Well then, I finally got a decent car. So it's time to put the empeg in.

I've added a new album in my RioCar.org gallery to chronicle the installation.

I've already run the cabling in (apart from the power cable, which needs a hole drilling in the bulkhead), I've tested the empeg and everything seems fine, there are a few points though:

• The battery icon is coming on when the unit powers up. I'm considering running a dedicated cable from the battery (via a fuse) to power the unit directly. I'm assuming the memory wire is the one that draws the bulk of the power? Otherwise I'll have to run both off the battery.
  
• I have a steering wheel adaptor from Autoleads which after initial testing, seems to work. Some of the buttons however do not always work. After trawling the board I've seen that other people have had this problem. The common fix seems to be changing the power source (it's currently fed from the tuner power supply, i've also tried it on the switched ignition feed but got the same results). Maybe tap it off the battery again?
  

Anyway, the tuner works a treat, managed to pull in all sorts of stations, even some usually marginal ones. Also noticed that Radio Text is appearing quicker than before.

Also, the steering wheel adaptor includes a driver for the remote display, the display can then be driven via a Sony uni-link capable CD changer. GNUnilink anyone?

I'm assuming the memory wire is the one that draws the bulk of the power?

Correct.

If you run this to your battery (good idea), you must also use a weatherproof fuse block in the engine compartment, as close to the battery as possible, to prevent the risk of fire.

After trawling the board I've seen that other people have had this problem.

I'm curious if, simply getting the battery icon to go away by wiring the player straight to the battery will also solve the problem for the stalk adapter without needing to change the adapter's wiring.

Got the power cable through finally, thanks to SQ Plus in Manchester. The empeg goes in tomorrow!

I'd like to know if this would help as well... keep us posted.

I'm not familiar with the line of cars, but I did a few Clio Sport logos for somebody a while back... You can find them in the Boot Logo section of RioCar.org under "Cars."

Thanks for the offer, but I did one myself:

oops, wrong one!

Ohhhh!!! Nice! Do a Subaru one! hehe Nice man, I love it!

Thanks, it took me ages to do....

Your autoleads adaptor does display as well?! They must have changed the cable then...mine doesn't...

I was contemplating taking a scope into the car and attempting to debug the renault protocol, but if the new cable supports it then it shouldn't be too tricky to use that gnuunilink software (+serial port) to make the display say stuff...

..interesting! Post more pics when fully operational!

Adrian

The kicker is, you wouldn't be able to use GNUnilink directly as it would be waiting for a Sony HU to start the conversation (and also generate the clock pulses).

After speaking to the Autoleads guys I've acertained that the adaptor is merely a logger. That means it doesn't participate on the bus it just listens. It therefore doesn't understand what context a message is in, merely that it's a message to be displayed. So as long as you could make a box that created Unilink disc/title names along with a clock, then the autoleads box should display it on the renault display.

I've stuck a few more piccies in the album. I'll post some more once I've got the sub box built.

As a follow up to the steering wheel adaptor, it appears almost all the buttons work. One button needs to be held down for a second or two before it works. The real weirdy is one of the preset buttons. It only appears to work when the tuner is at a certain preset. At all other times it is ignored. This can even be demonstrated with the Button Codes Display. Spose I should finally update to 2.0 Final and latest hijack...

Andy what lead did you get? Was it the PC9-112?

I've just ordered a new laguna and want to link my stalk controls as a minimum to the empeg. What I'd really like is to connect the serial port upto the lcd screen for the natsav (which also displays the radio/cd info for the standard head unit).

I've just thrown the box out I'm afraid, and the dashboard is too full of crap to take it apart. I simply went to Halfords and said I'd like a Sony stalk adaptor for a Renault Clio. A few clickety clicks later and he said the only one he had did the display as well. It was approx £50 and they had to order it direct.

I hope this is of some help. It's great to have the empeg back in a car!

Andy, were you able to get rid of the battery icon by wiring the player directly to the battery?

Thanks for that. Will do a bit more research when I get my new car. I've been without my empeg in the car since may. I miss my babies :-(

Hi Andy,

I've just fitted my empeg to my clio, did you ever get a solution for the battery icon?

I cant get the "source" seleciton buttons on the stalk to work either, in hijack it doesn't even see them. Also the roller works in one direction but not the other, or rather it does seem to work for a small amount of time, presumably when the car heats up the resistance goes out of range.

Was your autoleads adaptor in a smallish silver box?

Thanks.

Adrian

I've just been out to the car park and tried it again. The roller worked in one direction for a little bit then eventually stopped. Hijack is showing the measured value to be 4a (The other way is 5d I think), but like I said after a couple of minutes it stopped working.

The source selection button does work if you hold it down for a couple of seconds (like you mentioned in the thread), this shows up as a reading of 0. I'm thinking about wiring a resister in series to try and bump up these readings to see if I can get it to work any better, anybody have any ideas?

Thanks.

Adrian

Hi Adrian,

What you've described is exactly what I've witnessed. Mine is mapped so the top two switch sources, the volume is self explanatory but when you press them together is simulates a down press. The roller simulates left and right presses. The bottom button toggles shuffle.

The roller is a little tempramental it always works in one direction and then its flakey in the other, although it's been behaving itself recently.

If you're suffering from the same problems then it's unlikely to an installation fault. On the subject of battery icons, since I connected it directly to the battery it doesn't appear very often now, usually only when i'm starting the car.

The only mildly annoying thing is the radio is distorted when it starts up, although it only lasts a couple of seconds.