Might sound stupid, but your talking about where the cable plugs into the back of the stereo, or another plug? Just want to make sure Im thinking of the right thing before I commit to buy any plugs.

This and similar mods, hijack the audio l+, l-, r+ and r- from CD changer to the head unit. This requires cutting up the harness or procuring male and female plugs which either fit at the back of the CD changer or at the back of the head unit.

The messy alternative is to splice the harness.

Salim

So plus for either the back of the head unit, or the cd changer will work the same. I can find the Plug for the head unit (radio adaptor) and am looking for the plug that is part of the harness. will this work?

Essentially one is looking for a place to splice-in. So either the plug CD-changer or the cd-Heaunit audio plug need to have a mini-extension [that is why both male and female are needed].

Choice is really based on availability and accessability. Also make sure you have wiring diagram to identify l+,l-,r+ and r-, sig gnd. Signals.

The interface circuit also needs a swtiched 12v and gnd line. [switched ... no 12v when the starter is cranking].

Salim

thanks to salim for his patience and willingness to share info, i am making good progress on my project to integrate my video ipod into a stock audio system.

my factory headunit (no cd interface) went bad and i replaced it with another headunit (cd interface). got a 96 ES cd changer, but my 90 LS is not pre-wired for the changer. i'm expecting samples for the changer/headunit connectors coming from taiwan this week. got myself some ipod connectors from a reputable forum member on ipodlinux.org, ridax, http://home.swipnet.se/ridax/connector.htm

i am building a pcb that accomplished 2 tasks via the dock connector:

1) takes +12V battery power, regulates to +5V for charging via usb pinouts

2) takes ipod audio out (R+, L+, SGND), uses opamps to provide gain, converts signal using TI's balanced line driver chip (to provide R+-, L+-, SGND), provides switch to choose audio source (CD/IPOD) in the rare case somebody wants to listen to a cd.

i thought about using a dock with the wireless remote, but they are really limited to volume up/down (which is useless for the dock connector's audio out pins) and track fwd/rev. if i hard mount the dock in the ashtray or cupholder, there's no way for a passenger to be dj while i drive.

can anybody verify that it's very difficult to use a dock when you have your ipod in a case?

I can't possibly understate the fact that the Head-unit needs to be fooled into thinking the audio source is still CD. Lexus uses serial interface to talk to the CD changer. So you can have a CD changer with messed up pick up but the physical presense of serial communication needs to exist. [If some one has been able to work this issue out, please post].

Salim

Updates on this:??

my question.. can that serial interface be used to control the ipod?