I am about to order a F900 from crutchfield along with the Pioneer iPod Cable and the PAC SWI-PS - Pioneer and Sony Steering Wheel Radio Control Interface. I'm wondering how difficult the install of the PAC SWI unit is? Will I need to use a multimeter? Are the directions for install and programming pretty easy and straight forward? Also, despite the website saying it does not work with my vehicle (2006 Mazda MX5) the support people at crutchfield say it will work with the my car and the F900. Any of the installers on here have any thoughts on that?

thanks

I'm not sure if it's the car that I had, but he couldn't get the PAC-SWI-PS to work w/ my F-900bt. I ended up just returning it.

I got the Pac SWI-PS to work with my 08 GMC sierra which wasn't posted as being supported. Install is pretty easy, especially if you do it when your installing the F900. All you have to do is hook up one wire to the steering control wire under your steering column, then hook up power and ground which you can just tap off your radio harness.

Only problem is so far for some reason the F900 does not support the preset up/down commands from the SWI-PS. Its only a software issue so hopefully Pioneer gets it fixed with the next update.

i have the swips hooked up to my f900bt and it works flawlessly. I beleive that you have the 24pin connector on your mazda like my mazda 3. If i am not mistaken all 01 and up mazda's have the same wiring harness connector. For my car mazda 3 i used the white wire from the swips.

heres a tutorial that will help you out.

check thisout for instal on mazda 3

hope that helps

Pin 9 from stock harness for pac swips white wire

pin 10 from stock harness ground to chasis

and power and ground for your swi

Thanks mazda_3. That helps a lot. Can't wait to get this stuff into the car!

would it be possible to post pictures of the plug used for the SWC wires? i have an 05 rx8 and i cant find it anywhere =(

I spent the better part of two hours the other day attempting to program the SWI-PS unit in my 04 GMC EnvoyXL and still can not get it to function properly. The unit functioned when it was controlling my D3, and when I installed my F90, the steering wheel buttons worked except the preset up/down button. I re-programmed the SWI-PS several times and still can not get the preset up/down button to function at all. When I push the button, the LED on the SWI-PS lights but the head unit does not change (XM, FM & AM).

Frustrating to say the least along with the iPod Touch 2.01 not working. But I do love this unit and am glad I got it.

I couldn't get it to work in my Saab 9-5 either. I emailed their tech support and they suggested a fix. It's working fine now. I am not saying this will work for any car but definitely contact them.

http://wulfers.net/auto/mods95/avic-f70 ... index.html

Just a few tips. Some harnesses include a steering wheel control output right at the harness. Others you may need to go to the steering column. Still its a single wire plus power and ground so its not to tough to hook up. The instructions can be confusing the first read through but read em again and should get the hang of it.

The biggest thing i can stress is to program the interface while the vehicle is running. When i installed and programmed the unit the first time with the vehicle off i had problem with buttons not responding or responding slowly. When the vehicle is running the battery voltage is around 2 volts higher and can influence the voltage on a resistance based control system and give inaccurate reading if programmed under battery power with no alternator power. Once i programed the unit with the vehicle running the buttons works quickly and accurately.

would it be possible to post pictures of the plug used for the SWC wires? i have an 05 rx8 and i cant find it anywhere =(

I am not posiive of what you mean. do you mean the actual connector for the 24pin connector? And what is a SWC? do you mean the SWI-PS? If i am not mistaken all mazdas use the white wire from the swi and do not cut the loops. The actual connector for the radio you have to have found otherwise how did you run your new system? unless you wired it all up new and did like a dash tuck or something.

please fill in some blanks so i will be able to help you a little better

would it be possible to post pictures of the plug used for the SWC wires? i have an 05 rx8 and i cant find it anywhere =(

 

I am not posiive of what you mean. do you mean the actual connector for the 24pin connector? And what is a SWC? do you mean the SWI-PS? If i am not mistaken all mazdas use the white wire from the swi and do not cut the loops. The actual connector for the radio you have to have found otherwise how did you run your new system? unless you wired it all up new and did like a dash tuck or something.

 

please fill in some blanks so i will be able to help you a little better

SWC = steering wheel controls. my bad for confusing you. and yes i mean the 24 pin connector which has the wire that id have to tap into. i searched that steering column...i even took the steering wheel apart and nothing.

aaa gotcha a little behind on my terminology haha. the 24 pin connector is behind your stock radio or in your case where your new deck now sits.

this should help you out

how to remove all components to get to radio

page 6 shows you the 24 pin connector

Just a few tips. Some harnesses include a steering wheel control output right at the harness. Others you may need to go to the steering column. Still its a single wire plus power and ground so its not to tough to hook up. The instructions can be confusing the first read through but read em again and should get the hang of it.

 

The biggest thing i can stress is to program the interface while the vehicle is running. When i installed and programmed the unit the first time with the vehicle off i had problem with buttons not responding or responding slowly. When the vehicle is running the battery voltage is around 2 volts higher and can influence the voltage on a resistance based control system and give inaccurate reading if programmed under battery power with no alternator power. Once i programed the unit with the vehicle running the buttons works quickly and accurately.

Did you get the preset up/down to work for you?

Just a few tips. Some harnesses include a steering wheel control output right at the harness. Others you may need to go to the steering column. Still its a single wire plus power and ground so its not to tough to hook up. The instructions can be confusing the first read through but read em again and should get the hang of it.

 

The biggest thing i can stress is to program the interface while the vehicle is running. When i installed and programmed the unit the first time with the vehicle off i had problem with buttons not responding or responding slowly. When the vehicle is running the battery voltage is around 2 volts higher and can influence the voltage on a resistance based control system and give inaccurate reading if programmed under battery power with no alternator power. Once i programed the unit with the vehicle running the buttons works quickly and accurately.

 

Did you get the preset up/down to work for you?

This may be something to try. I have had no problem getting the unit to work with the up/down on the 900BT, but when driving around, I can not get the PAC to tune down. I will try programming with the engine on to see what that does.

Thanks for the tip!

Edit: Tip applied and now everything works without problems!

Just a few tips. Some harnesses include a steering wheel control output right at the harness. Others you may need to go to the steering column. Still its a single wire plus power and ground so its not to tough to hook up. The instructions can be confusing the first read through but read em again and should get the hang of it.

 

The biggest thing i can stress is to program the interface while the vehicle is running. When i installed and programmed the unit the first time with the vehicle off i had problem with buttons not responding or responding slowly. When the vehicle is running the battery voltage is around 2 volts higher and can influence the voltage on a resistance based control system and give inaccurate reading if programmed under battery power with no alternator power. Once i programed the unit with the vehicle running the buttons works quickly and accurately.

 

Did you get the preset up/down to work for you?

 

This may be something to try. I have had no problem getting the unit to work with the up/down on the 900BT, but when driving around, I can not get the PAC to tune down. I will try programming with the engine on to see what that does.

 

Thanks for the tip!

 

Edit: Tip applied and now everything works without problems!

Ok I just tried this and I'm still not getting the Preset up/down to work? Are you programing the preset up/down or only the tune?

Thanks so much mazda_3 and everyone else. This worked great! No problems.

Just spent 6 hours today installing my brand new F900. Love it! Only thing left to do is to tap the VSS as soon as I can find out where it is.

Thanks

Thanks so much mazda_3 and everyone else. This worked great! No problems.

 

Just spent 6 hours today installing my brand new F900. Love it! Only thing left to do is to tap the VSS as soon as I can find out where it is.

 

Thanks

Did you program the preset up/down? Everyone keeps saying everything is fine but no one has told me specifically they have got the preset up down to work?

Nope. The way the programming scheme works is that for my car it bunches the volume up/down and the scan up/down onto one button. I don't have a separate preset up down. The button originally was volume up/down and preset up/down on my car's original SWC, but the PAC-SWI clusters the buttons differently, so you kind of have to sacrifice a little, but its better than no SWC at all.

Hey Ctmopkins,

no problem. what car are you driving maybe i can help you out with the speed wire aswell

Well, I just got off of the phone with PAC regarding the problem with the steering wheel buttons not changing the stations. The rep said that Pioneer changed the command/interface thus breaking the functionality of the steering wheel buttons. He further stated that they were working with Pioneer on a fix (he guessed that the fix would be out within 30 days).

I then called Pioneer and it was an utter and total waste of time. After being transferred to the Navigation Support unit, and explaining the problem with the steering wheel buttons, I was told to buy a Pioneer CDMR80 marine remote for my car. He said that it was PAC's fault that the buttons didn't work. He also told me to revert to a previous firmware if I wanted to use my iPod Touch to work. It was simply a case of blame the other companies.

On a brighter note, he did say that they were working on a fix for the blue boxes.

Mazda_3... I have a 2006 MX5 GT (with DSP and Bose). I've been on some Mazda specific forums and it seems that a lot of people have been searching for awhile to find the location of the VSS on this car and they are getting closer to isolating it, but no luck yet. It seems that there is fairly good info on where to find it for the cars without the DSP system, but the cars with the DSP use a digital CAN BUS system to send info to the rest of the car, and what the VSS needs is an analog pulse signal. The problem is that the wiring diagrams show a VSS signal input to the CAN BUS, but don't specifically identify which wire and nobody has had the time or patience to go through and test ever wire there yet.

On a side not though, I honestly haven't had much issue with not having the VSS plugged, so if I never find it, I'm not too worried.

Mazda_3... I have a 2006 MX5 GT (with DSP and Bose). I've been on some Mazda specific forums and it seems that a lot of people have been searching for awhile to find the location of the VSS on this car and they are getting closer to isolating it, but no luck yet. It seems that there is fairly good info on where to find it for the cars without the DSP system, but the cars with the DSP use a digital CAN BUS system to send info to the rest of the car, and what the VSS needs is an analog pulse signal. The problem is that the wiring diagrams show a VSS signal input to the CAN BUS, but don't specifically identify which wire and nobody has had the time or patience to go through and test ever wire there yet.

 

On a side not though, I honestly haven't had much issue with not having the VSS plugged, so if I never find it, I'm not too worried.

I do not know if this will work but you can try using a wheel speed sensor for the vss. The only thing is i am unsure of what the vss looks for if it is signal, some sort of voltage or w/e but i would assume signal. a wheel speed sensor should have al 3 if i am not mistaken

Yeah, that's what a lot of people are talking about doing. I'm not sure its really worth it to me. System seems to work fine without and that would be a lot of extra time, effort, and money for something that I don't really need anyway. Rather spend the money on other upgrades.

thanks though.

Just a few tips. Some harnesses include a steering wheel control output right at the harness. Others you may need to go to the steering column. Still its a single wire plus power and ground so its not to tough to hook up. The instructions can be confusing the first read through but read em again and should get the hang of it.

 

The biggest thing i can stress is to program the interface while the vehicle is running. When i installed and programmed the unit the first time with the vehicle off i had problem with buttons not responding or responding slowly. When the vehicle is running the battery voltage is around 2 volts higher and can influence the voltage on a resistance based control system and give inaccurate reading if programmed under battery power with no alternator power. Once i programed the unit with the vehicle running the buttons works quickly and accurately.

 

Did you get the preset up/down to work for you?

 

This may be something to try. I have had no problem getting the unit to work with the up/down on the 900BT, but when driving around, I can not get the PAC to tune down. I will try programming with the engine on to see what that does.

 

Thanks for the tip!

 

Edit: Tip applied and now everything works without problems!

do you guys still have that delay in the button presses and system response with this tip? Or does it just read each button press more accurately.

is there a way to get rid of the delay?