Not sure. I've had CDs in the CDDJ all the time so far. I will have to take the CDs out and see what happens.

The BlitzSafe part number is: FORD/AUX DMX V.3 OEM

Here is the link to the LogJam page for this converter:
http://www.logjamelectronics.com/bli...dmxv3boem.html


Yesterday I was doing some investigating and discovered that the plug-out configuration is different on the headunit plug and the CDDJ plug. It picks up a few lines by the time it gets to the CDDJ (most likely power lines). I'm planning on placeing the BlitzSafe just after the Headunit insted of just befor the CDDJ to see if anything improves. If the extra lines are power lines then this most likely won't work, but it's worth a try.

As I suspected, the plug at the Headunit did not have the power lines, so the Blitzsafe did not work at all there. I've got the pinouts for the wiring harness, but that only shows where the current wires are connected. There are alot of pins on the back of the headunit that are not used by the OEM wiring. When I had my Bluetooth Handsfree kit installed they used some of these "Unused" pins to wire it in. I suspect that there may be other aux in pins on the headunit already that are "unused" so I'm trying to get a pinout on the headunit. Will post here if I figure it out.


ogakor: It does seem to work without CDs, but it is harder to get the CDDJ to come up when you put the CDs pack in (you have to keep press in the >< buttons over and over).

Good luck man. Should I send you my voltmeter? It's just gathering dust. :-)

OK you have my attention now. Which bluetooth system are you using? how does it integrate with the audio (if at all)?

I'm using the Visteon Hands Free Kit, The Visteon URL is:

http://www.evisteon.com/prod_serv/mo...pk/index.shtml

It feeds the NAV system a mute/phone enable (+5v enable phone / 0v normal operation) and the audio signal from the phone. When you get or place a call the system mutes your current audio program and routes the phone audio to the front speakers. The NAV system display changes to "Phone" while the phone is in use. It can pair with any Bluetooth phone that supports Handsfree or Headset profile. I'm have a Motorola V551 phone and the system works excellent with it. The Visteon system supports voice dialing using your phones stored voice commands OR you can record voice commands directly to the Visteon system itself. It is very easy to use and does a good job with the voice recognition.

Michigan does not yet have a law for cell phone use, however I am a person who always uses a handsfree kit in the car ( don't want myself or others to end up as raod pizza ). I have used many different brands and types of handsfree kits from wired to bluetooth ear buds. I would have to say that this is the best handsfree kit I have used to date. The audio quality is excellent and the microphone picks up just normal voices and has good regection of background noise. People tell me that they don't even know that I'm in my car while I'm using it. That said, I have not used it with the windows down, I'm sure that would be very noticable.

The only thing I could wish for is the ability to dial by voice numbers and not just with recorded names. i.e. be able to say "Dial" "five" "five" "five" "one" "two" "one" "two" to call 555-1212. As it stands you have to have the number in your phone book and have recorded a name for that number, then you can dial just by saying the recorded name.

The unit cost me $256 + $100 (installation).

I got some of the pinouts for the NAV headunit, and I found out that there was a DVD player option that was planed and that the head unit supports it. This could mean that there are additional aux inputs. I'll post more when I get more info.

Mike Kinnell
Sonic Blue FEH AWD
Go BLUE!

Update: I now have the pinouts for the AUX in on the NAV radio, But in order to make the headunit switch the audio to the AUX-IN a CAN bus message is required. This could be alot of work because I would have to create a circuit to communicate on the CAN bus and know the proper messages to send. It looks at this point like the CDDJ input is the only way for now, but I'm sure PIE, BlitzSafe or Visteon will have some solution in the future. In the mean time I will start looking at the CDDJ possibility.

Mike Kinnell
Sonic Blue FEH AWD
Go BLUE!

Wow thanks Mike looks like you realy got into the guts of the thing. Someday DVD/MP3 Players will be standard and we won't need such sillyness. Then we can hack them just for fun.

Chris

Hi,

I apologize for my non-techie-ness, but I am... well, not very tech oriented. I love my new Escape Hybrid, and the first thing I had done was to have an installer replace the CDDJ functionality with my Ipod, which he did using the Ipod2car cable, plugged into the back of the head unit and resulting in the glove compartment. Which was fine... it allowed me to control the Ipod just fine using the radio controls (in my other cars I had always had an installer replace the changer with an AUX-in cable, which I would then plug into the headphone jack, which was also fine with me). The problem is the Ipod2car disabled the mileage and battery/engine usage display. The installer is telling me I can't have both.

Now I could see if I were getting a read-out onscreen of the Ipod data, but I'm not. I'm not even getting the elapsed time of the track! It just flicks back and forth from 1:00 to 2:00 to 1:00 to 2:00. So I asked if there were some way to forget about using the radio controls to control the Ipod. I don't care about that. I'd rather use the Ipod itself... At least I can see a display that way! I asked if there was some way to restore the data function of the mileage/battery, AND use an AUX-in sort of solution to replace the CDDJ with the Ipod, and the installer said no. All he wants to do is FM modulation, which since I live in Los Angeles is not a viable option.

Does anyone have any suggestions? When I had him back out to look at it, he futzed with it, and now about 50% of the time I get the error message others have mentioned when I turn on the system. I guess what I'm asking is: He talks to me as if I am an idiot who doesn't understand the system. Am I?

Thanks for your patience and help and expertise!
Mike

Hmm, something sounds amiss here. The mileage display uses the CAN bus (a kind of network bus that lets the cars computers talk to each other).

I would guess that the iPod2Car system is using the CAN (or ACP) bus if it is messing with the mileage system. The bus also connects to other systems in the car so this could cause problems with other things if it does not communicate to the CAN bus correctly. The most probable thing is the installer disconnected the jack from the back of the radio and plugged in the iPod2Car alone so that the NAV system is no longer getting messages from the rest of the FEH modules. If this is true your GPS navigation system may also have problems because it will not get the "dead recon" and speed info from the car (this is used to minimize the GPS error). I think they are on the same connector as the CAN bus. You may be able to test this by attempting to enter a destination while moving (go into the address screen while parked and just leave that screen on while you are moving so you are not distracted by trying to enter that screen while driving). Normally you would get a "Option not available while driving" message. If you don't get this message your speed sensor is disconnected.

In any event it sounds like the iPod2Car system does not fully support the FEH NAV radio. if you look at the makers web site the FEH is not listed on the supported applications list. The Escape 2001-2004 is listed but there are significant differences in the FEH NAV audio system and the others.

Application guide for iPod2Car:
http://peripheralelectronics.com/pdf...%203-17-05.pdf

Mike Kinnell
Sonic Blue FEH AWD
Go BLUE!