With the probability of the Music Link sucking the big one, I am thinking of looking into interfacing my iPod via the tape deck. I not talking about a cassette adapter. Since I never plan to use the tape deck, why not disconnect it and wire my iPod that way. Has anybody tried this? Does anybody have the wiring diagram for the tape deck?

jjh1234

 

Interesting thought. I wonder if it can be done...

 

it can easily be done, all you need to do is open the stock radio, find the 3 wires that are for audio, usually red, white and black colored internally. cut them in half, and wire the rca cables or whatever you are using to the ends that are still attached to the headunit. if i get bored today or tomorrow i will open my radio up and take pictures to show exactly what i mean

 

I am also interested in doing this. The cassette adapter is better than the FM modulator, but it still isn't as good as a direct signal. I just went out to my car and noticed the latest gen ipod could possibly even fit in the tape deck hole - Just need to take out the tape deck harness and put a ipod connector. Could be interesting...

 

it's not as easy as it sounds, you need to remove an internal harness, but you will also need something to make the car think there is a tape in the tape player, or you could just leave a tape in there.

 

rbf, I don't think you will find wires for audio in the radio. Most likely all you will see will be traces on a circuit board. Still, using the tape deck as an AUX input is possible and shouldn't be very difficult. You will have to find a tape deck output, somewhere after head amp and Dolby NR chip(s). Probably it will be a pair of capacitors between the tape deck and the rest of the radio. This is where iPod signal should go to. I could easily find this spot with an oscilloscope iff I had the radio on the bench, but it is often possible to identify it visually, so I will appretiate the pictures. One more request- please write down a model number on the radio, I'd like to try to get a schematics for it from Panasonic.

rbf, another question for you- it seems that you are taking apart your dashboard rather often. Do you have any issues with rattles, broken clips, etc?

 

knock on wood, but not a single rattle yet, sometimes i break a clip, but i have a bunch of extra ones that i ordered a long time ago (honda has been using the same type of clips for years)

i did remove the radio, and took it apart. there is a orange ribbon that goes to the head of the tape deck, but it's a flat cable and not labeled. i'm guessing it's left, ground, right and ground connections, but it's not something you guys should mess with.

also taking apart the radio itself it a pain in the ass, and unless you've opened a honda radio before with a 6-cd changer, i recommend you don't start with this one.

 

You wouldn't want to tap in at the tape head anyway as the levels are wrong and the equalization is not flat. I think gt1 is on the right track, though, with circuit traces. Sometimes, the tape section of the circuit board is labeled so it might be easy to find that. If not, it may be easier to follow the signal back from the amplifier section.

As far as tricking the mechanism into thinking there is a cassette inserted, it should be pretty simple, if there is a leaf switch or microswitch to be bypassed. Some mechanisms, though, want to see the hubs turning, so there is a sensor that gets pulsed every time it rotates. When the pulsing stops, it figures the tape has reached its end and it reverses or stops. Defeating that can be trickier.

 

http://www.logjamelectronics.com/blitzhonauxdmxv2.html

 

It does not help if you want to retain the factory XM

jjh1234

 

Not to start a format war, but I just switched from an iPod Mini to a Toshiba Gigabeat with Napster. Both use the same cassette adapter, and the Napster tunes sound significantly better. My guess is that it's Napster's 192 kbps WMA format versus the 128 kbps AAC format used by iTunes. The difference is almost as great as the improvement the iPod has over XM.

If you're going to the trouble of installing an AUX input primarily for the sound quality advantage over a cassette adapter, I'd recommend looking into switching to Napster.

 

I think you're right. The default for iTunes is 128kbps AAC. I change the default to 256kbps variable MP3. It sounds better. Higher bitrate will generally sound better.

I think ripping your music at higher bitrate will result in better sound quality without having to switch MP3 player.

Dennis

 

Thanks, may be I will be more active with taking the car apart Orange flexible cable is what usually used to interconnect boards. It can't be tapped into, there places on the board itself which are easier.
Getting inside the head unit defintely requires skills. I have a lot of professional experience with electronics, and don't have any problem working with a Honda radio. If I ahd schematics, I could probably figure few more hacks.

 

basically it's just 15 or so screws, and the entire thing comes into 3 peices, the face plate is held on by 4 screws, 2 are hidden under some felt, and it basically pops off

then there are 4 more screws that hold the face plate mount to the radio.

the radio and changer are held together by about 7 screws, then there is a ribbon that connects both of them together.

you then will have 2 peices to play with.

good luck

 

If you think this sounds scary, you obviously have never taken apart a camcorder

Do you have a Panasonic model # for the radio?

 

i've taken anything that can be taken apart, apart. camcorders, my PSP http://rbf351.com/rob/me/?path=./PSP/ and basically anything that that has a screw in it. i don't do it to fix things, just because i get bored, and like to just check the insides out


sorry, but i didn't get the model off the radio