[fsurfer]

This is a question I have been scratching my head about for a couple of years, as I would like to finish the car off with blue led remote - dont think there's an answer but I will ask anyway.

When I bought my Veccy it came with the cd unit in the golve box and a radio/cassette, all the interior lights including the remote switches on the steering wheel worked...dimmed etc.

When I fitted the Pioneer head unit the lights on the remote switches stopped working because this head unit does not support the function.

The head unit is connected to the cars iso by a couple of leads, steering remote, trafficmaster to gm iso and pioneer to traffic master.

What I have done:-
I have checked on the Pioneer website and the pin I need is not connected internally on this head unit.
Tried connecting live or ground to the pin - nothing,
Tried disconnecting all leads but I dont have the pioneer to gm iso lead.
Tried with a 9v battery with the remote off the steering wheel and it does light if I probe the circuit board - but not through the cables.

Its not a big deal as I can live with it but it would be great if I could get them to work - any ideas?

[flatbeat]

you will need to get an interface from auto leads they are about £12 and as long as your head unit has the connection plug it will work

[matt-m]

what ste said as soon as you fit a aftermarket headunit the lights on the steering wheel go out and the mid only shows the date you need a compatible headunit and a adaptor the headunits ive used that can connect are sony and alpine never tried a pioneer maybe i should as im installing this soon into my vec oh well it has its own remote lol

[Leeky]

As above, but you can still get the steering wheel wiring to light up - Its been a long time since I did it though. lol. I only ever did it once, I thought it looks better with no power to the buttons without the genuine headunit.

[fsurfer]

I have all the correct leads made sure of that before I purchase them, my head unit pioneer deh p3600mp does not support dashboard illumination have checked with Pioneer directly and have a copy of wiring schematic, the pin I need on this unit isnt connected internally - it does just about everything else.

Just wondered if there's a work around.

[fsurfer]

Sorry Leeky posted at same time, yes you are right if I had the blue led conversion it would be distracting when driving at night.

Anyway thanks for all the advice guys.

[flatbeat]

when you switch on the after market uniit the display on your dash will go out ie the temp will not show but there is a wire you can cut at the back of the head unit that will stop this and i think its a blue one but not 100% sure

[fsurfer]

Nothing wrong there all instruments work as they should unit has been in vehicle since I purchased in 2004.

As I said the fault is with head unit as it doesnt support illumination and as Leeky has mentioned there is a way round - which is interesting, though I think that would now be a distraction when driving as I wanted to fit the modified switches that have blue led's.

Perhaps Leejy if you could think how you did this and I will then have the existing switches working.

[ASTOBBS]

if you cut the blue wire, you lose the aerial amp. which makes the reception awful.

Think you need to have a probe at the squib connectors, ultimately, they remote illumination is going to come down to two wires. The wires must be there in the squib connector, once you've isolated them, hack them off, one side to ground, one side to a suitable radio output ie. the remote feed for an amp, would emit 12v when the radio is on, or the power aerial/amp feed etc.

[fsurfer]

Came across something interesting, fitting a vectra steering wheel in a corsa, here and it says about the steering wheel control wiring.

Step 6: Steering wheel control illumination

1. You have two choices with this, you can either connect it to (I think) the red/white wire on the ISO block so that the controls are always illuminated. Or - as I did - connect it to the grey/green sidelight wire at the back of the headlight switch so that the controls only light up when the sidelights are on.

5. Take the grey wire from the steering wheel and route it up behind the fuse box until it comes to where all the wire for the headlight switch are.

6. Locate the grey/green sidelight wire. Using a multimeter test the connection by turning the sidelights on and if the multimeters' reading changes then it is the correct wire, if not, test the other ones until it it does.

7. Now connect the grey wire to the grey/green wire, I used a piggy back connector for this, but you can do it how you prefer.

8. To test that the illumination is working, simply turn on the sidelights and check that the steering wheel controls are lit up. They can be hard to see in day light, but if you cover it up you should see them lit.

9. Now tape up the grey wire to the loom so that it's not dangling about and refit everything in the reverse order that you took it apart.