Looks good, Ken!

Here's mine:

 

You're making me reconsider where I plan to install my aux input! I haven't drilled the plate yet. Hmmm. I might do the garage door opener mod, we have one which is in need of some soldering anyhow...

How would a red SPST Temporary pushbutton look? I could even make some sort of graphic, like a torpedo, or tacks.

 

You should get one of these for your garage door opener. jk

 

hey, yours look good too. i like the fact that the generic jack
is hidden and not so visible from the driver/passenger seats.

 

Do you guys just use a standard double sided headphone cord?

 

yeah....you need a male 3.5mm to male 3.5mm mini-plug cord....but I bought a retractible mini to mini plug...it is about 6 inches long normally but stretches out to 6 feet so I can take the unit off the parcel shelf and put it on my seat if I need to adjust it, and then retract it neatly back on the shelf with no mess of dangling wires

 

hehe ... just got my Aux jack installed today as well ... put it inthe same place as kenchan (as per the mini2 instructions) ... totally invisible and practical spot.

was going to pick up that save Creative mp3 player .. but then decided on this one from newegg ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16855125006

works great ... 5 band eq ... and picks up folders and artists nicely from my mp3 files ...

best mod so far this summer

 

Anyone here doing a garage door opener mod? I've got the red pushbutton switch, the garage door opener, and am waiting for the orange LED to arrive in the mail. The wait is killing me :impatient! I think I'm going to break down and drill the hole in the blanking plate for the pushbutton. Just having some difficulty deciding on the type of connectors to use...

 

that's a nice player too!

 

octaneguy did one, he has a pict somewhere.

deciding the type of switch or connector?

 

Two things I'm wondering:

Which type of disconnect do I use between the LED, switch, and door opener?

Where do I mount the opener? It's the 9V battery type. I figure I can affix it to the back of the tray, but am not too sure if I should find a smaller door opener.

The other option would be to cut a hole in the tray, and put the door opener inside the cavity which is not accessible normally when the parcel shelf is installed - I have the rubber tray/mat from MINI for the shelf, which would cover the hole.

 

hummm...what do you mean by disconnects?

I think it's a real simple momentary switch on the garage door
transmitter, so just unsolder that, get a new push-switch, tap the
wires into where the original switch was, and mount it behind
whichever location you prefer. The same goes for the LED, if you
prefer to put one in. Garage door opener batteries last
forever so i'd recommend just buying a new Energizer/Duracell 9v
and use battery power.

If you prefer to use the car battery, you'll want to
run it to a non-switched power and run a 12v to 9vDC converter.

 

Well... I already have the necessary SPST Momentary pushbutton switch. And I have the LED's arriving next week.

But, I'd like to be able to quickly disconnect the LED and switch from the door opener. I would rather not use automotive type spade connectors. I'd rather have a block connector, but don't know what to use.

 

I always solder my connections as much as I can...

not sure if that answers your question or not.... not sure if im getting
what the issues is? sunday mornings my head is real slow, sorry.

 

I always like to make things very very modular. Such that, if I ever decide I don't like the switch (I'll post pics, its pretty cool), or the LED, I don't have to desolder it from the board, or even remove the door opener from the shelf. Or if the LED burns out prematurely. So, I'd ideally do something like:

LED--------=

Switch-----=


Then the door opener would have:

D-----------=
o
o-----------=
r
O
p
e
n
e
r

Where the = is a connector, male on one side, female on the other. And the dash represents +/- wires. I could use a USB connector, but I don't have any cables laying around to splice.

I once used a telephone jack to wire an aux input up to a FM pushbutton radio, which allowed me to switch between the radio and aux input. The problem with the telephone jack, it doesn't seat properly, and I had to use a washer and screw to push it in.

John

 

ok, some weird thing developed literally overnight with the AUX input ... so the day i installed it I was using the MP3 player no problem ... for hours ...

I come out to the car yesterday and the radio does not go into AUX mode!?!?!? ... I remove the panel and jiggle the wire and the AUX mode appears when it wants to .... but then when I press play on the MP3 player ... it kicks into FM mode !?!!?? ... and the AUX mode is gone again.

Few hours pass and I am driving ... no AUX mode. Then I try it again ... hey there is the AUX mode again. Try playing the MP3 player ... soon as I hit play ... goes to FM mode.

This is really strange and not sure how the heck this happened literally overnight with the car parked.

Might be a short somewhere, at least this is what I am thinking.

Anyone experience this weird pehnomenon before?

 

A lot of us have seen this. I think it is common with the standard head unit. UPTICK found the solution. Read this thread:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=43063

 

looks like your dc power supply to the mp3 is causing a ground loop.
try using a Ground Loop Isolator from radio shack or a different power supply.

(i added the rat shack GLI and got rid the aux disappearing, but the GLI
ends up being a big bundle of extra wiring near the aux input. going to
a different brand of cigarette lighter power supply got rid of my GL problem
in a much cleaner (wirewise) fashion)

 

I just noticed, if you press the note button a few times, you can choose from 0-5 for Aux input level! Forgive me if this is blatantly obvious...

 

thanks guys ... will look and see if that GLI works.
my MP3 player (Sandisk Sansa) however is powered by a single AAA battery ... no power supply at all.

I am having the exact same problem as uptick did .. as soon as I attach the mini cable to the mp3 player ... after 2-3 seconds the AUX input dissapears and the HU switches to radio or CD (whatever it feels like).
If I disconnect the cable from the MP3 player ... boom, right away the AUX input is back.

will try that GLI and report back ...

THANKS AGAIN !!!

 

it's in the stereo literature in your handbook folder

you probably also didn't set your speed volume then?

 

????

I did read the CD/Boost manual AFTER I noticed the Aux level, and the FM functions...

 

Ok, the GLI trick did not work ...

Tiem to try my friends iPod and some other MP3 players and try to narrow the problem down ...

Then maybe move the AUX input somewhere else ...

All else fails will try to exchange the AUX input as a last resort.

 

you can set the speed vol to boost the volume as you go faster. I think it kicks in as you go over 50mph

 

Hi umberto,

I'm really interested in getting one of these retractable male to male mini-plug cords. Could you please tell us where you got yours and about how much you paid for it? A part number (or a link to the site where you got it) would be great if you happen to have it.

Thanks!



EDIT 08/30/2005:

Never mind as I found some... BoxWave (www.boxwave.com) makes a really nice one called MiniSync that has gold-plated connectors and goes from 5" to 59" for about $10. ZIP-LINQ (www.ziplinq.com) also makes one that goes from 4" to 48" for about $8-$14. Keyspan (www.keyspan.com) also makes one that's near identical to the ZIP-LINQ one.