2003-2011 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Sure, Larry, here's some more info:
The Belkin charger I used was Belkin's part # F8V7058-APL, which can be used with any iPod that has the slot at the bottom for a docking station.
The charger can be purchased over the web from Belkin, or through the Apple site, or at any Apple store, and at a lot of stereo stores and Best Buy and such. It typically goes for around $39. That particular Belkin charger connects to the bottom of the iPod in the docking station slot, and has, at the other end, a plug of the type that goes into a cigarette lighter. Also on that plug (which contains an amplifier) is a female headphone-type jack. When you're at the point in the installation that you're connecting the Belkin, make sure that you've set the volume on the Belkin amplifier to an appropriate level -- I did it by setting it so the volume was about the same coming from the iPod as from the CD player.
I wanted to hide the wires, and also not occupy the cigarette lighter, so I could use it for other things (cel phone charger, etc.). I also wanted to avoid taking apart the Belkin charger and wrecking it. So what I did was get a cheap cigarette lighter Y-adapter (basically, two cigarette lighter sockets connected by wires to a cigarette lighter plug), and snipped the wires, so I ended up with a cigarette lighter socket with a couple of wires sticking out of it. I spliced these wires to the positive and negative wires going to the cigarette lighter, and just plugged the Belkin into that socket, and tucked everything in behind the cigarette lighter (there's plenty of room back there). it's important to get the polarity right, of course -- the center connector in the cigarette lighter is positive, and the interior walls are negative. Then, what I did was to get a connector that consisted of two male stereo headphone jacks -- that is, a male-to-male connector -- and plugged one end of it into the Belkin's jack, and the other into the etadyne cable, which ran to the back of the CD player. If you can't find a male-to-male connector, you could just use a male-to-male cable, but then you'll have a LOT of wire back there. The more extra wire you have, the more likely it is to get snagged on something, etc.
I should add that instead of the Belkin charger, you could use a simpler solution, like the "imp" wire from http://www.sik.com . The reason I prefer the Belkin is that when power is cut off to the Belkin (as happens when you turn the car off), it puts the iPod on pause, and then the iPod will after a few minutes power down by itself. If you use the "imp," the iPod keeps playing and runs its battery down, and when you get back in the car you don't "pick up where you left off". Also, if the iPod is still on when you turn the car (and therefore the stereo) back on, you get a big "thunk" sound through the speakers when the stereo powers up. You don't get this if you use the Belkin charger.
As mentioned, you've got to get the center vent, the a/c panel and the cd player out to do this. The center vent can be pried out with a plastic prying tool. Don't use a metal tool, or you'll scratch the area around the vent. There are three tangs at the bottom of the vent -- one in the center and one at each end -- that need to be depressed to pull the vent out. Go slowly and gradually, and you'll be fine. Very important not to squeeze hard on the vent, or to try to pull it out using the vent controls, because that honeycomb inside the vent is a total house of cards, and will come apart into a million pieces if you do either of those things. The a/c panel can be gently pried out with the same plastic prying tool, and has two connectors at the back which are easily removed -- you pull at their outside edges and a couple of sliders work a couple of cams in the connectors. You can't get the connectors mixed up because one is longer than the other.
The hardest part is getting the CD player out. The CD player and the silver box on top of it come out as a single unit. There are a couple of metal springs immediately above the CD player that must be bent inwards (you can use a pair of butter knives to do this) and then the whole unit is pulled forward and out. It is MUCH easier to do the pulling (it's jammed in there pretty tight) if you use the clarion removal tool, which looks like a pair of keys that fit into the two slots in the CD player. You can purchase these from your Saab dealer (they'll go through their tool supplier, as it's not really a Saab part), but I went to the installation bay at my local car stereo installer, and they had piles of them, because the keys come included with most Clarion car stereos; they just gave me a pair.
Once you get the CD player out, don't attempt to disconnect anything from the back of it...it'll come out far enough to give you enough room to work, and once it's out you can easily access the wiring at the back of the cigarette lighter, where red is positive and black is negative.
You plug the etadyne cable into the empty socket at the back of the CD player, and it can only go in one way. If you've already got a cable going to the port in the center console, you'll need to pull it out, which is easy...you just depress the lock on the connector and it comes right out.
There are some VERY good pictures of the springs behind the CD player and the connectors behind the a/c panel, and the process for getting the A/C panel and the CD player out, over at etadyne.com -- check those out for sure.
-A
posted by 65.219....
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