scooter99 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 Not the greatest picture but here you can see I filled in the sides of this one. The other one I wasn't able to fill in on the sides because the tabs in the center need to move in order to take on this connector. I didn't want to take the chance that it would be glued. But this one doesn't have that issue. Got it on the face plate back, the false one. Now they're ready to go! Next I got out all the equipment and a battery and it was time to test her out! Remember this was the full length cable. 10 feet long. I had really no expectations for this one to work based on what I'd heard and read about extending these newer alpine faces. But my hopes were positive and it would be nice if it did work! Now the false face plate base won't just sit in there. It needs the front in order to stay on, because the front is where the holes are for the bottom in order for those pins to go into and the plate to stay in place. So I did the next best thing, which was electrical tape it. So now it's in place. The false base, is a different story. The face plate will stay on it cause it has those holes. Here it's in place and open. Just to show the contacts. Up and in place. Facebook Page: S99Creations 2006 F250 Lariat Build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyblack76 Posted December 2, 2012 Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 Very clever scot.., best of luck bro! SMD SUPER SELLER The Burban Build Blazer Build sold Acura trunk build sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooter99 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 I must have forgotten to post these pictures on my UBL, that's where the others came from, but this is what I found out last after that last quote I just did. Just got out with the DMM' date=' man am I in need of a new one! But I tested the resistance on the lines. First the gepco 22ga wire that I currently have soldered on. It's a little hard to see in the pic, but I have it set to 200. Don't know if this is right or not, but if not I'm sure someone will be happy to correct me on it, Please! But, as I said, a little hard to see in the pic, but it came to a .06.[img']http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee1/99scooter/1%20Reinstall%20Again/Alpine%20Customization/DSC05505.jpg[/img] Next I took some Cat5 wire at the same distance and tested it at the same 200 setting. I was surprised at a .07 result. By what everyone has said, I was expecting something different I guess. Not that I know what I"m doing anyway. This is what I was shocked by. I decided what the hell and to test the whole roll, or what I had left of it. It's about 75 feet give or take. At the same 200 setting, I got a 3.2 result. So, now I'm very confused! Not having that much of the gepco cable to use I can't compare. So I'm gonna go rest for a bit, then I'll go out an see if i can identify the power and ground pins on the unit. If I can do that then I can figure out whether or not I can use an isolated power on the face plate and run data from the unit. Be back later! Facebook Page: S99Creations 2006 F250 Lariat Build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooter99 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 Ok here we go. I'll try and get through this as best as I can. Hopefully everyone can follow along ok. I'm trying to make this as easy as I can to follow along. So I just went through testing the resistance on the cables' date=' the gepco and some cat 5 I had laying around. Next I told you I was going to try and test the pinouts on the inside connector to see if I could find some voltage and find out if I had a 12v pin in there or if it was already reduced down to 9v, which I was lead to believe the face plate is when it runs. So I started first to take the unit apart. I'll go through those pics again, and get to the good stuff. [img']http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee1/99scooter/1%20Reinstall%20Again/Alpine%20Customization/DSC05509.jpg[/img] Top off, and you cannot see anything from this view, because the cd mechanism basically takes up the entire unit area. You cannot get to the board from the bottom because the bottom, sides and back of the cage are all one piece. The top is the only removable piece. So that being said, the other way to get a decent look at the connector without gutting the unit, is to remove the front. One screw on each side, A little love, and this is what you get. Now it was time to put some power to it and get some readings. Facebook Page: S99Creations 2006 F250 Lariat Build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooter99 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 Got out the ol DMM' date=' and put the black probe in the cage to ground it, then started checking the connector for readings. [img']http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee1/99scooter/1%20Reinstall%20Again/Alpine%20Customization/DSC05519.jpg[/img] Should've gotten a picture of the connector straight on, but I didn't sorry. There are still 16 connections, 8 top and 8 bottom. Starting at the top left, these were my readings: Top 1 - 7.40 2 - 0.00 3 - 0.00 4 - 0.00 5 - 0.00 6 - 4.92 7 - 11.94 (MY POWER SOURCE) 8 - 0.00 (I can only guess this would be the ground source, but not sure.) Bottom 9 - 0.00 10 - 0.00 11 - 0.00 12 - 0.00 13 - 0.00 14 - 4.72 15 - 4.70 16 - 0.00 So that was straight out of the unit, out of the connector at the bottom of the unit, you can see it in the lower middle of the unit in the picture above. Next I decided to remove the plate from the front piece, and connect that. Immediately this is what I saw. Lit up like a Christmas Tree. This is what it looks like when you open the face plate to remove or insert a cd. I removed the plate and took a couple of close up pictures of it cause I knew I'd need them to write on and to do some numbers, tracking, etc. This first picture is the front of the plate, that goes into the front piece of the cage. This is the connector you see that the face plate connects to. The button you see there in the upper left hand side of the plate, that's the eject button. So the eject mechanism is triggered by this button, which sends data to the cd mechanism and tells it to eject, basically. Don't get all technical on me ok! It's over my head, I'm just trying to make it simple. I'll get back to this later. We'll call this the rear of the plate. This is the connector that connects to the other connector that I just tested on the unit itself. This brings all that data, power, etc, onto the plate and everywhere else after that. I'll get to that. That's where stuff gets REAL!! Now on the bottom right had side of this plate, you can barely see a little black switch. Here's a more close up view of it. This switch is triggered by a little arm that is pushed in when the face plate is in the up position. When it's down, that switch is opened up and the board lights up as I showed before. Here's a little frozen demonstration. You can see my fingers there, my index finger is by the switch but not on it, demonstrating the face plate being opened up or down. Now my index finger is pushing on the switch demonstrating the switch being pushed, would then be by the arm, and the lights are off. So after that my interest peaked and I had to dig deeper to see if I was correct truly or not. Correct about what? Correct about whether this plate on the back of the front panel was the place in which everything was changed, voltage drop etc. I'll go through it a little bit now for you. Here you can see I did some drawings on paper based on those pictures I took above, the close ups of the panel itself. Since you can't obviously read my chicken scratch and it was just too difficult to explain from those pictures alone, I did some editing in photobucket that will be easier to explain for me, and see for you. I'll be right back! Facebook Page: S99Creations 2006 F250 Lariat Build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooter99 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 Ok' date=' now it's time to get real! I found my 11.94v pin on the connector on this panel by plugging it into the unit. I used the DMM and found where it showed 11.94, then removed the panel and traced it back to the connector. So here's picture number 1. This shows point 1 on the front side which has two holes through the panel from the connector. Then it goes to point 2 which you can see on the picture, which also has two holes through the panel transferring it back to the rear side. This is 11.94 between both of these points. Again, this is the front side of the connector showing. [img']http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee1/99scooter/1%20Reinstall%20Again/Alpine%20Customization/DSC05521-1.jpg[/img] Now we go to the rear side, picking up on point 2 which was 11.94v. This goes into two different components, which I have to believe are reducers or resistors or something like that. We'll start with the furthest one, cause for whatever reason I numbered that one #3. That component has a number on it of 303. As you can see in the picture, the voltage goes from 11.94, down to 1.78v. Going back to number 4, the component there is labeled 472 on top, and the voltage drops to 3.70v. Flipping it back over to the front, this is where it gets a little crowded but I did as best as I could to keep it under control. Ok looking to the left side of the panel you can see #3 coming through. This is reading 1.78v. It goes up to another component up to the upper left of the panel, near the eject button. This is where it got a little tricky. I tested the opposite side of that component and got a 0.00v reading. I was like WTF?! So I decided to move on. On the middle right side of the panel, just under the connector there, is where #4 comes through, reading at 3.70v. This goes down, up to those two leds, and then back out and around to the middle there. I called this point #5. I put the meter on it and again got 0.00v. I was at this point stumped as hell. I could not figure out how I got voltage from a positive to nothing. Now you can look at the picture and see that these two points that I got a 0.00v reading on, points 5 and 6, are labeled as 0.00 / 9.98v. There's a reason for that. Here let me show you the reason! Remember this little guy? Yep that's why i got a 0.00v reading. Cause the switch was open. I pushed the switch in, and did the reading again, and got my 9.98v reading, which would be my face plate power. Here's a little drawing I just did. I for whatever reason didn't go any further into it with my testing, maybe cause I'm exhausted, I don't know. But here you can see the yellow line, coming from the switch. It goes into a component, and splits out, one going to #5, and the other to #6. Both again, reading 9.98v when the switch is depressed, again indicating the face plate is up and in the closed position. The bottom line is this. From what I've gotten out of this little bit of research is that instead of making the connectors as I did on the last go round, I can eliminate those, and go this route. I'll take the panel board and the front panel that it's currently on. I'll move it from the cage to the spot where the face plate will be, hopefully once again in the headliner. Then I'll take the second one I bought, and I'll put it on the front of the cage itself. I'll make a harness that will connect the connector on the unit, and the connector on the panel where the face plate will be, and that should get me better results than the first attempt. In theory. I'm not going to be 100% surprised if this doesn't work. But this is the next attempt in this project. I just have to figure out how I'm going to go about doing it. I have two ways really. I can either solder directly on the board right by the connector, or i can solder directly onto the connector itself. The other way is to try and find these connectors, which I've already looked for at pac parts.com, and cannot find. So I'm most likely stuck with direct soldering them. I think if I decided to direct solder on the board, I'll have to take the cd mechanism out and get the board accessible. Those are pretty big tabs on that connector, but I'm not sure I want to take the chance. Here's how things change a bit by doing it this way. By moving the panel, I have to now use the face plate for other things. What do I mean? Well now the eject button is going to not work on the main unit, it will have to be pushed and operated by the panel at the face plate which will now have the board on it. To do this the face plate must be movable. That's not a problem cause it was going to be anyway. I don't however, have to have a face plate or a base or anything like that on the unit itself. Like before. Same thing goes up at the face plate. That switch on the back of the panel, will have to operate and will do so by the face plate opening and closing. The only thing I'll need at the unit, will be to insert a cd, or remove a cd. So things get a little different, maybe even a little more inconvenient, but if it works, it'll be worth it. I don't think I'll be using the cd player much anyway. So I think it'll be fine. I'm very happy about all this, so far. Hopefully I'll get to test more soon! Happy to hear any suggestions or thoughts. Thanks! Facebook Page: S99Creations 2006 F250 Lariat Build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooter99 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 Recall that when I left you guys in July I was testing a theory on moving the faceplate from the alpine unit itself and being able to put it somewhere else' date=' while the brain is accessible, if needed, and yet not really out in view. Well when I left i figured out that the best place to do this from was inside the unit, inside the front plate of the body itself. By direct soldering wires to the leads there, I should be able to also direct solder the same leads on the face plate, and it should work. I've not had a chance to test this theory out, cause I scrapped the idea. But now I'm willing to do so. However, I was thinking about it more. Sometimes when you walk away, and come back, You have a clearer mind and are able to see things that are right in front of you that you couldn't see before. My thinking is this! Here's the unit taken apart, front piece from the body, and you can see the plug (female) on the body. That's what I tested before, and as well tested on the front piece (male plug). [img']http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee1/99scooter/1%20Reinstall%20Again/Alpine%20Customization/DSC05515.jpg[/img] So my theory is this, and it pisses me off cause the extra pieces I tested got thrown away so I had to order a new piece, but my theory is this. The board on the back of the front piece is the key to all this. The resistance seems to come in the board itself, which is what keeps me from extending the faceplate too far. I think we were at like 28" or something like that. BUT, I'm thinking I take and solder direct leads to the body female connector, and put a blank empty front piece back on it to close it up. Next I take the original front piece with the board still in it, out and custom mount it where I want the face plate to go. I shouldn't be dictated by length because the board is there and directly on the faceplate which I've figured out is where the resistance lies. By doing that, I have full power to the plug, the faceplate also has the mount to work on which has the arms and everything that trigger the different mechanisms, i.e. eject, open and closed face, etc. This is all just theory, and as soon as I get my car back I'll be putting all these theories to the test. The unit is in my car now. Once I have that figured out, I'll move forward with the tablet install. One of the things I'm also wavering on is changing from the alpine unit to a pioneer uint. I really like the looks of the pioneer units and would like the blootooth connection ability for my phone and for my tablet as well. The HD radio is a nice draw for me as well. So that's where I'm at for now. As soon as I can get that unit out I'll be testing this theory, as well as starting on the tablet install. Facebook Page: S99Creations 2006 F250 Lariat Build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooter99 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 i did start on the enclosure process. I did all this before i got my car back, so I had no idea if it would fit in or if I'd have to build it in the trunk. Turns out, it does in fact slide in with a little maneuvering and convincing, but it doesn't stand up to face the sub forward. There's the off chance I can do it the opposite way, but I have yet to go out and try it cause it's basically a monsoon outside. But here's the box build portion. Nothing is glued together or anything, it's all just temporarily put together. Here's the design, Courtesy of Jon. Got out the ole table saw, and set up a table. Got wood? Cut sheet, transferred from my phone. Setting up for some hand cutting! BAM!!! 40" baby! Exactly! Drawing out the port layout Cut some double layered 45's And now it's all ready to put together. Except I don't have anymore time tonight! We'll see what tomorrow holds for time. So tomorrow if I have time I'll put it together and do some counter sunk screws to hold it in place. I probably need to order a keg jig so I can be ready to put it together in the trunk. I'm praying I could some how slide it in there and maneuver it into place whole, but I'm not holding my breath. But I won't know till next week anyway. Have a good night! WOOHOO we're underway! Officially! Facebook Page: S99Creations 2006 F250 Lariat Build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooter99 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 Setting up the port. Everything will get counter sunk and drilled out for screws. Inner port wall done and ready for some routering love! See all the square edges! Facebook Page: S99Creations 2006 F250 Lariat Build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooter99 Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 My little Ridgid Trim Router. I love this little thing! Does everything I need it to. Not exactly sure why I bought a big one, but I use it sometimes as well. Inner corner rounded Inner end edge rounded on both sides. In place Countersunk and drilled Time for some side walls And a front wall, and again countersunk and pre drilled Facebook Page: S99Creations 2006 F250 Lariat Build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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