Stereo & Electronics - Steering wheel controls

Anybody have a wiring diagram of the steering wheel controls.

I'd like to use one of the buttons to activate something else (will be used as a momentary on/off) Think its possible?

I'd also like to stay away from using the PAC thing

On the back of your factory GM radio there is a 2 or a 3 pin plug. That is the connector that sends the signal from the wheel to the radio. You would have to test the leads while it is plugged in and figure out which one does what. You will probably need a relay to run more current to activate what you are running and use the steering wheel controls as the signal. I belive the PAC is just a programable infared led repeater.

Cool idea keep me posted on what you are doing and if the controls work for ya. Good Luck

Thanks for the help
From what I've heard its actually only one wire going into the radio. The switches send a digital signal through the wire to the radio ( or a different amperage/voltage/ohm???) that the head unit deciphers.
I think I might have to take the wheel apart and see what I can do
Try to keep ya posted

The steering wheel controls use a single wire - the dark blue wire in the 10-pin gray connector at the back of the radio. They work by using different resistors to modify the voltage depending on which switch is pressed. There is no way to use this signal for your own accessory without building your own logic circuit to determine which switch was pressed.

You could use another factory switch instead. For example, the convertible top switch provides momentary contacts. You can get the plastic switch panel and the switch from a wreck or from your dealer and wire it to whatever you want.

i would prefer something on the steering wheel though....
what about taking the switch apart and running my own wires?
Just in the thought process now....haven't taken it apart yet

Well, if you're willing to give up the use of all the radio controls on the wheel, the mute button is the only one that has no resistor so it could be used as a momentary switch. You would use the dark blue wire that normally goes to the radio to control a relay for your accessory.

Thanks
The mute button wouldn't be my first choice but I'll have to look at it again.
I think the button I would prefer to use would be the preset (anything on the left hand though)
What about removing the resitor for something on the left side?

It would help if you could be a little more specific about what you want to use it for. Is it going to control a relay? If so, perhaps the resistance wouldn't be a problem (as long as enough current flows to trip the relay).

Removing the resistors would mean opening up the switches themselves and doing a butcher job on them. You'd have to do both switches or find some way to bypass the right switch because the power comes through all the resistors in the right switch before feeding the left switches.

It would help if you could be a little more specific about what you want to use it for. Is it going to control a relay? If so, perhaps the resistance wouldn't be a problem (as long as enough current flows to trip the relay).

Removing the resistors would mean opening up the switches themselves and doing a butcher job on them. You'd have to do both switches or find some way to bypass the right switch because the power comes through all the resistors in the right switch before feeding the left switches.

I would like to use it for a line lock switch (momentary on/off). Using a relay wouldn't be out of the question. As long as it activates the solenoid, I don't care.
I am guessing that I would check the "preset" button by a voltmeter on the blue lead and pressing the button? If the voltage is high enough to trip the relay then nothing has to be done to the switch itself. Also if the "preset" button works, wouldn't some of the other ones also? (as long as the voltage was high to trip the relay anyways)

Your help is greatly appreciated

Yes, you can use any of the buttons if you get enough voltage through them to trip the relay. If you have a choice though, go with one that shows less voltage drop so that you don't have a problem with intermittent operation if your overall system voltage drops.

One problem,

When you're cruizing along and hit the "seek" button, your line lock activates. If you hook a relay up to the dark blue wire on the back of the radio, it will get a signal when any button is pushed, unless you tear out all the stock wiring on all of the buttons.

You would be much better off mounting a new small button on the back of the steering wheel wherever you want it and running the line lock wires to that button.

Russell

I agree that a separate button would be better but it is difficult to connect such a button so that the connecting wires don't get damaged when you turn the wheel.

As we discussed earlier, any use of the steering wheel buttons would mean disconnecting the dark blue wire from the radio and using it for the accessory. That means none of the buttons could be used for radio control but it eliminates the problem of activating something when trying to change volume.

Yeah,

Snagging would be a bit of a problem, but there are ways around that (piggy back on the dark blue wire). The main problem still remains though, that any button push would activate the relay.

There are steering wheel button kits available from Greddy I believe. Or any RF transmitter/reciever pair would work.

I personally think that this would be even better:

http://www.electrokits.com/electronic-kits/relays-remotes-switches-timers/44.htm

Or you could use one of these:
http://www.electrokits.com/electronic-kits/relays-remotes-switches-timers/39.htm

Or you could use any remote controlled relay and a pac swi-X. That way you could put the Pac's IR led in front of the remotely mounted IR relay, and use any single button on the steering wheel to control the relay.

Lots of different ways of doing this without loosing your existing steering wheel controls.

Russell

good stuff man, thanks for the links!!!

No problem.

I think the voice activated relay would be so sweeeeeet.

I don't care about using the buttons for my stereo. I already have an aftermarket headunit. I also wanted to try and stay away from the pac units.
As for driving down the road and accidentally hitting the buttons and activating the linelick, I have a master switch that I would use to turn on/off the whole system. Trust me, I already had the vision in my head.
I'll probably end up just playing with it this weekend to see what I can come up with.

Thanks for all the input though, all your help is greatly appreciated

how kewl would that be..too turn your.. horn..into a Nos..activation damn just think...everytime you honk it gives it a lil spray WOOT WOOT>.who has the idea :)...

actually ive always dreamed of turning my ta..into a Targa Top...
do you think the corvette targa top would line up at all..with a bit of fabricaating..or even somehow...making it all one pice even the t bar pulls out in the middle then just slides back in..with 2 people locking it in...that would be SWEET A targa top TA...:)

then you can say im goin out in my TTTA

adragster,

Why the need to stay away from the PAC units? They really work well.

I personally love my steering wheel controls and wouldn't want to give them up for anything. That's why I'd love to do the voice activated relay. How sweet would it be to simply say "linelock" and have your linelock armed, then say release and have it release :)

But if you don't want any steering wheel controls, then yeah, a relay attached to the blue wire should do it, unless the buttons are resistors only and don't actually supply a ground (which is actually very possible). You might want to check out fbodyaudio.com to see if you can find any answers there.

Russell

...But if you don't want any steering wheel controls, then yeah, a relay attached to the blue wire should do it, unless the buttons are resistors only and don't actually supply a ground (which is actually very possible). You might want to check out fbodyaudio.com to see if you can find any answers there.

Russell

The dark blue wire is the output from the switches. There is a 12V input wire connected to the other side of the switches. The wire will provide positive voltage rather than ground when a switch is pressed.

Cool,

There you go adragster. Positive voltage when any switch is pressed. Piece of cake to wire to a relay and then to your line lock.

Have fun.

Russell

Another thing to consider would be placing the switch on your shifter. Then it could easily be hidden and would be right at your fingertips when you need it.

Russell

Right on, thanks guys for all your help.
The only reason I wanted to try and stay away from the PAC was to keep from having something else under my dash. I already have a lot of components from a data logger (racepak)
Thanks again for all your help

I thought about the shifter button as well, but I wanted to do something different.

Couldn't the steering wheel be taken apart and a single switch isolated? That is what I would do. Isolate one switch to control the blue wire. Then you can hook the blue wire to a relay. I would send ground through the switch which should be available in the steering wheel.

a small pic/atmel chip with a/d could easily decode the signal then output i/o (on/off +5v) to relay sets. This is EE101 kinda stuff. Someone should be able to program it, then you could maybe multiplex two buttons at once to do more tasks.

kinda makes me wish I had taken EE101 ;)