GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars - View Single Post

flopshot · #7 (**permalink**) 01-24-2007, 12:55 PM

Here's the update:

I received the parts on Monday and was going to wait until the weekend when I had some free time to allocate. But I have no will power and I caved into starting this project at 9pm last night, hoping that it would be done by midnight. Luckily, it only took me 90 minutes to install, and then another 15 minutes to activate with XM. Note that I have installed a few car electronics in my life, and I'm not hesitant to tear my car apart, so your install time may vary. I used nothing more than a phillips screwdriver, a flathead screwdriver, and a ratchet set.

First, special thanks to jagbagri and his post on how to remove the audio unit out of the center console. His photos were a tremendous resource in helping identify locations of screws and lock-tabs.
http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/s...ad.php?t=11672

The Terk unit comes in two separate packages. The first package is the XM tuner box and a micro-antenna with 20' cable. The second box was the Toyota-specific adaptor, with associated cables to go to the tuner box, and a cable to go to the audio head unit.

Using jagbagri's instructions, I took apart the entire center console to the point where I could pull out the audio/HVAC unit. I have the non-NAV JBL system, but the mounting locations are exactly the same as the NAV unit in his instructions. I did not remove any of the cables attached to the back of the head unit, as you only need to be back there for a quick second and don't need to pull it all the way out.

Take the provided head-unit cable from Terk, and plug it into the 12-pin jack at the back of the head unit. Drop the rest of the cable behind the head unit. That 12-pin jack was already empty on my system. I'm guessing this is the CD-changer jack that Bigsk8r has his VAIS plugged into. However, the Terk cable has a pass-thru jack on it's cable, so if you are already using this jack on the head unit for something else, then you unplug it, then plug the Terk cable into the head unit, then plug in your other cable into the Terk cable. Once the Terk cable is attached, push the head unit back into place and screw it back in, you won't need to access it again.

Now take the Terk cable and attach it to the Toyota adaptor. Then take the other cables and connect the Toyota adaptor to the XM tuner. Leave both boxes in an accessible location for now.

Decide how you want to run your antenna. I decided to use the factory location on the rear deck inside the car. So I placed the antenna, then started to "squish" the cable along the edges and under the plastic wherever possible using a flathead screwdriver. I ran my cable from the rear deck, along the bottom of the rear glass, along and under the the C-pillar cover, then down along and behind the right passenger seat, then under the right passenger door sill, then under the B-pillar, then under the front passenger door sill, then under the right front kick panel and under the carpet, until I got to the back of the center console. Feed the cable thru the back into the console, and hook it into the XM tuner.

Now that everything is connected, you want to put the XM tuner and adaptor in a location that is out of the way of the storage box, and also won't vibrate. Fortunately, there is plenty of room in the bottom of the center console under the storage box. I was able to put both pieces on the left side of the opening. You can route all the excess cable in a manner that it acts as a cushion against any unwanted vibration. Then put the rest of your dashboard back into place.

The above took me 90 minutes. I then attempted to activate my radio via the XM website but it wouldn't take the promo code that I had. So then I had to go thru the phone system which is not as efficient. The phone process was about 5-7 minutes. The activation information was downloaded about 10 minutes after the phone call was complete.

I am now able to use all the steering wheel buttons for XM control, with some slight differences from the other radio functions. I don't know if it's the JBL head-unit or the XM tuner itself, but you get SAT1, SAT2, and SAT3. After you program your pre-sets for each, then if you scroll-thru your presets when using your steering wheel buttons, the scrolling will jump across SAT1/2/3. Meaning, if you are on SAT1-preset6 and scroll up, you go to SAT2-preset1. This is different than how FM1 and FM2 work, because if I am on FM1-preset6 and scroll up, I go to FM1-preset1. This is how I prefer it to work, because I setup my FM1 with music stations and my FM2 with talk radio, so I can scroll around and stay within music or talk radio. Now with XM, if I want to stay within SAT1 for my music stations, I cannot "wrap around" from preset6 back to preset1. The text display on the XM is not very good, which I already knew was limited to 10 characters. I don't know why they start writing the text at the 3rd character position of the display, as opposed to the first position (just like MP3's do), which would allow them to use the entire display.

During my 45mile/1hour commute this morning, I did not hear any rattling in the center console, so I think how I positioned the XM parts is fine. Reception with the antenna inside the car is very good. I had 3 split-second drops, but nothing that would normally bother me, I just noticed them today because I was specifically listening for any drops along my commute route. The installation package did not come with a ground plate for the antenna (which the OEM package does provide) so I'll probably look for a thin peice of metal that I can use for an antenna ground.

This is my first satellite radio, so I will withhold any comments about whether this project was a good deal or not. $99 for the hardware seems like a good investment whether or not I continue to subscribe to the service, but the monthly cost of the XM service may not be worth it to me since I have strong FM/AM reception in my area with plenty of local radio stations that I enjoy. YMMV.

I took some pictures and will edit this post once I get them downloaded from the camera.