Hi all,

I really want radio remote control buttons on my steering wheel. The car's a vsx so there is a chance of it actually having all the wireing. How do I check this? In my opinion, the easiest would be to pull the radio out and check for the connector back there, however I would need someone to explain in writing what I'm looking for or post a pic of the connector?
Also, I have a Clarion CRX74 + cd changer, will this take the remote and if not can I get another (maybe factory fitted Clarion?) head unit to talk to my cd changer???

I'm sure someone must have done this before!

Cheers,
Niek

Hi Niek

I thought all VSXs had remote controls, has someone changed the steering wheel? I dont know what year yours is but if it doesnt have an air bag, its not to difficult to take the steering wheel off, so I would start there. There should be a ribbon cable with a small flat plug on it, or even a metal container that fits around the steering column containing a long length of coiled ribbon cable.

Peter.N.

Sorry, I forgot to mention. You can obtain adaptors to use a Kenwood or Sony radio with the remote controls, but I dont know about the Clarion. I have a Kenwood, not all the remote functions work but the important ones do.

Peter.N.

Hi Peter,

It's s2 (all 2.5s are). As far as I know noone has ever changed the steering wheel.
I'll take it off to have a look.
How about the head unit, does anyone know whether it will take the remote?

Cheers,
Niek

Hi Niek

Is it a VSX? If your Clarion is an original XM fitting it should work OK but I dont know otherwise, the only ones I have seen adaptors for are Sony and Kenwood.

Peter.N.

i've just replaced my std head unit with an alpine which is steering remote ready. behind the head unit, the wiring for the steering remote ends in a flat connector block, maybe 1.5" long and only 5mm high from memory. Into this you'll need to plug an adaptor suitable for a clarion - watch out as you may need to buy two parts: a small box of electronics to control the signals AND a simple wiring connection adaptor. For the alpine these two added up to over £70 so i didn't bother, but each manufacturer is different.

i'll get a picture of the connector so you know if you have the wiring or not. (its a lot easier to get the head unit out than remove the steering wheel)

I paid about £30.00 for mine.

Peter.N.

picture of stereo end of wiring attached.

the wiring looks like a separate loom within the dash so may not be present in all models.

Peter, did you pay £30 for an alpine converter + adaptor and does it fit without other adaptors. the digging around i did drew a blank (apart from the price) in that the XM adaptor is too unpopular they dont actually have a record of any even though its in the catogue.

Thanks for the (enormous!) pic
I'll go looking for something similar.
Apparantly the steering remote buttons work with resistances. A certain resistance value is translated (by the head unit?) to a command such as volume up/down.
If this is the case (can anyone confirm?) it should be possible to adapt any hardwire remote, using resistances, to go with any unit prepped for hard remote. All you need to know/figure out is what resistance value does what in the head unit.

Does this make any sense to anyone?

Cheers,
Niek

Hi Niek

Have joined this thread late (away on another holiday) and am confused!
According to my brochures all the UK Mk2 XM's including the SX's had a steering wheel with air bag and radio remote controls and could support an approved, dealer fitted CD player. It may well be that the Dutch cars did not get fitted to the same specification hence your problem with no controls.
I have one or two spare Mk 2 steering wheels and columns somewhere in the heap of XM bits so if you need bits then let me know. I also have a Phillips radio recovered from a Mk 2 loose somewhere. I am expecting to have to move eveything to a new store in the next month so may even be able to find things for a short while.
The Phillips radio fitted to UK Mk 2's has 4 multi way sockets on the back. 3 are horizontal and the CD connector is vertical with 4 contacts from the top down then 3 blanks without contacts. Of the other conectors the lower and middle (A & have 2 rows of 4 contacts. These are listed with details of the contact function in the owners manual, A is power supplies and B to the loud speakers. The top connector is for the steering wheel remote controls and has 9 contacts arranged in two rows of 5 with one blank in the lower row. As with the CD player connector no contact details are given in the owners manual.

Hope this helps a little.

Regards

XMexc

Hi xmexc,

Down here very few s2 xms have steering controls.
I'm definetly having a go at it though. Not sure when yet. Might call on you for some parts (do you happen to have the wireing loom for after the controls as well, just in case that's not on the car either?)

Niek

An afterthougt: How come the connector in Gav's pic isn't the same as the one you describe? Is this head unit dependant?

Hi Niek

Sorry Gav is right and I had it wrong. The top horizontal 2 by 5 way connector with 9 contacts and one blank goes to the CD changer. The vertical 7 way connector that Gav has photographed is the cable to the remote control on the steering wheel.
I will look out for all the bits as I move my spares heaps to the new workshop over the next month or so. I do not think I have kept any Mk 2 steering columns complete with wheels and cabling but the bits must be about as I was mainly recovering ignition switches. I have also been collecting Leather Mk 2 steering wheels to fit to the cars so have some spare VSX steering wheels with radio buttons.

I have now checked the workshop manual and this like the owners manual only seems to give the contact details for the power and loudspeaker plugs.

There does seem to be some significant differences in the equipment fitted to XM's for different countries and I only have experience of UK cars.


Regards

XMexc