Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

OK, i made a better diagram, I dont think my explanations are helping.

utorange

wow man i hooked this all up and it works so well! i am dumfounded that i was able to do it all too as usually when i take on projects of this caliber i screw something up pretty bad. this is wonderful exactly what ive been looking for every day for the past two weeks.

The only problem though is the noise you get when charging. i saw where you said that that would happen and i was wondering if there are any ways around it. why does it only do it with this setup too and not with like say a tape adapter?

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

Glad its working out for you. Its pretty great once all the work is done.
I would just charge my ipod every night and it would last the day.

when the ipod is connected to the charger and the headunit something messes up with the grounds in the car and the stereo picks up all the noise that the charger emits and amplifies it. Putting a ground loop isolator somewhere could help, or maybe there is a better ground to use for the jack plug. I tried a couple different spots in the console area but never fully got rid of it. ground loop isolator can hurt sound quality so select one carefully

maybe the mp3 player doesnt like its inputs and outputs on the same ground.

utorange

thanks for the info. ive been testing out various things to see what helps and not much does but ive pretty much just decided that i could deal with it. i dont often have to charge my ipod in the car but when i do and i get the noise if i turn the volume up a little higher its virtually undetectable so i think i can just look past it.

if you ever figure something out though on it let me know.

Blanco

iTrader: (8)

Well I spent the better part of Sunday trying this hack out on my 98 GS4 w/nav. My board was significantly different than Ali's. With his help I believe I found the caps, but I'm not sure if I tapped the correct side. I soldered in the wire yesterday, and was ultimately unsuccessful.

So when I get some more time, I'll break it down again, 1st time is always the longest, and troubleshoot my gear. When I put a regular tape into the deck I get no sound, but all the other sources work, so I know I'm close. I'll try rechecking the quality of my work, and maybe try tapping the other side of the caps.

I really want this to work.

BTW, for any of you who have done this, do you remember which side you tapped (positive "+"/negative"-"). I think my orientation might be different than in the SCs.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

yeah guys, please help blanco out if you can look at which side it is on the board, I sold my other SC which had this mod done to it... and my stock stereo for my current SC seems to be MIA.

While trying to help blanco out I think I may have found out a different way to wire in the capacitor, lol the right way. I have no way of testing it but the idea is to connect the left wire from the jack straight to the board, and connect the capacitor between that line and a ground. and the same for the right channel. does that make sense to anyone? instead of having the capacitor inline one side would be ground. thats how a decoupling capacitor is supposed to be hooked up if in fact it is one. I haven't tested it this way but if it did work it could help with the charging noise problem.. or it wont work at all. I cannot test it out anymore.

Koa31

Yo SC3, this is harder than I thought it would bro lol idk if its because I don't have a steady hand

Can someone post pic so i can actually see how its supposed to look

zgarymcc

I have a 1991 Lexus LS 400 with Pioneer P626 Lexus Stereo. I just did this mod today. I was wondering, is there any way to do this on any of the other buttons? Like AM? My tape player keeps spitting up tapes every few minutes so I can't keep it on.

Also, I don't hear anything my iPhone's iPod (AUX source) on the CD FM or AM, only on the tape selection when a tape is playing. I thought I read in this post, that this mod cause the AUX to play over all the other channels if you keep your AUX source on No? Did I maybe do the wrong side of the capacitor? I did the rear leg of the capacitor as illustrated in your drawings and pictures.

The reason I'm asking is the volume it very low on my AUX line, but I can bring the wire and iPhone in the house and it work perfect on my stereo.

Any suggestions.

pilotbob3

Just to contribute a bit back to Ali SC3's excellent advice, I modified my 98 GS400 Nakamichi stereo to add the aux inputs. Could not be simpler in the Nak because the tape unit itself has test points that you can solder a wire to the audio jack directly to. They are even labled as RcH and LcH

Here's a picture of the test points:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

Here's a picture of the jack mounted in the rear:
http://picasaweb.google.com/robertjs...66272861450690

Nice thing about the mod is you can listen to tapes, then just slip in a tape cassette adaptor (with the cord cut off) and then plug in your aux and you are listening directly. You can keep your tape functionality and choose to listen to an external MP3 device.

Right now I'm using the Blackberry Bluetooth stereo gateway as a receiver which is neat since I can send MP3 from my cell phone without even hooking up anything. I can just start up the car and automatically I'm connected wirelessly to the tape player.

Thanks again Ali,

chronoti

ty you just helped me to wire this pos internally amped toyota deck (86120-06060). just to reference it on the back side of the tape deck assembly you have to split the l shaped board and it easy to find where it is.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

Glad it works, I guess its different on the LS unit, mine played on all inputs at the time. are you using a dock, sometimes the headphone plug on those are line level, you want to use the main headphone jack on the ipod that goes to left and right channels, this signal is amplified.
and for the tape chewing part, just take out all the tape from the reals and super glue/tape one small piece at the bottom like it would look normally.
the deck will think a tape is in there but nothing happens when the reels turn, this also eliminated flipping of the tape completely.

NP, thanks for taking some pics. If mine had those test points clearly labeled that could have saved me quite a bit of time figuring it out and not to mention alot easier to insert the signal than hijacking the capacitor.
For those with different head units do a visual check for these points first.

****EDIT**** 01/05/2011
apparently the headunit I used has the test points right below the 2 capacitors, but on my uint they were not labeled. Follow the updated link in post 1 to another thread where you can see which one is R, L, and ground.

NP, glad you figured it out. I did that originally, they made it tough to split on the sc you have to bend this metal thingy and desolder an edge of the board that holds it in place. mine was labeled underneath, so yeah if you cant figure it out from on top take a look underneath the board.

chashiubow

iTrader: (9)

What is this cable called? I tried radio shack and the person had no idea what I was referring to...

Thanks for your help in advance.

ashtray

iTrader: (12)

I just wanted to post my process and see if its correct.

Break connection on capacitors facing rear of head unit.
Connect Left and Right wires(solder)
Merge with ground wire
Connect to female 1/8 adapter.
Get double male connector and done?

P.S.
My tape player broke a few days ago in the sense that it thinks theres always a tape in it. Its in the position it would be if there was a tape in it. Eject no longer works. I cant put a tape in it because it wont grab since it already thinks theres one in it.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

Sounds right, don't forget the ground does not come from inside the stereo.

I have seen that where it will still stay on tape mode and play the tape, and I have also seen it stay on tape mode like its playing for like 5 seconds, and then switch back to another mode (like fm or am).

If yours stays on tape mode and thinks its playing (isnt there a play arrow on the lcd? cant remember), then it will most likely work.

If it doesn't stay on tape mode, as in it always switches back to another mode after 5 seconds, then it is pretty much not going to work. This is same scenario as the cd changer Aux mod if your cd changer doesn't work, you will not be able to get it to work because it won't stay on that mode. it just so happens the cd changer fails much more often than the tapedeck, and if yours doesn't work you can easily pick up another headunit with a working one.

ashtray

iTrader: (12)

Can I just use an Audio Y-Cable and clip off the ends and just solder them to the capacitors? and on the end have already a male 1/8 adapter?