Hello all,

I have had my Z110BT for a few days now and its having some problems that are just an annoyance. Hopefully you guys can give me a hand. The car is a 2009 Nissan Altima 3.5L 6M. The radio was also installed by a "professional" (I use that term EXTREMELY lightly) installer.

Problem 1: Ever since day 1 the GPS has been off. Some days its more off than others. The installer mounted it on right behind my unit in the dash so I figured it was getting interference from somewhere. I removed it from that location and placed it under the lining in my trunk (had great luck in my previous car with that spot). Unfortuntately the GPS antenna wire is just a smidge too short for where I wanted to put it so the plastic sheilding came off. I was able to put it back in and the system registers its there. However, on the Connection Status screen, I get no bars no matter where I drive. In the installation manual, it mentions a metal plate that should be placed under the GPS, is that plate needed? If it is, can I get another from Pioneer?

Also, does the GPS antenna need to be on the outside of the car? Or is under the body OK?

Problem 2: VSS and reverse lead wire. The installer of course did not hook up the these to the system as I found them both in the box. I plan on attempting to do that later today (any specific help on the 09 altima would be much greatly appreciated). I am guessing that this is also affecting the positioning of the GPS antenna. Now, I am able to watch DVDs while the car is in motion so I dont know if the installer did the bypass or just did something wrong. I really dont care about the dvd driving part, I just want my gps to be accurate.

Any help on these issues would be much appreciated.

Trent

How off is your GPS? I have mine mounted in the back board of the car (Right under the rear window). Mine is off by just a bit, meaning, when I'm driving I'll see the road, look down at my GPS and I'll notice that its behind about 5-10 seconds. So I've already passed the road for about 5 seconds and the arrow is just now passing it on the screen.

My guess is that its because its in the back of my car..

There is a setting in I believe Map Settings.. where you click "Modify current Location" It may be somewhere else, I would use that if you're WAY off.

Thanks for the reponse TNT, I tried that and it was successful for a short period of time. It then went back to being off.

I think I am going to move it to the front somewhere instead. Maybe under my roof panel by the winshield.

Another question with the VSS wire; on page 12, in the Connection method, it mentions a clamp type connector for the pink VSS wire. Looking in the box, I see no clamp on the pink wire. I do have my white/purple wire that does have a clamp. Do I need this clamp for this to work right?

Also, as for the location of the speed wire in the car, is it just as simple as taking it from the back of the speedometer? Or do I have to search elsewhere? (any place where I can go to to get a guide?)

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to get my system connected right.

Thanks for the reponse TNT, I tried that and it was successful for a short period of time. It then went back to being off.

 

I think I am going to move it to the front somewhere instead. Maybe under my roof panel by the winshield.

 

Another question with the VSS wire; on page 12, in the Connection method, it mentions a clamp type connector for the pink VSS wire. Looking in the box, I see no clamp on the pink wire. I do have my white/purple wire that does have a clamp. Do I need this clamp for this to work right?

 

Also, as for the location of the speed wire in the car, is it just as simple as taking it from the back of the speedometer? Or do I have to search elsewhere? (any place where I can go to to get a guide?)

 

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to get my system connected right.

It all depends on your car, I would do a google search for it, most are apart of the harness. I would be very careful, as if you attach the wrong wire, you may severely screw something up.

All you're doing is splicing into the VSS wire in your car. My buddy used Caps, some people use electrical tape, it's all on how professional you want to do it. Once again, be careful on what you do.

For best results, your GPS antenna needs to be mounted on something metallic (ie the metal pad it comes with, or a metal bar/support) and there should not be any metal or extremely thick plastic blocking its line-of-sight to the sky

So after about 2 hours of fiddling, I found the VSS wire and connected it. It wasnt nearly as difficult as I expected it to be. I also did some testing as to the position of the GPS antenna. Test after test, it was apparent that the GPS unit really wanted to be outside. Right now its suck on the outside of my trunk up near the winsheild. After driving around for a few miles I noticed a considerable difference in the tracking of the GPS.

Now the important question...how weatherproof is this gps unit? I used to have a P5700DVD with the add-on dymanics kits. That GPS unit sat in the same spot for about 2 years and even with snow, sleet, and rain, never gave me a problem.

If this isnt a good idea or it stops works, any suggestions as to where to move it to? From my testing, it only worked when it was on a piece of metal with little to nothing between it and the sky. I tried all sorts of places (under the lining of the trunk, in the trunk itself, on the rear deck) and nothing seemed to give me any bars besides putting it outside or under a window. Open to any and all ideas of placement (also remember that the metal pad has gone missing).

Thanks everyone for all your help.

Mine is inside on the dash right at the bottom corner of the windshield. If you lost the metal pad, just find some small piece of scrap metal and cut it to the size you want. Tape it or velcro it to your dash and then stick the antenna on top of it

mine also works fine on the dash