ducatiboy

Ok, due to the overwhelming response to my little circuit, and the overwhelming request for paypal, I will be setting up a paypal account for you guys to buy these. And I'm almost out of the initial run of PCB's. Guess this is more popular than I thought. :) Thanks for the interest. There might be a little bit of growning pains getting this system set up, but anyone who wants one of these will get one. I'll post more info here when I get it.

[quote name="03Vic-HPP"]I haven't noticed any change in the light output from the AVIC when changing the dimmer setting, I think its daylight or dark...[/quote] I agree, which makes my code much simpler. I'm doing on or off, like switching a light switch. Which does work. But the light signal coming out of my ILL wire is a 0-12V signal which varies it's duty cycle to adjust the brightness of the things in the car. My circuit just outputs "high" or "low" with on or off. As long as the Avic only has those 2 settings, I think this will make for a more "universal" circuit.

[quote name="Anonymous"]thanks ducatiboy....... well, i tried the 1 light on/off method upon the "start up screen" and it did not work....sure enuf, the DVD cut out about 10mph. I have a 2005 Ford F150 ...so if anyone has any input on what can be done or what i can do right, i would love some feedback. as noted in the post prior, my parking brake wire is grounded....[/quote] I would go behind the Z1 and disconnect the parking brake wire from constant ground. Leave it float if you must, or hook it to the parking brake line or put a switch in there just incase some day you need to

[quote name="tridentnyc"]I've seen some postings on this site regarding the poor speakerphone quality of the Z1. Has anyone else had this experience other than ducatiboy and if so has anyone found a work around? One of the MAIN reasons I want to get the Z1 is for it's bluetooth capability, but if it's lame I'm going to seriously reconsider. Any further help/information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks![/quote] Someone did post that if you turn down the volume in the settings (down from the stock setting) the sound quality has improved, but being a nice few days I was spending mo

[quote name="03Vic-HPP"]Awsome man, keep me posted! Will this need any diodes, from the sounds of it it wont as all the inputs will be isolated and "switched on" at separate times?[/quote] No diodes needed. This just goes in between your ILL line from your car and the ILL in to the Z1. My chip does the bypass on boot up and after the bypass has compleated, it watches the signals and passes them through to the Z1 (lights on and off, etc). So it should work with any light system (running lights on all the time, regular headlights, auto headlights, etc).

It works! Circuit is finished, software for the processor is finished. And it works. A very simple install. You need switched power (I used switched 12V, the red wire going to the Z1), ground, and if it was installed correctly, you take the ILL wire, cut it and put my board in between it (one wire going to the car and one wire going to the Z1). That it. No programming like the TR7, but this is much more stupid (not as much functionality as the TR7 can do). The device has the 4 wires and is about 1 inch x 1 inch x 1/2 inch. If you have daytime running lights or automatic headl

[quote name="Anonymous"]massive newbie: how do i know if my parking break wire is grounded? When i start up, there is a message saying that it is incorrectly connected....[/quote] Most likely it is, you usually get that message when it's grounded and you are watching a DVD and sitting, and then you start moving and the nav portion of your Z1 sees that you are moving yet your parking brake is on (wire grounded). Then you get that anoying warning every time you turn the car on. Go into the settings (menu on front panel) and then settings and then hardware I believe and connection.

Ok, just an update, turns out I was wrong about the illumination coming out of the car, I figured it was 12V or 0, turns out it's a 100Hz to 300Hz signal (at least out of mine). I just have to adjust my code to work with a signal instead of a voltage level. No biggie. Should just be a software change. But the way my circuit worked, I didn't anticiapte any "adjustable" dimming on the Z1. I think it's just lights off, lights on. 2 seperate states. Has anyone noticed changes in the Z1 based on your dimmer settings? I don't think it does dimmer settings, but more of a "lights are on

Wow, thanks for the input, you don't have to repeat yourself, you don't have to repeat yourself.... :)

Hey 03 Crown Vic guy... How did you get the vehicle dynamics to change to the carbon fiber and the different gages, mine is brushed metal and different gages, and I don't like them. I want a wood background. Maybe I should read the manual. And I used to have a 96 CV HPP, which I put a push bar, crappy steel rims, ugly hub caps and a scanner. Was the best car I ever had. Scared people on a daily basis. And I wanted to change the double din radio in that too, but the radio was a weird shape in those years and wouldn't take a double din replacement, only a did. Did you need to do a lo

I bought mine from crutchfield. It's not the cheapest, but if it's just going to save $10 or so, I would much rather order from a place like critchfield. And the guys at PAC are super nice. The info they had for my lincoln was incorrect and one of the techs helped me work it out. Very nice. Also I was getting a POP from my amp when it was turning on. I asked the PAC tech guy just cause he was an expert about car audio... and he told me it was the amp turn on from the pioneer was 12V and the amp in my lincoln wants 5V... so a 7805 and a couple caps later, no more POP. It would have t

Ok guys (and gals), not to get you depressed, but I installed my setup tonight and it's not working. But I'm convinced it's my timing. I bypassed my setup and just connected 12V to the ILL line after 4 seconds and removed it after about a second or so and it bypassed everything perfectly. My circuit is programed only to have a 500ms on time, that's not working. I'll lengthen the on time tomorrow morning and post the results (I didn't take home my programmer). I'll get it. The circuit works, I just have to nail down the timing. If you want to see what it all looks like:

Yah, I did notice that. It's not really that bad, but it's like the nav system in on a 1 second delay. When going fast you pass a road about a second before you do on the nav. And I'm just guessing at 1 second. But it's not really that bad.

[quote name="Anonymous"]REALLY? I'm goign to purchase it when I get home... When you say song title, artist, genre and even album art, does the unit see it as as a dvd video disc? or dvd audio disc?[/quote] REALLY? I'm going to download a cracked copy when I get home.... :) Just kidding, I would never do that.

[quote name="WetWork999"]Is there a way to set up the Vehicle Dynamics so that it draws data from GPS? I ask because as I am getting ready to run 37's on my Excursion and I know the factory system might not allow me to get a proper speed reading with tires that tall. ~WW[/quote] I don't think you will need to worry. The Z1 is set to learn how fast the speed pulse is no matter what car you put it in. If you have already installed the Z1 with small tires, the Z1 learns how many speed pulses per MPH you have. There is a speed pulse and gyro calibration screen which shows how long it's

I don't mind sharing with people who are into learning or making thier own things. But my schematic uses a PIC10F202 (just what I had laying around the office) if you don't have something to program these, you will not be able to use my schematic. I guess I could have used descrete analog components to build this, but what is the fun of that (I'm a software guy by trade). So I have some quick and dirty assembly code which needs to be compiled and loaded on a PIC processor. And I'm making up an Express PCB layout to make this easy for the surface mount parts I designed this for. The or

[quote name="dj2ndnature"]Really? The Z1 is that bad? I really liked the idea of the 7inch, the new ipod and Sirus interfaces, the voice control, the new "bypass", and of coarse the phone stuff. Figured those were worth the upgrade.[/quote] Oh, don't get me started on the Sirius interface. I had it in my 300C and on the huge screen you get all 4 lines of info: The station name, Artist name, song name, and extra (what ever that is). On this huge 7 inch screen for the sirius interface, all you can see is one of those at a time, you have to cycle through them if you want to see them all. W

[quote name="WetWork999"]I read somewhere that if you have Verizon that uploading of your phonebok with the BT is a real PITA. How does one go abotu hackin the Verizon firmware? ~WW[/quote] It is usually impossible. With the Parrot, it will download your address book automatically over the DUN protocol. All Verizon gives you is handsfree and DUN. The handsfree is impossible to transfer anything over (except for voice). DUN if the unit supports it, no one really does except for Bitpim, Motorola Phone tools and Parrot car units. What you really need is OBEX and that's a huge protoco

[quote name="HeavenSoldier"]The last two guys who posted your pictures, I hope you have some good security systems in your car :shock: , nice pictures though.[/quote] I always hated the stupid Lincoln door that drops down over the radio. I thought it was stupid and worthless. Who would steal a stock ford radio. Now, I love it, I can close it and it doesn't look like I'm "trying" to hide anything. It's just what was built into the truck.

[quote name="bullitt5344"]can some one please explain to me the need for video while driving i just dont get why all you guys are trying to frigure out ways to bypass this feature on the z1 or any video unit for that matter you really cant watch it while you are driving i understand it for navigation but do you really need to watch video while you are driving most people cant drive when they are watching the road i can just imagine what happens when you are watching video and driving[/quote] Personally I don't want to watch movies while I'm driving (I think it's way too dangerous) but wh

[quote name="Anonymous"]Hi thanks for everyone’s help. I’m deciding what to do to see movies. Which is better? Do I buy TR7 and bypass or do I Use my Backup cam ( I’m not going to used the back up cam) What are the pro and cons.[/quote] If you just want to watch movies and you don't have a backup cam, then hooking it though that is easiest. But with all the stuff they block out, I think it's nicer to bypass and get all the functionality back. I personally don't want to watch movies, but I do want all the functionality and I don't want to keep putting on the parking brake.

Ok, schematic is done, code is done, breadboard is done. Works like a charm and is very robust (few extra parts but is pretty much bullet proof). No programming and 4 wire hookup. Hopefully the timing I set up (wait 4 seconds, flash headlights for 500ms, wait 500ms and then pass though what ever the illumination wire is) should be good. I'll have to build up a good prototype and hook it into the car and see how it works. No one is interested on one of these? I'll share the schematic and parts list if people really want to build their own. Or if you want to bypass the TR7 and pro

[quote name="dj2ndnature"]I have the Parrot and the D1 installed right now, should get my Z1 next week. I did order the BlueTooth as well, but maybe I should leave the Parrot in there for now and test out the Pioneer Bluetooth.[/quote] The integration of your Parrot into your dash looks really really good. It took me a few minutes to even see where it was mounted. Very nice. And I can't wait for your opinion. I did a lot of research on bluetooth integration in the car and that CK3100 was the best I could find. How do you like yours? Sound quality? Integration with your phone and ad

Ok, I have a schematic made up, I have to build it and bench test it. It's a module like the PAC TR7 but there will be no programming. You will need to hook it to switched 12V, ground and take the illumination wire going to the Z1, cut it and put this in between it. It will keep the illumination line to the Z1 low on boot up, make it high for a second then back low and then after that, it will "pass though" the illumination signal that was normally going to the Z1. I'm going to build one of these for me (spare parts around the office). If people really want these, I would make

[quote name="edrock200"]I'm no sound expert, but I'm pretty sure a noise cancelling mic would help a lot. Once I get the BT unit, I'll test it out.[/quote] Please let us know what you find.