Rep Power: 334

Well I went to Lowes today, they had the Weller portable one i posted. But it has a weird chisel tip. AND THEY DONT CARRY ANY OTHER TIPS... WTF IS THAT?!?!?! thats real dumb!!!

So i guess im gonna stick with my current soldering iron, i will just get a brand new tip for it.

ALSO, i got my radio today!!! THE DIY starts tommorow!!!

 
Rep Power: 334

What I plan to do as far as wiriing, is to use 2 CAT-5 wires. I can cut it in half at the center. Than i can solder all the pins and stuff up to the wires. Then the faceplate and the Headunit can connect together in the middle using a CAT-5 COUPLER!!! This also allows for easy removal!!

 
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thats a good idea, i woulda never thought of that. make sure when you crimp the cat 5 connectors, the wires are all lined up the same order in both plugs and they're all touching the pins, you dont want a poor connection ruining your hard work, or a mismatched wire frying your brand new headunit.

what part of philly are you in? I know the sears hardware @ the deptford mall in NJ has weller soldering irons and has a variety of tips

 
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yeah, u know what kind of soldering tool i'm talking about, those with blower tip. it'll heat up the solder and then you can easily pull component out of there without burning anything. if you use solder with sharp tip. it's easy to burn the board even with exp. so good luck

 
Rep Power: 334

Im SAD to report a FAILURE.

So i got it all soldered up and ready to go. Pin alignment was triple checked. Everything seemed go.

Once i got it plugged into the car, the screen refused to light up. The Eject button worked, But that was it. After trying numerous things and soldering pins over and over again without any result. I GAVE UP

I am positive i can get the DEH MP670P to work (its the exact same setup and has easier pin connection as my old setup), But i fell in love with the 860's color screen and features. And its too much of a hassle to try and sell the 860 and then buy a 670 then REDO all the wiring. I drive daily and havent had any music for 3 weeks!!!

On the bright side, the headunit is returned to stock and it works flawlessly. I have to remove my center molded screen and put back the stock headunit location setup.

I guess i will relocate the screen to the passenger side Visor.

Now i gotta figure out what to do with that hole in my ceiling.

F.U.C.K THEIVES!!! THEY messed up my setup that i had working flawlessly in the car for 3 years!!!!

 
Rep Power: 0

dam dude, that sucks. I think the face being motorized had something to do with it. Maybe because it didnt sense the face was attached to the headunit? thats real weird only the eject worked

 
Rep Power: 334

I think it was my soldering skills that were not up to par. The headunit itself is easy to solder becuase the pins alternate. However The pins on the faceplate are TINY and right next to each other in a complete line.

 
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if your up for trying it again, take the cat 5 wires and heat it up until some solder will melt onto the wire and then let it cool. Then take the tinned wire to the deck and heat it only till the solder melts and attaches to the pin. Since its only a thin coating of solder you shouldnt have a problem of shorting out the pins

 
Rep Power: 0

Hi,
I've tried to do the same with my 860MP and came up with the same result.
It works with a short extention, but doesn't with long. Also eject button works, but thats it. I think that is because of the latency of the wire.
So, one you've tested it and got the same result, the case with 860MP is closed.

 
Rep Power: 334

Wow, now I dont feel as bad!!! Thanks for confirming this! If anyone else wants to do this, Im positive it will work for the 670/6700MP becuase its just the "newer" version of the 6400 that is proved do-able!

 
Rep Power: 786

I would second the thought about the head unit sensing that the faceplate is not attached, maybe they do it to prevent buttosn from being hit when the faceplate is down, i dunno. It is the same with my Eclipse, when the face is open to put in a CD or MS, I can use the eject or open buttons but none of the other buttons on the face work. See if there is something you can find on the head unit or faceplate that you can maybe press in to make it work. For example, on my digital camera, if you open the door for the memory card slot while the camera is on, the camera shuts off instantly. I looked at it and there is a little tab on the door for the CF card slot that presses a tiny little button. If I press the tiny button with a pin or something, the cam works. See if you can find something like that on your deck.

 
Rep Power: 334

I checked as best i could. On the lower end pioneer models there is a button that is phsyically on the headunit itself that is kept pressed in when the faceplate is attached. I just taped that button down.

For the 860/8600MP there is no such botton. I also beleive that my buttons do work when the faceplate is in its "Eject/Insert cd face slide down mode". The faceplate never loses contact with any of the pins while in its "open position". I will check on that later, but Im sure the display works when its in this position too.

Headunit makers should make radios that communicate via bluetooth! Than it will allow for creative mounting such as this! Or even simpilier, someone should make a pin extension wire, that just plugs into the oem connectors on both ends.

 
Rep Power: 0

I am sure that there is no button or anything that touches the faceplate.
I can repeat once again: THE FACEPLATE WORKS WITH A SHORT EXTENTION.
If I extend it by ~30 cm. (about 2 feet maybie), the faceplate works as it should be and everything seems fine.
But when I go further to about 4 meters (~30 feet), it stops working, and only eject button is active.

 
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would you happen to know the max distance it would work? I'd love to get a DMM on the lines to see what kind of power is being transmitted

 
Rep Power: 334

I attempted to extend my 860MP 14 ft. it didn't work. I extended a Pioneer DEH6400 and it worked fine. I used 18 guage wire for that though, and cat5 (24 gauge?) wire for 860. don't knw if that makes and difference.

 
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it could, I'm willing to bet the issue is voltage drop along the wire. Wonder if an 8 ft run would work. That would probably be long enough to tuck the unit in the glove box but have the face in view.

 
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I also used cat5e. Who knows, maybe it would work on 18 guage...

 
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I'm not sure if it is a voltage drop case.
If you look inside 860MP, all the stuff seems very much like in lower end models, like 4600, 6600 etc.
So it might be, that all the graphics calculation and all the sound processing is mane in the faceplate and the data exchange has to be very fast. So, longer wire would cause latency and colisions. Thats my oppinion why it is not working wth longer extentions.

 
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I never even thought of that.

 
Rep Power: 300

if you have access to an oscilloscope, go take a look at the signals..

 
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thats one tool I dont have in my box at work yet. Wouldnt happen to have an extra one laying around, eh?

 
Rep Power: 786

Ever seen inside a faceplate? Do you really think there is room in there for the processing circuitry?