steering remotes

james306 · Post by **james306** » 07 May 2004, 00:50

Have just upgraded my Xantia Blaupunkt PH1/C for another Xantia radio cassette with a six disk cd changer(both made by Clarion for Citroen)
PU 1562A.
I was told that it came from a T reg Xantia,whereas mine is 1997 R reg.
My steering wheel remotes do not operate with the new one.
Any ideas or rmedies.

Kered · Post by **Kered** » 07 May 2004, 13:16

This is more complex than it seems. I've recently won on eBay a leather covered steering wheel from an Exlusive Xantia. My Xantia is an X reg SX. Both of the steering wheels are from the later face lifted model and look identical apart from one being leather and the other plastic. I noted during the swapping process that, though the connectors were the same, the number of tracks of the flexible printed circuit to the connectors was different.
No surprise then when the steering wheel remotes didn't work! The controls must work on some sort of code (BCD?)as 8 controls work over 5 wires. It is conceivable that different coding was used with different radios. This is hard wired in the steering wheel and the wires are the flexible PCBs which are virtually impossible to mess with.
Anyway I'm happy as the steering wheel is great!
Derek

mark_sp · Post by **mark_sp** » 07 May 2004, 17:49

Unfortunately 1997 - 1998 cars are the worst of the bunch when it comes to standardisation of the steering controls. With the aftermarket leads there is only a one in three chance that they will work with a car from this period.
Mark

Kered · Post by **Kered** » 07 May 2004, 18:50

I dismantled the old steering wheel to get at the remote buttons. I haven't had the time to work it out completely but it seems to rely on each button switching through a different combination of resistances. This would mean that each button would produce a distinct voltage and I guess that the radio would respond accordingly. It is a most ingenious arrangement as it all ends up on a 5 pin connector which also supplies the LED power to light the buttons AND also carries the feed from the horn button.
Derek

MW · Post by MW » 07 May 2004, 19:25

Spare me the ingenuity. Would it really have been so very difficult to run the eight wires out through an eight pin plug so that we didn't need all this faffing about with special resistance codes?
If I seem to be speaking with feeling, it's because my Cit dealer once relieved me of something over eighty quid to replace/fix the remote controls on a four year old Xantia. Serves me right for not getting a quote in writing first. If I'd known it was going to be that much I'd have put up with the burden (oh woe is me!) of reaching forward and adjusting the thing via the dash controls instead, just like everybody else.
Must say that the remote Mute control is worth having, though. Good for clear thinking in challenging traffic situations. And when you're being pulled over by the law.

volcane305 · Post by **volcane305** » 12 May 2004, 03:03

ditch the factory fit stuff and get a new head unit with MP3 line in etc that will work with your remotes. I bought an alpine unit for my 01 xsara and it works well. Check out http://www.caraudiodirect.com/ they have a list of steering interfaces.

KevMayer · Post by **KevMayer** » 12 May 2004, 03:15

The info about the resistances is interesting.
Lots of times, with my original radio, when I used the steering wheel volume control to change the sound output it caused the radio station to change.
I now have a Sony head unit with single CD. The volume control now changes radio station.. or CD track depending on which function i'm using at the time.
It also changes the volume. it works correctly about 80 percent of the time.
must be a problem with the resistor setup.

Post by **philhoward** » 12 May 2004, 03:46

Find a similar problem with my Sony CDX-MP40 (with the autoloeads adaptor); sometimes when I hit the VOL- button twice two quickly it changes station...I've learnt just not to press it too quickly!

ditchcrawler · Post by **ditchcrawler** » 12 May 2004, 22:46

Not unlike an intermittent problem on my '95 SX Xantia: using the 'mute' button on the steering wheel (when about to answer phone hands-free, hem hem...)mutes the radio OK, and brings it back later when wanted, but then the radio switches itself on or off at random until the next 'reset' (ie stop engine). If it's a resistance code device, that probably explains it, as mucky contacts woudl affect the resistance seen by the clever detection device. Like MW, I'm happy switching off at the radio instead - more important things to worry about!
Ian

Stuart McB · Post by **Stuart McB** » 13 May 2004, 00:57

Have recently fitted a Sony head unit in to my new (to me) Xsaar VTR. Had an auto lead adaptor from a previous car and all was fine but I did notice that the button on the steering to switch channel now turned off the unit and that on playing CD's the little lites on the steering would go off. On closer inspection I found that the "AUX AMP" lead in light blue was earting out on the car body work behind the head unit. Have taped it all up and bingo all OK but the lites still go off when playing a CD but apart foprm that all is MEGA!![:D][:D]

Kered · Post by **Kered** » 13 May 2004, 01:06

I can now give a bit more information. The raising of this topic has been the spur for me to change the controls from the car's original wheel (SX) to the leather wheel from an Exclusive.
I mentioned in my first post in this thread that the Exclusive controls worked on less PCB tracks. In fact it runs on 3 whereas the SX controls work on 6. All connectors though are the same. It would seem to be the case that the wheel controls must match what the audio equipment requires though externally, on the wheel, it all looks the same.
I did some sample voltage checks when pressing the buttons:-
Volume up -3.35V Volume down -4.91V Mute +1.77V
The other voltages were +2.43, +3.36, +4.9, -2.42 and -1.46. These voltages were as read when all connected up and radio working.
The fact that a voltage is shown as a + or a - just means that this is what the meter displayed. I've no idea if I had the probes connected the "right" way round. In essence there are 4 voltages and the same again in reverse polarity.
Ditchcrawler is correct in saying that mucky contacts would affect the resistance and thus the voltage supplied to the radio. However no switches are in series so one iffy contact won't affect the others.
Derek

McNasty · Post by **McNasty** » 13 May 2004, 01:21

Hey guys, My Standard Xantia radio cassette (clarion model with CD Control ability and steering controls..but no disc changer) Just died. Spraying air con deodoriser into the centre vents caused a leak into the radio which fragged one of the circuit boards

I was wondering if any of you who have ditched this for aftermarket radios would be willing to donate me theirs? apparently any old xantia radio might do it.

debutant · Post by **debutant** » 13 May 2004, 04:05

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by philhoward</i>

Find a similar problem with my Sony CDX-MP40 (with the autoloeads adaptor); sometimes when I hit the VOL- button twice two quickly it changes station...I've learnt just not to press it too quickly!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Mine does the same with the original stereo! [:o)]
Cheers,
John
Xantia 1.8i 16v 1997, 108k mls