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Add AUX Input and Keep Radio, CD, and Onstar

104K views 207 replies 60 participants last post by  bbs1 
#1 · (Edited)
I thought this would be a good first Mod for me to share with everyone. I don’t know if this is really covered yet, but it can’t hurt to have it up twice. My car is wrecked right now and I am having Saab withdrawals.

So I got really tired of listening the radio and making CDs all the time, but I kinda like my factory radio still (aka can’t afford in dash Nav) so I took apart my factory radio and figured out how the best way to add an aux port for an iPod or MP3 player. After testing a bunch and reading tons of forums I finally got it to work.

I was able to add an MP3 aux port into my radio and I didn’t lose my Onstar, Phone, radio or CD player. It was pretty simple and the way it works is it overrides the radio. So if I want to listen to the radio I unplug my aux cord from my MP3 and the radio plays. If I want to listen to my iPod I just plug it in while while in radio mode and my iPod starts to play.

You WILL be required to solder to be able to do this modification.

Also when the iPod is plugged in and nothing is playing it will be silent but if you turn the radio volume to max you will be able to hear the radio slightly. I havent had it affect my music at all, and I am pretty picky about that type of stuff.

READ WHOLE THING FIRST

Materials

1/8 Female Stereo Jack from RadioShack
Heat Shrink tubing
3ft Wire (thats way too much but its easier to cut, than it is to grow wire)

I forget what gauge wire I used but I think you can get a good sense from the pictures

Tools

Wire strippers
soldering iron
Drill Press (Regular drill is fine with a steady hand)
Caliper

1. First unplug the battery to the car. I then removed the radio from my Dash. You can use the saab radio removal thingys or like me just use a coat hanger. It helps if you pop the ACC out so you can kinda push the radio out from inside. If you have no idea about this part watch a youtube video on removing the radio.

2. Once the radio is out and unplugged take it to your desk and flip it upside down. You want to take off the back cover and the faceplate. When taking off the faceplate make sure not to rip off the LED light that is attached to it.

3. Once the faceplate is removed, I found that the best spot to place the new AUX port was in the very lower left of corner of the face plate. There I didn’t have to do any modification or cutting the insides to make it fit. The first picture shows its placement and how it looks.

4. Before placing the AUX port onto the faceplate it makes things a lot easier if you solder three ft long wires to the three tabs of the port. I have the AUX pinout pic attached. I would mark the wires as well so you know which is which.

5.Pretty simple I just used a caliper got as close to a drill mark as I could for the AUX and then I used my drill press and drilled the hole size that should be mentioned on the radioshack aux bag. and I then installed the AUX on the faceplate. It would be wise to heatshrink over each of the open connections so nothing can possibly short out.

6. Now in my pictures I used the blue wire as a GND and the Yellow wires as my left and right. Since I don’t have my car right now these are the only pics I have to work with till an update. But I will try to explain the solder locations.

7. If you have the unit in front of you and faceplate is facing towards your person. Then on the left of the PCB there should be a long line of small solder points. In my picture the yellow wires are connected to them. And you are specifically looking for the ones labeled “L” and “R”. Those are the ones that you want to solder to.

8. Then you want to solder your GND to one of the bigger bent in tabs with solder already on them. Try to choose one that is closer to the two yellow wires. All the GNDs are common to one single GND though so any of them its ok.

Thats about it. You just have to put it back together after. I would secure the wires down with elec. tape and make sure you don’t pinch any.

If you want to test it first without really doing soldering. what you can do is solder the GND wire and then plug the radio back into your car and test it out by playing the radio and then touching the wires to the two spots. And you will see that the radio cuts out and then your mp3 plays.

I will be happy to answer any questions and any feedback is appreciated
 

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#111 ·
For anyone who has problems with one side going silent, and has checked all their soldering...
I installed my 5 pin jack in the radio faceplate as shown in the thread, and reinstalled with no problems. It was a very tight fit though, seemed a little more difficult than described by the OP. After a while one channel started cutting out intermittently. Turns out that between the cheap jack and the vibrations from the car the plastic body of the jack was deforming and the internal contacts were losing complete contact. I think the plastic body of my jack was slightly larger than the one used by the OP, causing it to deform when the radio was installed.
 
#112 ·
I like to go the extra mile, I used a VW group USB/AUX jack removed the existing USB and AUX jack from the casing. Added a male to female aux lead and male to female USB. After gluing them to the casing I cut a hole in my glove box and plunged the other end of the usb into a modified usb cigaret lighter charger soldiered into the back of the cigaret lighter. This enables me to have my phone or iPod charge whilst playing music.

 
#113 ·
Nice work with the vw jack, definitely makes the final product look very clean. Do you just roll around with the glove box open , or can you close the glove box with the cord in the way?

And second, do you get any interference in the audio signal when charging your device? I've tried both hardwired and plug in chargers for my ipod/phone and always get a high pitched whine over the audio when I am charging. Not a problem with the loud stuff but quite annoying for audiobooks/ quieter music.
 
#115 ·
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Switch-P...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d50adc8c6



This is the actual cable which would hook up to any VW RCD310-510 not that it is relevant here but as you can see its proprietary. The USB and AUX will simply pop out of the casing. This allows the use of a female USB and AUX cable. I found these at my local Jaycar which is like Radioshack in Australia.
As far as electrical interference I don't seem to get a high pitch whistle noise but my bass can be a bit rough after a while. But thats fixed by adjusting the cord.
However Ive gotten a new retractable cord which is flat and seems to have fixed these issues as well as helping my glovebox close better. Note I also used a small adhesive chair/table leg cap on my glove box to keep it from rattling when closed so it does leave a slight gap.
 
#122 ·
Hi!
I'm a new guy in this sight and I'm not even sure if this post is in right thread ;oops:

I have saab 9-3 from year 99 and I have been searching a way to put aux plug in to it. I haven't found the right guide for it yet because my mainboard seems to be a bit different. Does anyone know where should I attach the wires of the plug? Here is a few pictures

Guy from finland



 
#123 ·
Greetings from Sweden!
My radio-cd player looks the same and I did this trick and it works! :)
I suppouse you removed a metal plate that covered that long row of contacts. There you will find a contact named L-CH (left channel) and next to it R-CH (right). You will also find several contacts named GND (ground). Choose the closest one! Thats all! I will try to upload pictures with my work.
 
#127 ·
I installed the five legged aux input as adviced and it works fine on the right side. It switches radio off when Ipod is plugged. But the left side is totally quiet!!
Even with just radio.

This is what I have checked and tried:
-All solderings for four times and done them again every time
-checked that the connections are the same as on right side (four times too)
-the aux(box with five legs) is in good place so it's not under any kind of pressure.
- I also connected the radio with a piece of wire as it was originally without any tampering

Somebody talked about burning some 8 legged thing? Have I maybe done it?
I have been quite careful with soldering and all of them look very nice and tidy.

Iwould be very glad to get it working again
 
#128 ·
Just did this to my 2000 9-3 and it works perfectly. I did the five cable setup and it instantly cuts the radio feed when the audio plug is inserted. The audio quality is really good, as good as any new car with factory aux. My car has the radio unit with tape deck and cd changer in the trunk, the circuit for this mod is the same as in the newer combo units.
 
#129 ·
I'm wanting to try the 5-pin aux mod, would it be difficult to wire in a switch so I can leave an aux cable connected and just flip the switch for radio? I've hidden a apple 30-pin to usb/aux cable behind the dash and i'd like to keep the aux part there. (car's got an aftermarket radio with rear aux in it now, but no functioning steering wheel buttons, got an original radio for cheap).
 
#130 ·
reiernumans, the 5 pin aux input is a switch in itself, and works perfectly when properly installed. Why would you want to leave the cable permanently connected? Having a plug input in the dash and just plugging and unplugging is more practical because if it goes bad you just plug another cable or a longer/shorter one. What you want can be done but involves putting a jumper between the contacts that open when you insert the audio plug and putting a rocker switch in line with that cable.
 
#131 ·
Tried this yesterday . .works a treat . .no interference and easy to do. Followed the colour coded wires from jack to headunit as per the pic posted by Sluice Box Hero.

Jaycar in Australia has the 3.5mm 5 pin socket (Search for code PS0133 on the jaycar website. I also found that a small length of Ethernet cat5 wire works best. If you don't have any . .just ask any IT or tech savvy person that you know . .they will always have a spare lying around :)
 
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