Hard wiring Harman Kardon Drive and play

[NW_Merc]

Hey all, I need to hard wire the above unit to control an ipod. The control has a box which is connected to 3 wires 1 for ground, 1 for connection to the battery and 1 for connection to the ignition (so it turns off when the car does). My question is can I hard wire it using the connection to the cigarette lighter as it has 3 wires going from it? and if so which connection will go to which wire?

Thanks in advance

 

[bigbobs cl]

You will probably find the 3 wires going to your ciggy lighter are live (have to check if its perm or ign fed) ground, usually a brown wire and illumination for the backlight. You will be able to use the ground and feed but will have to find another feed depending on what the lighter is. Hope that makes sense!!

Bob

 

[richard]

And dont forget a fuse. The cigarette lighter fuse is 20A or more - the wires to the HK think are much thinner and will melt and catch fire before that fuse goes in certain scenarios.

Richard

 

[reflexboy]

I fitted one of these units to the other half's Jeep. Fantastic bit of kit. Is it the old version you have or the latest one?

 

[NW_Merc]

I fitted one of these units to the other half's Jeep. Fantastic bit of kit. Is it the old version you have or the latest one?

I've got the first one, not the drive and play 2 with the black display. Where did you wire it up?

 

[bigbobs cl]

If you`re not sure i`m only in Chester and can do that for you in a few minutes if thats any use?

Bob

 

[gIzzE]

There is always permanent 12v going into the back of the radio/nav and ground.
Then hook the 12v switched to the ciggy lighter, this is only a turn on and draws no current.

 

[reflexboy]

I've got the first one, not the drive and play 2 with the black display. Where did you wire it up?

I wired it up to the power feeds to the rear of the head unit. I used a voltmeter to determine which positive feed was permanant and which was ignition switched. If you have an 'AUX IN' on your head unit then I stongly recommend using that as opposed to the FM modulator as the quality/signal is better. Our head unit didn't have an AUX IN, but did have a CD changer socket so I managed to get an adaptor to adapt it to an AUX IN. Good luck.

 

[reflexboy]

I found a couple of pics of the install I did. I always like 'toys' in the car to be discreet for obvious reasons. The display fitted perfectly in the ashtray with about 2mm to spare each side.

 

[A-AvantGarde]

I found a couple of pics of the install I did. I always like 'toys' in the car to be discreet for obvious reasons. The display fitted perfectly in the ashtray with about 2mm to spare each side.

My HK Drive & Play is installed in the same way in our W203, display in the ashtray and controller near the gearshift. I really should post some pics...

 

[NW_Merc]

Mine is fitted to a telephone console, just waiting to hard wire the control box.