98LSfromNJ

Just had the motorola IHF1000 kit installed in my 98 w/o nakamichi and it is almost perfect. The subwoofer cannot be muted so I have to turn down the volume for incoming and outgoing calls, which is a little disappointing but overall the system is awesome!

BTW the install in done at the amphlifier under the passenger seat, not behind the radio. Most here probably knew that but JIC

Kansas I know you have extensive knowledge in this bluetooth area, any ideas on the subwoofer issue?

tkh

Kansas

Sure ... connect the mute wire from the IHF1000 to the middle front pin on the factory phone connector on the drivers side under the air vent you see when the armrest is raised. Your audio should then fully mute, like mine, when a phone call is in progress.

You can see the yellow mute wire for my Nokia phone kit plugged into the connector in the attached photo. All you have to do is strip off a quarter inch of insulation from the mute wire, plunge it in to the middle front pin and secure it with a plastic wire tie.

Before doing that, you might want to verify that your 98 LS works like my 00 LS by touching a grounded unpowered test light to the middle front pin while the radio is playing. The radio should mute when you touch the pin with the test light probe.

Show some photos of your install when you can.

Also, a mute connection can either be on the amplifier or the head unit on a 98-00 LS400 but it depends on which system the cars has -- nav, standard Pioneer or Nakamichi. But regardless, the OEM phone connector under the armrest is the best place to connect the phone kit's mute wire.

98LSfromNJ

Thanks Kansas, I will take it to my installer and show him. I knew you had the answer.....I'll post some pics later as well.

98LSfromNJ

Kansas am I going to need any other parts for this fix?

tkh

Kansas

No, I wouldn't know of any other parts you would need. I looked at the install manual for the IHF1000 and don't see anything unusual. Phone kits - bluetooth or traditional - almost always have the same connections - power, mute, ground, speaker, microphone. Many phone kits have two power leads - one always hot and one switched on when the ignition key is in the accessory or run position. I've been considering installing the IHF1000 myself in our cars since it is offered as an official dealer installed accessory by Toyota and Lexus dealers in the U.K. and Europe. Motorola has a newer Bluetooth kit but I don't know if it has any advantages.

Update 03/28/09: The charging cradle sold in Europe by Lexus dealers is a rebranded Bury System 9: http://www.bury.com

If the drivers side phone connector under your console looks different (e.g. only three pins instead of six) have the installer use a grounded test light to see which is the mute pin. The drivers side connector on the 95-97 LS had fewer pins and I don't know when the connector design was changed. Older 3-pin connectors also have a mute pin.

Also, if your car has one of the old dealer installed Lexus phones, the mute pin under the center console may not work unless the Lexus ECU in the trunk is unplugged and its two large connectors are plugged into each other. On cars without a dealer installed Lexus phone, the connectors in the trunk are attached to the bottom of the tool kit housing. These connectors in the trunk also have an audio system mute pin.

Also, while the installer is looking under the console, he will likely see two other factory phone connectors -- a large white female connector on the passenger side with about six pins and a co-ax cable for the phone antenna. If you get an antenna coupler and cradle for your Bluetooth phone, you can use the phone antenna imprinted on the back window by plugging the two co-ax antenna cables in the right side trunk well and attached to the tool kit housing together-- buy a connector at Radio Shack, etc., to use to join the two co-ax cables in the trunk.

I would have thought that the rear window antenna would have only worked with analog phones but it provides quite a nice signal boost and range improvement for my GSM phone. As you can see in this page on the Lexus U.K. website, you can use a phone cradle with a Bluetooth phone to provide an antenna connection and charging -- http://www.lexus.co.uk/range/is/acce.../interior.aspx The Lexus U.K. webpage also shows the IHF1000 rebranded with a Lexus logo.

Not using an antenna coupler with a Bluetooth phone can cause audio system noise if you get the phone too close to the radio. Most phones sense the use of an antenna coupler and automatically deactivate the phone's internal antenna. The best part of a charging cradle is that we never have to remember to plug our phones into a home charger.

If I had known you were going to install a phone kit, I would have given you a mute lead I bought from Dashmount in the U.K. It plugs into the amplifier under the passenger seat and provides all the connections for a phone kit except the mute which you plug into the under console connector -- it even plays the phone call audio through the door speakers. The mute lead only works on the U.S. spec 98-00 LS400 with standard or nav system -- it didn't work on my Nakamichi (different connector configuation) so it "lives" in the basement.

Griff48

Jim, can you give me some details on this mute lead from Dashmount? I went to their site, but nothing is listed for the LS400 any year. I have a Parrot 3200LS kit sitting around, but haven't figured out how to integrate into my '99. I understand how to find the mute connector, but would like to avoid having to install a separate speaker. Thanks for any info.
Gene

GRAND_LS 4

iTrader: (2)

You cannot have a thread about cars + phones without Jim. Great details

Kansas

OK, it's become a hobby. Wife keep asking me why I spend so much time on something I'm not making any money at!

Dashmount has dropped the LS400 off their product application lists fairly recently -- probably because of a lack of demand. The mute lead they sold for the LS400 was plug and play for Nokia car kits and was the same mute lead used for other Toyotas sold in the U.K.: the "45MUTETOYOTA". Dashmounted provided conversion harnesses to make the mute lead work with phone kits from other manufacturers.

If you have a 99 LS with the standard or nav system and want to install your Parrot, PM me with your address and I'll send you the mute lead -- free! -- it's not doing any good sitting in my basement.

You could either email Dashmount and tell them you need an adapter harness for their "45MUTETOYOTA" mute lead or cut two plugs off the mute lead and splice it directly into the Parrot's harness. Now that I think of it, I am not certain that Dashmount ever had a conversion harness that linked the 45MUTETOYOTA mute lead to a Parrot phone kit -- it may be necessary to splice mute lead wires to the Parrot harness.

If you have to splice, I can't help you with matching the wire colors on the mute lead with the wire colors on the Parrot harness although I think the people at Dashmount would tell you if you contact them. Definitely try email -- I ran up a pretty hefty phone bill talking to one of their tech's -- should of had an international calling plan!

It really isn't a big deal to not use a mute lead and install a separate speaker. There is a perfect place on the 98-00 LS under the dash for a phone kit speaker. See the attached photo of the speaker on my 00 LS. I can't imagine the sound being any better if the phone call audio was played through the door speakers. In the photo I'm holding up one of the newer smaller Nokia speakers by the old larger one on my car -- the small speakers work just as well. Parrot used to offer optional external speakers for their kits but I could not find them the last time I checked the Parrot "DriveBlue" website. Some years ago, I read on the Howard phone forums that installers often used Nokia speakers with Parrot kits.

Kansas

To connect the mute lead to the amp, one unplugs two male connectors from the amp and plugs in the two large male connectors from the mute lead. The two male connectors unplugged from the amp are then plugged into the two female connectors on the mute lead that you can see on the right side at the back of the photo.

The mute lead harness appears to be long enough to run under the carpet to the Parrot's junction box which, like my Nokia's, can be hidden behind the carpeting on the transmssion tunnel on either the passenger or driver's side. If you put the Parrot junction box there, be sure that it is far enough forward so that it does not interfere with the forward travel of the seat cushion. That location for the junction box seems especially good since, if a component fails and needs replacement, the carpet can be pealed back from the transmission tunnel to easily expose the junction box.

98LSfromNJ

Well Kansas, aka Jim
I went back to my installer with your printed post in hand and he said that when he attached the mute the speakers muted but there was a terrible high pitch sound coming from the subwoofer. I heard it and it is very annoying. He is going to try your solution and I will update along with pics.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

hey Kansas, can we get some pictures of the mute lead you have please?

Kansas

PD, you must have been too sleepy at 3:06 am in this morning to see the photo two posts up in this thread!

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

sorry, should have been more specific, can I get some pics of the whole thing spread out so i can make out some features and figure out how it's working please.

Kansas

PD, look at the information above the photo of the mute lead.

There are only seven connections from the mute lead. Like I said, two male connectors are unplugged from the standard/nav amp of a 98-00 US spec LS400 and the two connectors you see in the foreground of the photo are then plugged into the amp.

The two large female connectors you see at the upper right of the photo then plug into the two male connectors that were unplugged from the amp in the previous step.

The RCA connector you see is normally plugged into the Nokia phone kit junction box where the external phone kit speaker is normally plugged in.

The small white connector you see by the RCA connector also plugs into the Nokia phone kit junction box or into an adapter harness for other brands of phone kits.

The only other connector on the mute lead (red wire just left of the two large female plugs) is the audio system mute wire that can be connected either to the mute pin under the center console or a mute pin on the audio system itself.

What may look like additional connectors at the very top center of the photo are in-line fuse holders.

As I said before, there are additional conversion harnesses to allow other brands of phone kits to connect to this mute lead. The core of many mute lead systems being for Nokia phone kits is left over from the period when the Nokia CARK-91 phone kit was by far the most popular phone kit in the world.

I checked and it looks like Dashmount sells a conversion harness for £19.95 that makes this mute lead work with a Parrot Parrot 3200LS Bluetooth kit like Gene has: http://shop.dashmount.co.uk/parrot_leads.asp

Kansas

Since 98LSfromNJ has not updated this thread, I will report that he told me by PM that the audio system on his 98 LS400 now mutes properly (i.e. the subwoofer now mutes too) during a phone call. The fix was to have the installer switch the IHF1000 mute wire from being connected to the amp under the passenger seat to being connected to the middle front pin on the factory prewire phone connector on the drivers side under air vent that is visible when the arm rest is raised.

Attached is a photo from 98LSfromNJ's album on this forum showing where the controller for his IHF1000 Bluetooth kit is positioned.