I have just replaced my double-din Pioneer headunit with Sony CDX-M770, an excellent headunit putting out 23 Watts RMS per channel. The high power output makes a huge difference in how my front Polk Audio DX6 and rear Infinity 452i sound compare to the 13 Watts per channel that my Pioneer headunit produce.
In order for me to use the steering wheel remote to control the Sony headunit, I bought PAC SWI-3 steering wheel interface.
The instruction is very straightforward, only 3 wires to hook-up, acc. +, ground and steering wheel output. There is only one problem using this interface with Odyssey steering wheel remote, you cannot program the unit. Programming procedure is very simply: press the program button until left LED light up, press a button on the steering remote until the left LED goes off, press the key on the headunit remote control until the right LED goes off, and repeat the procedure for other buttons.
The problem is as soon as you press the program button, the left LED will light up and right away it will goes off and the right LED will light up without pressing any button. After spending about 15 minutes scratching my head and testing, I finally figure out that the built-in capacitor inside the steering wheel remote is the culprit. I removed the capacitor and everything works as designed.
Then I found another problem, none of the programmed buttons work. I took out my digital camera and test to be sure that the PAC unit emits IR signal when any button on the steering wheel remote is pressed, and it did. Back to scratching my head.
I programmed my Palm Pilot OmniRemote program with IR signals from the Sony headunit and tested it, it too, didn't work.
I finally checked out PAC website for information and found the answer to my problem. PAC put out a bulletin on Pioneer AVX, AVM, GEX and Rockford Fosgate, in it, it says that Pioneer AVXP7000CD, AVXP7000, AVMP7000R, AVMP8000R, AVMP9000R,
GEXP7000TV, Sony CDX-M670, CDX-M770 and Rockford Fosgate’s 2000-2001 line of
stereos do not work with PAC SWI-3.
Hope this information would be useful to those who are thinking about changing the headunit and plan to use the steering wheel remote.
-Harry