Rav 4 Xt3 Mp3 Connections

[EIcojo]

Hi, I'm brand new to this forum and I'm sure this topic has been flogged to death but just wondering if I can get some form of MP3 aux connector for my Rav 4 radio/cd.

I just imported a late 2003 Rav 4 4D XT3 from England to Ireland that has the Basic monochrome Sat Nav (either TNS 200 or TNS300 I think) and CD player and would like to fit some sort of connector that I can connect my Creative Zen MP3 player. Connection thru 'Line In' is ideal.

I'm not sure what make of radio it is as it is integral in the facia and I dont want to go messing around with it until I have to.

Question:

What make is the radio CD most likley? (Rav is Dec 2003)

Is there a spare connector at the back to put a MP3 aux box? If not, how do I connect it and to which connector?

What type of MP3 Aux connector I should be looking for as I believe there not universal and you have to get the one to match that particular brand of radio. What should I be looking out for?

Is it easy to connect and where is the best place to put the adapter box?

Excuse the simplistic questions but I am a newbie here.

[anchorman]

Welcome cojo.

It has been raised once at least but we have some resident electronics experts that will respond to you soon. It isn't straight forward and an easier option would be an ipod interface;

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72652

[shcm]

Hello Cojo and Welcome.

If it is a Toyota radio it will usually have a connector for a CD changer and/or the Sat Nav unit. I believe Toyota refer to it as the "avclan". The connector comes it two types (I must get some pictures ready of them!), both with 12 pins. The older type is the bigger and has one row of 7 pins and one row of 5 pins. The newer connector is smaller and has 2 rows of 6 pins.

People like connects2 Link do aux adapters that plug into this socket. There are others (google for something like "toyota aux adapter").

The adapters fool the unit into thinking they are a cd changer, but allow you to plug a "line in" into them from any audio source.

However, your sat nav unit may well be already plugged into the "avclan" socket, so in that case you may well need a splitter harness as well. You should be able to connect up both the sat nav and an aux adapter, but sometimes people can have problems with that.

If it's a Toyota radio, it may well have a model number on the front. If you let is know that, we might be able to help you further.

If you are reasonably practical it's not to bad to plug in a few connectors. Getting the radio out to get to the back connectors can be awkward if you are not familiar, but we can probably help with that and it is easy once you know how.

Aux adapter can go anywhere that is convenient for you really.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

[Russell W. Barnes]

Welcome cojo.

It has been raised once at least but we have some resident electronics experts that will respond to you soon. It isn't straight forward and an easier option would be an ipod interface;

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72652

Hallo there,

I read your link with interest; nice, helpful pics! I have a RAV4 fitted with the 'Type 1' single CD unit, labelled 58826 (although there is only one different button on the fascia shown in the linked photographs), and was wondering if it were possible to fit either:

• an auxiliary input so that I could play my MP3 player through the car's stereo system - not bothered about the display or controlling it anywhere other than the MP3 player, or -
  
• an iPod auxiliary adapter like the one shown in the photos, but without the steering-wheel controls (which my RAV doesn't have).
  

All information gratefully received!

[anchorman]

Welcome cojo.

It has been raised once at least but we have some resident electronics experts that will respond to you soon. It isn't straight forward and an easier option would be an ipod interface;

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72652

Hallo there,

I read your link with interest; nice, helpful pics! I have a RAV4 fitted with the 'Type 1' single CD unit, labelled 58826 (although there is only one different button on the fascia shown in the linked photographs), and was wondering if it were possible to fit either:

• an auxiliary input so that I could play my MP3 player through the car's stereo system - not bothered about the display or controlling it anywhere other than the MP3 player, or -
  
• an iPod auxiliary adapter like the one shown in the photos, but without the steering-wheel controls (which my RAV doesn't have).
  

All information gratefully received!

Welcome to the club Russel.

I asked shcm about rigging an aux' input and he said that it might not be impossible but it wouldn't be easy. As far as I am concerned when it comes to electronics - if he says it then its a fact!

The Ipod interface shown will still work without the steering wheel controls - you just work it directly off the radio. However, ther are many other interfaces available like Parrot and Dension. Just do a quick search on here or Google them and they will pop up.

Cheers.

[Russell W. Barnes]

'I asked shcm about rigging an aux' input and he said that it might not be impossible but it wouldn't be easy. As far as I am concerned when it comes to electronics - if he says it then its a fact!'

Oh, well, there's hope yet, then! I'm fine with electronics, but I guess it's a case of matching the audio output of the iPod to the load presented by the 'aux' input of the RAV stereo, the connections, and whether any pre-amplification is necessary. I had a fancy I might just be able to pick up any 'aux input' terminals and drive them directly. But - looking more deeply at the info on here - there's maybe more to it than that!

'The Ipod interface shown will still work without the steering wheel controls - you just work it directly off the radio. However, ther are many other interfaces available like Parrot and Dension. Just do a quick search on here or Google them and they will pop up...'

Many thanks for the information and the swift reply - I shall follow it up. One thing, though... How would switching between stereo/radio functions and iPod be achieved on the 'one-disc' CD player? Is this a function of the interface unit, or can some jiggerypokery be undertaken to exploit the (at first-glance) similarities between the 'one-disc' and the 'multi-disc' units - or are they two completely different things?

Thanks once again.

--

Regds,

Russell W. B.

[anchorman]

'I asked shcm about rigging an aux' input and he said that it might not be impossible but it wouldn't be easy. As far as I am concerned when it comes to electronics - if he says it then its a fact!'

Oh, well, there's hope yet, then! I'm fine with electronics, but I guess it's a case of matching the audio output of the iPod to the load presented by the 'aux' input of the RAV stereo, the connections, and whether any pre-amplification is necessary. I had a fancy I might just be able to pick up any 'aux input' terminals and drive them directly. But - looking more deeply at the info on here - there's maybe more to it than that!

'The Ipod interface shown will still work without the steering wheel controls - you just work it directly off the radio. However, ther are many other interfaces available like Parrot and Dension. Just do a quick search on here or Google them and they will pop up...'

Many thanks for the information and the swift reply - I shall follow it up. One thing, though... How would switching between stereo/radio functions and iPod be achieved on the 'one-disc' CD player? Is this a function of the interface unit, or can some jiggerypokery be undertaken to exploit the (at first-glance) similarities between the 'one-disc' and the 'multi-disc' units - or are they two completely different things?

Thanks once again.

--

Regds,

Russell W. B.

shcm has had these radios in bits so will no doubt elaborate when he looks in.

The Ipod interface picks up on the "CD in" for a multichanger. To toggle between the cd and the Ipod you just keep pressing the CD button.

[Russell W. Barnes]

8><--------------

shcm has had these radios in bits so will no doubt elaborate when he looks in.

The Ipod interface picks up on the "CD in" for a multichanger. To toggle between the cd and the Ipod you just keep pressing the CD button.

Thanks again. I looked up Dension and Parrot, but both appear to stop at year 2006 models. At this point I should apologise for, perhaps, providing misleading information, as I appended a post about a 2003 RAV when mine is a 2007 model, though mine is similar to the model shown in the pictures on the link here (mine's the single-disc version: 'mute' button instead of 'load' button).

I guess the interface is needed as pressing the CD button repeatedly doesn't toggle anything!

[anchorman]

8><--------------

shcm has had these radios in bits so will no doubt elaborate when he looks in.

The Ipod interface picks up on the "CD in" for a multichanger. To toggle between the cd and the Ipod you just keep pressing the CD button.

Thanks again. I looked up Dension and Parrot, but both appear to stop at year 2006 models. At this point I should apologise for, perhaps, providing misleading information, as I appended a post about a 2003 RAV when mine is a 2007 model, though mine is similar to the model shown in the pictures on the link here (mine's the single-disc version: 'mute' button instead of 'load' button).

I guess the interface is needed as pressing the CD button repeatedly doesn't toggle anything!

It doesn't on mine until something is plugged into the multi disc socket. It will only find it if there is something there.

[shcm]

shcm has had these radios in bits so will no doubt elaborate when he looks in.

The Ipod interface picks up on the "CD in" for a multichanger. To toggle between the cd and the Ipod you just keep pressing the CD button.

RWB,

There is effectively a single differential stereo line-in on most of Toyota's head units. This is used in conjunction with a relatively slow serial control bus. (called iebus) The whole thing is referred to as the avc-lan.

Marcin's pages give a good overview of the whole thing:

http://www.softservice.com.pl/corolla/avc/avclan.php

So the trick is to put something on the avc-lan that talks to the serial part of the bus and pretends to be something like a CD Changer, which fools the head unit into using the avc-lan audio input. Then you can just feed your own audio source into the input.

Yes, you could hack the insides of the head unit, but personally I prefer the avc-lan method.

Driving the audio part is relatively simple. Commercially available aux input boxes do something like this (one channel shown - incomplete schematic - single ended audio to switched differential output):

For the data side, the full iebus protocol ICs are not that easy to get hold of for individuals. A CAN bus driver IC is a good alternative for the data transmission. For reception, the CAN bus thresholds are not compatible, so most people have used a simple voltage comparator. Then you need a micro to do the iebus protocol.

Several people have made such interfaces (including Marcin). Google for avc-lan and/or iebus.

While the bus data structure/protocol probably remains reasonably constant, it is not unreasonable for the data transmitted to evolve with new car models.

I've tried an old commercial aux adapter intended for older Toyotas on my head unit. While it was recognised, it did produce comms errors. That may be for several reasons - possibly it doesn't transmit newer info that the head unit may expect and also I don't believe the aux adapter actually terminates the bus properly, which probably doesn't help. However, I've not put a scope on it yet.

I do have plans to develop some hardware, but it is low priority at the moment.

There may well be other compatible commercial adapters out there as well.

Take great care of that AVO ;)

[anchorman]

See its all quite straight forward really..................

[Russell W. Barnes]

shcm has had these radios in bits so will no doubt elaborate when he looks in.

The Ipod interface picks up on the "CD in" for a multichanger. To toggle between the cd and the Ipod you just keep pressing the CD button.

RWB,

There is effectively a single differential stereo line-in on most of Toyota's head units. This is used in conjunction with a relatively slow serial control bus. (called iebus) The whole thing is referred to as the avc-lan.

Marcin's pages give a good overview of the whole thing:

http://www.softservice.com.pl/corolla/avc/avclan.php

Wow - now there's a project! I didn't realise the level of sophisitcation in 'in-car entertainment', but I had a quick glance on t'internet and it looks like IEbus is used elsewhere as well. I was thinking (rather naively, perhaps), that there'd just be a pin to put a 1 or a 0 on to enable the thing; tch!

So the trick is to put something on the avc-lan that talks to the serial part of the bus and pretends to be something like a CD Changer, which fools the head unit into using the avc-lan audio input. Then you can just feed your own audio source into the input.

Yes, you could hack the insides of the head unit, but personally I prefer the avc-lan method.

I don't fancy doing any hacking, and I haven't the time or inclination to go building anything like that at the moment, but I agree; that's how I'd go about it as well.

Driving the audio part is relatively simple. Commercially available aux input boxes do something like this (one channel shown - incomplete schematic - single ended audio to switched differential output):

For the data side, the full iebus protocol ICs are not that easy to get hold of for individuals. A CAN bus driver IC is a good alternative for the data transmission. For reception, the CAN bus thresholds are not compatible, so most people have used a simple voltage comparator. Then you need a micro to do the iebus protocol.

Several people have made such interfaces (including Marcin). Google for avc-lan and/or iebus.

While the bus data structure/protocol probably remains reasonably constant, it is not unreasonable for the data transmitted to evolve with new car models.

I'll probably buy a COTS interface to get going, but plenty food for thought there. In-car entertainment has come a long way from sticking an eight-track under the dash and connecting a couple of shelf-speakers with some chocolate-blocks!

Take great care of that AVO ;)

Ahhh, the AVO; it's one of six (I like them...). I also use a Fluke 73 as well, but you can't beat an AVO for peaking and dipping (and door-stopping). Many thanks indeed for all the information; it's opened my eyes into modern ICE, a topic to which I've never really bothered myself with, and certainly given me plenty to think about!