Which cable do I need?

[BRG75]

As an after thought, if the Amazon cable that you found will indeed fit your head unit, then that cable should go straight into the ISO adapter, in the same way as your Sony.

No cables to cut and join.

Worth looking closely, to ascertain from Amazon photos, that your cable requires male or female connector, and what you actually have.

Regards

Mike

[BRG75]

A second thought, unfortunately.

If the Amazon cable does physically fit, it would be prudent to first check the functions (circuits) on each pin.

Comes back to identifying, for certain, what each colour wire is marked as, or identifiable from a chart, on the head unit.

Regards

Mike

[Redmaestro]

This is what I've ordered.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Its the only cable I can find online which will fit - I have a funny feeling that it has a couple of empty connectors so I still might have to do some wiring to get it to work. I'm hoping the steering wheel function will work too - the new head has a remote steering-wheel control but ideally I'd like to get the original controls to work. They've never worked, I think the IR bit is broken so whilst I'm playing with the wires, I might as well hard-wire it in if its not too complicated.

I'll have to wait until it arrives to see what happens.......

Thanks for all your help so far - I might need more when the new cable arrives

[BRG75]

Your profile shows a 2002 car.

I stand to be corrected, but think that is pre infra red steering wheel controls.

Either way, I've not played with the wheel controls myself.

I've got a 2001 car where they work, on a harmony radio, but my 2004 car is untested, as I'm about to fit an android unit.

Wait until your adapter arrives, and we'll move on from there.

Regards

Mike

[Redmaestro]

Originally Posted by Redmaestro

This is what I've ordered.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Update:

This cable arrived this afternoon and after a quick check, I decided to plut it in and see what happens. Good news is that it it fits perfectly into the back of the unit and the ISO connectors fit nicely into my existing setup. The new unit powers up and plays music to all speakers.

I've taken a photo of the original connector block which came with the head (on the left) and my new amazon bought cable (fitted on the right) so hopefully you can see the two missing wires. I've double checked the wiring diagram and the the steering wheel wires are missing, which explains why that doesn't work.

Do you think this can be hard-wired or shall I just use the rather naff looking steering wheel mounted remote control?

[BRG75]

Well that's good news, you're 90% there.

As far as the steering wheel controls are concerned, and bearing in mind that they didn't work on your previous (Sony) radio, it's going to be a bit of suck it and see.

Hard wiring them in, even temporarily, as a test, would be my first step.
If they don't work, then you need to ascertain if there is an actual fault; or have you ended up with two dissimilar systems - IR and non-IR. If the latter, then probably the remote that you have is your only option.

Be interested to here the outcome.

Regards

Mike

[Redmaestro]

Originally Posted by BRG75

Be interested to here the outcome.....

It didnt work!

I took two new cables from the cars wiring loom - blue&purple and blue&orange according the Haynes manual. The ISO converter block did not have connectors for these. I wired into the back of the head unit connector in the two gaps for steering wheel controls according to the head unit user manual. After all that faffing, still no luck. Apparently, the manual says there is a learning function on the head unit but it doesn't seem to work. I even tried swapping the two cables over but it made no difference.

I'm guessing its a learning issue now instead of a wiring one, so it looks like I'm have to settle for the naff remote. To be fair, it does work well even though it looks awful on the steering wheel.

I'm hoping a software update on the unit might help with the learning issue. My next problem is that the wifi is so poor it wont connect to my home network, but I think thats another problem for another day!!