Stupid questions re Pioneer HU and stalk + ipod adapters

[TheFinn]

Background:

I swapped my original Tuner List headunit for a Pioneer DEH-P55BT headunit (cd/mp3/wma/bluetooth hf).

To retain the Mégane's original stalk remote control and radio display functionality I added a Pioneer CA-D-PI.180 adapter.

For listening and controlling my iPod through the new headunit I also added a Pioneer CD-IB100II adapter.

For most parts the installation works fine, but there are a few minor issues to be solved (hopefully), wonder if you've had similar experiences:

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Q1. Are the steering wheel remote controls through the CA-D-PI.180 adapter supposed to be very sluggish and partly non-responsive by design?

It takes about 1 sec. before the Pioneer HU reacts to the press of a control (sometimes only on 3rd or 4th press!), while the original Tuner List HU reacted without any lag.

There were only two blue connector ports on the adapter box. Slightly odd, as all the Pioneer manuals say a black port is always for an incoming IP bus signal, a blue one for an outgoing.

So my adapter box only has two outgoing ports!? Shouldn't there be a black port on the SWRC adapter that the cable from the HU goes into, and then a blue port from which a cable leaves for the iPod adapter's black port?

Could it be that I need to switch the place of the cables on the SWRC adapter go get rid of the lag? I'd have tried it already, but as I've buried the adapter deep into the bowels of the centre console I couldn't be ar**d into ripping everything out of the way again unnecessarily...

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Q2. Should the iPod track number and time be replicated on the car's own display?

On switching to iPod, my car display only blanks out, just shows "-- ------" or freezes to show the last track info from the cd I was listening to, depending on where I switched to iPod from. The display on the headunit shows the all iPod info correctly, it just isn't replicated on the car's display. Is this a design feature or maybe somehow related to my Q1?

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Q3. Why won't the iPod's "On the Go" playlist work through the Pioneer?

I currently have only two special playlists ("Jazz" and "Massive Attack") on my iPod, each contain about 40-50 songs. These play faultlessy through the Pioneer.

But the rest of the 1200ish songs on my iPod I haven't organised into any particular playlists, they're just a part the one "On the Go" general playlist. When I switch to this playlist it just says "STOP" on the Pioneer's display and I get no sound. Confusing...

Could it be that the Pioneer can't handle that many songs in one huge playlist and therefore stops or I'm I missing something crucial here?


Any advice is warmly welcomed!

[TheFinn]

Answering to myself re Q1:

It seems the sluggishness in an in-built feature. I swapped the bus cables on the SWRC adapter to no avail.

[danbrazier]

i had an ipod going through a pioneer headunit in my 306. it was always sluggish at changing songs and stuff.... i made myself lots of playlists for different moods and passengers (my mum isn't a pantera fan!) i added all my music in to a "play all" playlist - maybe try that?

i'm looking to get a in-dash screen, so was reading this for some research - thought i'd answer you.

i think the sluggishness isn't the part of the headunit - i think its linked to the ipod. i now have a megan extreme - they come with the tunepoint as standard - and this is also very slow to react, sometimes 2 or 3 tries to actually change a song.

[mikeydasilva]

guy pioneer cannot do ipod connection very good they are very slow and as for the steering wheel stalk it will be slow as the pioneers have next to no memory so when you are playing musuc for instance using an ipod adaptor and using the stalk it takes all the onboard memory....... i know this because i used to use pioneer in my 2000 megane coupe and got rid of it for the sony at the time but now im on the megane 2 its all about the alpine for high speed ipod transfer......................take back all the pioneer or sell it on ebay and get into the alpine world....

[TheFinn]

Thanks for the answers danbrazier and mikeydasilva!

I was afraid the sluggishness might be "in-built" like it was in my previous affair, the Blaupunkt MP74 Los Angeles, which I got rid of because of its slow responses.

So many people recommended Pioneer and I have good experiences of it from some (pre-iPod) years back, so thought I'd give it a try. And Pioneer still have great receivers in their HUs, but now it seems they aren't really up to the job with the iPod and stalk control thingies...

I actually got an answer from Pioneer UK technical support basically saying there might be something wrong with the stalk adapter, but now after reading mikeydasilvas posting I'm not so sure... The technical support also said that my HU (DEH-P55BT) being an older design has limited iPod functionality, hinting between the lines that "Get a newer unit"! Funny, as their product subscription for the DEH-P55BT mentions nothing about limited functionality.

I know Alpine is recommended by many hardcore ICE enthusiasts, but unfortunately the Alpine front panels are a bit too... well, Alpine... to my liking. I'd like the design to be as close to OEM as possible, like Becker do their front panels.

So now I'm left a bit confused: if I were to buy a newer Pioneer HU with in-built iPod support (i.e. no separate adapter box needed), would they have more memory allocated and thus have faster responses? Because the Pioneer stalk control adapter cost an absolute fortune I wouldn't want to change from Pioneer to some other manufacturer, rendering the adapter useless.

[DEEJAY1976]

I Have the pioneer avh5700 and the ipod interface cd-ib100 and have no problems with the speed in which it can change songs or the display,maybe it has a larger memory than a normal hu,dont know

so the problem must lie with in the steering control leads imo

[Paul_uk74]

Hi TheFinn

Did you manage to sort out your problem?

I am looking to change my tuner list but would like to keep the stalk controls and display if possible.

Did you manage to keep your display and controls?

Regards
Paul

[TheFinn]

Hi TheFinn

Did you manage to sort out your problem?

Did you manage to keep your display and controls?

Regards
Paul

Hi Paul,

I haven't sorted out the problem yet but am working on it. Despite the problems I do have both the controls and the display, although the formers function rather erratically, what this topic is all about.


Re the sluggish reactions, one thing came to my mind:

I had a closer look at the adapter's wiring and noticed that one ground wire coming from the car's display is not connected to anything!

Here's the connector coming from the display (via which the stalk controls are originally connected to the radio). Notice the wire no. 6, it's ground.



According to https://tlcdcemu.sourceforge.net/hardware.html the pinout is like this:
1 = DTA
2 = CLK
3 = MIRQ
4 = not in use
5 = Radio ON
6 = GND

But when we look at the adapter side connector, the pin 6 isn't connected:



I'm wondering if the display (and thus the stalk controls) not getting ground from this pin might be causing the sluggishness? Do you think it would do damage if I grounded the pin 6 for testing purposes?

Obviously the display must be getting ground from somewhere, but could the missing pin 6 still cause a current "leak" somewhere creating some "static" that disturbs the controls?

I should perhaps add that originally the yellow connector (and thus the display's ground) is directly connected to the back of the Tuner List headunit.

[Paul_uk74]

Thanks for the reply.


Are you still using all the equipment listed in your original post?

Regarding that ground wire. I would make sure it is definatley a ground before you connect it to anything just in case you blow something up. But if you are sure then go for it. Try it

So the yellow is the displays ground? But its labelled CLK not GRD.

Good luck and keep us posted

I will be buying bits this week. Does it have to be Pioneer to get the display and stalk working as I didnt find any other posts other than this one regarding the Tuner List.

[TheFinn]

So the yellow is the displays ground? But its labelled CLK not GRD.

No no, I was talking about the yellow CONNECTOR as a whole, not the yellow wire. The yellow wire is indeed, as you mentioned, CLK.

And yes I still have all the equipment from my first post.

[Paul_uk74]

My bad. I do appologise.

In that case I would try connecting that wire up and see how it goes.

I purchased Sony equipment as its a lot cheaper

[amer78]

hello guys this is my first step in the forum
could anybody help me and photograph the inside of this adaptor CA-R-PI.182 (schematic diagram)for tunerlist (seprate display)
to use it on my renault part CA-R-PI.182
thank you very much