Questions on installing new head unit

PittSpeed Automotive
1

Ok, I’m almost embarrassed to ask this but I haven’t dealt with any modern head units since I’ve been using the same one for about 7 years now. But it finally died on me last week and I’ve been driving around with no tunes and I was going nuts. So I went and bought this open-box from Circuit City: http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/Manuals/110/110VM9312.PDF

  1. So my question is how do I hookup/bypass the parking brake wire? It looks to me like it should be grounded by the minus in the diagram. So would I just ground it? Or should it be on a manual switch to ground?

  2. I also got the XM stuff to go with it, as the local radio stations suck now. Where is the ideal place to mount the antenna? Will it work on the dash? Or should I run it externally? I would prefer to mount it in place of the mini antenna on my roof, but the wire goes out the rear of the antenna and it would need to go out the bottom to mount it there.

Thanks

2

some people just leave their sat. radio antenna on the dash (but it looks ghetto) I prefer to install it outside, easy thing to do is center it in the back on the roof (if its a hatch, or truck) or on the trunklid if its a sedan. Hopefully when the hatch is fully open their is enough space for the wire not to be crushed, when I installed an antenna on my wifes new rabbit the hatch would have smashed the wire when fully open, so I installed on the left side. When I installed the antenna on my truck I centered in on the roof and gained access to the cab via the 3rd brake light, just make sure to silcone the entry way of the wire so you get no water issues, as for a sedan its quite easy, just use the rubber boots close to the hinges to gain access to main part of the car (same can go for the hatch) after your in the car then its the fun of hiding the wire, usually in the headliner till the A pillar…

3

Thanks, I am going to mount it on the roof somewhere I think, even though I think THAT is ghetto. Having 2 antennas just looks goofy to me. I am going to pull my head liner down today and see if I can run the wire through the same hole as the stock antenna. It’s just a little peg about 6 - 10 inches from where the hatch pivots. If I can use that hole I will have no worries about the wire getting crushed as you mentioned. If not, it will be trial and error of where I can mount it near the stock antenna. Is there any tricks to securing the wire if I can’t use that hole? I don’t want a wire just hanging loose going from the antenna to the body seam.

4

run that parking brake wire to ground and put it on a switch. the jensen unit has to see a sequence of ON-OFF-ON or gnd. open. gnd. to activate the watching mode. i usually center the xm antenna above the windshield depending on weather stripping then run the wire in thru the door jamb. blah blah blah. do it however it works best for you

5

Thanks, thats how I hooked up the parking brake switch. I ran my antenna out of the stock antenna hole on the roof.

6

I’m stupid, but why does a head unit need a parking park and reverse input?

7

The video won’t play without getting the proper parking brake procedure. In my case, I have to put it on for 3 secs, off, and then on again and it will play DVDs all day long after it sees that combo. I have it set to a switch, so I just switch it on for 3, off, then on again and it plays. The reverse wire I am assuming turns on the reverse camera that can be hooked up as an option.