VXII Calais stereo wiring

[Fletch_QLD]

I've been searching for days and found all the info I need to know about the main loom plug on the back of the eurovox maestro stereo - but what's with the second, smaller plug?

I'm looking for the steering wheel control lead - lots of posts tell me to go the brown wire - there is a brown wire on the small plug, but it does nothing connected to the Transponder.

I have run a multimeter from earth to the brown wire and can get no continuity - infinite ohms with the car on or off, pressing each of the steering control buttons.

This small plug of which I speak has 5 wires. One earth, one +pos, a purple wire, a brown wire and black/yellow stripe wire. And I just cannot figure out what they do.

I would really appreciate any help working out what these wires do, as well as any suggestions on how to connect the transponder to the steering wheel controls. There is no brown wire on the main plug - actually there are no wires unaccounted for on the main plug - so surely the control wire is on this smaller plug? Is there another point (closer to the steering wheel?) where I can tap in?

Cheers

[Fletch_QLD]

So I've got this sussed. Using PAC Swi-Jack unit ($70 ebay inc freight from US) plugs straight in to the back of the unit, comparable to the CAT10 but $150 cheaper.

From the PAC unit - black/red to earth/power. White PAC wire to brown Harness wire. On the calais this is on the smaller plug which has 5 wires on. On base models I believe the brown wire is on the main stereo plug?

The difference with the Calais is that there is a black/yellow stripe wire - next to the brown wire on the smaller plug. This wire needs to be earthed or the controls don't work. I joined it to the black wire on the PAC unit and earthed both together.

Set the PAC unit to mode 9 and program buttons. All buttons work 100% - no need for any extra resistors.

This works the same for the PAC-SWIX unit with IR transmitter (for HUs without the socket at the back)

[Ninety3]

Sorry to dig up an old thred, but did you end up being able to use the factory subs/amp?

[Fletch_QLD]

Yeh - the factory amp worked fine with the aftermarket stereo, though I had to insert a relay because there I could not figure out the remote input on the factory amp. I upgraded the amp in the end for bigger sound, keeping the factory subs. The best part about the setup was having full control of the sub from the aftermarket head unit.

[Ninety3]

Thats an idea. I couldnt work out the amp remote too. How did the subs handle the better amp? Ive got a small 4chan i could try. Main reason for sticking with factory is I am only keeping this for a year till I can afford a VE, so dont want to spend much on it.

[Fletch_QLD]

I ran a 150watt 2 channel amp - the subs handled it fine - so much better than the factory amp, and if you have one lying around I say what have you got to lose?

[Ninety3]

Just hooked up the deck. Had to wire it up the old-fashioned way cos the adaptor harness was shit. It just pushed the pins out the back. Low and behold, the factory subs worked. I will probably still hook my amp up tho, so a can crank em