USASpec PA20-GM iPod adapter installed

[snowjay]

It was relatively painless. The longest part of the job was figuring out where to mount the unit and route the cables so they wouldn't interfere with the glove box closing.

If you have the XM receiver all you need to do is release the glove box so it swings down out of the way and then all your connections are right in front of you. Installation at that point basically involves unplugging the XM reciever, plugging a the USASpec harness into the XM reciever and then the original cable into the other end of the USASpec harness. After that the harness gets plugged into the control unit and another cable comes out of that that you plug into your iPod/iPhone.

After surveying a bunch of mounting locations for the control box (maybe the size of two decks of cards stacked and very light) I put some 3M auto tape on the back side and stuck it to the top of the HVAC units housing. It's far out o the way there and I was able to route the cable from the XM unit up and around the metal dash backbone and zip tie it in place.

Then I ran the iPod cable to behind the console under the radio and have it peeking out from under the climate controls which allows me to plug in my iPhone and leave it in the storage tray.

I've been toying about getting an auto only iPod and leaving it in the glove box so if thats the case I'll just reroute the cable there. I've been thinking about it since my last car so it isn't a real priority. LOL

To gain access to the iPod you set a shortcut to XM253 (older units were XM99) and then it just works. using the CAT button you can get to Artists, Playlists, Albums, Songs, Random and Direct (for direct control of iPod). Artist & song name also scroll across the display screen.

Steering wheel controls also work.

XM still works as well w/o needing to be reprogrammed with a Tech2 like the GM PAL requires.

I'll take photos if anyone is interested although there is not much to see.

I got it from Crutchfield for $149. It's $169 but I found a $20 off coupon.

If you don't have an XM receiver then I believe you need a separate cable to plug into the back of the stereo.



I do have two open issues that I need to contact USASpec about.

1. It appears that the iPod stays charging even when the truck is off. Now maybe thats just because of remote power and that will stop after a certain time.
2. There looked to be a ground wire coming out of the filter box on the cable between the XM and controller. There was no mention of this in the instructions and the unit works fine with no noise w/o it. So I taped it off for now since I'm not sure where it was meant to go.

 

[elbison]

Sounds good!

Any resolution to the two issues you raised?

P.S. I have been into MP3s, MP3 capable stereos, etc since about 1997. However, I never cared to spend $400 on an Apple iPod to play them when my home computer, work computer and cars could always play them fine for "free".

I'll buy one now, for this purpose, because it seems to work well (and I get lazier the older I get). Does anyone know the best value for one that will live in my glove box? 40gb 4th gen? Touch 80gb? Battery problems with any of them? Incompatibility with this adapter?, etc.

---------- Post added at 06:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:19 PM ----------

I see iPod touch and 3rd/4th gen work with

USA Spec GM iPod® Interface
Connects your iPod to select 2006-up GM LAN factory stereos
5 people say:
Item #581PA20GM IN STOCK

Crutchfield is pretty helpful.

I'm curious about this Neucleus adapter now.

 

[snowjay]

Yeah, I resolved my "issues."

1. It stops charging after an hour.

2. It is a ground wire that wasn't documented in the literature. Although I still haven't grounded it yet though.


p.s. what iPod are you buying for $400? I only spend $200 and change for a 30GB a couple of years ago. Then it was stolen and I got an iPhone from work.

 

[elbison]

Great, thanks!

I haven't bought one yet.....I might buy the classic 120gb (6th gen) for around $200, but its only purpose will be permanent glove box duty.

I do have one other question for you.....on Crutchfield, there is a reviewer who states he can only browse 32 items on the stock nav radio. What does he mean by this? 32 folders? 32 artists (if iTunes forces that behavior)?

Have you encountered a browsing limitation?

Seems like you could just put the files all in the "root" or make genre top level folders if it's a # of folders issue. That's if iTunes gives you that freedom....I've never used it.

We'll see......I don't need a program to tell me how to store files.....I always hated my friends' collections and the way they were stored in subfolder after pointless subfolder.

I'd prefer to just dump files on the hardware how I want them structured.

 

[Eagle]

I can make one recommendation if you can live with the size limitation...

4g nano or 5g nano. Dang near indestructible b/c it is flash memory, not a micro harddrive like the larger capacity ipods.
easy to hide away too.

(I built ipod docks for my wife's car and my old BMW using the supplied size adapters, her's is in the OBD II port location, my bmw had it in the glovebox flashlight location)


Honestly other than on a really long (12 hour+ trip) 16 gb of music @ 320kbps is a LOT of music. I think I had something like 4 DAYS of music on mine.
Playlists are already a must @ 16gb, plus makes it easy to swap music off and on also.

 

[elbison]

Great point, I like no-moving-parts, and 16gb should be good enough. We just went to Florida (from Texas) and I played one "best of" mp3 cd for at least 7 hours (800mb).

 

[natelw]

I have a 09 Tahoe with Navigation and had it installed, but the steering wheel controls only move the favorites list forward and not the track. Were you able to get it to track forward from your steering wheel controls?

 

[brhorne]

Can you be more specific on how you drop the glove box down? I looked at it and couldn't figure it out.