagos01, that's been an idea .
Althought I want to expand on it a bit further. It counts as my final year project for micro's, so there's not much of a hurry for me to develop something.

does anyone know the connections / coding for the Alpine wired remote socket?

The coding is no different to the IR(IE still needs a 38kHz modulated carrier). I will be seeing my dealer during the week and asking him which wire is what again. I'm pretty certain tip was +ve, middle not connected, and rear was ground(3.5mm jack)

PM me if you want the name of the program which will be helpful in working out the protocol used by your remote.

Just wondering if you had any idea if the Ba falcon steering wheel controls would wire up to an eclipse cd4000? it has two wires for that sort of thing. Or is it only done by infra-red?

What the two wires let you do is chop off the infra-red LED and connect the wires to that instead.
Then you don't have to worry about hiding the LED, or it not working when the sun is shining on it.

Ok cool thanks. Hopefully the place i'm getting the install done at will be able to hook them up for me.