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PAC SWI-3 experience and warning

1323 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  hgani, 
H
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
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#2 ·
Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you. At first, I thought maybe you had the wrong wire from the steering wheel. I had the same symptom with a wrong wire on my Dodge Durango PESWI3 (same unit used on Honda's). Then it sounds like you found your real answer. The Ir on the sony must be out of range for your PAC repeater.

I didn't remove a capacitor on my 2000 EX w/navi in order to make my Panasonic CQ-DVR909U work. I wonder if the PESWI3 is different from a Peripherals part?

http://www.peripheral-aamp.com/periph_products/steering_interface.htm
 
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Discussion Starter · #3 ·
Peripheral sells the PAC units using its' own label and PAC sells Peripheral's CD changer interface.

The bulletin that I found was dated 5/21/2001 and the Sony CDX-M770 came out mid-May, so looks like they found the problem right after the unit came out to the market.

That's why I used my Palm OmniRemote program to double check, I can control my Sony TV and all my IR capable equipment using my Palm. Sony, Pioneer and Rockford Fosgate must be using a non-standard IR data strings.

It's strange that yours works with the capacitor and mine doesn't because 1999 and 2000 model uses the same steering wheel remote.

-Harry
 
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#4 ·
Harry
I'm in the market for an aftermarket head unit but want to be sure it can be adapted to work with the steering wheel controls. Is there any specific specification I need to be aware of in choosing a unit to insure it will work other than avoiding the units you listed?
 
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Discussion Starter · #5 ·
Go to http://www.go2pac.com and check the apps. guides to see if the unit that you are interested in does not work with SWI-3.
So far, only the units listed in my previous post are the ones they know won't work with it. VideoNavi uses Panasonic, so I know that works. If the units have been on the market for a while and they are not listed on PAC bulletins, they should work.
If you want to be absolutely sure, take one of those learning remote, go to the store and see if you can program it with the headunit remote that you are interested in. If you could, than SWI-3 should work, else, it won't.

-Harry
 
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Discussion Starter · #7 ·
PAC is aware of the problem, I'll wait and see if they would come up with a solution.
I was torn between Pioneer DEH-P9300 and Sony CDX-M770, they both have about the same specs, but my wife likes the look of the Sony better than the Pioneer. Maybe I should have gotten the Pioneer, I could have reused my 12-disc changer too. Oh well....

-Harry
 
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