Odd steering wheel control issue - z130bt

[mattaleao]

had my z130 for about a year now, and up until about a month ago everything worked 100% perfectly, including my bypass.

 

As of three weeks ago however, my steering wheel controls for skip forward/backward no longer work when in Pandora or iPod mode.

 

They work in radio mode, but not any mode that uses my phone. I have to use the buttons on the unit to skip songs.

 

That being said, my steering wheel volume controls work just fine on the Pandora/iPod mode, as does the mode button. It's just the skips that have the issue.

 

Summary :

 

- The skip forward/backward buttons on my steering wheel work fine in radio mode (so I know it's not a problem with the actual buttons)

- They don't work in Pandora/iPod mode

- Head unit skip forward/backward buttons work in Pandora/iPad mode - so I know the phone is responding in some capacity.

 

Is there any reason why pandora/ipod modes won't recognize the skip buttons on my steering wheel, but recognize it from the unit, when I know those buttons function just fine in radio mode?

 

Thanks in advance!

[mattaleao]

Has anyone seen this?

[RonS]

OK, I was holding off answering because I don't have any experience with steering wheel controls, but I do remember a thread adressing a problem similar to this. Maybe that will jog someone else's memory.

 

The issue is that the signal sent from the steering-wheel buttons go to an aftermarket interface (cant remember who - PAC makes one I think) which converts the button-press to commands the HU understands. However, the HU software interprets them differently depending on the audio source context. For the hard/soft buttons that are physically on the HU, the HU software knows the current audio source and interprets the commands differently. Trk up/down and next station /seek were some of the buttons that had this problem. Again, this is from memory - and I was only mildly interested in the issue. You need to find that thread.

 

You didn't say which interface you are using to support your steering-wheel controls. Once that is known, maybe someone can tell you how to program it. But there is no simple complete solution to this problem. I remember that the best work-around was to pick the behaviour that best suits your needs and program the interface controller to always send those commands. For example, if you use your iPod and Pandora a lot, set it up to work intuitively for iPod. But you will not be able to use your steering wheel controls when the radio is the source and you want to use the UP/DOWN button for the next pre-set station. You'll need to press the HU button. Conversely, for those that don't use iPod, program the interface to to support those commands.

 

I wonder if some glitch caused your steering-wheel controller interface to reset and forget it's programming. That would partially explain the change in behavior.

[mattaleao]

Thanks for the response. I'm 98% sure I'm using the PAC interface. That actually makes a lot of sense as to why it won't work in those modes. It's just odd that the volume on the steering wheel works in those modes.

 

I guess I'll have to find someone who knows their way around the PAC interface to look at it for me, I am using the ipod/pandora modes 100% of the time, I never use the radio, so if it has to be one way or the other, i'd prefer it intuitively work for the iPod.

 

About two months ago I had the installer make a change with the unit, and they must have done something that reset the PAC interface, i'll give them a call tomorrow and yell at them.

 

Thanks again for your help.

[GQ Smooth]

I had this same issue with my Z110bt unit and PAC steering control. It started the same way your issue started but then it got progressively worst where, the down volume wouldn't work but the up volume would.

 

I took it to an installer and they resolved the issue (PAC needed re-programming for some strange reason.) When they re-programmed it, they programmed it for the ipod and my skip ahead presets on headset radio and sirius xm wasn't working. Took it back and they reset it to my preference and I'm all set now.

 

Take it back to the installer, they should be able to set it to your preference.