So, I have a 2000 honda civic with a completely stock sound system. About a year ago I got an iPod and immediately wanted to hook it up to my car. Being a cheapskate and a computer science major, I figured that if I ripped out the radio and googled enough chip numbers, I'd find the audio processor. Anyways, I traced the super tiny audio processor chip pins with a multimeter and found some slightly larger connections for the ROUT and the LOUT pins, which I assumed would be the analog signal that we're all familiar with. So all I had to do was soldier these pins, as well as a ground, and I figured it would work.
It did, actually. It also required me to insert a silent cd (as in, 70 minutes of silent 'audio'). However, the connections were pretty crappy on account of the pins being too tiny and my iron being too big. About a month ago, I lost audio on one side of my car with the MP3 player, so I figured I should try and fix it. But, I ended up screwing it up good this time.
So, I have the remainder of the radio, which should work fine. The only piece that I messed up was the cd unit, which is a separate little metal thingamajoo and board that connects to the remainder of the radio with this little 14 pin thing that makes contact when the cd unit is installed. I know which 3 pins on this thing are the left channel analog, right channel analog, and the ground. However, since my previous incarnation required the use of a silent CD, I know that something else must happen with the other pins to tell the radio to play the signal from the CD and not from the AM or FM or whatever. Also, since the faceplace connects to the main radio board and not the cd players board, all that button pressing for skipping tracks (not volume, though) must be sent through these things as well.
I figure the chance of me finding information on this is pretty slim, but maybe someone is familiar with it.
So, this leaves me with an AM/FM tuner and nothing more. Ahhh!!!
I also assume that at some point in this electronic hoobajoo, there is another analog signal that I might be able to tap in to, which is of course one of the other analog signals that get amplified, the signal from the antenna.
Unfortunately, I know jack-**** about this. I know it must be really weak, and therefore I assume that at some point it probably gets amplified to about the same level as the CD player signal -slash- my ipods signal, which seemed remarkably similar to the audio decoder chips signal if I set the volume to about 90 percent.
So, this radio signal comes from the antenna, and therefore, must come into the back of the radio through the 20-pin connection that is the radios only connection to the car. (Except this little round plug that I don't recognize specifically, but I assume is power). But, the only diagram i've found of it is this one:
http://s2ki.com/forums/index.php?act=module&module=gallery&cmd=si&img=321210
and, I don't even know what all those things mean... also, I'm not even 100% sure my pins are identical to the s2000's pins...
Does anyone know about this mysterious radio signal?
So, I kinda have a feeling that I'm not going to be successful by using an old headphone cable to hijack the audio before the amp, especially since I don't even know where the amp is (it looks like a bunch of tiny electric **** to me).
In this case, I've got a stock radio that I can rip apart for parts. I could definitely cut off the 20 pin connector for the back of the radio and soldier it to whatever the hell I want, the pins are nice and big in this case.
Now, this is where I assume some of you may actually be able to help me. I don't know a lot about car audio specifically, but I assume that my weak little stock honda system (it gets the job done just fine for a cheapskate) has 100% of the amplification built right into the head unit. I say this because when I turn the volume up for a long time, the head unit gets surprisingly hot, as does the CD. Now I saw that there are four channels of output, Left-Front Right-Front Left-Rear Right Rear. This makes sense, because those are the locations of my speakers (I also have two tweeters, one of which is blown i think, but whatever).
These four channels all have a + and a -, but I assume the negative is just the standard ground, because I don't know what else it would be, but maybe you guys do.
Anyways, If I could figure out this plug stuff, I could probably just use any old amplifier, get a cable to convert a 3.5mm jack into those red and white ones, and then just send the outputs to the right places. This would mean that id have to control everything with my ipods controls, but I did that before, and thats fine by me.
I guess one simple question is: Can I just have an amplifier in my car and then be able to play any source the amp can receive? I assume this is true, but again, I don't know anything about car audio... Mostly, i wonder if those four channels that my honda plug apparently wants are the same kind of signals I could get out of a cheap amplifier.
Maybe then I could just have a little button to switch from my now crippled AM/FM non-cd radio to 3.5mm iPod sweetness.
But I don't know.
Maybe I'll just BUY a proper radio. But I'd feel lame if I didn't engineer at least one aftermarket company out of some dollars...
It did, actually. It also required me to insert a silent cd (as in, 70 minutes of silent 'audio'). However, the connections were pretty crappy on account of the pins being too tiny and my iron being too big. About a month ago, I lost audio on one side of my car with the MP3 player, so I figured I should try and fix it. But, I ended up screwing it up good this time.
So, I have the remainder of the radio, which should work fine. The only piece that I messed up was the cd unit, which is a separate little metal thingamajoo and board that connects to the remainder of the radio with this little 14 pin thing that makes contact when the cd unit is installed. I know which 3 pins on this thing are the left channel analog, right channel analog, and the ground. However, since my previous incarnation required the use of a silent CD, I know that something else must happen with the other pins to tell the radio to play the signal from the CD and not from the AM or FM or whatever. Also, since the faceplace connects to the main radio board and not the cd players board, all that button pressing for skipping tracks (not volume, though) must be sent through these things as well.
I figure the chance of me finding information on this is pretty slim, but maybe someone is familiar with it.
So, this leaves me with an AM/FM tuner and nothing more. Ahhh!!!
I also assume that at some point in this electronic hoobajoo, there is another analog signal that I might be able to tap in to, which is of course one of the other analog signals that get amplified, the signal from the antenna.
Unfortunately, I know jack-**** about this. I know it must be really weak, and therefore I assume that at some point it probably gets amplified to about the same level as the CD player signal -slash- my ipods signal, which seemed remarkably similar to the audio decoder chips signal if I set the volume to about 90 percent.
So, this radio signal comes from the antenna, and therefore, must come into the back of the radio through the 20-pin connection that is the radios only connection to the car. (Except this little round plug that I don't recognize specifically, but I assume is power). But, the only diagram i've found of it is this one:
http://s2ki.com/forums/index.php?act=module&module=gallery&cmd=si&img=321210
and, I don't even know what all those things mean... also, I'm not even 100% sure my pins are identical to the s2000's pins...
Does anyone know about this mysterious radio signal?
So, I kinda have a feeling that I'm not going to be successful by using an old headphone cable to hijack the audio before the amp, especially since I don't even know where the amp is (it looks like a bunch of tiny electric **** to me).
In this case, I've got a stock radio that I can rip apart for parts. I could definitely cut off the 20 pin connector for the back of the radio and soldier it to whatever the hell I want, the pins are nice and big in this case.
Now, this is where I assume some of you may actually be able to help me. I don't know a lot about car audio specifically, but I assume that my weak little stock honda system (it gets the job done just fine for a cheapskate) has 100% of the amplification built right into the head unit. I say this because when I turn the volume up for a long time, the head unit gets surprisingly hot, as does the CD. Now I saw that there are four channels of output, Left-Front Right-Front Left-Rear Right Rear. This makes sense, because those are the locations of my speakers (I also have two tweeters, one of which is blown i think, but whatever).
These four channels all have a + and a -, but I assume the negative is just the standard ground, because I don't know what else it would be, but maybe you guys do.
Anyways, If I could figure out this plug stuff, I could probably just use any old amplifier, get a cable to convert a 3.5mm jack into those red and white ones, and then just send the outputs to the right places. This would mean that id have to control everything with my ipods controls, but I did that before, and thats fine by me.
I guess one simple question is: Can I just have an amplifier in my car and then be able to play any source the amp can receive? I assume this is true, but again, I don't know anything about car audio... Mostly, i wonder if those four channels that my honda plug apparently wants are the same kind of signals I could get out of a cheap amplifier.
Maybe then I could just have a little button to switch from my now crippled AM/FM non-cd radio to 3.5mm iPod sweetness.
But I don't know.
Maybe I'll just BUY a proper radio. But I'd feel lame if I didn't engineer at least one aftermarket company out of some dollars...
