RonS

Your installer is a dope. The Z110/Z120 (and I assume the Z130 - but don't have one) do not use the GPS or clock to determine it is night, they use the Orange/White wire in the power harness that I believe has a tag that says "ILL" for illumination. Connect it to a 12VDC circuit that switches on with your lights - headlight, parking light, dash light (although there might be a problem due to the dimmer for instruments). I used headlights. Don't confuse this with the parking brake hack. BTW, the HU doesn't "dim". It has a daytime brightness and a nightime brightness (each indiviually user

I think the DB9/25 pins are larger. I had one too and it didn't help on my Z110. I ended up slicing open the nylon connector because I couldn't get mine to release.

I started to say something similar, but then caught myself. Remember, when the V2.000 upgrade came out (to update the Z110 to Z120), the hack that Shortfuse did was through to the previous 1.001 minor update to 1.0. Yes, Pioneer came out with a minor update 2.003, but that had nothing to do with the hack. So, the new 3.001 will not help because it requires that the 3.000 version already is installed. And if you had that (which isn't even available att), it wouldn't matter. So, if V3.0 can be hacked using a similar technique (a big IF), it will be based on the 2.003 patch/update to V2.0

You still should be able to extract the metal part from the cable connector using the correct technique and a small needle-nose pliers. Then you can just solder the wire back on and insert it into the new position. I think you can even slice the plastic open (with a razor knife) if necesary to remove it. Don't know if the diode thing will work on a Z130 (or Z120), If it did, we wouldn't be messing with the harness in the 1st place.

Depending on your phone, that's all you get over BT. For an iPhone, you get full control, playlists, album art, ID3 tags, etc, but you need the adapter cable.

You didn't say whether you paid an installer or DIY. I certainly hope you didn't pay much with all the problems your had (this plus Parking Brake/bypass). It certainly sounds like the red power feed (+12VDC switched) is not connected to a circuit that switches off when the car is not running or ACC is not on. The best place to find that circuit varies from car to car. Some cars might have both constand and switched power in the factory radio harness. Mine didn't - just the constant +12VDC. I ran my red wire to my fuse panel and tied it into a switched circuit with an "Add-a-Circuit" adapter

Maybe you can take the PDF file to Kinkos. I don't know what they charge per page.

Do you have "VR Beep" turned ON? See pg 163 in Z120 manual. I normally have it OFF because I found the beep annoying. But somehow I turned it on. The manual is unclear on the porpuse of this. It seems to cause the HU to beep when it is ready to accept voice input. What I noticed while this is ON is that there is a longer than expected lag between the end of the HU prompt message and the beep. Which makes me think that without this audible cue, we often start talking before the HU is ready. So VR commands might get chopped off at the beginning. This is just a hunch. I am not sure if th

It seems that feature disappeared with the Z110 -> Z120 upgrade. On the Z110, it was on the AV System Settings menu [ANT CTRL]. I don't know if it ever worked. But I knew I saw it somewhere so I dug through all the manuals (pdf). Looks like you are out-of-luck. Maybe because fewer cars have retractable antennas? If you are really concerned about damage, the only thing I can think of is to wire in a switch to allow you to manually turn off the HU (a toggle switch wired into the red wire would do it). I agree that is a pain. Too bad Pioneer decided not to provide an OFF switch.

Pandora is there in that scrolling wheel on the left. The trick is to get it to scroll. I confess I haven't been able to master it either. It sure doesn't flick like in the videos. But that icon is there whether you have the app or not (even if you don't have an iPhone), which is real dumb. It should learn what you have and also be smart enough to auto-arrange to what you actually use. I switch between BT and iPod a lot, but they are on oposite sides of the wheel. So, it is totally useless to me - since I can't get it to scroll without accidentally selecting the wrong source

Not a problem, I was just saying I'd never seen it before. My HU was bypassed from day 1, so I didn't know what it said when it wasn't happy. I'm glad you posted the pic which shows the complete message, because I didn't know what message you were referring to. That mesage means the bypass is not correct. Most likely means the pin in the moved wire is not making contact. If you can't get it to work, then I recommend just hooking up the PB as usual (in the manual) and living with the annoyance of having to stop and set the PB to use many of the features. At least that is an improvement o

I've never seen that screen before. I don't really understand how the HU bypass works internally (HU). But I would guess that the logic inside the HU to detect whether the PB is set is more complicated than just testing whether the PB wire is grounded. Otherwise it would easily be defeated by just grounding the PB wire. I also don't know what grounding that moved wire does that allows the PB to be bypassed. Looking at the installation instructions (the normal PB installation, I'd guess it has to do with a change in the potential between when the PB switch is open and closed. And thatthe PB

No, the plug-in connectors are different. Should be easy if you have both installation manuals. You can probably find the F900 on-line. In most cases, the color coding should be the same. But I wouldn't just assume that. If you previously used a factory harness adapter, might be easier and quicker to buy another one make a new factory-to-Z130 adapter. Otherwise you'll need to do a lot of cutting and splicing (I use self-soldering, heat sealed butt connectors available at any auto/home store)..

Yes, initially it will assume you just missed the turn. But if you just ignore the nagging "suggestions" after a mile or so, it will recalulate the route. That might not show up for short routes, but I never use it to go someplace short, or when I actually know the best way. Arguably, that's not what these are designed for. A "local" will always know a better way to get somewhere. I use it to find my way to someplace where I don't know how to get. So I'm not concerned if isn't the optimal route. And if I chose to over-ride it's route, it seems to figure it out and adjust. For long trips, it i

Well it wouldn't boot-up if it wasn't grounded. So the message must be complaining about the PB connection (which is a path to ground) or in your case, the bypass. So: 0. But make sure your black wire is connected to a good ground. Goes without saying. 1. Make sure your light green PB wire is grounded. 2. Your moved yellow/black mute wire also needs to be grounded. 3. You can use the same pound point for 0,1,2. 4. Go to Settings/ Navi Settings/Connection Status (see pg 150 in User Manual). If done correctly, the Parking Brake will always say "On". If it doesn't - go to step 1. 5. If

OK, so now I'm confused. Your pictures are of a modified harness/relay. I answered your question about the fuse. So what are you asking? Oh, and the HU has a 10AMP fuse right above the power harness connector, so another fuse isn't necessary to protect the HU. You should use an inline fuse if you need to get your constant +12v from an un-fused source (fuse-box or battery). The inline fuse should be as close to the source as possible so that any short with the yellow wire is protected. BTW, that fuse holder isn't OEM.

The yellow wire doesn't come with an in-line fuse, so it was probably added by your installer. Of course, it needs to be connected to a fused constant +12v source, so if you are connecting it directly to an unprotected source (like the battery) you need one. I just used the existing stock radio power (which has a fuse in the fuse-box) so no additional fuse was necessary. The User Manual (available from Pioneer online) says HU current max draw is 10 Amps, so that would be a good starting point. You could go to 15. I think VBlue was referring to all that irrelevant detail and the part about

What do you mean by "remote wire area"? Did you damage the connector trying to remove the mute wire. There is no other PB bypass method for the Z110/Z120/Z130. If you really screwed-up the harness, you couldn't even connect the normal PB wire. In which case, you won't be able to enter routes - and many other things won't work. You may need to buy a new cable.

Thank god for pioneers (no pun intended). Any independent reviews?

That's Android, right? Have you tried repairing? 1st delete the pairing on the phone (in the BT settings, press & hold the name of the connection - then delete when you get the pop-up menu). When you re-pair, watch for a message on the phone after entering the pin, then respond to always allow the HU access to the contact list.

I don't know if the XM tuner is receiving power when it is not "on". Maybe someone else does. And, am I correct that there is no other external power source to the XM? I am only going by the Z110 installation manual, which doesn't show any other cables. But their drawing shows a couple of jacks on the back of the GEX-P920XM, so I am not sure. Yeah, leave it off for a while, and drive through every pot-hole you can find. I used to live there - I'm sure that won't be a problem.

Disclosure: I've never even seen the XM module, so my ideas are just wild guesses. 1st, I'm assuming when you say "radio", you mean the Head Unit (HU). Just want to be sure cause technically the XM tuner (GEX-P920XM ?) is a radio too. I would think that it is the GEX-P920XM that is causing the HU to crash. It appears that the GEX-P920XM gets its power from the HU. Maybe a short in either the IP-BUS cable or a connector problem. Check for bent pins/contacts. Or it is possible that the GEX-P920XM is the problem. I'd leave it unplugged for a while just to make sure that the HU only crashes wh

I think your diagram is right. I can't see the marking on the diode, but the banded side should be toward the cap. BTW, I had other parts laying around, and I made up a prototype, which seemed to work when bench testing. I just threw away my diagram on Sunday. I can never remember the diode markings, so I just test with a multimeter to see which way the current flows. Obviously, if it is reversed, the relay wont even energize. Sounds like you known as much, or more, about this stuff as me. When I broke one of the leads off my relay during the bench test, , I decided against this DIY ap

First, a disclaimer: I never got this to work on my car. It seems that the voltage drop while cranking is too much to keep the HU from rebooting. I think this may be solvable, but I didn't feel like it was worth the effort. Maybe an oversized battery will help. That will have to wait a while since mine is only 18 months old. Another possibility is that my factory radio's constant +12v wire really isn't constant. To test that, I'd have to remove the HU and run a fuse protected wire directly from the battery. Again, not worth the effort at this time. So, the solution here is somewhat vehicle dep

I have a hacked HTC HD2 and I have been running many versions of Android over the last 6 months. I have never had a problem with VR for either dialing or ipod. Sounds like your problem is with the mic or placement of the mic. It isn't an Android issue. And it is not a Blue Tooth issue. However, make sure that the HU has downloaded your contact list from the phone. Immediately after pairing, the phone should prompt you, asking if it is OK for the HU to access the contacts. I think there also is a box indicating that the HU is always to be allowed access. I've noticed that sometimes this pro