BubaGumpShrimp

iTrader: (1)

Ok its time i upgraded my head unit (alpine 1.5 din stopped working) and im going to go with a double din. Yes i know what it takes to put one in. Anyway i need some ideas of what ones i should be looking at and who has what in their car. No off brand crap please ex pyle,boss etc..

Currently i am looking at the pioneer 5600 but i see there are issues with hooking up an android phone and have it mirror whats on the phone. Are other brands better with this? Are there any models that can hook up the the steering wheel controls (yes i know there is an external box to make it work but do some radios come with this option... What else as far as features are out there.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Kenwood has a number of models that support linking an Android phone to the HU display. There are some limitations of which specific phones will work and the type of gestures it recognizes but otherwise I understand it works quite well.

There are no current head units that have the steering wheel control capability built-in. Almost all have the jack to connect an external adapter but they don't have it built in mostly because of the sheer number of different car models that use different signals to communicate from the steering wheel controls. Audiovox used to make 1.5 DIN units that were designed as plug-in replacements for factory radios in GM and Chrysler models (including steering wheel controls) but nobody has done that for quite a few years now.

ZexGX

iTrader: (28)

My new Android 4.x 7" touchscreen 2-DIN headunit has factory steering wheel control input built in (it applies +5v to the steering wheel control wire and measures resistance when the buttons are pressed), but you'd consider it "off brand crap".

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

That still requires either an adapter of some kind or some rewiring since the factory steering wheel switches get battery voltage (12V+) from the fuse panel and have only a single output wire actually going to the head unit. There is no place for you to apply 5V+ without changing the factory wiring.

ZexGX

iTrader: (28)

I was wrong about the +5V. It is less. The headunit provides it. Unless I'm mistaken, one could simply unpin the +12V going into the steering wheel control harness connection under the dash. Here is a quote from someone familiar with these headunits:
I quickly checked the F-body schematics and found:

• Yellow is a power source from the fuse box (to supply power to the KEY resistance circuit?).
• Dark Blue is the KEY wire that goes to the headunit (the one that varies resistance, I believe. Resistance ohms are in the schematics.)
• Green is a +12v power source for the lighting that illuminates the keys
• Black is a ground

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Yes, that's essentially how the factory system works in 4th gen f-bodies. There is a power wire (yellow) from the 1A STG WHL CNTRL fuse in the fuse panel that goes up the column to the switches and provides battery voltage (12V). Then there is an output wire (dark blue) that goes down the column to the radio. Each switch has a different value resistor so when a switch is pressed, the radio compares the voltage on the dark blue output wire to the voltage it already gets on its power supply wire (orange) to determine how much resistance was introduced into the circuit and therefore which switch was pressed. (grey/black is the illumination power and black is illumination ground.)

However, if your head unit has it's own system using lower voltage (whether it's 3.85V or 5V) then it must have some way of replacing the factory power input (12V) to the steering wheel switches with its own lower voltage power supply. That would mean modifying the wiring to the steering column either with an adapter or by cut and splice.

BubaGumpShrimp

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for suggesting Kenwood, have been checking out what they have to offer and looks like they play well with android phones and will mirror the phone on the screen. Was looking at pioneer stuff but looks like you need an extra box to mirror the phone and even then most complain it doesnt work right..

BAMCUSTOM1

I've been a Kenwood / Excelon Person my whole life. Decided to do my brother car and my daughter jeep with the new pioneer navigation systems.
Looks great, but what not made with remotes this year, and you cant even add one, because there is no ir in the radio.
Execlon is what I have in the rest of my cars and they work great. And I cant' believe I went with Pioneer. Mind you, i'm a stereo dealer for both.
Anyway. Excelon is a great way to go, with a 2 year warranty also.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Most recent model head units don't come with IR remotes anymore - they haven't for a few years. You will find that Pioneer models (along with most other brand names like Kenwood, Alpine, Sony, etc.) come with wired remote ports on the back that are intended for use with steering wheel controls since the majority of new cars come with them these days.

You can buy a Pioneer CD-MR70 remote that is compatible with all Pioneer wired remote capable head units if you just want a separate remote instead of using steering wheel controls.