HOW TO Steering Controls VX/VY

[HotVS75]

Just to let everyone know, that as of now Clarion Australias latest CD/MP3 player model will all feature the steering control patch, which will connect to your steering wheel controls.

It is only a $100 on top of the cost of their CD players, and all Clarion Cd players fitted by a qualified installation technician, carry a 3 year warranty on their products.

Please have a look at the American website for unit model numbers, and i will shortly post up specials for u guys in my sponsors section, so keep an eye out for that.

Thank you very much.

George

 

[Tenuki]

Doh! Doh! Doh!

Doh! It's never easy is it?
JB Hifi in North Ryde no longer stock car audio (and they can't order it in).
:bang:
Looks like Saturday will be a "drive around and try to find someone who will take my money" day.
:whistling

 

[davey g-force]

What about JB in Parramatta? Chatswood?

 

[michaelw]

So all these things do is sense the resistors on the steering controls and fire off an IR signal?

If someone can send me a circuit of the steering controls (resistor values etc.) I will have a bash at a design that should cost less than $20 in parts. I'll post the schematic here for anyone to make.

Mike

 

[GAMBLR]

hey guys, can anyone fill me in on the vs, and what i'm looking for when it comes round to this? im currently looking at a pioneer deh 6850 headunit, will this 'cat08' work with my wheel controls? also, is there anyway at all to use the radio controls for the cd as well, as per the vt/vx range. mine only works for radio...

slightly off topic, but is there any way of connecting the factory 10 stacker to an aftermarket headunit? i dont wanna lose the stacker, but i definately want a new headunit

thanks in advance guys

 

[Tenuki]

So all these things do is sense the resistors on the steering controls and fire off an IR signal?

If someone can send me a circuit of the steering controls (resistor values etc.) I will have a bash at a design that should cost less than $20 in parts. I'll post the schematic here for anyone to make.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Nice idea, but I think it is a data interface of some sort.
If you look inside the CAT-08 device shown on the PDF: http://www.mobileelectronics.com.au/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=5778 it appears that it has a PLD or logic device of some sort.
That indicates a data interface to decode the steering wheel data and then recode it to the IR device (or direct connect cable to the rear of some head units).

I'd like to find out, but at this stage I just want to pay a little money to get it all going. I haven't bought a head unit yet, so I plan to try for a direct connect rather than the clumsy IR transmitter.

I'll try another JBHifi or maybe Strathfield this weekend. I work in North Ryde so the North Ryde shop was so convenient.
:cry:

Cheers,

 

[michaelw]

From what I have seen the controls are just a bunch of resistors. If someone can tell me the full schematic it sould not be too hard. What I am thinking is making a learning remote (so you don't need a list of headunits programed in) that reads a resistor and fires of the correct signal.

The software I would start with would be public domain so any thing I wrote would also have to be freely available.

Mike

 

[kopper69]

Your a champ michaelw. I know for sure the wiring diagram in my gregorys shows the resistors, not sure if they list the values. I have a set of steering wheel controls at home that I can disect and tell you exactly. That will give you the values for the VR/VS at least, which is likely the same for VT/VX and maybe VY/VZ.

I was going to give the idea a go a little while ago on my old pioneer head unit. The signal from the buttons you press on the head unit is sent in some sort of serial form? I think there are 8 connectors from the face of the head unit, how hard would it be to work out where the signal is being sent and what sort of signal it is sending. Maybe you can offer a bit of direction and I will do a bit of work on the idea too.

 

[kopper69]

OK, michaelw, just having a look now. Opened the steering wheel controls up, have them here in front of me now. There is a little more than a few resistors inside unfortunatly, but that shouldnt be a big drama. We are still only interesed in the signal being put out right? There are only 2 wires out, one being ground, other being siganl. There is an IC in the steering controls, manufacturer is VDO Australia. Looks like its going to be a little coding chip. I could probably draw the circuit out, but it wouldnt be of much use unless you know what the chip is doing. Any ideas?

 

[Tenuki]

Decoding Steering Wheel Data

kopper69, I don't think we need to know what it is doing, only capture the output.
:thumbsup:

I'll try to capture the data from the steering wheel controls this weekend with a portable oscilloscope. There are 6 buttons, so 6 data captures are needed (MODE, NEXT-UP, NEXT-DOWN, MUTE, VOL-UP, VOL-DOWN).
:yeah:

When I have the data, I'll post it here (or maybe a PM to michaelw).
:thumbsup:

The trick will be to convert that data into the correct data accepted by the head unit. Do the head unit manufacturers publish this?

Looking at the Clarion web site, their new head units have the direct connect input for the OEM steering wheel controls.
http://www.clarion.com/au/en/produc.../DXZ376MP/au-en-product-pf_1171866288330.html
"OEM steering wheel remote wired interface capability"

So, where do we get the data format that the head unit needs?
:bang: