P80 Radio wiring help needed

[scot850]

I will add pictures later, but today I removed the 6 CD changer unit to see if I could connect up like 101 does. 101 you must have a different wiring to your external 6 CD changer as the one I have has a cable that splits in the glove box, but the cable to the head unit is a female. The mail end is fixed to a short cable running into the back of the CD changer. So either your 6 CD changer is a different model or you have different wiring, so I really need to see how the connections go to the back of your head unit and where the cable splits in the glove box.

I spoke to Victor at USA Spec and he is saying your system should not work the way it does.

Can I confirm you are using a USA SPEC model : PA11-HON unit and not a -HON2 or -VOL unit (this is for P2 vehicles).

Neil.

[scot850]

I promised an update.

Below are a few more pictures showing more of my cars set up:

1) USA Spec PA11-HON unit wiring plug in for cable to rear of radio. What positions should the 2 jumpers be set to #1 - On or OFF, #2 - ON or OFF?

USA Spec PA11-HON

2)Hidden connector behind 6 CD changer. Not female end on cable that runs from the break to the CD changer port on the HU.

Volvo 6 CD changer wiring connection

3) You can see the 'male' end of the 6 CD connector cable from the back of the unit to the wire break.

Volvo 6 CD Changer male connector end

I cannot connect the cable for the USA Spec unit to the cable to the HU as the USA Spec unit needs a male connector end. So not sure yet how 101 can swap the CD changer and ipod connections unit so you can alternate between them

I swapped an SC-816 unit in place of the SC-901 and at least the ipod now shows charging at least which gives me some hope the unit is not a dud. Tomorrow I will try again with Victor from USA Spec to get this running in this format. Had to charge the ipod before we can run more tests.

Neil.

[scot850]

Simple solution to all problems, remove the idiot from the equation!

Not sure what I was thinking, but with help from 101 and Jimmy at USA Spec, my iPod/iPhone/AUX adapter is now working as advertised.

I still have some installation work to complete but the main object of the operation was to see if this worked with SC-XXX radios, and in particular those with the 3CD in-built changer (SC-900/901) as there was doubt about this.

Having now identified the difference between a ground wire and a constant +ve wire this system works, but I still have to figure out how to get the best operation out of it once I start to use it more.

I had some differences to the system that 101 has which explains some of my confusion. His system a PA11-HON is a very early example and has 'Hybrid' on a label and an extra cable I don't have. It appears to be wired differently internally.

As I have an over-abundance of old Volvo head units I decided to test the system with the 4 different versions of SC-XXX radios I have to see if it works in all cases. Good news is it does!!

It worked with an SC-810 cassette/radio (from a 93 850!!), an SC-816 single CD/cassette/radio, and both SC-900/901 3CD changer/cassette/radios.

I will do a right up/how-to once I have completed the installation.

The unit I used is a USA Spec PA11-HON unit with a Volvo specific cable replacing the Honda version.

Thanks for the help again on the journey, especially 101 (I'll use some of his picture in the write up with his ok) and Jimmy and Victor at USA Spec.

Neil.