L44BulmerLTB
New member
Hello all!
I recently finished messing around with the AUX IN setting on my Grande Punto Active. I have found it is possible to connect a cable to the back of the stereo (standard stereo). Here i will show you where i plugged mine in, & what i did to make it function properly.
First, you need to get the connector for the back of the stereo, which looks like this
- Note that the end has 2 connections. Dont buy this one! You need the connector with the auxillary connector, as shown in the top picture. These can be bought on ebay for about £8.
This then plugs into the back of your stereo (To get this out, you need 4 pin-like objects, and put them into the holes in the stereo, and pull all 4 simultaneously out. I used small screwdrivers).
This is were i got stuck. i plugged my iPod in, and i only got sound from one side of the car (you may have the same problem) but when i slightly pulled out the iPod, the audio WAS being sent to both sides of the car, and in perfect quality.
After a few hours of messing around with the cable (soldering etc.) i found that the wires going into the back of the stereo were wrong. The ground wire (which was the middle wire when i bought the connector (i think red)) had to be moved around, as did the other 2 wires (i tried ground in the bottom, middle & top slot). After a while the combinations worked, and sent audio to both sides of the car.
You might not have this problem however.
One tip im going to give you now is that the auxillary cable can be run down the back of the stereo, and where the air conditioning controls are, down to where the two cup holders are in front of the gearstick, as shown the image below.
- Its quite a handy place if you dont want to spend anymore; but i suggest you do.
Next up, i wanted it to look professional, so i bought a connection from Maplins for £1.50, which converted the MALE aux in, to a FEMALE connection, shown in the image below.
Buy here:http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1154What you need to do for this is cut of the end of the auxillary cable with the plug on, NOT the end going into the radio, and you will see 3 wires. You need to do some testing now, to see which cable needs to be soldered where on the connection shown in the link. Once you have a full circuit, you know that the cable belongs on that connection point.
I then drilled a 6mm in diameter hole into the pannel just in front of the handbrake, as seen in the image above. However i needed to spend around 2 hours sanding down the panel because it is 4mm thick, and the connection from Maplins only allows for surfaces of 2mm in thickness; frustrating i know, but worth it.
The cable should go behind the heating controls (as stated before) keep going down, and under the gearbox. You can take out the mock-leather surrounding, and you will see your cable.
This then allows you to have the connector fixed at all times, with no chance of the wire breaking or fraying, which may happen as a result of friction when the cable is placed in the first suitable place i mentioned, as there is a sharp metal piece just out of sight, but you can feel it.
This is then all the drilling, soldering & sanding complete.
I went to Halfords to buy a cradle for the iPod, and found the best place for it to be sat was on the inside wall of the passenger well, as shown in the picture below:
This isnt the one i bought, but you'll get the idea: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_709111_langId_-1_categoryId_165635.Final thing i thought was a nice idea, was i bought a shallow USB 'cigarette lighter' charger, bearing in mind that it is a very shallow connection. This is the one i bought for £3 at amazon: USB Car Cigarette Lighter Charger for MP3 iPod, iPhone etc.: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike - I also added to pads to the side of the charger, because the socket is fairly wide aswell. This stopped all the rattling.
and your done! Hope this helps you, it certainly sounds & looks proffesional, all for a few hours work, and for under £30!!
Please comment if this helped you!!
I recently finished messing around with the AUX IN setting on my Grande Punto Active. I have found it is possible to connect a cable to the back of the stereo (standard stereo). Here i will show you where i plugged mine in, & what i did to make it function properly.
First, you need to get the connector for the back of the stereo, which looks like this
- Note that the end has 2 connections. Dont buy this one! You need the connector with the auxillary connector, as shown in the top picture. These can be bought on ebay for about £8.
This then plugs into the back of your stereo (To get this out, you need 4 pin-like objects, and put them into the holes in the stereo, and pull all 4 simultaneously out. I used small screwdrivers).
This is were i got stuck. i plugged my iPod in, and i only got sound from one side of the car (you may have the same problem) but when i slightly pulled out the iPod, the audio WAS being sent to both sides of the car, and in perfect quality.
After a few hours of messing around with the cable (soldering etc.) i found that the wires going into the back of the stereo were wrong. The ground wire (which was the middle wire when i bought the connector (i think red)) had to be moved around, as did the other 2 wires (i tried ground in the bottom, middle & top slot). After a while the combinations worked, and sent audio to both sides of the car.
You might not have this problem however.
One tip im going to give you now is that the auxillary cable can be run down the back of the stereo, and where the air conditioning controls are, down to where the two cup holders are in front of the gearstick, as shown the image below.
Next up, i wanted it to look professional, so i bought a connection from Maplins for £1.50, which converted the MALE aux in, to a FEMALE connection, shown in the image below.
Buy here:http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1154What you need to do for this is cut of the end of the auxillary cable with the plug on, NOT the end going into the radio, and you will see 3 wires. You need to do some testing now, to see which cable needs to be soldered where on the connection shown in the link. Once you have a full circuit, you know that the cable belongs on that connection point.
I then drilled a 6mm in diameter hole into the pannel just in front of the handbrake, as seen in the image above. However i needed to spend around 2 hours sanding down the panel because it is 4mm thick, and the connection from Maplins only allows for surfaces of 2mm in thickness; frustrating i know, but worth it.
The cable should go behind the heating controls (as stated before) keep going down, and under the gearbox. You can take out the mock-leather surrounding, and you will see your cable.
This then allows you to have the connector fixed at all times, with no chance of the wire breaking or fraying, which may happen as a result of friction when the cable is placed in the first suitable place i mentioned, as there is a sharp metal piece just out of sight, but you can feel it.
This is then all the drilling, soldering & sanding complete.
I went to Halfords to buy a cradle for the iPod, and found the best place for it to be sat was on the inside wall of the passenger well, as shown in the picture below:
This isnt the one i bought, but you'll get the idea: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_709111_langId_-1_categoryId_165635.Final thing i thought was a nice idea, was i bought a shallow USB 'cigarette lighter' charger, bearing in mind that it is a very shallow connection. This is the one i bought for £3 at amazon: USB Car Cigarette Lighter Charger for MP3 iPod, iPhone etc.: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike - I also added to pads to the side of the charger, because the socket is fairly wide aswell. This stopped all the rattling.
and your done! Hope this helps you, it certainly sounds & looks proffesional, all for a few hours work, and for under £30!!
Please comment if this helped you!!
I thought I would post what I did because there are some things which I felt were unclear in other explanations, so I hope mine will sort things out. I also wanted to throw some ideas out there as to where to put cables
