Introduction. Why should you undertake DIY car audio install??

Transcription

1 2011 by MMP This is a free ebook. You can download and use it for your personal reference. You may not edit, modify or alter its contents. You may not sell this ebook. Follow the instructions mentioned in this ebook at your own risk. I cannot be held responsible for any damages if occur by following any instructions as mentioned in this ebook. Document Revision: 1.0 Date: Oct-2011

2 Table of Contents Introduction... 3 Why should you undertake DIY car audio install??... 3 Motivation behind my DIY and more specifically writing this guide... 4 A little bit about my ICE System... 5 Before you begin a few important tips & suggestions!!... 5 Installing Antenna in Maruti Alto... 7 Installing the Head Unit & Front Speakers in Maruti Alto Testing the ICE installation... 34

3 Introduction DIY Car Audio system Installation is an exciting task. While any other consumer electronics items are just plug-n-play when it comes to its installation, installing a car audio systems requires understanding of the car audio wiring, car s electrical systems and various other operations like opening the dash panels and proper fitment of various components like Head Unit, Speakers etc. I have been exploring many of these elements myself for a while and then finally decided to do the installation by myself. As I started off with the task, I took lot of snaps and then thought of putting it all together in this guide. I have enjoyed writing this guide as much as I enjoyed DIY install. I hope this guide shall provide good enough inputs & encouragement to DIY enthusiasts owning Maruti Alto and interested to install their car audio system by themselves. If you have any comments or suggestions / corrections on the contents of this guide, you can as well write to me at mmp09@rediffmail.com I will try my best to incorporate your suggestions in this guide, subject to availability of time! Readers should take a note that as such since this is an amateur work and I am not a Subject Matter Expert, I may not be able to provide any technical guidance or assistance on this in any form. Why should you undertake DIY car audio install?? You like dirtying your hands at assembling the systems by yourself You are a DIYer in many other electrical/electronic equipments and car audio installation interests you as well. If you are a DIYer in general, you are likely to have most of the tools needed for this job You get a great sense of pride, sense of accomplishment after you see your own assembled system working well A Feel Good Factor & increased Self Esteem as you know some of the internals / tech matters bit better than others!! No dependency on dealer / installer for some very basic troubleshooting matters You do your homework and thus the car audio system dealers can t take you for ride. For professional installers / dealers, it s just another install, but not so for you. Hence you are likely to take up your DIY job with utmost care as you are in tune and in love with your own vehicle.

4 Motivation behind my DIY and more specifically writing this guide Certainly above-mentioned points, plus a few more like When I searched for DIY Car Audio install Maruti Alto, no clear results were displayed on the web. Though a lot of material is available on the web, it s mainly related to cars that are driven in other countries nothing much on Alto, which is one of the most popular & largely sold vehicle in India. I hope this guide shall fill that gap on the web. If you go to a car dealer for ICE, he will make hefty profit by selling many more things to you that you may not at all want and punching a big hole in your pocket Everywhere there was a common response; it s a Professional s job (?). If so and if this knowledge is only with professionals, then this guide breaks that barrier by making the knowledge available to the DIY enthusiasts V-IMP about this guide & DIY Install This is an amateur install and there might be any erroneous information or procedure in it! As such use this document & information therein only as a guideline. This Car Audio DIY install is done in Maruti Alto that was purchased in Aug Any design or such related changes might have happened in the vehicle s model, dash panel or other components since then. Car Audio DIY install as an amateur / hobbyist could be prone to risk of damage or malfunction. Any incorrect wiring or procedure could result into equipment damage, short circuit etc and might void any warranty claims as well.

5 A little bit about my ICE System I was as such a bit conscious on budget and being DIY Install, narrowed down on the Pioneer DEH 1190 HU and JBL GT5 S204 four-inch front speakers. DEH 1190 turned out to be a very basic model in the Pioneer single DIN Head Unit Series, but does meet my basic requirements like FM radio & Audio CDs and MP3 CDs! When it comes to speakers, JBL is one of the better options. Excellent value for money I guess. For me rear speakers were not a must have. A head unit with only front speakers is not that bad at all! Here are components & relevant information about my car audio system. Head Unit Pioneer HU DEH 1190 Front Speakers JBL GT5 S204 Front Coaxial Speakers 4 Inch Wiring Adaptors Car Audio Wiring Harness (Maruti Alto) Front speaker Wiring Harness (Maruti Alto) Antenna Manually operated Antenna (Maruti Alto) Vehicle Maruti Alto Lxi Country India Vehicle s Manufacture date August 2007 Before you begin a few important tips & suggestions!! Make sure you have done your homework. Have gone thru & understood the instruction manual provided with the Head Unit, speakers and gone thru this guide as well!! Make sure you have required tools, components and consumables with you Make sure you have gone thru vehicle s manual and are familiar with location various fuse boxes and have a few spare fuses Allow sufficient time for installation and DO NOT rush thru things You may not need to push or pull any mechanical components too hard. If you feel lot of force is needed, possibly you might be doing it incorrect way or might not be using the right tool Park your vehicle in a safe & isolated area with good illumination and enough free space on either side. Make sure that Hand Brake is fully applied! Equip yourself with a powerful torch or something like portable backup tube light. It may be hard to see underside of dash clearly unless you have good illumination therein. Equip yourself with some food & beverages! In case something is not working relax & take a short break to grab some food & beverages. Nothing like having a friend or someone who knows the stuff and is around to help you out or is just a call away!

6 V-IMP DO NOT cut any of the vehicles original wiring. This could void the vehicles warranty. Wherever relevant use the extension wires, snap on connectors etc Disconnect the negative terminal of the car battery before you undertake task involving vehicles electrical components like car audio install in this case. Use mm wrench (readily available in most of the electrical & hardware shops) to loosen the nut on the negative terminal. Use 10 mm side. Fig 1: Use mm wrench Fig 2: Battery negative terminal disconnected

7 Installing Antenna in Maruti Alto Tools needed for installing the Antenna Steps Screwdriver - preferably Philips screwdriver A spare wire around 2 meters long. This is optional, however suggested to use it as a try-out wire just to play around first to trace the path of the antenna cable. An ordinary string (cotton/ nylon etc). Required only if you first plan to use a try-out wire to trace the path cable inside the antenna socket! 1. Unscrew & remove the cap fitted on the antenna slot. 2. First use a try-out wire, a bit thick one and steadily insert into the antenna socket. In case of Maruti alto, the antenna cables runs thru the right side A-pillar and is pulled inside the vehicle from a small opening in the right side kick panel. Refer Fig Be prepared for a little bit of hit-n-miss game here. However eventually you shall succeed in getting the other end reach the opening at the right side kick panel. The only objective of first using any other ordinary wire is to avoid the hit-n-miss game with the actual antenna wire as it might cause damage to the antenna connector. Bonnet Opening Cable Opening in kick panel Fig 3: Opening in the kick panel

8 4. Now tie a cotton or nylon string to the end of try-out of wire that reached the kick panel opening & steadily pull up the other end from the antenna opening. Fig 4: Tie a string to the try-out wire 5. The job of try-out wire is done. Path has been traced and replaced by the string. Now this string will guide your actual antenna cable smoothly thru the A-pillar. Connect the end of the string to the actual antenna wire and steadily pull it from the other end. Fig 5: Tie the string to the antenna wire

9 6. Once the antenna wire has reached the right kick panel opening, slowly route the antenna cable under the dashboard and towards the backside of car audio DIN slot. Make sure that the antenna cable is not coming in way of any other cables like the bonnet opening latch cable etc. Fig 6: Guiding string in action Fig 7: Routing the antenna cable underneath the dashboard 7. You will reach a point where you will now have to start slowly inserting the antenna rod into the antenna slot. Once it s in place, tighten the screws on the antenna cap so that it fits firmly. The Antenna cable is just enough in length so that it will not leave you with much wire to spare (not more than 5 6 inches) by the time it reaches the back panel of DIN slot

10 Fig 8: Insert Antenna Rod in the antenna slot 8. Extend and retract the antenna to make sure that it is working fine with respect to the mechanical operations. This completes the first part, installing the Antenna. Fig 9: Firmly screw the mounting cap

11 Installing the Head Unit & Front Speakers in Maruti Alto This task now focuses on installing the main system i.e. the Head Unit and the Front Speakers. Here you need a few tools to do the job smoothly. Philips Screwdriver Soldering gun Insulating tape Wire cutter/stripper A multimeter with voltage & conductivity tester, in case some troubleshooting is needed Tie wires Plier, plucker etc mm wrench A small screwdriver (without which you may have difficulty in tightening the speaker screws close to the windshield) Fig 10: Tools required for installation

12 Wiring adapters needed Head unit wiring harness extension This will snap on to the factory harness present inside the DIN slot. Get one that is specifically made for your vehicle type e.g. Maruti Alto in this case. Fig 11: HU Wiring Harness extension Speaker Wiring Harness extension This will snap on to the factory harness present inside the front speaker slots. Fig 12: Speaker Wiring Harness extension

13 Open the HU & Speaker packages and enjoy the feel of various components and associated accessories provided with it. The head unit package included The Head Unit Remote HU s Wiring Harness that attaches to the back panel of the HU User manual Mounting screws Detachable face plate & its case Mounting sleeve Trim ring Warranty card! I would have expected Extraction keys & battery for remote. But doesn t matter, remote s battery as such is readily available at any electrical stores and for extraction keys, they are as such not needed for Maruti Alto. Fig 13: Contents of HU package

14 The speaker package included Two front 4 inch coaxial 2-way speakers Speaker wires Mounting screws & small brackets to support the mounting plates User Manual Grills Warranty card! Fig 14: Contents of speaker package

15 Speaker Installation Initial preparations / steps for this task. This can happen away from your vehicle say at your home. Steps 1. Car Audio system speakers do have polarity (Positive / Negative Terminals). Most likely you shall find the polarity mentioned on the leads. Normally the connector that s little bigger in width is positive pole. Fig 15: Speaker polarity marker 2. JBL GT5 S204 speaker has 4 mounting points (small plates) protruding out at 4 positions. However in case of Maruti Alto, speaker with 4 mounting holes protruding out will not fit in the dash. You will have to cut any two diagonally opposite mounting points. A plier can do the job easy. Just push it up & down a few times and it will cut loose. Fig 16: Two (diagonally opposite) mounting points cut

16 3. Notice that the mounting holes are not completely covered by the plate. They are open at outer side. For better fitment of screws, use the small brackets provided. Push them on to this plate and align the holes. Fig 17: Small brackets inserted on the mounting plate 4. Now the speaker wiring harness extension wires come into action. Push the appropriate leads onto the speaker leads. Make sure that the connection is tight and won t come loose. Connector with little larger width than other is positive wire. Still in case of any confusion, a wire having a black line on it is negative wire! You may as well cut those connectors and simply solder the two wires with appropriate polarity to the speaker leads. Fig 18: Plug the speaker wires

17 Fig 19: Speakers are ready for the installation on to the dashboard This completes the speaker s setup for installation. Now let s moves to the vehicle to complete the front speaker installation. Steps 1. Alto has factory provision for installing two 4-inch front speakers in the dashboard just beside the A pillars. Alto comes with the wiring ready for the front speakers. Wires are routed from the car s factory wiring harness to the front speaker slots. 2. Use a pointed object like a key or small tester/screwdriver and carefully insert the same in a small slit that you shall find between the grills and dashboard. You may wrap that pointed object in small cloth to prevent dashboard from any scratches. Slowly push it upwards. Do it again at couple of more positions and slowly the grill will come loose. Now pull it upwards gently till it completely comes out. There are no screws here; it s just a snap on fit. Fig 20: Slowly push open the front grills

18 3. Notice that there s a factory wiring and harness already present inside. Wire with black line on it is the Speaker negative wire. Refer Fig Pinch the holder on wiring harness with fingers or appropriate tool like plucker and push it down so that it comes out of the mounting ring. Fig 21: Front speaker slot on dashboard. Grill is now removed Fig 22: Ready factory-wiring harness inside the speaker slot

19 5. The speaker harness extension wires that we already connected to speaker leads has a plug/connector that will now fit on to the harness already present inside the speaker slot. Thus we avoid cutting of even the factory provided speaker wires! Fig 23: Plug the speaker extension wire to the speaker wiring harness 6. Now slowly push the wires inside and place the speaker on to the slot. Align the two mounting points on the slot with the two mounting points on the speaker. Make sure that the speaker wires are pushed well inside and are not trapped underneath the magnet; else speaker may not fit in properly. This slot has very tight mounting depth. Use the provided screws and using a small screwdriver fix the screws on the mounting holes. Fig 24: Speaker placement and tighten the screws on the mount points

20 7. Place the grill on the top now and push it so that it snaps on firmly on the dashboard. We as such won t use the grills provided with the speakers and no need to use the provided speaker wires as well. Fig 25: Dash grill put back in place. There s now speaker inside! 8. Repeat the steps for other speaker and you are done with the front speaker install.

21 Head Unit Installation (The Heart of the ICE!) Having completed the speaker install. Let s now move to the Head Unit Installation. This also requires some initial preparation that can happen outside of the vehicle. Steps 1. The Head Unit can be fitted into the dash in two different ways. a. Front DIN Mount HU is fixed into DIN slot using a mounting sleeve provided with HU. HU slides and locks into it. This type is most common in American vehicles and not applicable in case of Maruti Alto. b. Rear DIN Mount DIN slot has a factory provided mounting bracket. HU is fixed into it using screws fitted on either side of this bracket. This is common for Japanese cars and so is the case with Maruti Alto. 2. Now let s remove the mounting sleeve from the HU. This is not needed for the rear DIN install as in this case of Maruti Alto. However retain the same with you, just in case later you plan to install the same HU in any other vehicle requiring front DIN mount. Remember that the mounting sleeve will only slide back wards. Slightly push up the plate locking the mounting sleeve on to the HU, and slowly push the sleeve backwards. Repeat a few times and the sleeve will come loose and you can then slide it backwards. Fig 26: Slightly push the plate upwards to unlock the mounting sleeve

22 Fig 27: Mounting sleeve released 3. Also remove the Trim Ring. We remove it now to prevent any damage to it during install. We shall fit the Trim ring again later when the HU is fitted in the DIN slot. Slowly push out & loosen the Trim ring from the front of HU and it will come loose. Fig 28: Removing the Trim ring

23 Fig 29: Trim ring released 4. Back panel of HU has antenna socket at extreme left, Amplifier RCA out points besides, a 10 Ampere rating fuse and the wiring pins just above the fuse. Fig 30: Back Panel of DEH 1190 HU 5. Now comes the most important & crucial part, the wiring!! This can make or break the install. Take utmost care in this step. All that needs to be done is join the wires from the HU s wiring harness to the wiring harness extension wires for car s factory harness. You may have to chop off about half inch of insulation to expose the conductive wire using the wire stripper. Many a times this is already done but the insulation is retained. In that case just slowly pull out the insulation. 6. Start with speaker wires and then move to ACC & finally the battery and negative wire. Take extra care while connecting power wires like battery & negative, as they are normally thicker in size. Just match the colors. Color codes are as such standard and given in the table below. Tie the two wires firmly and as needed use soldering gun to tighten the joint. Make sure that soldering is applied uniformly and metal is not protruding out. Now use the insulating tape and wrap & tighten it firmly around the joint. In my case I only needed to join Front Speaker wires, ACC, Ground and Battery Positive. Also not all wires from the below table may always be present in the wiring harness extension.

24 Wire Color Code White White/black Grey Grey/Black Green Green/Black Purple Purple/Black Red Yellow Blue Blue/White Black Orange Description Front Left Speaker positive Front Left Speaker Negative Front Right Speaker Positive Front Right Speaker Negative Rear Left Speaker Positive Rear Left Speaker Negative Rear Right Speaker Positive Rear Right Speaker Negative ACC / Ignition Battery Positive (Constant +12V) Amplifier Remote Power Antenna Ground Parking light switch V-IMP about wiring Ensure firm and tight joint of the two wires. Loose connection might as well mean sparking Double-check your connections for color codes. Connect one wire at a time. Insulate it firmly and ensure that no conductive portion is ever exposed Insulate the open ends of the wires that are not used (e.g. rear speakers may not be installed), and make sure that nothing is connected to it. 7. Your wiring should now be ready. One end will now be plugged into the HU back panel while the other on to the car s factory wiring harness. I was a bit surprised to see that the HU DEH 1190 did not have parking light wire.

25 Fig 31: Wiring completed To continue further we now need to move to the vehicle. Following steps are important, as we shall now remove the portion of dash panel covering the DIN slot to gain access to the mounting bracket and the factory wiring harness. 1. The dash panel covering the DIN slot is held in place by 2 screws, that are mounted vertically just beneath the AC panel. As such they are not seen in the front view. Arrows in the picture (Fig 32) show the approximate positions. Fig 32: Arrows indicate the location of screws of dash panel.

26 Here s another view from beneath the AC panel. Screws are now seen. Fig 33: Screws can be now seen in this view 2. Using Philips screwdriver remove the screws. Take out the cigar lighter if installed, take out the ash tray and then slowly pull out the panel Fig 34: Pulling out the panel

27 Fig 35: Panel removed. 4 Screws are holding the mounting bracket inside 3. You shall now find that the mounting bracket is fixed using 4 screws. Remove them as well and slowly pull out the mounting bracket assembly. The plastic plate placed just above the empty DIN socket can now be removed and discarded. Fig 36: Exposed DIN slot. Thick black cable at top left is the antenna wire installed earlier

28 Fig 37: Mounting bracket

29 4. Slowly insert the Head Unit into the mounting bracket and align the screw holes on both sides. This should be done without faceplate attached. Align with empty DIN socket below. Fig 38: Slide in the HU into the mounting bracket Fig 39: Screw positions and fitting the HU onto the mounting bracket 5. Back in the vehicle, carefully look inside the exposed DIN slot. You shall notice the factory wiring harness. Loosen or cut the tie wire holding it in place so that it is freed to be operated smoothly.

30 Rear Support groove for HU Car s Factory Wiring Harness Fig 40: Factory wiring harness inside the DIN slot Fig 41: Factory wiring harness, a closure look! V-IMP While the wire color codes are standard, the wiring inside the vehicle from the factory harness to other parts may follow different color code. However this need not bother you as long as you use the clamp on harness extension.

31 6. Attach one end of the wiring that we prepared earlier into the factory harness. It will fit only one way and it s just a clamp on Fig 42: Wiring harness Snap on fit 7. Attach the other end to the back panel of HU. In case there s not enough space for easy insertion of connector at HU, loosen the HU from the bracket and then plug in the connector. This will also fit only one way. HU can now be pushed back and secured in place with screws. Fig 43: Connector plugged into the HU back panel

32 9. Pull out the antenna cable from inside the exposed DIN slot and plug it in the socket on HU back panel. You may now have to keep the HU near the DIN slot as the antenna wire may be just enough in length. Rear Support for HU Fig 44: Antenna wire plugged in 10. Ensure that all connections are tight and won t come loose. Slowly push back the wiring inside the DIN slot and carefully slide in the mounting bracket with HU fitted in it. Be careful not to trap any wires behind the HU, else bracket won t fit properly in the slot. Backside of mounting bracket has a small knob like structure that shall as fit into the rear support groove inside the dash. See fig 40 & 44. Tighten the 4 screws and slowly attach the Trim ring around the front panel of HU. Fig 45: Bracket with HU in place and trim ring attached

33 10. Push the dash panel slowly in its place and fix it using the two screws. Insert any other accessories like cigar lighter, ashtray etc appropriately. Now slide the faceplate on to the HU s front panel and installation is complete!! Fig 46: Dash panel back in place Fig 47: Slide the faceplate and the ICE setup is done!! You are now done with the installation. It s time to test the same now.

34 Testing the ICE installation V-IMP While the above procedure completes the install, you may want to first test it before putting all panels, grills firmly in place. This way you don t need to remove it all over again, just in case some troubleshooting is needed 1. Connect the negative terminal of the battery (make sure that no fumes are coming from underneath the dash or around DIN panel ) and tighten the nut to ensure firm contact of the wire on the terminal 2. Turn on the system and insert your favorite CDs, MP3 CDs etc and enjoy the music Fig 48: Insert & play your favorite audio CDs

35 Fig 49: CD player in action Fig 50: My favorite track, Run to you by Bryan Adams! Fig 51: That s 94.3 FM, my favorite FM Channel!

36 3. Insert the CR2025 battery into the remote and test it too. Fig 52: Testing the remote!! 4. Finally give your newly installed audio system a great ride!! Get used to adjusting the controls without loosing the sight at the front! Enjoy your ICE system Cheers!!