Custom work to eq

I am looking for someone to take out a potentiometer from a clarion EQ and make it external. The EQ is a clarion 7 band eq/crossover. I am not using the eq portion of it, all I want the piece for is that is has a master volume control/bass volume/ and fader (3 functions on 1 knob). I have nowhere to mount the EQ in  my dash, and I want to hide the unit somewhere and just have the main volume/bass knob put in my console.

This is the EQ in question:

https://cgi.ebay.com/dll?ViewItem&item=1377543461
The system consists of a Alpine 7977 cd deck, pair of Audiocontrol EQT's then through the clarion EQS750 where the signal is split to the front amp (alpine mrv-f407), rear amp(alpine mrv-f307) and sub amp (alpine mrv-1507)

Can anyone point me to a person that can do this little surgery, or give me some good hints as to how to go about doing it myself? I have an old broken EQ that I can practice with.

I have interfaced nobbed controlled EQ's (ie interfacing the potentiometers with a interface circuit to control the levels electronically using an LED type display)  umm I have never opened up a Clarion EQ to tell you step by step, but it is a matter of isolating the control, soldering onto the board and extending the wires to the potentiometer you remove.. It wasn't difficult interfacing it..I interfaced an old OPTI 5 Lanzar Eq (when they were still good) and It took time and percision to do what I did, but that was mostly spent on the externial interface circuit.....

Open it up and take a bunch of pictures and post them.  I can see if I can help you further that way.

Craig

here is the nob i wish to relocate. This was taken out of a 'parts' eq that i bought from ebay to experiment with. It is the identicle eq that i am using and all pictures are taken from this parts eq.

above is the top of the board where the pot's were taken out of.. the hard part of taking it out was the number of connections to melt at the same time (18). I did a bad job of taking it out .

above is a pic of one of the eq pots that somebody was taking out (before I bought the piece) Notice how the solder is all but taken off the board and around the pins.. How can i do this.. whenever i heat it up, it just turns into a big blob. as soon as i take the heat off, it hardens.

Above is just a shot of 2 pots as they looked originally (center and right) and the one on the left that I took Out.

Do i need a better soldering gun??? I also have a mni torch, but no tips for it... just blue flame.

Heres another question.... mabee dumb. since I have another set of pots the same as what are in the good eq, do I have to take the ones out of the good eq, or can i wire in the other set and use either/ or? Or must I remove the original pots?

GOD YES YOU NEED A REAL SOLDERING GUN...get one that is variable temp, weller makes a great one, (this is what I use)  it has 5 temp settings so that you can keep it cool enough that you don't damage your board, but hot enough to melt the solder that you are using....

Best way I can see is to basically wire extensions from the contact leads to the POT, and then put the POT in some form of housing, use 18 gauge wire or so should be good, how far do you need to extend it?  like a few feet or what? ie from your mounting point to your new control point.

you need to buy some de-solder strips to remove solder over the connections to make it easier to work with.  I would use the lowest temp setting you can that is hot enough to melt the solder, also do not leave the soldering iron touching the board for a real long time, usually you can get it close enough where it will heat it up with minimal contact.  Also, get a good tip, you will need something with a fine point on it to work in that area, the tip that comes with the default Weller package is like a flat head screw driver end, so you will need to buy an additional tip...the iron is about 45-50 buxs (Jameco INC) and I am not sure on the tips.  You will also need some PCboard / bread board to house the POT on.  When you extend it off using wires make sure you match it up exactly the way it was on the board, or you will have all kinds of problems. 

Let me know any more specific questions you have.  This project is a lot simplier than it seems, I would STRONGLY recommend practicing soldering a lot prior to working on valuable equipment.

Craig

thanks guys. I am off with my shopping list. I will let you know how it goes.

well  the surgery is complete. I went to Radio shack and got one of those solder suckers, but it didnt suck all that good. I ended up using a desoldering braid (braided copper that acts like a solder sponge). It worked... ok.

I mounted the POT on a small onto a 2"x2" circuit board and that seems to be ok. Since it is gonna be inside my console, I dont think i have to build a box around it (or do I). It is a TON of wires tho, I ended up using 20ga cat5 network wire. I could only get 4pair wire, so there are 3 strands of it - quite bulky, but oh well.

Anyway all I have to do now is dissasemble my interior to install the thing and see how it works.

above is the completed POT

here is the completed board

And here is the whole thing put back together (I hope it still works)

just a follow-up...

I have it all installed and it is a-ok... works 110%. I put the nob on the side of my console so it is right in reach with my arm on the rest.... Master Volume, sub, and fader all in one nob.....SWEET!!

thanks for all your help guys

yea, those solder suckers blow for doing real electronics work, they are fine on speaker terminals, but the braided desolder tape is so much better.  Umm, as far as the bulky ness, you could easily purchase an etching kit, and make a "printed circuit board".  Jameco sells a nice kit and instructions on how to do it, pretty simple, comes with a copper plate that you place these stamps on that stick to the surface for your wire leads then you drop it in etching solution and everywhere the stamps are not pressed will desolve (ie no more copper in those regions).  For your board it will be really easy.  Also you can purchase etching film that you use a PCBoard layout program to design the layout of your circuit, then you use a laser printer and the special film to print the board on it, that film is then ironed onto or sticks onto the copper plates, and you can etch it.  (I perfer this method just because your final product is a heck of a lot nicer than with the stamps, but equally as effective).  i would get some shrink tube and remove the electrical tape, and put shrink tube there, it doesn't get as nasty as electrical tape does under the heat.  Let me know if you have any other questions. Oh yea, you might attempt to clean up the back of the circuit board you soldered onto, just to make sure there is not any connection between two leads so you don't fry the thing!!!.   I would recommend you test continutity with your multimeter between each lead as a precaution prior to testing, just to be on the safe side.

Craig

Good job,you just gave me a good idea,but now it's too late,cause mine (PPI-EQP eq) resides in my glove box,i can still reach it but i wish i had it much closer.Exellent.