jac1502

As some of you may know I have been doing a bunch of mods to my car lately and my latest endeavor is going to be installing a car PC. I have just about everything worked out except where to tap into the stock microphone in the headliner. Anyone know? I really rather not use an external mic and the bluetooth and voice control I am working on is going to be very cool. Location and wire colors would be an extreme help. I do not want to run new lines down the pillar so that is not an option. I have searched but not came up with anything clear. I would think the wires would be attached to the stock head unit for the built in phone feature but not sure. I have yet to pull the head unit out because I want to get all my research done first so I can completely the project more efficiently. Thanks for any help and like always anything I do to my car I will be more than willing to help anyone else in the future if they choose to follow my path!

MHPHOCKEY

Sadly I won't be following you on this one...But it sounds really cool. Where are you going to put the monitor? Keyboard? etc?

jac1502

As of now I have a single fold out 7inch LCD touch screen that I will use. But as I get more comfortable with the idea I may mold a larger fixed screen in the dash. I choose a fold out now just because I am worried about glare, but I know I could get a stock look with a molded screen. It will have GPS, bluetooth, TV, FM, MP3, Wireless Lan, DVD, and games all for a fraction of the cost of a stock navi.
I am going to use a front in app that looks similar to this to control all the PC functions

MHPHOCKEY

WOW...I cant wait to see these results!

jac1502

I actually have everything done with the PC except GPS just not mounted in the car. The screen came in the mail last week but had a small cosmetic defect so I had to send it back. I use to work in the computer industry so I had a spare media PC I built a few years ago sitting around so I just had to put in a 12V power supply and FM tuner. Hopefully it will workout but if not I am not going to damage the dash so I can always go back stock

drexappeal

This is just straight pimp! Love seeing custom ish like this! Good luck on the project and hope all goes well. As for where to tap, couldn't help you on that one. The electronics on this car really freak me out compared to the JDM cars I used to work with.

jac1502

I just hope the fold out screen does not look tacky. I like the idea of being able to move up and down and left and right but still would love a flush screen look. This has been what has been holding me up on the project and waiting for the dash mounting kit mounting.

drexappeal

Are the LCD functions going to be based off the PC?

If so, couldn't you shrink the image to have it fit the screen exact? Not sure, cuz I'm not an expert, but very curious and intrigued by your project. Since you used to be in the CPU industry, I'm sure you'd know better.

jac1502

yes that image is from a frontend that has adjustable size so it will fill the screen perfect. It is alos very easy to make new buttons for different functions and skin them to all look the same and make new screens in general.

gambri

i am thinking about doing this to my car also, but wanted to wait for metra to make a double din bezel so i can put it flush and give it an oem look. I even thought about buying that kit you have and taking out the lower pocket to make space for the lcd. depending on how yours looks i might attempt it. keep us posted

jac1502

I do not see metra making a double din I do not think there is room. The single din seems strong so I would think I could cut it up and mold in a screen fairly easy, which was the original plan.

jac1502

I decided to pull my center headrest console apart to see if I could determine the wire colors and which pillar they ran down for the mic.

This is what I found:




It appears that there is only two soldiered connection on the top of the mic although there are 6 leads to the board

There are 5 plugs that attach

3 wire plug with:
red wire 2 blue stripes
brown wire 2 blue strips
purple wire

3 wire plug with:
brown wire
pink wire 2 red stripes
did not write down last wire.

6 wire plug:
large brown wire
large red wire 2 blue stripes
brown wire 2 blue stripes
brown wire
brown wire 2 red stripes

Looks promising
4 wire plug:
2 black wires
2 brown wires

I tried to test the circuit board and run down which wires went to the mic but I did not have any luck . It worries me that the mic to the circuit board has 6 wires I may have to give up on this idea and run a external mic somewhere (I hate to fail) Any thoughts? I have a sun roof if that helps

benzmodz

The microphone is always in the mirror. Pre2005 is in the underside. The join is at the rear right wheel arch and above mirror.

The OCP (in the photo) has nothing to do with it.

jac1502

Ok what does OCP stand for? In the mirror, wow I was way off. I do not really see any place in the mirror that has a hole or holes for sound to travel throught. Could you help me out some more you seem o know something about this?

benzmodz

overhead control panel.

Give me a hint .... what are you driving and the year please.

jac1502

It is a 2006 c230 sedan. I had hoped the radio area may contain the mic wires, any luck there? Thanks for the help!

benzmodz

I was right the first time. In the mirror and above it.

jac1502

Do you know the color codes for the wires?

jac1502

You are right about the mic and here is the location:


But it still has more wires than I had hoped, I am assuming it is amplified or something.

From the mic it has the following wires:

Purple
Green
Yellow
Red
Brown
White Thicker

From that harness the wires go to a different harness and change color

Purple > Pink
Green > Purple
Yellow > Baby Blue
Red > Green
Brown > Orange
White Thicker > Blue

I do not even know where to begin on testing the wires to determine which to use to a 2 wire mic hook up. I do have a very good Ohm voltage meter but do not know what to look for. Any suggestions

benzmodz

It has 4 microphones that is why it is operated as a mic array. Why the heck do you pull everything apart when the wiring junction is in the headliner and behind the right rear seat in the wheel arch.

Just use the overhead wires and buy the matching connectors (part number is one the plastic).

Lucky you didnt try to change the oil ....

jac1502

The reason I had to pull everything apart is because I could find no reference to where the wires are located and the colors. That is why I posted the thread. I do not like taking things apart and using the trial and error method, but that was my only option if I cannot find help. I am not an electrical engineer but more than willing to learn from experience and research. If you can offer me any more direction besides ridiculing my attempt to answer my own questions it would be appreciated.

fanito

Sorry to bring this thread back but do we know already how to tap the mic? BTW, if there is no comand there is still a mic already installed, right?

What a bummer that the pics are unavailable...

drexappeal

Don't worry about bringing back old threads. This is preferred, instead of having a redundant "new" thread started.

As for tapping the mic, I'm not sure 'bout that. Can anybody interject here?

benzmodz

You have to run your own microphone.

a) there is a cable in the headliner that has a connector at both ends.

b) one connector is on the right rear wheel arch

c) the other connector is above the mirror mount

To use the existing connectors look at the part number of the connector you are pulling out.

d) there is more than enough copper to make a connection but there is also shield for noise reduction.

There is nothing you can "tap" into as you must use your own microphone.