Custom Power Antenna Buttons

[nathanVY]

Hey guys, I have always wondered why my calais didn't have an aerial. Upon inspection the other day I realized it was infact a power aerial but the factory headunit never worked and I hadn't wired it up so never seen it before!

I was installing my new pioneer unit today and to my disappointment it didnt have any support (wires) for a power aerial (up/down). Just wondering what's the best way to go about it, I think I might be able to rig it to the amp remote wire so it comes on when the units are on. But i really only want it up when it's on the tuner. Since my head unit doesn't support this i'm thinking a custom up/down switch? Then I can just switch it to tuner and manually control the aerial.

Anyone know where I can get such a switch? Needs to have up/down arrows on it. Or any other ideas on how I can make this work would be greatly appreciated!!

Cheers

 

[anarklov3r]

Wiring it up to remote will work, but like you said, antenna will be up when radio is on. Only units i know that have remote AND power ant outputs are the alpines.

Just wire up a switch between the remote wire and power antenna wire. That way, when radio is on, you can flick the switch when your on radio and antenna will go up.

 

[markovr]

you could just use the factory up and down separate switches that go in the console under the radio for the aerial and power them from a 12 v switched source so they were set up to work manually at any time you had they key on......
heres where mine are

 

[nathanVY]

anarklov3r - great idea might do that.

markovr - any idea where these are? I havent noticed them since i've had the car, where would they go in the calais interior?

 

[nathanVY]

markovr just saw the pic, it didnt load last time. I thought that's what you were talking about... mine's a calais and therefore has a different interior and doesn't have those... i think they may have been on the factory head unit

 

[holdenboy]

So if you give the yellow with red stripe wire 12v+ the antenna goes up?

Other than using a factory switch setup then maybe just a normal on/off switch wired inline with the remote wire. This way you just flick the switch and the antenna goes down?

 

[nathanVY]

I actually have never seen it go up to tell you the truth. I should have tested it when I installed my head unit but Id already crimped the remote cable and I was lazy lol. Sounds like a simple switch is the way to go, might grab one from jaycar when i've got some spare cash and give it a shot. Thanks for the ideas guys!

I hope the antenna actually works lol

 

[nathanVY]

Hey bit if a thread dig but I pulled the dash out the other day and had a go at getting the aerial to go up but to no avail. Anyone know how to tell if they are faulty?

 

[GIJoel]

You reckon that's a thread dig Nath! Haha sorry boys, I've got a similar issue, but I want to take the solution a step further;

I've recently acquired a VZ Ute and an after market head unit, so I was wondering if I could wire separate antenna control into a sedan window control unit, having only two windows I could use the 3 extra switches elsewhere, maybe a sunroof and power to audio whilst car off.

TLDR; Could window switch control my antenna? Cheers!

 

[hakhawk]

it would be possible, the antenna would need to be a semi auto type. that or wire directly to the motor of the antenna. the door switch is doing exactly the same thing to the door motor. swapping voltage polarity to the 2 motor wires.

so with a testlight or multimeter, find out which 2 wires apply positive and negative 12v and vice versa from the switch you want to use, then run them directly to the antenna motor(if its a fully auto antenna, you may need to open it up and bypass the internal circuitry)