'97 LX450 Steering Wheel Connector

[voorland80]

Finally got steering wheel controls working in the LX. While technically not SWC, the controls are at my finger tips and easily accessed. Here are a few pictures and links to the products I used.

Head unit: Alpine iLX-W650

Steering Wheel Control Adapter: Axxess ASWC-1 *EDIT* You only need this adapter if your head unit does not have SWC settings built in, as some Pioneer and other Andriod based units have.

Steering wheel stalk controls: Steering wheel stalk
Axxess Programming Instructions: Programming Instructions

Here is a mockup of the wiring I did in order to test.


View attachment 3077153

Axxess black is ground.
Axxess red is +12 volts.
Axxess 3.5mm plug goes to "remote" port on back of head unit.
Access white/green connects to the stalk control red.

Stalk red, as already mentioned, connects to Axxess white/green.
Stalk black is ground.

Looks good. So you used a common ground for both the stalk and axxess box?
What did you do with the unused wires?
I plan on using factory telephone controller connector & wiring for this. And think instead of making own resistor board will try using axxess for translation and handoff to the pioneer head unit.
Your info is very helpful. Thanks!

 

[DannyG]

Looks good. So you used a common ground for both the stalk and axxess box?
What did you do with the unused wires?
I plan on using factory telephone controller connector & wiring for this. And think instead of making own resistor board will try using axxess for translation and handoff to the pioneer head unit.
Your info is very helpful. Thanks!

Thanks!

Yes, just a common ground. Concerning the unused wires, I simply bundled and taped them up. I would have preferred to de-pin and remove, but just didn't have the proper tool for such small wires.

Also, some pioneer head units have built in SWC programming buttons. So depending on head unit, you may not need an axxess controller.

Good luck!

Danny

 

[Fofifty]

Looks good. So you used a common ground for both the stalk and axxess box?
What did you do with the unused wires?
I plan on using factory telephone controller connector & wiring for this. And think instead of making own resistor board will try using axxess for translation and handoff to the pioneer head unit.
Your info is very helpful. Thanks!

Bringing this back from the dead, any luck with using the axxess adapter?

 

[sbman]

Bringing this back from the dead, any luck with using the axxess adapter?

I want one of these phone control clusters for the steering wheel! Anyone have one they'd be willing to part with?

I'm using a PAC-RC1 to integrate the cruise control switches into my stereo, but I have to put them on a toggle switch to switch it from stereo to cruise control, they won't work at the same time. The PAC-RC1 could be used with a resistor network modified version of the phone controls as well. You'd hook up the white wire to the resistor network, red to ACC power, black to ground and blue/yellow to your stereo. I have the programming instructions for it I can share if you decide to try using one of those instead of the Axxess adapter. ( I don't know anything about that adapter)

 

[Fofifty]

I want one of these phone control clusters for the steering wheel! Anyone have one they'd be willing to part with?

I'm using a PAC-RC1 to integrate the cruise control switches into my stereo, but I have to put them on a toggle switch to switch it from stereo to cruise control, they won't work at the same time. The PAC-RC1 could be used with a resistor network modified version of the phone controls as well. You'd hook up the white wire to the resistor network, red to ACC power, black to ground and blue/yellow to your stereo. I have the programming instructions for it I can share if you decide to try using one of those instead of the Axxess adapter. ( I don't know anything about that adapter)

I was looking online to see what other controls might be easy to put in its place and I found this. If you can find the control.it might be the ideal solution.

Hacking (retrofitting) steering wheel audio controls for aftermarket headunit - ClubLexus - Lexus Forum Discussion

GS - 2nd Gen (1998-2005) - Hacking (retrofitting) steering wheel audio controls for aftermarket headunit - Recently upgraded my 98 GS300 to an 01-05 steering wheel/air bag since they look nicer than the 98-00 ones. Got a used radio control Pod for the wheel as well. PAC audio makes steering...

www.clublexus.com

On another note, where is the best place to tap into the wires for the controls? What color are they?

 

[voorland80]

Bringing this back from the dead, any luck with using the axxess adapter?

still have the axxess adapter
had to jump to other things tho
did look at using sc430 controller but it doesn't fit lx450 steering wheel (larger than lx450 factory phone control)
in meantime found steering wheel cover on lx450 wheel caused damage and left ugly reverse imprint on wheel rim.
picked up nice wood/leather wheel with factory remote controller for sc400 but might install in LX until decide which vendor to use for rewrap of LX wheel (i like & prefer stock 4-spoke LX wheel)
would just need toyota adapter for (single-stage) air-bag to use sc430 wheel in LX
that means using sc430 controller to communicate with pioneer hu if keep sc430 wheel in LX.
but other projects call (presently finishing adapting sc430 seats to the sc400)

 

[coaders]

I want one of these phone control clusters for the steering wheel! Anyone have one they'd be willing to part with?

I'm using a PAC-RC1 to integrate the cruise control switches into my stereo, but I have to put them on a toggle switch to switch it from stereo to cruise control, they won't work at the same time. The PAC-RC1 could be used with a resistor network modified version of the phone controls as well. You'd hook up the white wire to the resistor network, red to ACC power, black to ground and blue/yellow to your stereo. I have the programming instructions for it I can share if you decide to try using one of those instead of the Axxess adapter. ( I don't know anything about that adapter)

sbman, would you mind sharing how you wired your PAC-RC1 to the cruise control lever? I have the EWD infront of me and I understand how the cruise control lever functions (although my multimeter is not picking up any resistance between the Brown (20) and Black/Green (5) wire when the Cancel, Set, or Resume actions are pressed. I do get 1.7ohms between Yellow/Red (15) and Brown (20) when I press the On/Off button on the lever.). What I can't wrap my head around is what the PAC's dip switches do and where I need to land the LX450's wires to the PAC. I got your description above, but:
-Do I need to ditch the resistors built into the cruise control lever and build my own resistor bank?
-My PAC came with 2 wiring harnesses, from which harness do I tie the red, white, and black wires into?
-I have a Kenwood deck with a Blue/yellow wire, so that part is obvious.

I guess what I need is a pinout diagram of the PAC to understand where to tie my 97 LX450's wires into it, but I haven't found one. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[sbman]

sbman, would you mind sharing how you wired your PAC-RC1 to the cruise control lever? I have the EWD infront of me and I understand how the cruise control lever functions (although my multimeter is not picking up any resistance between the Brown (20) and Black/Green (5) wire when the Cancel, Set, or Resume actions are pressed. I do get 1.7ohms between Yellow/Red (15) and Brown (20) when I press the On/Off button on the lever.). What I can't wrap my head around is what the PAC's dip switches do and where I need to land the LX450's wires to the PAC. I got your description above, but:
-Do I need to ditch the resistors built into the cruise control lever and build my own resistor bank?
-My PAC came with 2 wiring harnesses, from which harness do I tie the red, white, and black wires into?
-I have a Kenwood deck with a Blue/yellow wire, so that part is obvious.

I guess what I need is a pinout diagram of the PAC to understand where to tie my 97 LX450's wires into it, but I haven't found one. Any help would be appreciated!

View attachment 3459041

Here is a wiring diagram for my install

I connected the Black/Green wire to the White/Black wire on the PAC and Yellow/Red to White. You also need power and ground on the red and black, as well as the green/white connected to blue/yellow on your JVC. You definitely should be seeing resistance values between the Brown and Black-Green wires when you move the cruise control stalk. You must disconnect the wires from the cruise control, you cannot have it connected to both the PAC-RC1 and the cruise control at the same time.

The dip switches need to be set for your head unit, should be the same as mine. I've attached the PAC-RC1 programming guide that shows the DIP switch settings for JVC as well as the instructions to program the unit once you have it all connected.

I used a DPDT switch to switch between stereo control and cruise control. I could not find a Toyota switch that would do this, but I was able to take apart the rear heater HI/LO/OFF switch and modify it to to do the job, but that isn't an easy thing to do and I don't recommend it.

It's been working great for me and I rarely need to interact with the touchscreen. I programmed up/down to be volume control, pull back to be next track and the push button on the end of the stalk to be 'Voice Dial' which in Android Auto mode initiates the 'OK Google' function so I can send text or start navigation, get directions, etc...

I'm working on a cleaner solution using the PAC-RC1 and a Toyota phone control that mounts on the left side of the steering wheel. I'll post details when I get that done and working.

 

[coaders]

Thank you sbman!!

Here's an update. I was able to get this to work! The reason I wasn't getting any resistance between the Brown and black/green wire was because the pin underneath my steering wheel was bent and wasn't making contact. I bent it back, plugged back in the cruise control lever, and i was getting resistance. Attached is a schematic of how I wired the control and some pictures to go along with it.
-I have a Kenwood stereo with a blue/yellow wire. Other brands might might not have that wire. You might have to connect to your stereo with the audio jack. The PAC website can tell you how to do this.
-There are two sets of dip switches on the PAC. The 4 bank tells the control to which stereo it needs to communicate.
-I don't know exactly what the 8 bank of dip switches does. I left all those switches off.
-If you want to use the On/Off button on the CC lever, you need to add a resister. I don't think it matter what resistance it is as long as it different that the other three values. The values of each lever action is on the schematic and the picture. I used a 3.3ohm resister for the On/Off button because I had one lying around.
-I wasn't able to get the long press functions to program, I don't know why. Maybe it has something to do with that 8 bank dip switches.

 

[sbman]

Thank you sbman!!

Here's an update. I was able to get this to work! The reason I wasn't getting any resistance between the Brown and black/green wire was because the pin underneath my steering wheel was bent and wasn't making contact. I bent it back, plugged back in the cruise control lever, and i was getting resistance. Attached is a schematic of how I wired the control and some pictures to go along with it.
-I have a Kenwood stereo with a blue/yellow wire. Other brands might might not have that wire. You might have to connect to your stereo with the audio jack. The PAC website can tell you how to do this.
-There are two sets of dip switches on the PAC. The 4 bank tells the control to which stereo it needs to communicate.
-I don't know exactly what the 8 bank of dip switches does. I left all those switches off.
-If you want to use the On/Off button on the CC lever, you need to add a resister. I don't think it matter what resistance it is as long as it different that the other three values. The values of each lever action is on the schematic and the picture. I used a 3.3ohm resister for the On/Off button because I had one lying around.
-I wasn't able to get the long press functions to program, I don't know why. Maybe it has something to do with that 8 bank dip switches.

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View attachment 3460246

View attachment 3460247

View attachment 3460248

You don't need to add a resistor. You can connect the Yellow/Red wire directly to the PAC-1 on it's white/black wire. The PAC-1 has two analog inputs and it watches them both all the time, one on it's white wire and on on the white/black wire so you don't need a resistor on that connection. The other dip switches are to set the PAC-1 for a particular car's resistor network, so if you have a car that has actual stereo controls built in, you just set the switches for 'FORD' or whatever so that it knows what vehicle it is connected to and you don't have to program the PAC-1.

I am able to use the long press and short press controls on my install with no issues. The short press needs to be quite short, like typing a key on a PC keyboard. You might be programming all 'long' presses, the long press isn't very long at all.

If you add a switch to move the wire connections back to the cruise control, you can easily use the stalk for both systems. Mine works great that way.

 

[Fofifty]

I finally got around to figuring this out. I ended up stripping the board of everything but the tactile buttons, put a coat of epoxy over all the open contacts except for the controls and then ran wires to connect one side of each switch in series followed by a resistor back to ground to complete the circuit and then ran a resistor between the other sides of the switches to the ground.

My head unit(Sony) is programmable for steering wheel controls through an adapter that plugs into the back of the unit, so I didn't need any adapter.

I now have skip forward, back, play/pause, and voice activation controlled through the switch.

 

[60 toy ota]

The other socket for the clock-spring is below the steering shaft just behind the steering wheel. Its a 6 pin connector. 4 of the pins are for the cruise control, (another resistive switch control arrangement). Unfortunately the other 2 pins for the phone switches aren't connected to anything.

I'm nearing the end of this same project, I do have those wires but the colors between the clock spring and the main column connector are different colors and the ewd doesn't acknowledge that (the 2 are black and white beyond that connector). Before I tear my dash apart to chase them I'm curious if you could identify them in this pic?

 

[60 toy ota]

I'm nearing the end of this same project, I do have those wires but the colors between the clock spring and the main column connector are different colors and the ewd doesn't acknowledge that (the 2 are black and white beyond that connector). Before I tear my dash apart to chase them I'm curious if you could identify them in this pic?

Following up on this for future readers, it's the orange and grey on the far right.

 

[Malleus]

...and the white is ground and the green is the horn. I don't have the EWD in front of me, so I can't comment on the brown and red wires. But they're in there. I just went through this on a 2000 LX470.

 

[AppaFJZ80]

Following up on this for future readers, it's the orange and grey on the far right.

Clarifying question. So are the Orange and Grey wires from that connector are for the OEM Steering Wheel controls? I'm interested in this project and would like to utilize the Steering Controls rather than the Cruise Control. Thanks!

 

[60 toy ota]

Clarifying question. So are the Orange and Grey wires from that connector are for the OEM Steering Wheel controls? I'm interested in this project and would like to utilize the Steering Controls rather than the Cruise Control. Thanks!

Yes, for the OEM phone controls like in the first post of this thread.