Where To Fit Ipod In 2006 Estate

[Andrew Taylor]

Hi,

I've purchase a Grom Audio iPod adaptor. It's a small box not much bigger than an iPod. It has a wiring harness to the back of the headunit and then a dock cable to the ipod.

I know how to remove the stereo and I know how to wire it all up, I just need a suitable location for the dock cable. I'm not interested in having the ipod on display, I just need it somewhere I can get to whilst parked. I was thinking the glovebox but when I've taken it out, there's no punchout holes, I'd have to dremmel something myself. I then thought about running the cable up in to the bottom of the armrest. It seems accessible from under the gear lever (it's manual).

Anyone ever done something like this, have an opinion on where is easiest to get to?

Thanks

Andrew

[gazza1286]

First of all you should probably invest in an extension cable.

I have mine wired so that lead is cable tied to the passenger seat seat-belt bracket with around two foot of lead free to my MP3 player. This allows me to place it on the passenger seat pad - hold it and select tracks whilst driving. It also gives sufficient flex to easily lean forward and put the player underneath the passenger seat mat when parked up.

I've cable tied the GROM to a plastic bar which is behind the ashtray (which needs removing to gain access). The cable coming from the unit can be snugged between the passenger side carpet and the bottom edge of the central console. There's a small length which emerges from the central unit where it's cable tied to the seat-belt bracket. No drilling required whatsoever.

With mine being an MP3 player the lead is just a standard 3.5mm extension. - 1 metre ipod extensions are around £4-5 on eBay but these can be ganged together if you need it longer.

[Andrew Taylor]

Thanks for the reply.

Any chance of a pic of where the cable comes out? I think I understand, but when you say seat belt bracket, do you mean the receptacle for the seat-belt near the centre console, or the feeder unit on the passenger door pillar?

It's all a bit of a moot point now tbh, I did the work this afternoon and it didn't go as planned; the grom unit controls the ipod as it should but every time I plug it in to the wiring harness it mutes the headunit, no sound on any input source, FM,CD,iPod etc. I'm hoping it's just a duff unit but we'll see in the New Year.

Thanks again for the reply.

Andrew

[gazza1286]

No pics I'm afraid.

The cable from the GROM (to the ipod) is fed through the back of the void beneath the headunit so that it comes out into the passenger footwell area. The cable is then squeezed between the carpet and the bottom of central console unit which runs along what used to be called the transmission tunnel, on the passenger side, thus hiding the cabling. No fixings - no dismantling - friction keeps it in place and out of sight. When roughly adjacent to the passenger seat-belt bracket (on the seat) it can be cable tied off.

Leave a couple of feet spare so that the ipod can be placed out off sight under the passenger carpet when parked up.

If you bought it from 'carputer' there shouldn't be a problem with swapping the unit if it's faulty. The on-line customer support for GROM in Canada is also super fast. They may be able to offer some advice if it's an installation issue.

hope that helps.

[Andrew Taylor]

Thanks for the advice; contacted Canada on NYE and they responded overnight! Turns out I had to 'cut the blue wire' exciting stuff.

All fitted now, as you said void behind/beside the head unit. I've left the cable going in to the glovebox though, I ended up making a small hole in to the rear of the box with a dremel then fitting a rubber grommet. The bluetooth extension cable comes as with your cable down the back of the glovebox and is tucked between the carpet and the plastic of the transmission tunnel. I managed to feed the mic lead along the the steering column plastic fascia (behind the airbag) and up the A pillar. There was sufficient gap to feed the cable in without removing it.

Thanks again

Andrew