Hobbes

DIY – Sirius Starmate 3 and iPod Nano Installation Sorry for the poor image quality. My camcorder decided to drink some mouthwash on my last trip rendering it inop. I had to use my cell phone to take the pictures. Knowing that, I wanted to pass along a DIY job to show how I integrated my iPod and Sirius radio together with my Becker CDR-220. I do not have a factory CD changer with my Porsche, so I was able to use the “Aux-in” on the back of the radio. I purchased a PIE BLAU/8-3NPUT multi-audio + iPod Charging Adapter Cable (Product ID: BLAU/8-3NPUT) from myradiostore.com for $29.99. PIE Blaupunkt 8-Pin to RCA, 3.5mm Plug or iPod Adapter BLAU/8-3NPUT. I purchased a fused cigarette lighter socket from Radio Shack that will tap power from the telephone power connector. The cigarette lighter adapter from the Sirius radio will plug into the cigarette lighter socket. $7.99 +12 volts unswitched (red/green) – power source for adapter and cigarette lighter socket. +12 volts switched (green/black) – did not use. Ground (brown) – ground for adapter and cigarette lighter socket. Telephone Mute Signal (yellow/black wire) – did not use. Now I had all the power needed to run the radio(s), I needed a smart way to mount the Sirius radio. The Starmate 3 came with vent and suction cup mounts, but using these would mean wires being exposed in the driver’s compartment. To me (and my wife) this is an eye sore. After some thinking, I thought it would be great to place the radio where the 5-CD holder is located in the center console. I did some exploration and realized the actual CD holders can be removed from the frame where it is housed. Now that I had my spot, I needed a way to mount the Sirius receiver to the car that would hide all the wires. One challenge I encountered was making a stable mounting platform that would sit snuggly into the CD holder, but have holes that would allow me to pass the wires through it. Here was my solution: I used a smooth, hard wood for my mounting platform. The interior of my Porsche is gray. I searched my garage and found some gray primer paint which coincidently matches my interior color, almost. Once I painted the mount, I pushed the mount into the mount housing which matches pretty closely. I do not have the best power tools available which is why there is a gap between the frame and the mount. I had re-done this so that mount is flush to the frame. (I didn’t get any pictures of this, but the dimensions I gave above will fit the frame snuggly.) The easy part was finished. Next I had to figure out a way to mount the antennae and route my wires through the firewall. Instead of going through the painstaking process of fishing my antennae wire through the fire wall, I find an alternate solution. I’m not sure what this is called, but there is a cover on the right hand side of the trunk compartment that leads from the trunk area to the interior of the car. I read different options as to where to place the antennae, but I did some testing and I decided to place the magnetic antennae on my windshield wiper housing. I zip tied the wire to hold it in place as seen above. Now that all the wires were run and my power for the radio connected, I fished the wires through the hole for the Sirius radio. I used some heavy duty Velcro on the mount and the back of the Sirius receiver to hold the receiver in place. I know this is not a perfect solution and can probably be done more professionally, but this technique and procedure worked for me. I hope this helps some of you out there. What is not shown here is the wire for my iPod. The iPod cable is fished along the right side under the molding. The iPod sits in the storage compartment under the Sirius. I will make a mount in the future so the thing doesn’t flop around. A couple of things to note: There is there is minor hissing in the speakers. However, there is more hissing when I use the iPod. Not so much when I use the Sirius. I will be buying a ground-loop isolator to fix this in the future. Also, when the iPod is plugged in and I am using the Sirius, the sound was not as loud. I unplugged the iPod and I noticed the Sirius volume was louder.