Ipod Controller - Harman Kardon Drive+Play in a KJ?

[BluPhant]

Hey all-

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I found a really good deal on a Harman Kardon Drive + Play iPod controller. So I jumped on it, ordered two, one for myself, one for an xmas present for a friend. Both should arrive tomorrow.

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Here is the only image I've been able to find of this thing installed in a KJ. Has anyone per chance installed one of these, or have suggestions for mounting locations?

My wife is generally the car-DJ. She does short trips in the KJ as the driver, but most of the time for longer trips she's the passenger. As such, the controls would have to be located in a position that is reasonable for the driver, but optimal for the passenger.

Any suggestions or pics would be appreciated, I'm planning on tackling this install over the weekend... and who knows, If I get motivated, I might even install the Infinity Kappa speakers that have been in my attic for 2+ yrs.

-Blu

 

[the_titan]

I installed one in a Ford Contour, Rev 1, not the new one that is 50 times as expensive. I just mounted it under the seat with the control knob next to the shifter, like the picture of the KJ, ran the display wire under the carpet and up the kick panel, which would work the same in a KJ, and mounted the IPOD connector inside the center stowage cubby. You can remove the liner in the KJ to pull the wire through and then push it back in slightly pinching the wire just a little, but nothing bad. I would personally mount the control knob, via screws, to the pop off panel that the lightbar switch goes on since it is small and cheap and replaceable. Beats drilling a large expensive part that you may leave exposed if you remove it later, or want to move it somewhere else.

As far as hard wiring (if you go that route) the power supply feed, you will need to solder on extensions to the wire because it is super short. Feed it off the cigarette lighter since it is just a couple feet away underneath the center console. That's an ignition fused outlet, mind you. An extra inline fuse since you're soldering anyway never hurts to make sure you don't fry the pod. Plus you're making sure that the power feeding it downline from the 15 amp or whatever it is on the cigarette lighter is substantially less. 5 amps should be plenty.

edit: OH, and it comes with numerous angle brackets for mounting both the control and the display screen. In a KJ, I would not rule out mounting it to the Driver's A-Pillar so it is not in your sightline on the dash. It comes with both screws and double sided foam tape stuff. i am guessing your great deal was getting it off of one of the Pricegrabber sellers. That's where I've picked up a couple and they are brand new sealed boxes and ship fast. So don't worry about his legitimacy. I will have to claim a brain fart on what the back of the stock radio looks like, though, so I don't know if you can use the RCA audio inputs it comes with to feed your music. The only other inbox alternative is an FM transmitter. Crutchfield still carries the in-line antenna adapter and I would suggest getting it if you're unable to use the RCA inputs via CD Changer controls and don't want FM. It goes between the antenna jack and antenna to feed directly.

 

[BluPhant]

Thanks for the info mr titan.

A pillar wont work well for me, because both driver and passenger need to be able to see it. I have XM radio already, with a Pro-Clip bracket installed. Behind the drivers kick panel I already have a (hidden) cig lighter plug for the XM (its not 12v to the unit, uses an adapter) which has an inline noise filter. I think I'm going to do a double-deal off that and secure with electrical tape.

For mounting the control knob, I'm going to put on the lower right hand corner of the trim piece around the shifter. I've ordered an extender bracket for my pro-clip thingand I'm going to put the screen above it. Nice easy installation which will give me the convenience of being able to use this new toy w/o issue, plus if I ever decide to sell the vehicle or whatever, I can remove it & just get a new piece of trim & be all set.

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<-- Extender bracket

Might do the install this weekend if the weather decides to work with me.....

-blu

 

[BluPhant]

Got a bit of an early start, and mounted the screen last night. Here's what it looks like.

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I'm re-thinking control knob position, and may go with the same location in the first picture instead of slightly forward on the shifter trim.

-Blu

 

[BluPhant]

All installed & happy. I'll post pix if anyone is interested. Ended up mounting the brain under the console. Great little toy, very intuitive interface, I'm very happy with it.

-Blu

 

[MoladoGuy]

All installed & happy. I'll post pix if anyone is interested. Ended up mounting the brain under the console. Great little toy, very intuitive interface, I'm very happy with it.

-Blu

I would love to see those pics. Great idea!!

 

[Big A]

I would love to see those pics. Great idea!!

Me too!

Post them up!

 

[BluPhant]

I'll get on it soon. After using this for a little bit I've found that I really should have done the two hot wire setup rather than using the cig lighter plug -- (long story) ... when you use two hot wires (one constant one ignition switched) it saves settings. Apparently its 1983 and harman kardon doesnt believe in flash memory.

Biggest problem for me is that the "auto aux input sense" defaults to "Dont switch to aux".... theoretically this should automatically switch over to the aux input when it detects sound (useful for my satellite radio). Now when I want to listen to satellite, I have to get to set it manually each time I start the jeep.

More later...

-Blu

Jeez.

 

[BluPhant]

I'm giving up on this. About 50%+ of the time there is a rhythmic click going on in the background when using the ipod. Very frustrating.

I've decided to take another tact, and I'm getting a
new head unit - Alpine iDA-X001 -- its an ipod-ready head unit from Alpine.

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The only sad part about it is now I have a hole I have to patch (where the control wheel is) next to my cupholder. I'll work it out though.

-Blu