Hi all,

I have a white 2 pin connector behind the window switch pack not connected to anything. Is it for an optional extra light for the cubby box by any chance? I can't see any references in Rave
cheers,
Hoppy

Never seen one with a light in the cubby box but you never know. What colour are the wires on the random plug?

It's for the rear footwell light that goes under the overhang of the center console in the rear footwell.

Not all vehicles were fitted with it, and that's where the connector to the vehicle loom hides for some reason.

That would be a nice addition, is it one of the puddle lights like under the dash or a festoon? I've never seen that before either.

Second question:

I've just fitted a multifunction wheel as mine was a half wheel. The cruise on & resume work but the top buttons don't seem to do anything. Do they only work with the posh radio's or is it u/s?

And my SRS light has finally cleared :-D

If it didn't have the buttons before it is because the radio fitted isn't capable of being controlled by them (and there's probably no connection on the back of the radio for them either). The DSE is the diesel version of the SE spec and my SE doesn't have the buttons, or a radio capable of being controlled by them, either. The Ascot is HSE spec, has the buttons and they work with the original head unit.

I have a head unit that works with the steering wheel buttons.

It's from a car that had the DSP system, not sure if it will go in to one with without the DSP and work.

If it will work you can have it for the cost of postage.

It won't as it only has two outputs, left and right. The front/rear fade and sub was all done in the DSP amp.

Bugger. It looks good though you'd think it could have been tee'd into the normal control system. Will the buttons work with the android head unit when I get round to it?

Rutlandrover thanks for the offer mate, shame it won't work

The buttons drive a simple resistive ladder circuit so although you would probably need an adapter to convert the outputs into something an Android unit can understand, yes, they could be used with a bit of effort.

I replaced my stock radio with an Android unit, the steering wheel buttons work perfectly with no adapter :)

IIRC, I did have to cut a wire and connect it to the right pin on the Android radio loom though.

Why we’ve changed to radio questions, has anyone added the lead so aux source can be added, rather than a headphone jack I would like to add a usb connector.
I’ve got the post on installing a jack connection, god knows what wires I’d need to splice in from a usb socket

You can add the line in and then use something like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-5mm-Male-AUX-Audio-Plug-to-USB-2-0-A-Female-Jack-OTG-Convertr-Lead-Adapter-BLK/322473958992 but reading the ad it looks like the head unit has to do the decoding so it outputs data rather than audio. The other way of doing it would be to use something like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-Mini-Digital-MP3-Music-Player-LCD-Sn-Metal-Support-32G-MicroSD-Card-TR/142858761854 and a 3.5 to 3.5mm lead to connect the headphones socket on the player to the line in on the stereo.

The original Clarion in the Ascot was dead so I sent it to Clarion for repair, it came back fully working, with the code removed and a line in added. I've plugged my phone in and streamed audio from that and I've got a similar player and that works fine too.

In my old diesel I fitted an aux in converter that connected to the CD changer plug on the head unit. Set the radio to the CD changer input and it played the audio from my phone.

Perhaps something similar for USB inputs exists? I'm at work at the moment and have very limited internet access.

Grom do a unit that gives you USB, Bluetooth and Line in but at £130 it isn't cheap, even their Line In alone unit is £60. I know the Clarion used in the earlier P38 can be modified very easily to have the line in (done 2 for other people and it does work very well) but not so sure about the Alpine in later cars. Might be that it needs to be done as you did yours by inserting the audio in the line from the CD changer. In theory there'd be nothing to stop you from putting a switch in line to give you the choice between CD and line in.

When I did mine I used a box from Connects 2 and I'm sure it was only around £30!

That was in a 1999/2000 car and I think it was the Alpine head unit but no DSP.

Ill have to look at the options, it’s not me, it’s the kids, I don’t even know how to put music on my phone, I use it to make calls, how dare I, lol

Gilbertd wrote:

It won't as it only has two outputs, left and right. The front/rear fade and sub was all done in the DSP amp.

Not quite... Only 2 outputs are used on the DSP systems - but the head unit between DSP and non-DSP is identical. If it powers up and can't talk to the DSP amp on the control wire, then it goes into normal mode and drives all 4 outputs and controls all the audio internally.

Presuming the 1999 Hoppy has is the later one with the alpine head unit, not the earlier Clarion head unit - then you should be able to put one in from a DSP system and get all 4 speakers working and the steering wheel controls. Assuming the wire is there in the loom from the steering wheel to the radio.

If you go the android route, then the steering wheel controls (when wired in) work without adapter box - as they are programmed in the unit.

So the one that Rutland Rover has should work then? I would suspect the wiring is there, it is on mine and that was supplied with no radio at all. Is there a simple way of putting a line in on the Alpine unit? It's dead easy on the Clarion and works really well, auto switching to line in as soon as it detects a signal on the input.

In theory his head unit should work, yes. That's how doing the DSP conversion to one of my amp boards works - once the additional wiring is run for the rear left/right inputs to the head unit that is.

I'm not sure about the line input - I've never done one but from what I gather the Clarion one wire into the tape deck input to the main board on the stereo. I don't see why that wouldn't work on the Alpine either.. but not sure how much digging inside is required or what pins to attach to.

Not sure which input is used in the Clarion, I just followed the instructions here http://www.stockholmviews.com/p38/index.html#clarion (except I soldered the wires to the back of the pcb and not to the pins on the socket side, much neater) and it looks like Clarion do exactly the same. No matter whether you are using the radio or CD as soon as audio is detected on that input it switches to it and plays that. The display still shows what you were playing before. Not sure if it does the same if you are playing a cassette, I'll have to see if I can find one to try it. It does mean that the line in becomes an additional input rather than instead of something else.