Write-Up: Installing Double DIN head unit in '96-99 Riviera

everything works perfectly fine except the buttons on the steering wheel except for temp up and down

97rivsc wrote:

everything works perfectly fine except the buttons on the steering wheel except for temp up and down

It's difficult to understand what your trying to say.
Make a short list of what doesn't work.
1.
2.
3.

97rivsc wrote:

Hey deek, I just put in a pioneer unit, and put the steering wheel button adapter harness into the w/r plug in on the unit and none of my buttons work on the steering wheel, but HVAC works fine from the steering wheel......any suggestions?

deekster_caddy wrote:

What adapter did you use? What model SWI is it? The SWI-X needs an IR sender. The wired remote plugs into a specific jack on the back of the Pioneer if so equipped. You didn't plug into an aux in, did you?

If the HVAC is working that's a good sign for that part of the job - if none of the radio controls are working, I'd be looking at the connectors to that.

97rivsc wrote:

everything works perfectly fine except the buttons on the steering wheel except for temp up and down

If you answer some of my followup questions you will probably answer your own question. It sounds to me like the radio part of the adapter is not hooked up right, or else doesn't work at all.

What pioneer head did you install?

ok only thing that doesn't work are the radio buttons on the steering wheel. The temperature control button on the steering wheel does, but the radio buttons don't. and the headunit is the Pioneer DEH-5900IB

So you wired to the HVAC wire okay, something happened along the way to the radio connector though. Only you can answer that question... by looking at all the connections again.

I still don't know what kind of SWI you used, or how it's connected to the radio, or if you confirmed it's connections. Also show me that you followed the directions that came with the SWI in regards to the radio hookup. Then I might be able to answer a question or two. Until then it's only more questions.

I'm trying to help as best I can, but without some basic info as to what you did and what you have, I can only take WAGs.

I am wondering what in dash reciever will firt...can a 97 riv have a 7 in double din or is it safer to go smaller...i am going with pioneer... i am looking at two different units both of them seem great tho.... okay the 7 in unit is a AVIC-Z3 http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/Navigation/In-Dash/AVIC-Z3

and the other unit is a AVIC -90BT http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/Navigation/In-Dash/AVIC-F90BT

also do you know where i can get some good bargains on the net or store wise ill take any contacts thankx

Here you go.

http://www.dealercostcaraudio.com/avic-z3.aspx

http://www.dealercostcaraudio.com/pioneravic-f900bt.aspx

Both are good decks, good choice you should be happy with either.

Deekster, I really love the looks of that head unit. Now that you have had it in a while, how do you like it?

#1BearsFan wrote:

Deekster, I really love the looks of that head unit. Now that you have had it in a while, how do you like it?

I still love it. It took a while to get used to the interface, but it can do everything. Bluetooth handsfree, did I mention that? MP3 CDs, USB whatever MP3s, direct iPod control... did I mention those things too? And it still sounds awesome!

I'm thinking about putting one of these in my wife's car, and my van...

Saw a couple of new units today. Alpine's iXA-W404 is a "no CD player" iPod, Sat radio, unit that is only $450. Looks pretty unique as well. Pioneer has one that has a bigger screen and CD for about the same price.

I have decided what I really want is to have:
excellent iPod functionality,
Sat radio choices
backup camera.
Steering wheel control
3 pairs of RCA pre-out jacks to amp(s)

I have decided that I do not want
Nav unit as part of the car. I travel a lot and if I really need it, I will have it added to my Blackberry.
HD Radio I cannot figure out the advantage. In the city the reception sounds good enough and in rural areas I use the iPod.
A really good amp in the head unit. (see RCAs above)

Anybody else looking at 2x DIN?

My .02 on built in satellite radio - I feel you are better with an external input and a satellite device like a starmate. The features of the starmate like show/song alerts, alarm on and rewind/buffer make it worth having the external unit. Unless the built-in units are starting to come with some of these features...

I installed a Pioneer 8000-BT, no screen but a reasonable display, good ipod integration... no screen or DVD.

Something to look at is whether the unit can display ipod video, may be more worthwhile than DVD someday! It's come a long way.

sburch23,
In your post above you mention one of your needs as "A really good amp in the head unit. (see RCAs above)"

I didn't think a really good amp in the head unit was necessary if your adding an amp. I was told a while ago that i just needed to look at the spec's for RCA output. Such as 5 volts output is very good.
Maybe one the stereo experts can enlighten me on this.

Never mind, I just re-read your post and noticed you said you "Don't need a good amp as long as you have RCA outputs.

I still have a question for those in the know.
Is it necessary or beneficial to look for higher voltage outputs from the RCA connections on an aftermarket HU ?
It seems to me, to find a head unit that has 5 volt or higher RCA output, you end up finding only headunits that have larger amps and are more expensive.
Can a lower RCA output rating still provide quality sound through an Amp?

You can get great sound with lower output voltage from the deck. A higher output voltage is better at preventing, engine noise, pop from turn signals, and any other electrical noises from entering the signal path and being amplified.

sburch23,
You already have an alpine steering wheel control, you could use an IVAD205 or 505. Either is a good choice, and both meet your list of needs.

I was thinking that for the 99 Blue Riv I would stay with Alpine because of the cables. For the 97 Silver i am open to anything.

Several manufacturers used to make a few pre-amp and tuner only models with no amp. They used the space to put in a very high end tuner and CD player. They were meant to be used with external amps. Has anyone seen any of these lately?

Not many people make a preamp only deck anymore. You can turn off the internal amp in the alpine though.

The last one I had was a Denon unit. Probably 1991 or 92 ?

I have two preamp decks now and have had several in the past, but never a double din video deck. I don't know of anyone that makes one.

I have my new HU mostly wired up and am about to install it. However i am fairly certain that it is not going to auto-dim. however i know the HU is capable of it. How do i wire it so that it will work. From the HU i have one orange wire with a white stripe which is illumination. from the wiring harness i have one orange wire -illumination/dash light. and an orange wire with white line- dimmer. How do these all wire together so that my dimmer will work. anyone have an answer.

I am installing it on the car by only hooking up the illumination wire to the illumination/ dash light wire. i dont think this is going to auto dim but if it doesnt i will be removing the dash as soon as i get an answer to fix it.

BTW i am using a sony HU and a scosche wiring harness.

Based on your discription, the lights on the deck should dim when the headlights come on.

Yeah either i am crazy or i was just getting really tired by that point cause i could have sworn that they were not working like that during the night i installed it and then i went to talk to one of my buddies about it and it was working. but its in and working (except for the antenna which i diddnt have an adapter for. i used a different wiring harness than the one listed i believe it was just for a wider range of vehicles it had 2 ports for connecting it to a car (one of which is the 32 pin and then another smaller one) i investigated it a little further and the extra wire i couldnt figure out actually came from it. this also ended up causing some major space issues its an extremely tight fit even after cutting out most of the back. thats even taking into account that the bottom din of my headunit is about 3 inches sharter than the top din.

When i wire in my subs i think i am going to cut out the extra smaller connect on the harness so i can have some room to work with back there.

Also kind of the wrong thread but dont really want to make a separate post about it. do any of you have any sugestions as to how to run wire from the HU to the trunk. this looks like it is going to be a fairly large task.

I ran my RCAs and amp signal from the HU to trunk by way of going over the glove box, down and under the passenger side door sill, under the back seat and then right into the trunk. It was fairly simple IMHO. You do need to be careful lifting up the sill, but don't let it scare you.

I never thought about ove the glove box, i was always planning on going straight down through the dash and then to the door sill. thanks for the tip.

My car was previously gheeto rigged for subs but it was done stupidly. the remote wirer goes to an ACC fuse and the signal wires are coming off of the rear deck speakers. so i have to re do all of their crap.

Hey, just wondering if you can put an indash 7 inch in where the stock radio goes or does it hit the dash ? Will i have to put it where the cd holders are ? Thanks !

im in the process of putting a 7" screen (fixed) into where the ashtray and cd player are. i will post some pictures when i get time

Nigel

Just a screen or is it a cd player and screen together ?