Another Stereo Install
11-29-2009, 01:25 AM
#16
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Today I received and installed a Griffin AutoPilot ($35, no shipping at Amazon).
Link to AutoPilot
First I wired in a female cigarette lighter jack under the passenger box by running a hot wire from the stock Cig. lighter under the carpet. There were some red wires already under the box from the original amp, but I couldn't find power on any of them, even after replacing fuse 28. I did find a good ground wire though (brown).
The AutoPilot has an 1/8th inch jack for the audio cable going to the head unit, and a switch to choose either high or low level output. I have an older Pioneer head unit, with an Aux input provided by an IP Bus adapter, with 2 RCA input jacks (ebay - $15). The cable that connects to the bottom of the iPhone runs under the carpet in front of the passenger seat and comes up near the console with about 10" of slack. This cable both charges the phone, and receives pre-amp audio which is fed back to the AutoPilot, then to the head unit. This leaves the stock cig. lighter free for the GPS on road trips.
The AutoPilot also has three buttons on it to control Play/Pause, next and prev tracks, but since it's enclosed in the box, they can't be used. I thought it might be fun to tap into those buttons and install 3 tiny buttons on the console that could be used to control the iPhone music player, but it's not too difficult to just use the phone, so not sure it would be worth it.
I have used an AutoPilot in the family hauler for a while and they work great, but the cig. lighter jack in the 928 is a bit too deep for the AutoPilot with the audio cable plugged in, which protrudes from the side. It will work, but it's not ideal. Then there's the annoying fact that anything you plug into the stock jack loses power every once in a while and you have to jiggle it, to get it back.
No pictures yet, but it's a simple install.
Link to AutoPilot
First I wired in a female cigarette lighter jack under the passenger box by running a hot wire from the stock Cig. lighter under the carpet. There were some red wires already under the box from the original amp, but I couldn't find power on any of them, even after replacing fuse 28. I did find a good ground wire though (brown).
The AutoPilot has an 1/8th inch jack for the audio cable going to the head unit, and a switch to choose either high or low level output. I have an older Pioneer head unit, with an Aux input provided by an IP Bus adapter, with 2 RCA input jacks (ebay - $15). The cable that connects to the bottom of the iPhone runs under the carpet in front of the passenger seat and comes up near the console with about 10" of slack. This cable both charges the phone, and receives pre-amp audio which is fed back to the AutoPilot, then to the head unit. This leaves the stock cig. lighter free for the GPS on road trips.
The AutoPilot also has three buttons on it to control Play/Pause, next and prev tracks, but since it's enclosed in the box, they can't be used. I thought it might be fun to tap into those buttons and install 3 tiny buttons on the console that could be used to control the iPhone music player, but it's not too difficult to just use the phone, so not sure it would be worth it.
I have used an AutoPilot in the family hauler for a while and they work great, but the cig. lighter jack in the 928 is a bit too deep for the AutoPilot with the audio cable plugged in, which protrudes from the side. It will work, but it's not ideal. Then there's the annoying fact that anything you plug into the stock jack loses power every once in a while and you have to jiggle it, to get it back.
No pictures yet, but it's a simple install.
