Z1 Installed in F150 (Review and Help Needed for PAC SWI-PS)

[F150 Duke]

Hey Guys,

So I got back yesterday from my 6 hour one-way trip to Grand Marias, Minnesota for the weekend.

I learned quite a bit about the Z1 during my drive. I really appreciated the ability to turn off the screen at night, as even when it's automatically dimmed and then I adjust the brightness and dimmer, it's still quite bright.

I really wanted to know how to just flat out turn off the sound at times. Which later reading is done by pressing and holding the AV button.

At times the ( > ) nav icon is dead on, while other times it appears to be a little ahead of me.

RANT #1:
One thing that was extremely aggravating. When I put in the address of my destination in Grand Marias from Minneapolis, it wanted to route me through central Minnesota, up through Canada, east through Canada, and then south on highway 61 to Grand Marias. Needless to say that would have turned a 6 hour drive into 16 hours. I even tried "Multiple Routes" or whatever the icon is, and that still wouldn't give the right route, which was to take 35N to 61N. It really pissed me off. Not to mention after Duluth it re-routed me appropriately up 61, then changed it's mind and told me to immediately do a U-turn and continued to do this for about 10 minutes until I got extremely annoyed and canceled the route.

Then when I weant to go home, it did the same thing, up through Canada and then through central Minnesota. However, when it realized I didn't give a rat's behind about what it through and was halfway down 61, it changed it's mind and told me to go down 61. I thought this was the "learning nav" feature, but when I got home I told it I wanted to go back to Grand Marias and it sent me through central Minnesota again.

This leads to QUESTION #1: When picking or setting up a nav direction, instead of doing "Multiple Route", is there a way to specify a certain road it must use? I mean I tried saying "avoid highways" and the such, but it still wouldn't do what it should have.

QUESTION #2: I wired the speed sensitive volume wire for the F150. How do I turn this feature on, on the headunit?

QUESTION #3: I bought the PAC SWI-PS interface and cannot get it to work. Can you help me out?
Here is what I did:
1. Plugged the black PAC SWI-PS plug into the back of the headunit in the "digital out" spot on the Z1.
2. Because I have an 05 Ford F150 I used the white PAC SWI-PS interface wire and sodered it to the light blue/red wire in PIN 18 which is in the center of the connector (not to be confused with the other light blue/red wire in the OEM harness which is to the side and is used for ILL)
3. I then wired the red wire on the PAC to the red wire on aftermarket harness which ties to the Z1 harness, and did the same thing with the black wire. These are tied into the same wires which the (black and red), which the bypass is and the bypass works.
4. I went through the programming steps in the book, setting my interface version to 3 and etc. The light on the PAC SWI-PS even lights up when programming and lights up when I push buttons on the steering wheel when using the steering wheel controls. However, there is no corresponding result on the headunit. (IE. I press to turn down the music and it doesn't happen, same thing with the other buttons, nothing happens.)

What the heck is going wrong here?

QUESTION #4:
Is there a way to dim the blue buttons on the Z1 headunit at night? They are awfully bright for me as I do a lot of driving at night out in the middle of nowhere, where it is extremely dark and they stand out as a little painful. I'd really like to be able to dim them a bit at night.

RANT #2:
This thing has a bazillion controls for music. I was messing around with it and it appears my speakes are not powerful enough. I have the upgraded Ford audiophile speakers and when it's set on POWERFUL on the Z1 unit and the bass is turned up to +4, and the volume is turned up a bit, there is a ton of distorition. I guess I need to eventually look into new speakers since this thing seems to push these to the max pretty easily.

QUESTION #5:
Every time I turn on the truck, the OEM audiophile sub that came on my truck gives a big thump. I read on another forum to put a 1.5K ohm resistor in-line on the blue wire which goes from the aftermarket wire harness to the z1 harness. This has not worked. Any other hints?

Duke

[edrock200]

Question 5: Ford's use a 5v signal to turn on the amp, your z1 is giving out 12v, get a 5v voltage regulator.

[F150 Duke]

[quote name="edrock200"]Question 5: Ford's use a 5v signal to turn on the amp, your z1 is giving out 12v, get a 5v voltage regulator.[/quote]

Thanks for answering this question! So I'll go to Radio Shack tommorrow and ask for a 5V voltage regulator. Then put this in line on the blue wire? Should this also help making the sub sound crisper?

Duke

[edrock200]

[quote name="F150 Duke"] [quote name="edrock200"]Question 5: Ford's use a 5v signal to turn on the amp, your z1 is giving out 12v, get a 5v voltage regulator.[/quote]

Thanks for answering this question! So I'll go to Radio Shack tommorrow and ask for a 5V voltage regulator. Then put this in line on the blue wire? Should this also help making the sub sound crisper?

Duke[/quote]

[url=http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?parentPage=search&cp=&productId=2062599&origkw=5v+voltage+regulator&kw=5v+voltage+regulator&tab=summary]http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... ab=summary[/url]

Yep inline. Input, ground, output. No idea if it will sound crisper. Also in all fairness credit goes to ducatiboy for figuring this out. :)

[ducatiboy]

[quote name="edrock200"]
[url=http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?parentPage=search&cp=&productId=2062599&origkw=5v+voltage+regulator&kw=5v+voltage+regulator&tab=summary]http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... ab=summary[/url]

Yep inline. Input, ground, output. No idea if it will sound crisper. Also in all fairness credit goes to ducatiboy for figuring this out. :)[/quote]

Right now that link is not working for me, so I can't check it out, but any fixed 5V regulator will be fine. But there is something else, most likely you are pointing to a 7805 (a standard 5V regulator). Those need capacitors also or you get some nasty oscilation on the 5V line (which might not cause any nasty problems, but it's sloppy and not correct). You will need a 0.33uF (ceramic cap) across the input to ground, and then a 0.1uF (ceramic) across the output to ground. I can try to find a picture of this if it's really important. This is what I did cause someone at PAC audio told me it took a 5V turn on signal. Others said to just use a resistor. I don't remember how much of one, maybe a 1K or so. I don't know if this works, it's a lot easier, and will create a voltage drop depending on the internals of the amp, which I don't know about. So I thought it was "safer" to make a 5V regulator. Just make sure the caps are 50V caps. Don't get electrolitics.... they are too big and are polorized, you won't need them.

[ducatiboy]

Actually the radio shack page finally loaded. Yep, it was a 7805. But for the caps, they seem to have these:

[url=http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062360&cp=2032058.2032230.2032267&allCount=102&fbn=Type%2FCeramic+Disc+Capacitors&f=PAD%2FProduct+Type%2FCeramic+Disc+Capacitors&fbc=1&parentPage=family]http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=family[/url]

They are $1.50 for 5 of them.

Take one and put it across the output and ground. Then grab 3 of them put them in parallel across the input and ground (since they are 0.1uF then 3 would be 0.3uF... close enough). Basiclly parallel means take three hold one side of them in one hand one side in another hand and twise them all together so one side is all connected and the other side is all connected (the are not polorized, so there is no side 1 or 2). Just split the legs apart a bit and connect the left leg in your left hand of all 3 together and the right leg in your right hand all together. Put that across the input and ground.

[ducatiboy]

[quote name="F150 Duke"]
QUESTION #3: I bought the PAC SWI-PS interface and cannot get it to work. Can you help me out?
Here is what I did:
1. Plugged the black PAC SWI-PS plug into the back of the headunit in the "digital out" spot on the Z1.
2. Because I have an 05 Ford F150 I used the white PAC SWI-PS interface wire and sodered it to the light blue/red wire in PIN 18 which is in the center of the connector (not to be confused with the other light blue/red wire in the OEM harness which is to the side and is used for ILL)
3. I then wired the red wire on the PAC to the red wire on aftermarket harness which ties to the Z1 harness, and did the same thing with the black wire. These are tied into the same wires which the (black and red), which the bypass is and the bypass works.
4. I went through the programming steps in the book, setting my interface version to 3 and etc. The light on the PAC SWI-PS even lights up when programming and lights up when I push buttons on the steering wheel when using the steering wheel controls. However, there is no corresponding result on the headunit. (IE. I press to turn down the music and it doesn't happen, same thing with the other buttons, nothing happens.)

What the heck is going wrong here?
[/quote]

When you programmed it to mode 3, that's right. But did you go through it's programming for each button press? It's something like, once it's turned on, you push and hold the button you want it to learn, then the light will go off, and you have to program "every" function in the SWI-PS, but on the ones you don't have steering wheel controls for you just hit the button on the SWI-PS. You did all this?

I had problems with this all too. What I did was to follow the procedure to reset the mode to mode 3, I know you have that set now, but it seems to reset everything. Then go though the procedure to program the first command, I believe it's volume up or down. Once you program it, you hold down the steering wheel button till the light goes out or something, let it time out, wait 20 seconds and turn off the car and turn it back on again, then try that one button and make sure it's programmed right. I say just do the first command cause you don't want to waste your time with all of them if the first one won't even work. Once you think that is programmed right, if it still doesn't work, make sure that the plug in the back of the radio is ALL THE WAY IN.

Keep trying this procedure till you get it to work with the first command. Rest the unit, I believe it's hold the button when you turn on the car or something. Set it to mode 3, then follow the directions to program your first command, volume up or down (I can't remember). Then see if that one command works. If not, double check your connection to the radio. If that's ok, you might have a bad unit. But contact the guys at PAC audio first. They are really great and very helpful.

Steve

[F150 Duke]

[quote name="ducatiboy"] [quote name="F150 Duke"]
QUESTION #3: I bought the PAC SWI-PS interface and cannot get it to work. Can you help me out?
Here is what I did:
1. Plugged the black PAC SWI-PS plug into the back of the headunit in the "digital out" spot on the Z1.
2. Because I have an 05 Ford F150 I used the white PAC SWI-PS interface wire and sodered it to the light blue/red wire in PIN 18 which is in the center of the connector (not to be confused with the other light blue/red wire in the OEM harness which is to the side and is used for ILL)
3. I then wired the red wire on the PAC to the red wire on aftermarket harness which ties to the Z1 harness, and did the same thing with the black wire. These are tied into the same wires which the (black and red), which the bypass is and the bypass works.
4. I went through the programming steps in the book, setting my interface version to 3 and etc. The light on the PAC SWI-PS even lights up when programming and lights up when I push buttons on the steering wheel when using the steering wheel controls. However, there is no corresponding result on the headunit. (IE. I press to turn down the music and it doesn't happen, same thing with the other buttons, nothing happens.)

What the heck is going wrong here?
[/quote]

When you programmed it to mode 3, that's right. But did you go through it's programming for each button press? It's something like, once it's turned on, you push and hold the button you want it to learn, then the light will go off, and you have to program "every" function in the SWI-PS, but on the ones you don't have steering wheel controls for you just hit the button on the SWI-PS. You did all this?

I had problems with this all too. What I did was to follow the procedure to reset the mode to mode 3, I know you have that set now, but it seems to reset everything. Then go though the procedure to program the first command, I believe it's volume up or down. Once you program it, you hold down the steering wheel button till the light goes out or something, let it time out, wait 20 seconds and turn off the car and turn it back on again, then try that one button and make sure it's programmed right. I say just do the first command cause you don't want to waste your time with all of them if the first one won't even work. Once you think that is programmed right, if it still doesn't work, make sure that the plug in the back of the radio is ALL THE WAY IN.

Keep trying this procedure till you get it to work with the first command. Rest the unit, I believe it's hold the button when you turn on the car or something. Set it to mode 3, then follow the directions to program your first command, volume up or down (I can't remember). Then see if that one command works. If not, double check your connection to the radio. If that's ok, you might have a bad unit. But contact the guys at PAC audio first. They are really great and very helpful.

Steve[/quote]

Hey Steve,

Yeah I'll try resetting it this weekend and redoing the programming for the first step.

I'll also buy the things I need from radio shack to make the 5V regulator to prevent the thump and try to make that this weekend.

Do you think you could draw a little diagram in paint or something and either post it or email it to kuba0043@umn.edu ? I'm more a visual learner and I apologize for my dumb side, but was lost in your explanation. I'm just not familiar with "across output and ground" and "across input and ground".

Thanks again for all your help Steve as I truely appreciate it and understand that you are seriously going out of your way for me.

Also, if anyone knows the answers to my other questions, please chime in.

Thanks again,

Duke

[ducatiboy]

[quote name="F150 Duke"]

I'll also buy the things I need from radio shack to make the 5V regulator to prevent the thump and try to make that this weekend.

Do you think you could draw a little diagram in paint or something and either post it or email it to kuba0043@umn.edu ? I'm more a visual learner and I apologize for my dumb side, but was lost in your explanation. I'm just not familiar with "across output and ground" and "across input and ground".[/quote]

How is this?

[F150 Duke]

Cool, I'm going to take this picture with me to Radio Shack and buy these materials. Then I'm going to piece it together without sodering it and post it to the website for your approval before I soder it in place.

PS. Anyone know if dimming the buttons on the Z1 is a feature? Or if you can tell it to take a certain road when planning a route?

Thanks again,

Duke

[T]

the SWIPS goes into the "wired remote" input on the harness not the digital input

[Slick 6MT]

[quote name="tgrove"]the SWIPS goes into the "wired remote" input on the harness not the digital input[/quote]

I was just going to say that!

[ducatiboy]

[quote name="Slick 6MT"] [quote name="tgrove"]the SWIPS goes into the "wired remote" input on the harness not the digital input[/quote]

I was just going to say that![/quote]

Wow, I can't believe I missed that. Well yah, try that first :) Then try reprogramming.

[F150 Duke]

Huh? I'm talking about on the back of the Z1 headunit itself. I took the long black cord off the PAC unit that has a "headphones style connector" and plugged that into the back of the Z1 headunit.

It was the white wire on the PAC unit that I tied into the light blue/red wire on the stock OEM Ford harness. I cut the light blue/red wire on the stock OEM harness that was in the middle of the plug (location and color corresponding to the diagram that PAC sent me) and then sodered the white wire from the PAC unit to the end of the light blue/red wire which ran into the wire loom of the OEM harness. [I'm assuming that runs to the steering wheel controls.

Duke

[ducatiboy]

[quote name="F150 Duke"]Huh? I'm talking about on the back of the Z1 headunit itself. I took the long black cord off the PAC unit that has a "headphones style connector" and plugged that into the back of the Z1 headunit.[/quote]

I think people (and me) are confused when you said you plugged in the PAC to the "plug into the back of the headunit in the "digital out" spot on the Z1. " And thought it should be plugged into the "receptical" for the remote control. I didn't check the back of my radio or the manual so I don't know if you are plugged into the right thing or not, but since a couple other people sounded like they knew and thought you might be plugged into the wrong spot, that sounded like the thing to check first. Sorry if I added to the confusion. Just incase, double check the manual and make sure the receptical on the head unit is the one for the wired remote. Now that you mention it, there is probably only one place on the back of that which will take the plug from the SWI-PS anyway. But it doesn't hurt to check.


[quote name="F150 Duke"]
It was the white wire on the PAC unit that I tied into the light blue/red wire on the stock OEM Ford harness. I cut the light blue/red wire on the stock OEM harness that was in the middle of the plug (location and color corresponding to the diagram that PAC sent me) and then sodered the white wire from the PAC unit to the end of the light blue/red wire which ran into the wire loom of the OEM harness. [I'm assuming that runs to the steering wheel controls.

Duke[/quote]

If you have a volt meter you can double check that wire if you want to, set it to Ohms and then unhook the harnesses and the Pac SWI-PS and turn the car on and measure the resistance between that wire (the blue/red wire from the OWM harness) and ground. Then when you hit steering wheel buttons that resistance you see will change. There is a standard resistance when you don't hit any buttons. I think my car was 4K or something like that.

I'm not 100% sure the wire colors you mention are all the correct colors, since I don't have the instructions in front of me, but they sound right. If those are the ones in the manual from PAC they should be fine. It might just be a programming issue then.

If you are sure about your connections to the head unit and the wire colors as specified in the PAC manual for the SWI-PS, then try reprogramming it, it's not that hard and you can do it without cutting any wires. Just need access to that box to push the button. And just program the first button (any button really) to the first command and then don't hit anything for a while (30 seconds) and it will time out and when you turn the key off and on, all you will have for steering wheel controls is one steering wheel button to that one command, but that will show you something if it's working or not.