Anonymous said:

Actually, you're both wrong, I don't touch ANY switches, nor do I lose ANY functionality...I'm not doubting that you're little flasher thing works, but the relay I have works flawlessly, and has NOTHING to do with the lights, and you must be mistaken about the internal motion sensors, either that, or this relay takes that into account...Hate to break it to you, there's a better way.

Anonymous said:

Marc said:

I don't know about flicking lights, or circuit boards, or soldering, but the guys who work on my car made a relay to bypass everything...He said it was only about $30 in parts, works perfectly....Now if I can just disable the splash screen and figure out how to UL a data disc I'll be happy....I imagine any good audio shop can do the bypass as mine was only the 2nd install they had ever done.....

To add to what ducatiboy said, your audioshop really doesn't test properly. Had they tested, they would see that they've limited much of your functionality unfortunately. I would use the flasher bypass and undo those relays, or just leave the relays on all the time and install a flasher bypass. The relays are not worth the headache you will face.

More than likely they wired up the relays to flash the illum wire then. Not sure why you are making this into a "contest," we're all here to learn from each other. If you can post schematics and explain why yours is a "better way" we'd love to hear it, though I'm not sure how a bunch of relays is better than a $30 solid state device, again though, I'm all ears, please enlighten us poor souls.

Anonymous said:

Actually, you're both wrong, I don't touch ANY switches, nor do I lose ANY functionality...I'm not doubting that you're little flasher thing works, but the relay I have works flawlessly, and has NOTHING to do with the lights, and you must be mistaken about the internal motion sensors, either that, or this relay takes that into account...Hate to break it to you, there's a better way.

Well please share what was done.

If you actually looked at what you have, I would go out on a limb and take a guess. And unless I'm wrong and I'm never wrong..... :)

Most likely what you have installed is a mechanical version of what I sell. And if there are no switches then it's most likely mechanically telling the Z1 that you are flashing your lights with relays. The general "relay" solution was to "unplug" the gps antenna and ground the parking brake faking the unit into thinking it was parked. And therefore losing functionality. I have seen some new "flashers" out on ebay which used a 555 timer and relays and no on/off switch (someone even posted this circuit here).

Feel free to prove me wrong and post the information showing what you have, but I would bet money (and I never bet) that all your device is doing is "flashing your lights". If it works like you said, then it's just flashing your lights.

But the unit does have internal motion sensors
http://www.bigfloppydonkeyballs.com/~le ... sensor.jpg
But pioneer put in that if you flash your lights it will not worry about them. And I tried to "fake it out" externally and they did see the motion.

Anonymous said:

this relay takes that into account...Hate to break it to you, there's a better way.

If what you have is using relay(s) then it's just a "mechanical" version of what I already make. I could have done that, it's easier to design and it's a shortcut that I chose not to take. Anyone who has done reliability studies on electronic circuits, would never include a relay in any design like this, it's not needed and in my opinion it's what a amateur would design into something like this.

I don't know what you consider "better". In my mind I want reliability for something like this and I would not consider a timer and couple relays "reliable" which is the standard "other version" out there. Do you consider "better" as cheaper? Well there are other solutions which could be "cheaper", but with a $2K nav system, I find it funny that people are trying to save $5-15 on something like one of these bypass circuits. But I'm really glad you got yours installed and that it's working well for you. Feel free to share what you have.

If there is a "better" way, I would love to hear about it.... we all would.

ducatiboy said:

If there is a "better" way, I would love to hear about it.... we all would.

I think we all would (and we'll all be coming back for refunds :mrgreen: )

BigFloppy said:

ducatiboy said:

If there is a "better" way, I would love to hear about it.... we all would.

I think we all would (and we'll all be coming back for refunds :mrgreen: )

NO REFUNDS! :D We can talk about retro-fitting or something. I'll look into it. :)

No worries mate.. just bustin your chops.

I am more than happy with my Z1 regardless if there is another way around their damned security system.. Who cares, I don't... mine is running perfectly!

BigFloppy said:

No worries mate.. just bustin your chops.

I am more than happy with my Z1 regardless if there is another way around their damned security system.. Who cares, I don't... mine is running perfectly!

I know, I was just kidding, what I smiled like this: :D

Glad yours is running nice.

If there is a "better" way, I would love to hear about it.... we all would.

Well, to be honest, I have no idea exactly what was done, it was done without me asking, when I had them install it, I didn't even think about it until I went to pick it up, I asked the installer, and he said it was bypassed, he said that he made a relay using about $30 in parts...it cost me nothing...it's just what they did, BUT, I mentioned this site as I had read some of this previously, and he said he was aware of it...

What I DO know is that my lights DONT flash and I have full functionality...Next time I go to my shop I'll try to get more details....

Anonymous said:

If there is a "better" way, I would love to hear about it.... we all would.

Well, to be honest, I have no idea exactly what was done, it was done without me asking, when I had them install it, I didn't even think about it until I went to pick it up, I asked the installer, and he said it was bypassed, he said that he made a relay using about $30 in parts...it cost me nothing...it's just what they did, BUT, I mentioned this site as I had read some of this previously, and he said he was aware of it...

What I DO know is that my lights DONT flash and I have full functionality...Next time I go to my shop I'll try to get more details....

If you reread the methods of our hack, NO ONES lights flash with the bypass mods described here, the devices flash the illum. wire, which is probably what your device is doing, though through cheaper relays.

edrock200 said:

Anonymous said:

Well, to be honest, I have no idea exactly what was done, it was done without me asking, when I had them install it, I didn't even think about it until I went to pick it up, I asked the installer, and he said it was bypassed, he said that he made a relay using about $30 in parts...it cost me nothing...it's just what they did, BUT, I mentioned this site as I had read some of this previously, and he said he was aware of it...

What I DO know is that my lights DONT flash and I have full functionality...Next time I go to my shop I'll try to get more details....

If you reread the methods of our hack, NO ONES lights flash with the bypass mods described here, the devices flash the illum. wire, which is probably what your device is doing, though through cheaper relays.

Actually a relay can be quite expensive, they are not cheaper, just mechanical and less reliable (and not needed for a circuit of this low current). Also if they were right and it was $30 worth of parts, how much did it cost the end user. Assembling $30 worth of parts and installing it would cost quite a bit.

But I agree with you edrock200, I think it's just toggling the illumination line. Just the same as mine and other solutions, not a better way to bypass but just a different implementaion of the same design.

Or it's not a relay and he told you it was and actually bought one of my circuits and installed it and didn't tell you what exactly it was. :) I used to sell them for $30, that could be what he put in there. Now that would be funny.

That would be funny....and quite possible....I've noticed many people refer to a customized circuit a "relay" even though its not.

Also, I should have said inferior rather than cheaper...I guess I just few mechanical as a last resort to solid state.

how many times do we turn the parking lights on and off before the unit boots up?

maxhertz said:

how many times do we turn the parking lights on and off before the unit boots up?

Just once.

Thanks to Ducatiboy!!! I followed your instructions on the 07/06 bypass when I installed the Z1 in my 05 Avalanche and had no problems whatsoever. Never had to flash my headlights and never will.

Thanks bud. :D

I must've done something wrong, but...

We've installed my z1 yesterday.
Made that additional wire and grounded it at the same spot as all other groud wires

When turning on the car, get message : system detected incorrect signal on the break lead ( i will get the exact messge tonight)

If Ebrake is not engaged it works jsut like your usual unit.... so override doesn't seem to work.

on top of the unit it says it was made on oct of 06.

Any suggestions?

make sure you got the bluetooth update and also that the grounds are good on both ends. usually people with problems fail to make the secret wire connection properly.

do i HAVE to have the bluetooth update to work for it? I don't have the adapter...

And secret wire that you speak of is the one that we need to put in ourselves, right?
I just wired it in to the ground at the same place where all other ground wires went..

you dont have to have the bluetooth to use the update.

the secret wire is the one you have to locate a spare wire with pin and insert it into secret location where there is not wire and pin out the box. Usually people do this but the ones with problems dont do it correctly.

Foques said:

do i HAVE to have the bluetooth update to work for it? I don't have the adapter...

And secret wire that you speak of is the one that we need to put in ourselves, right?
I just wired it in to the ground at the same place where all other ground wires went..

Thats fine but I believe your problem will be where the terminal is inserted into the plastic connector (#2). It's not making connection in there.

My guess....


If you have an October 06 unit as the bypass is concerned, you do not need the bluetooth update. If you don't have the bluetooth module and don't plan on it, there is not much reason to do the update. The bypass changes were done in July 06 so any unit after that has the new 07/06 bypass. Scroll down to the 07/06 bypass info here:
http://www.sminntech.com/z1flash.html
The "secret" wire as tillithz calls it (so do many of us) is just "wire #2" or, Foques, as you say the one you need to put in yourself.

If that wire isn't inserted correctly or not grounded correctly, you will get the "your parking brake has been improperly connected" or something like that. It pops up every time you start the car.

To get rid of that press the recessed button to the right of eject. That will get rid of the message. Then leave the car parked.
Go here:
http://www.sminntech.com/z1flash.html
In the "How do I know if the Z1 is bypassed?" is it bypassed?
If not (you can't get to Address Search and POI Search) then the parking brake wire is not grounded. But I think yours will be bypassed.

Then drive around doing something you are not supposed to do. Like a DVD (but that is very dangerous). Does that pop up message come back? If it was bypassed and when you drive it locks you back out and you get that pop up message then it's "wire #2" or the "secret wire" or whatever you want to call it.

But make sure you reset the unit as above to get rid of that message to see if it's bypassed correctly, as long as that message comes up it interferes with the bypass.

no, its doesn't look like it was bypassed...

If i'll get the bypass form you guys, will it work? I mean instead of crawling all over the wiring, i'd rather to get something that will work 100%... :?

Foques said:

no, its doesn't look like it was bypassed...

If i'll get the bypass form you guys, will it work? I mean instead of crawling all over the wiring, i'd rather to get something that will work 100%... :?

If it wasn't bypassed then the parking brake wire is not grounded either.

As for the bypass from me? If your unit has a manufacture date of June 06 and before and it was never updated with a disk from Pioneer then yes it will work great. If your unit is newer or you updated an older one (like with the bluetooth update cd) then no, it won't even work for your unit. You can thank pioneer for shifting gears mid year for the confusion.

Best is to look at that site and follow the directions for 07/06.

If your unit wasn't bypassed then when you reset it with the recessed button, that parking brake message won't come back at least.

What is the light green parking brake sense wire connected to? If that's grounded, when stopped it will be bypassed.

i cut the green wire and just put it in the same bundle of other ground wires...

Is there any curent on the ebrake? i sut don't understand how system is seeing that ebrake is engaged...

current? the ebrake typically shows ground when engaged, thats why you bundled them with the other grounds.

Foques said:

i cut the green wire and just put it in the same bundle of other ground wires...

Is there any curent on the ebrake? i sut don't understand how system is seeing that ebrake is engaged...

Well technically to connect the wire to ground it does draw some current depends on the resistors in the Z1 itself but I know it's very very little, but you need some to actually pull the wire and point on in the Z1 to ground. But this is going a little more in-depth into electronics than most people would want to go.

The fact that the light green wire is connected to the same bundle of wires the other grounds is tells the Z1 that the parking brake is on all the time.

Foques, I asked you to reset the box with the recessed button to the right of eject. Then I asked you to look and while motionless check to see if it was bypassed. Look at my site and see some examples or try to play a DVD. While standing still does that work? You should have the parking brake being registered as ON weather it's physically on or off. And everything should work... While not moving. You replied a few posts back "no, its doesn't look like it was bypassed... " This would be a big problem. Are you saying that even while not moving you are locked out of parts of the system and the parking brake is reporting that it's OFF.

If you are saying that the system is not bypassed while motionless and the parking brake is registering as OFF then the other end of that light green wire is not plugged all the way into the connector or some other internal failure of the connector.

You need to get the unit "bypassed" while motionless.

Then once it works while motionless, then by grounding wire #2 on my site will keep it working while in motion. That's when the pop up message about the parking brake comes in, if wire #2 is not grounded properly the bypass will work while not moving but when you start moving it locks you back out again.

i know i know, i'm stupid... but!..

What is the reset recesed button? Near what eject? actual button that makes the screen slide down? It just turns off my screen.
There are no buttons next to actual EJECT button inside.

And if my ebrake is not engaged, but car is still, i can turn on the video or use navi.. once i'm speeding up to 15 mph, features are turning off...

Foques said:

i know i know, i'm stupid... but!..

What is the reset recesed button? Near what eject? actual button that makes the screen slide down? It just turns off my screen.

It's the one on the bottom front panel, the eject button is the one that makes the screen slide down.

It's on the bottom left of the unit between the "eject" and the "V" button above the word TILT.

All that will do is turn off the screen but it will reboot the unit.

Foques said:

There are no buttons next to actual EJECT button inside.

No that's behind the screen. Not there, bottom of the unit with the screen in it's normal position.

Foques said:

And if my ebrake is not engaged, but car is still, i can turn on the video or use navi.. once i'm speeding up to 15 mph, features are turning off...

Ok, that means that you have the parking brake sense wire grounded all the time. GREAT.... that's step 1. That's listed as "wire #1" on my site. When you start moving and that stuff shuts off, that means that you don't have "wire #2" grounded. Either end, most common mistake is the end at the connector 2. http://www.sminntech.com/z1flash.html scroll to the bottom and look at wire #2, that's your problem, if you ground that properly and the connection in connector 2 is grounded properly once you reset the unit again with the recessed button all will work perfectly.