Guide for MP3 player in armrest from AUX!

[M1TCH]

Just made a quick guide up this morning, so here goes.

Tools needed:
Wire cutters
Insulation tape
Torx T10 & T20 bits
Screwdriver for above

Parts:
1 x 3.5mm jack stereo lead (2-3 meters)


I first removed the bits we need off

Armrest lid - slide back, lift up and then carefully pop it off, one side then the other



Remove the insert - push button right down then extract the insert



Remove the small back trim - T10 bit, then pull from the top towards the back seats



Remove the left piece of trim behind the cup holder - T20 bit, then pull towards you




Next I plugged in the lead, this one was from Maplins, 3 meters long I think and about £2.50.
I routed it round the trim, it looks better than this because the flash made it stand out but it doesn't.



Just tuck the cable up under the trim



All the way to the back




Now you need to cut the cable, leaving good length so it will be jointed in the trim.

Poke the cut end through the hole at the back of the armrest





If you put the insert back in it will look like this



Once completed the cable will be held by the clips in the struts like this




Now strip the ends, I intended to crimp the cable but then found there were
4 separate wires which needed to be twisted together so I just bent them over and taped them





Bunch the wires up



And tuck them behind the other part of trim, then fit the piece that you removed



Fit the other parts that were removed, including the lid and your all done








ENJOY!!




Disclaimer: I am not held responsible for any damage you may cause to you, your vehicle or others in anyway by following this guide. Mitch

[Hummer2k1]

waow! thats excellent! thanx a lot! i cant wait to do the same thing in my MC

[Olly.]

Very useful thanks

[Lordy]

well done for taking the time to show that

[CC07ERS]

This must be a sticky mods

[beedeejay]

Maybe I'm missing something - but it looks to me that when you taped the two red leads and two white leads together that you now monaural vice stereo output?

[M1TCH]

please explain.

[beedeejay]

I assumed (bad thing to do) that it was a picture of the audio cable going from the mp3 player ‘Audio out ‘to the ‘Aux In’ jack on the dash. If this is the case then the two reds (audio signals) would go to the left and right speakers. The whites (common) would come back from the speakers – and probably would be combined. Same for the copper grounds. But if the two reds were taped together the left and right speakers would get the same signal (mono).
Easy to check though. Plug in your earphones and pick a song on your player that has distinct stereo separation. Now plug in your project and if there is still distinct stereo from your speakers you got it right – and I was misunderstanding – which would not be uncommon for me!

[beedeejay]

Might be away from my computer for several days – here’s some additional follow up on my thought process. If there were a third wire color (not counting the copper ground) everything would have made perfect sense to me. Then red ‘signal’ would go to the right audio channel, black (or green or yellow) ‘signal’ would go to the left audio channel and the white ‘common return’ would come back from both. I don’t remember how a stereo mini plug is wired – but I think common is the bottom part of the tip, and right and left go to the middle and upper sections. Or, if the copper ‘grounds’ are beings used as the ‘common’ I would understand – but they appear to be taped back over their respective parts of the cable without being connected together. Your wiring would also make perfect sense for a mono plug. But, like I said, I can get easily confused.

[M1TCH]

Well I was expecting there to be 4 seperate wite between the 2 as I've never stripped a stereo lead. I experimented and with all the white and all the red copper together I got no sound. Then it did just the small red and small white, this gave sound but it sounded like it was playing in a fish tank.

I then seperated them all as you see in the photo and tried it and it then sounded the same as before I stripped it so I guessed that was the correct way for stereo. It sounds fine, not as good as the DAB/CD obviously but its good enough, needed to adjust the ipod for more bass too.

[Hummer2k1]

there is something i dont understd: why didnt u use a simple jack/jack single cable instead of 2 jack/wire cable twisted together w/tape over them? i dont know if u se what i mean

[M1TCH]

just what I had spare lying around and it was a good length. still have to cut the cable as the hole in the back of the armrest is very small.

[Hummer2k1]

oh! ok, i see thanx

[hyper]

Thank you for posting! I was thinking of doing this before I saw this post but was a little intimidated. Based on your instruction I was able to complete this in about 1/2 hr including a trip to the local radio shack.

I did a couple things slightly different and believe the outcome is slightly more "clean".

1. I purchased a 90 degree headphone adapter ($2) that plugs into the aux jack and then into a 6 ft cable. This allows the input into the aux port to be almost completely hidden (unless you crawl under the dash) because it goes "back" instead of "down".

2. I removed the back piece of plastic trim from the cubby storage area (two clips hold it in - pull straight out). This allowed me to run the wire behind the trim piece instead of in front as shown in the picture.

3. Instead of cutting the wire, I was able to shave down the plastic headphone plug so that it fit through the back for the armrest. I only had to trim a small amount of plastic to get it to fit through the opening.

The end result is a totally hidden 6ft cable from the aux input into the armrest. Note that a 6' cable from Radio Shack with a 90 degree adapter gives you the perfect lenght.

[M1TCH]

Quote: Originally Posted by hyper (original)

1. I purchased a 90 degree headphone adapter ($2) that plugs into the aux jack and then into a 6 ft cable. This allows the input into the aux port to be almost completely hidden (unless you crawl under the dash) because it goes "back" instead of "down".

2. I removed the back piece of plastic trim from the cubby storage area (two clips hold it in - pull straight out). This allowed me to run the wire behind the trim piece instead of in front as shown in the picture.

cool, sounds good 1. would have been my preferred use of lead, ill have to look out for one of those.

and 2. i thought that plastic felt loose but couldnt quite get my fingers behind to pull it off, will do that today.

well done