Ipod Connection Kit

[hedleyf]

Ya no what you mean just pulling a leg, I bought a new MX5 and got excited about the Ipod intergration kit fitted to that,simular than Toyota's in every way ,even the way it works ,soon got fed up with that. why can't they make a player that you lust slot the Ipod into and then control everything from the steering wheel? be better than still making tape players that hardly anyone use's.

[Justin Adie]

so some updates ....

the bluetooth dongle arrived whilst I was skiing. i tested it last night.

it powers up from the iPod interface with no probs. Equally no problem in pairing with the dongle. But as anticipated by others here, it does not stream audio to the interface. or rather I suspect it does, but the interface does not pick this up as audio.

I am not sure how to test why but my suspicions are that the normal dock connectors (with which the dongle is intended to run) use a different input from that used by the rav4. perhaps the serial input rather line out or vice versa. Again, I am not sure how to test this - happy to destroy the dongle in the pursuit of science if anyone wants to advise. I have multi testers but no oscilloscope.

but I have found a kind of solution. clunky as hell. Involves jailbreaking the phone and then installing a cydia tweak that prevents the iphone/ipod from locking with the 'accessory connected' screen. this then allows direct control from the iDevice which allows me to play the radio and also avoids the problem I have with ios5 (on the older OS's I was able to choose what I wanted to play by unplugging the iDevice, playing the song/audiobook, and then plugging it back in. the Now Playing playlist defaults to playlist 1 and so things worked. It seems that something has changed because now when I plug the iphone/ipod back in, the first song alphabetically in the library plays and the currently playing track is ignored - hence the need for this solution (even ignoring my desire for Radio 4...).

I have not given up on an a2dp solution yet. that seems to be the optimum for my needs. I'm not ready to Shell out 500euro for an aftermarket slot in (assuming sale price of 430 USD plus postage plus import fees in france).

the grom kit (and other replacements for the toyota kit) is still going to be 200eur by the time it gets to france and that's too much on top of the investment in the toyota kit. there must (I hope ...) be a way of adapting the toyota cable to be more friendly!

or perhaps hacking the head unit software? has anyone had any success with that?

[Hoovie]

Although I suspected it may have been a dead-end path with this device, it is a shame it didn't provide the solution :(

Your comment ref iOS5 making the device revert to the starting track on the iPod clarifies to me what is happening on mine when I just plug it in to my adapter bit didn't really twig why. In the past, I used to do exactly what you did - find what I wanted on the iPod, press play and then plug it in.

But now, if I hear "ABC" by the Jackson 5 one more time ......

Is it possible to downgrade down from iOS 5 at all?

[Justin Adie]

Regrettably not possible unless you have previously jail broken your phone and stored blobs.

But you could go the other way of jail breaking and killing the accessory block screen. That's straightforward.

Also (and I will check this later) there is a dip switch reported on the us iPod kit that changes the resistance on pin 21 to prevent the accessory lock screen. Is the European version the same? I can't recall where my garage installed the box (the wires come out in the central arm rest so perhaps the interface is under one of the chairs where the cd changer would have been had it been installed)? Is there a recommended position for it?

[Hoovie]

When I installed my iPod interface kit, I fitted the iPod socket in the central armrest, same as yours is. And I found the cable lengths from Head Unit to iPOD Control Box and onwards to iPod Socket such that there was not a lot of choice where it could go - and under the seat would be too much for the supplied cable to reach. I suspect that the control unit would be behind some trim on the centre transmission tunnel or cenre dash (if your kit had the same cable length limits as mine)

Others may be able to advise exactly where the 'official' location is (thought in the kit I got, the installation info was very lacking so there may not even be one?!)

[Justin Adie]

quick question ( ... ) does anyone know of a guide for removing the centre arm-rest console and cup holders etc?

[jedi134]

This http://www.xcarlink.co.uk/product.php?productid=166&cat=11&page=1

With optional bluetooth adapter says it will stream music via A2DP

[Justin Adie]

@jedi134

thanks for the link. I was aware of this and wanted to see what could be done with low value add-ons/adjustments to the existing toyota kit before investing in anything else (and it's tempting to double the cost and go for a complete replacement head unit).

more to report though. I took the toyota kit apart to look for dip switches and the like inside it. and also to test the voltages in different states. photo of the circuit board below.

I could not find any particular difference between states with a proper ipod and a dongle plugged in, save that one of the pins to the satnav unit carried between 12v and 5v when the ipod was connected. When disconnected, the voltage gradually decreased to zero (over perhaps 2 mins), suggesting that the supply was from a capacitor. with the ipod plugged in it steadied at about 4.8v (I guess the upper limit of 12v is to cater for the older ipods ? - although the feed was in to the satnav, not into the board).

So I tried applying voltage to the pin manually with the dongle plugged in but this was perhaps too simplistic and didn't work.

There were a few tens of milivolts travelling up the other pins but these seemed to be the same for both the dongle and the ipod.

so I have drawn a blank for the time being. (I did try and short out a few of the solder points that looked as though they might have been intended for dip switches. one pair at a time as not enough hands to do more!

if anyone is good at decyphering circuit boards and can suggest further tests, I will gladly have a go. In the meantime the guy who makes the (not-working) dongle is having a look and thinks he can make one that will work, but it will take him a couple of months.

[Rob R]

Justin, did you ever find a solution?

I recently had an Toyota iPod kit fitted. I was told it would have an aux in as well, but that was wrong. I was hoping to be able to use my Android phone as well as an iPod.

I purchased an iPod female connector to 3.5 mm jack and this sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. A week ago I tried to figure out what was going on, and found out that if I had the iPod connected, but was on the slot CD, then changed to my phone using the adaptor, and then changed 'disc's, it would play from my phone. This had worked repeatedly without fail.

However yesterday this method failed and I cannot get the second disc to be an option at all without the iPod connected.

I am not sure how this relates to your investigations as it implies that a permanent power draw/data connection it not required.

[Bartoosh]

Hi all,

I realise this thread is 2 years old but there is still very little information out there on this problem so I'm hoping someone found a solution but just forgot to post it.

I recently purchased a 2008 RAV4 T180 with Toyota iPod kit, a system which is very limited to say the least. The worst thing about it by far is that the iPod is accessory locked so you can't select anything using the click wheel. You are forced to accept playing playlists via the CD changer. This poor experience is made worse by the lack of artist and track information.

I'd simply like the ability to select music using the iPod click wheel. I noted from previous posts that it may be possible to remove the accessory locking. 2 ideas were mooted - jailbreaking the phone or snipping a wire. The first idea is no use to me as I'm using an iPod not an iPhone. The second I'm willing to try if someone can verify it works and advise me which wire to cut. Or if someone has an alternative idea I'm all ears.

I'm so disappointed by the Toyota kit that I am considering replacing it with another that allows control of the iPod. However before I Shell out another £80, I'd like to see whether I can wring any life from this Toyota kit.

Many thanks!