I rule! Faceplate seperated from deck
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=26265
Printed Date: May 14, 2024 at 12:26 AM
Topic: I rule! Faceplate seperated from deck
Posted By: soup
Subject: I rule! Faceplate seperated from deck
Date Posted: February 11, 2004 at 1:58 AM
WEll I posted on here about a week ago or more, that I wanted to mount my faceplate elsewhere from my cd deck. With having a computer system and dvd player in my car, I don't need the headunit for CD, but I do want it for FM and AM, as well as I am real cheap and instead of buying 1 more amp ..which would make 3... I jsut want to run two speakers off of the deck. I could just mount teh head unit as normal.. but with the LCD and DVD.. im out of freakin room So I got started a few days later (had wisdom teeth pulled, didnt feel like concentrating on tiny solder points) and I had it all wired up, brought a battery in to bench test it and!!! .... nothing! I couldnt get it to even power on, little alone light up the faceplate.. so I thought wonderfull.. i fried the basturd while soldering.. So I took all the wires and solder off, cleaned up the pads as much as I could, and tried to see if it would work as normal.. maybe just there wasnt enough voltage going through the wires to the faceplate, or it was shorting but it didnt fry... Well connecting the faceplate as normal, the deck turned on, but not faceplate power... WONDERFULL!! I fried my 400 dollar deck.. Why the hell didnt I get an old deck and try it? Well then I realised how stupid I am, and noticed a second pin switch to tell when the faceplate is in the up position to apply power. It is a huge pin switch too, I just thought it was a button for reset... So after slamming my head against a while a few times yelling STUPID STUPID, I figured I woudl wire it back up. I went and got a proper soldering tip, some higher gauge wire, some solder that I didnt find in an old tool box I found in the basement of my old house covered in webs and time, and made a nice little holder for my faceplate with a good light. Well, about 4 hours later, and neighbours covering their children's ear, running away from my house saying the lords prayer from all my swearing, IT WORKED!!! And it is still working BEAUTIFULLY!!! So now, I need ot decide... mount it in a rear view mirror? and put the glass to the mirror on a hinge? This would look real cool, but the mirror would end up being pretty big and deep.... Or, refab a new roof center console / map light thingy, and put the faceplate in there. This would still look cool, I could upgrade the look of the roof, and it would be SO MUCH DAMN EASIER!!! so yeah.. pictures below and stuff 
Replies:
Posted By: jwshardbody
Date Posted: February 11, 2004 at 2:21 AM
don't know about the web thing,......................... but That is sweet man,......................... I am looking to mount the face of my I am wanting to convert my PS2 into a carputer, w/ Linux,.......... and hopefully a bigger HDD than 40 gigs. I have lots to learn still,.........LOL I just want DVD, games, and MP3's,.......... no need for Nav. or anything else,..................... Alpine ERA-G320 in a custom ceiling mount above my rear view mirror Luckly the face is already a remote mount,.............. I would go nuts trying to do what you did,.........LOL
Posted By: Clean Install
Date Posted: February 11, 2004 at 3:17 AM
thats cool, good job 
------------- If we learn from each success and
each failure, then we can improve ourselves
Posted By: soup
Date Posted: February 11, 2004 at 1:02 PM
Thanks for the comments guys, I just need to figure out where to install it now, I am thinking the center console on the roof would be the best.
I wouldnt mind putting it on the drivers door, but then the passenger wouldnt be able to touch it....
Posted By: devilsquid
Date Posted: February 11, 2004 at 2:33 PM
who cares about the passenger...if they dont like the music, to damn bad! unless your married of course! awesome idea on the face! -------------
Posted By: jwshardbody
Date Posted: February 11, 2004 at 5:56 PM
devilsquid wrote:
who cares about the passenger...if they dont like the music, to damn bad! unless your married of course! awesome idea on the face!
Even if you are Married, I still say, who cares about the passenger,.........LOL,....... yeah I am single,.........LOL,........... Get in, sit down, and shut up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,.................LOL I like the roof mount my self,.................................
Posted By: HeathMac
Date Posted: February 12, 2004 at 3:51 PM
one thing for anyone looking to do this type of install, i use a kenwood cd changer cable to connect the face to the deck body. but great job for your first one
Posted By: Teamrf
Date Posted: February 12, 2004 at 6:01 PM
Nice ------------- ~The Rookie~
Rookie of the year that is...
Don't let the smoke out of your equiptment..it doesn't go back in.
Posted By: forbidden
Date Posted: February 12, 2004 at 6:30 PM
Feels good to accomplish something like that doesn't it, good job.
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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.
Posted By: soup
Date Posted: February 12, 2004 at 7:19 PM
HeathMac wrote:
one thing for anyone looking to do this type of install, i use a kenwood cd changer cable to connect the face to the deck body. but great job for your first one
The kenwood cd changer cable? Arent they mini SUB D connectords or watever they are called on either end? Or do you cut off the ends and re solder? I tried to use an ethernet cable so that I coudl route the wires easier (i imagine this would be the same reason why you use the kenwood cable??) but I coudlnt get the solder to stick that well to the ethernet cable.
thanks for the comments guys, it feels awesome to have this thing working and to not have wrecked it! I really expected to be throwing this thing in the garbage, thank god I didnt have to
I started on the fiberglass enclosure, but I am putting it aside untill I can finish my custom dash. I will be posting pics in teh fiberglass section when I am done. When I am done it is going to be a kickass interior, too bad the car is crap.
Posted By: lspker
Date Posted: February 12, 2004 at 9:10 PM
We've done work like that for years. Try mounting face in the deep gm mirror and using "two mirror" for the lens. When its lit up the diplay shines through ( course you use the remote for control ), anyyou still can see whats behind you, and when its off, its stealth.
Posted By: soup
Date Posted: February 13, 2004 at 2:55 PM
lspker wrote:
We've done work like that for years. Try mounting face in the deep gm mirror and using "two mirror" for the lens. When its lit up the diplay shines through ( course you use the remote for control ), anyyou still can see whats behind you, and when its off, its stealth.
That is an awesome idea! I don tthink I will do that in my car, I put a larger deeper mirror in my car to see what it would look like, and being such a small car, it looked real stupid... I am definately doing that on my next car though! That is awesome!
Posted By: shredder130
Date Posted: February 13, 2004 at 7:12 PM
i don't know, but those wires are pretty large to hide, when i removed the faceplate from my old dsp i used computer ribbon cable cause it just looked neater and was flat and easy to hide
Posted By: mecpcert_1
Date Posted: February 15, 2004 at 2:47 AM
nice job. how about installing the face into one of your visors?
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do it right the first time....less warranty work=more money!:)
Posted By: Fender2martin
Date Posted: March 03, 2004 at 11:08 AM
I have been rading this post since it was orignally created... and have spoken to a few people on how i cna do this myself... I was wondering if anyone could giv eme a more comprehensive tutorial on exactly all the matierials i will need. Thanks a TON for any help anyone can give me!
Posted By: Fender2martin
Date Posted: March 04, 2004 at 12:18 PM
Any help?
Posted By: soup
Date Posted: March 05, 2004 at 12:15 PM
it really depend on what deck, and how it is connected to the faceplate. For my pioneer, it has a flat connector with 5 copper pads on teh top and 6 on teh bottom, when pushed up against the deck, they connected to corresponding pins.
You want to get a nice soldering iron (variable temp would be better so you dont burn through the circuitry) and you want a fine pencil point tip. I just used 20 awg wire because I had it kicking around, and it was the perfect size to solder onto the pads. I had tried to use a phone cord, but I couldnt get the solder to stick between the wire and the pads.. not sure why. I guess you could try using the wires mentioned above, a ribbon cable would work good. IT is really straight forward, solder a wire between the one connector to the other.
In my opinion, if you dont know how to solder, or can't understand how to connect the two from looking at it, I wouldn't suggest attempting it yourself.
If you do attempt it, and still need to find a deck, I just installed a panosonic in my buddies Talon, and they have rather large connectors on them. It would take me about 10 minutes to connect cables to that panosonic, where i took me a few days to do it right on my pioneer.
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