bought the isimple with xm/nav traffic harness for my 07 tl-s.

unit hooks up to the xm module in the trunk, ran cables up front to where my iphone is docked. when i plug the cable in the phone, it charges it...good. but that's about all it does. there are 2 cables that come from the isimple, one charges the phone and the other does...what? i haven't figured that out.

instructions say to press the AUX/SAT button on your radio to display your track list, etc on your nav screen. they also say you can scroll through the steering wheel controls and get to AUX/SAT.

it won't even give me the option to do any of these. if i press AUX on the nav screen, nothing happens. if i try to scroll and find it on the steering wheel controls, it can't find it.

i've tried EVERYTHING to get this thing to work. made sure all the dip switches are in the off position, unplugged the battery terminal, started over again, rinse, lather, repeat...nothing.

if i hook everything back up to factory (pull the isimple out of the equation totally) i get my XM/SAT/AUX controls back like i always have. if i plug the isimple back up, i lose all this stuff.

any ideas here? do i need to update the firmware? idk what else to do. i'm getting power from the isimple (since it charges the phone, but that's it...nothing else) seems like there could be a simple solution here and i'm just not seeing it.

thanks guys.

 

I have an 06 so it might be different but try to push the am/fm button to start. Then push the sat/xm button and quickly turn the tuning dial because you only have 2 or 3 seconds. You should be able to scroll thru sat/aux1/aux2/iPod...stop at iPod. Then you can use buttons 5, 6 and the tuning knob. Use the tuning knob to scroll thru the options of playlist/artist/album then button 6 as an enter. Then scroll again to search.

 

Really? Thats the secret?
Aaron, you mentioned nothing about tuning the dial. Did you even know about that?

 

so after it's all hooked up, push the am/fm button and then push the sat/xm button? then turn the dial on the right hand side and stop when the iPod icon appears?

afterwards, track/artist should be displayed on the nav screen?

no...i had no idea. i guess we'll try this method soon!

 

If you're not already in the "iPod" mode in the sat/xm you will have to get out then back in so you can turn the dial to get to it. That's why you have to push am/fm.

 

Hi Shark,

No problem. I finally finished my install last weekend. I still haven't fiddled with the finer details such as track selection and folder selection because at this point I'm just glad I got the thing to work finally!

I've put dozens upon dozens of stereos in cars before and have never been as frustrated as I have been with this device. In fact, I'm still frustrated at times because sometimes it seems to work when it wants to and even then it will work only through the radio and at other times only through the iPod.

At any rate, I can at least tell you what I did to get to the point where I am. Once I read the cardboard paper "cheat sheet" about the functions I can post some more useful information.

What I did was route my one and only cable from the Aux 1 (furthest from dipswitches) hole. It looks a lot like a female S-video plug that you would find on the back of your TV or home theater stereo. I did not install HD radio so that may be where your second wire is coming from? If you are not using HD then something is screwed up (unless you routed it b/c you plan on installing it in the future). I routed my cable inside the armrest box so that the iPod can stay out of sight in there.

* NOTE: On ALL 2007-2008 Acura TL Type-S's and 2009 Acura MDX's (MDX's with Navi) the dipswitch MUST be put in the "on" (down) position.

Now that the routing is out of the way there really is something to be said about the correct chain of events for which things need to be plugged in. First, disconnect your negative batter terminal. Second, disconnect the 14 pin connector (I'm going from memory, I think it's 14 pins) from the back of the XM radio. It has two slots in it. Connect your harness (the one that came in the iSimple package) and plug the female end into the plug you just removed from the back of the XM unit. Then plug in the "S-video" cable (as I call it) into the black box/module thing that comes with the iSimple kit. I was not satisfied with how loose the connection was with the S-vid cable so I wrapped electrical tape around the end a few times and then looped it around the box. This very effectively keeps the cable from moving or ever popping out. I can always take off the tape if necessary in the future.

Next, plug the male plug that is of the same dimensions of the one that originally came out of the XM unit into the XM unit. This one tends to go in kind of hard as it is the aftermarket harness you are now connecting to the XM unit.

Now you can plug in the 24 pin (wide) connector into the black box module. Tie everything up with zip ties and make it look nice and be sure it doesn't rattle against anything due to inevitable road bumps. Lastly, connect the negative lead on your battery.

This is the frustrating part: getting it to work. Turn you key to the first accessory position. Now you have to haul ass with knobs. I didn't even bother with the startup nav screen or even hit the ok button. There really isn't time. Once you turn the key you must hit the mode button on your steering wheel until XM comes up or hit XM on the radio itself and then IMMEDIATELY (you have very little time) turn the tuner knob (the one opposite the volume knob---looks exactly the same as the volume knob just off to the right). It will cycle through AUX 1, 2, SAT and finally hit IPOD. If you've made it there you are in business.

What took me so long to figure it out is having to learn that you really need to move fast in selecting IPOD with the tuner knob. IMHO it's a hack engineering job but it does work and it's better than no iPod I suppose. Like I said, I'll post more thoughts on it once I get more experience with it (probably this weekend once I have some time away from living at work).

I don't know if I helped or not but I tried to be as thorough as possible. I realize you've gone through a lot of these steps already but hopefully it will give you confidence that you at least set it up correctly.

Also, for what it's worth, my wife called iSimple just this last week (8/18/11) and asked them about the charging question as there are VERY many conflicting reports on this. The tech rep was adamant that the iSimple stops charging the iPod after 1 hour so that it does not excessively drain your car battery. Whether that's true or not I don't know as I haven't had time to make any real observations.

What I do know is that I have no clue how to shut off my iPod once I shut off my car. I know that sounds stupid but I'm new to the iPod as much as I am new to the iSimple. For now I've been hitting pause but it seems like tremendous excessive wear on the iPod if I always keep it on pause (not like it's a solid state drive or anything).

Again, I hope this helps and I'll write an update this weekend once I've had some time to tweak with things.

Best of luck.

 

My apologies: the #2 dipswitch must be in the ON position; no if and's or but's!

 

^thanks for all of those suggestions.

i thought the dipswitches must be in the OFF position...you're saying the #2 switch should be in the ON? and the rest OFF?

 

Yep, absolutely. On our cars 2007-2008 Type-S and the 09 MDX w/navi all the dipswitches must be off except for #2, which needs to be in the "on" or "down" position. Remove the wide 24 pin connection, flip the #2 switch down, wait five minutes for the module to reset (I learned this from tech support) and then plug it back in. It should be good to go!

 

excellent...i will attempt to figure this thing out asap.

thanks again for all your help. who knew it was something as simple as a dip switch.

 

Dip switch #2 must be on. First try that.. if you have any more issues let us know