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I have spent countless hours trying to find a cheap way to get my ipod connected to my radio with a very good quality link. FM modulators suck, you know all about it. I have heard a lot from others online too. This is my cheap fix that might work with yours too, and im pretty sure that all the interfaces are the same for the internal 1-CD player. Cd changers are even easier and I think I saw a demo for that before too.
TOOLS NEEDED: soldering iron, wire strippers(your teeth...jk), screwdriver
ITEMS NEEDED: long extension cable for headphones, you will be cutting one end off.
if you can find in your garage or somewhere a headphone (male) coupling with an open end, then you are lucky and you don't have to buy one. I just got mine from radioshack its quality and the wires are big and easy to solder.
Sometimes headphone wires will be small and enamel-coated (instead of insulated rubber) and they can be tricky so don't use them unless you are zuper awezome.
SKILLS REQ'D : soldering, understanding your own car's components, understanding basic radio components and being comfortable altering them.
I have pictures from my radio, and you can see how it was done from the pictures I took after I finished and was putting it back together.
It depends on which radio you have, I have the A51813 well thats what it says on the outside
A51813
Model No. 816120-02430
Ref No. CQ-JS7460X
Serial No. MX658147
TOOLS NEEDED: soldering iron, wire strippers(your teeth...jk), screwdriver
ITEMS NEEDED: long extension cable for headphones, you will be cutting one end off.
if you can find in your garage or somewhere a headphone (male) coupling with an open end, then you are lucky and you don't have to buy one. I just got mine from radioshack its quality and the wires are big and easy to solder.
Sometimes headphone wires will be small and enamel-coated (instead of insulated rubber) and they can be tricky so don't use them unless you are zuper awezome.
SKILLS REQ'D : soldering, understanding your own car's components, understanding basic radio components and being comfortable altering them.
I have pictures from my radio, and you can see how it was done from the pictures I took after I finished and was putting it back together.
It depends on which radio you have, I have the A51813 well thats what it says on the outside
A51813
Model No. 816120-02430
Ref No. CQ-JS7460X
Serial No. MX658147
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Signing UpStep 1Take the radio out
I have seen other places showing how to take the radio out but all you have to do is take the shifter cover out, you can pry it from the back a little and the front a little and it will come out.
Taking off the heater and shelf middle console only has one screw which is in the center knob(the fan speed).
Taking out the vent part is easy if you shove your fingers on the sides and push while you pry a little.
Main point - Get the radio out
Once the radio's surroundings are removed, it is easy to unscrew the 4 bolts underneath with a long tool that fits and when taking it out or putting it in, you must go straight and slow and pay attention to where it is going, maybe use a flashlight if you can't see inside. Mine had 6 holes because two of the screw sites had additional holes where a plastic spike went. Keep track of the screws because the next step has many more.
Taking off the heater and shelf middle console only has one screw which is in the center knob(the fan speed).
Taking out the vent part is easy if you shove your fingers on the sides and push while you pry a little.
Main point - Get the radio out
Once the radio's surroundings are removed, it is easy to unscrew the 4 bolts underneath with a long tool that fits and when taking it out or putting it in, you must go straight and slow and pay attention to where it is going, maybe use a flashlight if you can't see inside. Mine had 6 holes because two of the screw sites had additional holes where a plastic spike went. Keep track of the screws because the next step has many more.
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im sure that will help a lot , cd player is working ok
thank you for the pictures
Try putting the CD in upside-down. The screen will say "Error" but the ipod will play fine. As far as distortion, try turning the volume on the CD player UP and the iPod's volume at about 60%.
Thanks!
NOTE: One huge thing that helped me was watching a video on how to get the dash off. I was able to get the radio out in literally less that 4 mins. Go on youtube and look for instalation videos for aux inputs, and you can find several where they take the pannel off. It really is simple if you just see how it's done. All i used was a tiny flat head screw driver and a 10mm socket with extention.
NOTE NOTE: If you are having to FORCE the pannel to come off, you are doing it wrong. You will more than likely break something. Just fyi.
The Tip is your Left audio input (LCh).
The Ring (next contact) is the Right audio input (RCh).
The Sleeve (last contact, near the strain relief and cord) is Common.
You'll want to use a multimeter from the wire to each of these inputs and write down the color of the wire associated with LCh, RCh, and Common.
Also, we traced the inputs from the CD player to the board where you'll solder. The inputs were clearly labeled on the CD players board. Finally, we didn't remove the ribbon connector because it seemed to use just the through-hole mounts (with light-to-moderate force, I couldn't separate the connector). This required some careful soldering, but it worked out okay.
Thanks for this tutorial - I love the sound quality!
http://chrisminglee.com/2010/06/03/corolla-2006-cd-changer-ipod-hack/
Also, be aware that the CD player can put a lot of stress on the solder connections if you have your wires coming up off the board, so try to solder them in parallel to the board.
For those who have a 6-CD Changer in their 2005 Corolla, the pins to solder should be as follows:
Pin 1 = Right Input
Pin 2 = Ground
Pin 3 = Left Input
On the largest ribbon cable that comes from the CD player.
1. You have a mono jack, meaning one channel. If that's the case, either get another headphone cable or solder the input wire to both left and right channels.
2. The third wire is a wrapping of some sort (almost a sheathing -- I could be wrong on this)
3. You stripped the third wire off (happens to me occasionally).
http://duramecho.com/Misc/SilentCd/index.html
The headphone jack from your ipod goes into the male end of a long extension cord for headphones where I cut off the end to be soldered.
One of the pictures is very useful as it shows where the contact points are for the CD INPUT from the TOYOTA RADIO, and IM SURE that other radios will have a different configuration AND you will have to poke around THE CD TO MOTHERBOARD CONNECTION INSIDE THE RADIO, which is difficult and my case was much easier because TOYOTA made the radio very simply and was expecting upgrades (other cd changers etc.)
This whole thing took me about 2 hours, including going to get batteries for the camera.
I suggest unless you can pretty much tell what I was doing by the pictures, don't try it, because there is really not much to explain. One ipod, one extension headphone wire, three solder points, a few screws and you should probably know how to take your car apart without damaging anything.
All the screws that hold everything together need to come out, as you need to access the internal components of the radio.... You should be able to tell which screws are for what...
IF YOU HAVE A TOYOTA WITH SIMILAR RADIO:
Do you know how to take your radio out?
Do you know how to take your radio apart?
Look at the picture of the solder points.
Solder ANY stereo input you would like to those points.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A TOYOTA:
Do you know how to take your radio out?
Do you know how to take your radio apart?
Find the part where the CD player inputs to the amplifier and splice your own connection!
I am sorry for the terrible instruction, as this is my first time.
If you have any specific questions that I can answer I would be glad to.
Thanks for the comment about clarity, it was very helpful and although I read instruct ables a lot for ideas I do not usually create them and I plan on contributing what I have time to document.
Don't sweat the unclear criticisms about your clarity. Your instructable was fairly well-written, and included pretty good pictures.
Could it clearer? Yes.
Regardless, can people learn a lot from your work? Definitely.
Thanks to your work, I was able to perform a similar hack on my 2006 Corolla with 6-CD Changer. I wrote a guide on that, which I'll link here because I think it supplements your guide.
2006 Corolla CD Changer iPod Hack
If you prefer not to have any link-outs on your page or you feel like I'm spamming you for clicks, send a note and I'll remove this comment.
Thanks again.
We have the same model unit (A51813) and I followed your instructions and seeing as we have the same model, I used the solder points you used. When testing with a CD upside down, it worked, but barely. I had to have the receiver volume and my iPhone volume all the way up, but it was distorted and not very loud (as full volume should be), plus, the sound was one channel only.
Now, where I think a problem lies, is that when I used the wires from headphones, but there are only 2 wires there, a left and right. I didn't solder anything to the common because, there wasn't a wire for it. Is this an issue?
It may sound bad because I used cheap wires, but I want to make sure that not using the common/ground solder point isn't an issue. Because of the cheap wires, my solder points might not be the best, hence hearing only one channel. Thanks a lot though.
My 2004 Corolla has the Single CD/Cassette Player/Radio in it. The layout is different than the pictures. However, I was able to successfully perform the mod. Just remove the unit and remove enough screws on the covers to get the CD unit out of the radio (including the heat sink on the back). Remove the CD ribbon cable. You will find RCH, LCH, and ACOM test point labels on the CD PC board right by the ribbon connector. (Right Channel, Left Channel, and Audio Common) Just solder a coax audio cable (radio shack $10 spool) to the test points very carefully. They are very small, so this is not for a solder novice. I routed the cable out the back of the radio similar to the instructions on this site. I used a panel mount 1/8" stereo input jack from radio shack and mounted it on the right side near the shifter across from the 12V power plug. Note that the MP3 input works whenever the unit is on, including CD, cassette, and AM/FM. You should disconnect the MP3 player whenever you want to listen to something other than MP3.