Ipod connection solutions

[Misty Design]

Hi

I'm thinking of getting a Harman Kardon drive + play unit... looks a pretty good solution to connecting to the head unit, I have the CDC40 Opera DAB. & its only £28 on Amazon now too!

From reading some older threads I can see some owners have successfully fitted the H&K unit, I have been trying to identify if the display is detachable at all, also i have a query regarding the aerial connection, looks like it is a square plug, Fakra? found one here http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/pro...s_id/8128.html, is this the only extra lead i will need?

I've also been looking at the IO play, not sure how this would connect to the head unit, Halfords advised its a standard ISO connection. £69 on Amazon (£150 at Halfords). http://www.my-io.com/Products/iOPLAY.aspx

Harman Kardon have released the Drive & Play 2 now which looks fantastic, shame the price isn't! http://www.harmankardon.com/product_...-DP2EU&sType=C

I've also seen that Alpine have released something very similar..EX10 http://www.alpine-electronics.co.uk/...n#ridercontent
found for £109 http://www.gpssite.co.uk/p/Alpine-EX...pine-EX-10.asp

I'm kinda swinging to the Alpine unit, but the H&K @ £28 is appealing!
any thoughts & experiences from you guys out there would be much appreciated

[Misty Design]

Decision made...gone for the Harman Kardon Drive + Play 1, at £35 inc. delivery couldn't ignore it! ordered the aerial leads too. nice little project to install over the half term hols.

Will have to wait until it arrives but wondering now if the display will fit in the sunglass's holder so can hide out of site & drop down when want to view it.

[grigs1]

Decision made...gone for the Harman Kardon Drive + Play 1, at £35 inc. delivery couldn't ignore it! ordered the aerial leads too. nice little project to install over the half term hols.

Will have to wait until it arrives but wondering now if the display will fit in the sunglass's holder so can hide out of site & drop down when want to view it.

Great. But how your are going to connect it to the CDC40?
As I know, the CDC40 HU doesn't have the aux-in pins, it has only mono input for phone.

[cameraman]

Great. But how your are going to connect it to the CDC40?
As I know, the CDC40 HU doesn't have the aux-in pins, it has only mono input for phone.

He's ordered the aerial adapters, so it's going through the aerial as an FM modulator. I've had one for 18 months attached to my CDC40.

My control stalk is on the steering column, roughly opposite side to the ignition key & the display is mounted on the switch blank above the hazard switch. IPOD in the glove box & all the gubbins behind the heater controls.

I drive through Tamworth every day, so if you need any advice let me know

[vxvirgin]

Cameraman - have you got a facra/fakra, or whatever it is, aerial adapter? Does the adapter and/or the HK unit give any interference during DAB or FM use?

That looks like a good price - I was also looking at the Dension system - any experiences anyone?

[Misty Design]

I'm still waiting on the aerial lead to arrive. The H K is part installed, mounted the control stick and the 'brain', but thats all - tried the display in the sunglass holder, not a good fit. When I have more time I will crack on and get this thing fitted, hopefully before the week is out, I'll post some pics then.

Question, where is best to take ignition and permanent live from to power the unit?

CameraMan, thanks for the offer, might take you up on that if i hit on a "eenie meenie miney mo" moment with the wiring!

[cameraman]

Sorry for the late reply, I no longer appear to be receiving e-mails about posts on the site

Cameraman - have you got a facra/fakra, or whatever it is, aerial adapter? Does the adapter and/or the HK unit give any interference during DAB or FM use?

I used fakra adapters to connect the unit, no interference at all with fm or dab & the traffic announcements still come through

Question, where is best to take ignition and permanent live from to power the unit?

CameraMan, thanks for the offer, might take you up on that if i hit on a "eenie meenie miney mo" moment with the wiring!

I took power from the glove box light & the ciggy lighter socket.

[Misty Design]

well its all in, here are some pics, and i'm quite pleased with the result, i will hard wire the power when i have more time, but for now the ciggy lighter option works well.

I didn't want the screen on show so as you can see the display is mounted in the sunglass holder, it wouldn't fit in here with the mount provided, so used some double sided foamed sticky tape, the kind used for installing glass into UPVC windows - really strong! Attached the control knob with the same tape, so no holes drilled!

The Ipod cable looped into the glove box quite easy via what i think is the hole used if you had a refridgerated glove box & I connected the aerial via a Fakra lead, ordered seperately.

The brain is attached to the underside of the glove box, out of harms way and easily reached should i wish to plug anything else in via the aux in.

[vxvirgin]

Nice work Misty - a couple of questions if you don't mind:

When its all connected up, do you have to use the supplied screen and control 'wheel', or can you still control it via the ipod and see the current status/current track etc on the ipod screen?

I'm thinking of wiring up something similar but accessing it direct from the ipod and that kit is cheaper than buying a dock lead and fm modulator separately.

You said no holes for the control knob - does it work wirelessly or is there a lead to connect it to the brain?

[cameraman]

VXvirgin, the HK kit takes control of the ipod, the ipod will only show OK to disconnect. You can connect the ipod via the headphone to the aux in but then you have no charging facility. The control knob is wired (as is the screen), the cable on mine is hidden as I've drilled through the plastic (mines on the steering column