Dan Robinson
Grand High Plumber
We have owned our Accord for over a year and have had a very good ipod cradle that charged it, but would not play through the stereo. I thought this was odd, but then Honda didn't seem to understand how to connect an iPod to the PSS, a local ICE firm were equally clueless and insisted the only way was FM and tried to stiff me silly money for a hardwired option.
After a handy link from either Monks of Alnug I found a company that sold me an adapter that "plugged straight in the back of the headunit".
What about the XCarLink I hear you cry?
Well I hate the use of silly numbers fro playlists. I wanted the iPod screen and click wheel to function. Steering wheel controls were also not important for me. I wanted easy control and good sound.
So, after a very handy chat with Dave and Mutsaip, and a little bit of time spent getting the ashtray, cubby hole, and gear stick cover out of the way; I got enough confidence to tackle the job myself.
Little trip to Halfrauds this morning to pick up a trim removal tool (our fish slices were too thick, and I wanted the right tool for the job). I read complaints about it being flimsy; but then so are trim clips - so I considered that a feature rather than a fault.
I took the dude to the local model railway to tire him out, and got home just as he passed out in the back. So out came the tools and the adapter - a DICE Interface for iPod by SilverLine.
With the civinfo.com link already stored on my phone, I set to removing all the gubbins. This is really easy. Once you get the gear stick cover off, you can see the technique and how Honda have used a fair bit of common sense in how they put our consoles together. The vent cover was remarkably easy to get off once I gave up trying to get the tool in under vent section and attacked it from the side. Now, I know it had been removed before, so I don't know if that made it easier to do.
Before I installed the new unit, I wanted to get the "charger cradle" off the Brodit mount (that will hopefully get re-used as it is very good). So I tracked the cable down to a little box. At first I thought it was a transformer, but no - far too lightweight for that. Out come the snippers and I managed to get it free - and low and behold; the flipping thing turned out to be an FM transmitter!!!
Now, once I got the Sat Nav out I realised that there was some strange shenanigans going on the with the aerial:
There was also a chopped off wire coming from behind the vents:
I disconnected the power and the transmitter's section of the cradle and left the box in there with (I ***ume) aerial connections as they were. I wondered about putting it all back and trying it out, but the dude had woken up so I knew I was on borrowed time.
The new adapter was slotted in and I put the box under the DVD drive. Which was a mistake - When I tried to put the cubby hole back in, the adapter box stopped me getting the trim pushed all the back. So out it came along with the DVD - so its new home is on top of the DVD. Temporarily the iPod cable is poking out the of the passenger foot-well. Once I source the cradle I need (one that holds both an iPod classic and an IPod Touch) I will take it all out again and fix the cable properly.
Once you've got the first time out of the way, it really is easy to get in and out of that space. If I can do it anyone can!!!!
So if anyone can help with what is going on with the aerial leads I would be grateful. I'm not sure what I will do with the old doodah, but might put it up for sale as a cheaper alternative to the XCarlink and the DICE adapter. Will need to disconnect the rest of its wires first though. I need to test the radio more as I can't remember if I reconnected its power lead which may affect the reception.
After a handy link from either Monks of Alnug I found a company that sold me an adapter that "plugged straight in the back of the headunit".
What about the XCarLink I hear you cry?
Well I hate the use of silly numbers fro playlists. I wanted the iPod screen and click wheel to function. Steering wheel controls were also not important for me. I wanted easy control and good sound.
So, after a very handy chat with Dave and Mutsaip, and a little bit of time spent getting the ashtray, cubby hole, and gear stick cover out of the way; I got enough confidence to tackle the job myself.
Little trip to Halfrauds this morning to pick up a trim removal tool (our fish slices were too thick, and I wanted the right tool for the job). I read complaints about it being flimsy; but then so are trim clips - so I considered that a feature rather than a fault.
I took the dude to the local model railway to tire him out, and got home just as he passed out in the back. So out came the tools and the adapter - a DICE Interface for iPod by SilverLine.
With the civinfo.com link already stored on my phone, I set to removing all the gubbins. This is really easy. Once you get the gear stick cover off, you can see the technique and how Honda have used a fair bit of common sense in how they put our consoles together. The vent cover was remarkably easy to get off once I gave up trying to get the tool in under vent section and attacked it from the side. Now, I know it had been removed before, so I don't know if that made it easier to do.
Before I installed the new unit, I wanted to get the "charger cradle" off the Brodit mount (that will hopefully get re-used as it is very good). So I tracked the cable down to a little box. At first I thought it was a transformer, but no - far too lightweight for that. Out come the snippers and I managed to get it free - and low and behold; the flipping thing turned out to be an FM transmitter!!!
Now, once I got the Sat Nav out I realised that there was some strange shenanigans going on the with the aerial:
There was also a chopped off wire coming from behind the vents:
I disconnected the power and the transmitter's section of the cradle and left the box in there with (I ***ume) aerial connections as they were. I wondered about putting it all back and trying it out, but the dude had woken up so I knew I was on borrowed time.
The new adapter was slotted in and I put the box under the DVD drive. Which was a mistake - When I tried to put the cubby hole back in, the adapter box stopped me getting the trim pushed all the back. So out it came along with the DVD - so its new home is on top of the DVD. Temporarily the iPod cable is poking out the of the passenger foot-well. Once I source the cradle I need (one that holds both an iPod classic and an IPod Touch) I will take it all out again and fix the cable properly.
Once you've got the first time out of the way, it really is easy to get in and out of that space. If I can do it anyone can!!!!
So if anyone can help with what is going on with the aerial leads I would be grateful. I'm not sure what I will do with the old doodah, but might put it up for sale as a cheaper alternative to the XCarlink and the DICE adapter. Will need to disconnect the rest of its wires first though. I need to test the radio more as I can't remember if I reconnected its power lead which may affect the reception.
