Alpine Dask kit, Non Alpine Head Unit - Help Needed

[gill7784]

This thread is for those of you who want to use the Alpine dash kit with a non-Alpine head unit. While the kits are essentially the same, there are a couple fundamental differences which pose a bit of a problem.


Let’s talk wires – The Alpine kit does not maintain the more universal wire colors of the Scosche kit. There are really only two oddball wires that one need be concerned with. On the head unit side, the audio interrupt lead is pink/black (Scosche kit is solid brown). The reverse light lead is orange/white (Scosche kit is violet/white).

On the GM LAN bus side, there are two bundles of wire. Yellow/blue is the parking brake lead. Yellow/black is the foot brake lead. Pull them out of the wire bundle and toss them away. Just run your parking sensor lead from the head unit to a chassis ground.


Now for the problem – The Alpine kit assumes you are using an Alpine head unit, and therefor only supplies the 3.5mm male jack for steering wheel controls. For those of us who use another brand head unit, there is no support. The light blue/yellow SWC line from 24 pin connector is absent. What I really need to know is which spot on the Scosche version of the 24 pin connector houses the light blue/yellow SWC wire. After that, it’s a simple fix.


Final observation – both Alpine and Scosche kits assume you are running without amplifiers. They have you use the speaker level leads from the head unit to supply source signal. Bad choice if you are amplified! Those lines send entirely too many volts to the amp and cause a lot of static and hiss. The solution to this is simple. Instead of attaching the wiring harness supplied by Alpine or Scosche to the line level speaker wires, just buy two sets of RCA cables. Hack off the female end and attach them to the proper colors on the wire bundle. Plug the male end into your pre-outs from the head unit.


Hope this helps someone. If anyone can help with the SWC issue, please chime in!

[Duper]

For running with an amp, just take the L & R RCA out on your head unit and plug it into you amp or processor. Cutting RCA cables? Don't follow you there.

[jeffa]

Originally Posted by Duper

For running with an amp, just take the L & R RCA out on your head unit and plug it into you amp or processor. Cutting RCA cables? Don't follow you there.

I think he is referring to the BA speakers/amp system.

What I don't understand is, if you are not using an Alpine head unit, and have all these issues with the Alpine kit, it would make sense to me to just use the Scosche version.

[gill7784]

Originally Posted by jeffa

I think he is referring to the BA speakers/amp system.

What I don't understand is, if you are not using an Alpine head unit, and have all these issues with the Alpine kit, it would make sense to me to just use the Scosche version.

Please don't infer that I am knocking the Alpine kit, or even the Scosche kit for that matter. Both are great alternatives to the Metra offering. I purchased the Alpine kit because I believe the lines flow better with the rest of the dash. I fully anticipated needing to do some leg work to get the kit hooked up. I just know that many others prefer the look of the Alpine over the Scosche and they will probably run into a few of the pitfalls I have. Only trying to help here.

Regarding the RCA jacks, I fully realize I can run a set of RCA's from the head unit pre-outs to the amp. However, the BA system does not have RCA inputs. The easiest way to make this work is to buy some el-cheapo RCA cables, hack off the female ends, solder the male ends to the appropriate speaker wires on the Alpine/Scosche kit and plug them into the female ends of pre-outs located on the head unit. This effectively bypasses the speaker level outputs from the head unit and eliminates the possibility of sending a noisy signal to the amp.

With that said, I'm still looking to isolate the pin out location of the light blue/yellow wire coming off the 24-pin connector of the Scosche kit.

[Eich]

Originally Posted by gill7784

Final observation – both Alpine and Scosche kits assume you are running without amplifiers. They have you use the speaker level leads from the head unit to supply source signal. Bad choice if you are amplified!

That seems like a pretty major oversight/assumption! Those paying $300+ for a dashkit and $600+ for a new head unit are often those who are running a separate amplifier.

[Duper]

Originally Posted by Eich

That seems like a pretty major oversight/assumption! Those paying $300+ for a dashkit and $600+ for a new head unit are often those who are running a separate amplifier.

They don't assume that, both kits work with amps just fine.

[CamaroSS45]

Let me try and answer your question - since I do have "both" on-hand although the display on the Scosche is now toast....

It is the same pin insert where you see the 3.5 connector feeding back to. However - I tried to tap into that connection and map it to the SWC and still can't get it to respond..... However - it seems that those other users with the Scosche kits are having the same issue, so not sure even if we have the proper pin/cable mapping if we have the fix.

Let me know if this helps you at all - but I tried this prior to reading your post and am hung up on this as well.

Curious what your intended fix was? ...

Many need help on this....

Originally Posted by gill7784

This thread is for those of you who want to use the Alpine dash kit with a non-Alpine head unit. While the kits are essentially the same, there are a couple fundamental differences which pose a bit of a problem.


Let’s talk wires – The Alpine kit does not maintain the more universal wire colors of the Scosche kit. There are really only two oddball wires that one need be concerned with. On the head unit side, the audio interrupt lead is pink/black (Scosche kit is solid brown). The reverse light lead is orange/white (Scosche kit is violet/white).

On the GM LAN bus side, there are two bundles of wire. Yellow/blue is the parking brake lead. Yellow/black is the foot brake lead. Pull them out of the wire bundle and toss them away. Just run your parking sensor lead from the head unit to a chassis ground.


Now for the problem – The Alpine kit assumes you are using an Alpine head unit, and therefor only supplies the 3.5mm male jack for steering wheel controls. For those of us who use another brand head unit, there is no support. The light blue/yellow SWC line from 24 pin connector is absent. What I really need to know is which spot on the Scosche version of the 24 pin connector houses the light blue/yellow SWC wire. After that, it’s a simple fix.


Final observation – both Alpine and Scosche kits assume you are running without amplifiers. They have you use the speaker level leads from the head unit to supply source signal. Bad choice if you are amplified! Those lines send entirely too many volts to the amp and cause a lot of static and hiss. The solution to this is simple. Instead of attaching the wiring harness supplied by Alpine or Scosche to the line level speaker wires, just buy two sets of RCA cables. Hack off the female end and attach them to the proper colors on the wire bundle. Plug the male end into your pre-outs from the head unit.


Hope this helps someone. If anyone can help with the SWC issue, please chime in!

[CamaroSS45]

Actually not just an issue - but a solid observation I am shocked has not been mentioned already, and reality with both the Alpine and Scosche units that the Metra Kit had already accounted for. The Scosche and Alpine kits assume high level vs low level all of the way back (which if you have a Boston Acoustic or other amp is sending high all of the way back).

Originally Posted by jeffa

I think he is referring to the BA speakers/amp system.

What I don't understand is, if you are not using an Alpine head unit, and have all these issues with the Alpine kit, it would make sense to me to just use the Scosche version.

[CamaroSS45]

Yup - and the case on both Scosche and Alpine kits....

Originally Posted by Eich

That seems like a pretty major oversight/assumption! Those paying $300+ for a dashkit and $600+ for a new head unit are often those who are running a separate amplifier.

[CamaroSS45]

They absolutely work - no question. However - this is sending "high level" back to an amplifier (if you have one) that is indeed assuming a "low level" feed... With the Boston Acoustic Amp out of the gate - may never be an issue other than static at high volumes.... When pushing into other amps I think the suggestion above (if not just parallel runs to the back out of the Head Unit low levels) is the way you have to go to avoid issues.....

Ok - we are good on this. Any ideas on SWC? .... This one appears to be an issue with Scosche and Alpine kits and impacts Kenwood / Pioneer and others.

Originally Posted by Duper

They don't assume that, both kits work with amps just fine.

[gill7784]

I'm just tired of monkeying with it so I ordered a Metra ASWC kit to completely bypass the Scosche interface as it relates to the SWC. Should be here on Wednesday, I'll let you know how it works out.

[GingerCam]

I actually just got my steering controls to work...but now my kit isn't working...see my other post