my first (not so huge) project

So.. in doing some reading around, and quite liking the OEM look of the factory stereo (have the basic model with the 6cd changer), i am opting to bin off the CD changer altogether.

In my reading i have discovered that it is possible on mine (2003 D2) to ground out the signal wire and make it "think" that there is a stereo in it.

correct me if i am wrong but the wire colours are as below

Brown, - neutral/earth
Live (12v or very close to) - pink
bus comms link - green (and the one that sends the signal if the CD player has a CD in)

right channel - white + and black -
left channel - red + and grey -


now.. my idea is this.. repurpose the 12v line to a small 3amp USB socket which will sit in the center console facia where the drivers heated seat button is, and then fit a small 3.5mm jack in the other side.

now here is my idea, I wire the black and grey neutrals together for the input, and left and right to the jack. With the green signal wire i intend to fit a small 2pole lit switch to it to allow me to turn the signal off (as if all the CDs were out) when necessary, and when its on will simply allow ground to activate the function in the stereo.

Can you see any issues with this idea? if so, please point them out to me and i would be most appreciative.. i intend to do this as i dont need or want the CD changer (no need for it )

for clarity this is the head unit i have, and i already have a parrotAR unit sorted and installed so bluetooth, whilst ideal, isnt necessarily an option.

The ultimate in the future is to fit a small single din BT enabled unit like, for example, the pioneer mMEH-390 BT such as i have in my other vehicle, but that comes later as i have everything to do this little project and love the OEM look (and steering wheel controls).

anyway.. enough ramblings, let me know if anyone has any suggestions.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/0LcAAOSwgY9XdrYg/s-l1600.jpg

I have the "hi-line" set-up on my D2 comprising of the Alpine R990 head unit, six disc CD auto-changer under the driver's seat and the power amplifier under the front passenger's seat.
I opted to keep all of the original looks and functions including the steering column remote controls when I added the ability to connect my phone to the system along with a DAB converter. All of the additional inputs feed into the head unit through a "loop through" in the FM aerial feeder.
You can see how I did it at:-
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/dab-in-the-disco-2.298913/
You're quite welcome to take a look if you want to.

in all honesty i am not sure what my setup is.. the head unit is as above,

I want to avoid the FM feeder if i can, as i have no intention of using the CD player it seems sensible to bin it off and use the quality line in from that rather than going through a converter..

Toseland said:

in all honesty i am not sure what my setup is.. the head unit is as above,

I want to avoid the FM feeder if i can, as i have no intention of using the CD player it seems sensible to bin it off and use the quality line in from that rather than going through a converter..

Click to expand...

Your idea might work so far as the audio inputs are concerned, but that green wire, bus comms link I think might be a digital signal which tells the head unit the disc and track number of the track playing. It's not a straight DC line.
I did do quite a lot of looking before I went for the loop-through system, it's easy to connect, it just plugs into the FM aerial socket on the head unit and the FM aerial cable then just plugs into the loop-through unit. You'd be surprised at the quality of the sound, well good enough for use in a vehicle, after all it's not exactly a finely tuned sound stage or audio theatre.
I would say leave the CD player in place and work around the existing kit unless you're going to rip it all out and go for after-market stuff, but that tends to have far too much bling for me.

Yeah the radio I linked above is quite conservative, in terms of flashy discoteque crap, I have it in the Peugeot and it sounds reasonable. It would look ok if I could have green,

I am going to try with some fiddling of the plugs for the cd wire diest, see how far we get.. might be an interesting project to get a little Arduino controller and sort Bluetooth etc out on it, plug I to the box and off you go, would need some programming tho.

That's beyond my skillset

I purchased a plug and play lead that achieves what I think you are looking for, I retained the cd changer and inserted the lead in-line. When a signal is sent via the 3.5mm aux input it mimics the CD feed. I inserted the jack in the cubby box so all 100% factory look. I use a Bluetooth receiver plugged into the jack to connect my IPhone for music. I did a write-up here somewhere, i’ll See if I can find the link. My head unit is the Becker Traffic Pro, perfectly good sound and with the advantage of retaining the steering wheel controls and interface with factory amps etc. I believe the principle is the same for the other factory fit units providing there is a CD multichanger to piggy-off.

Before I go cutting and pasting, I would be interested to know what lead you bought, might save me some cutting and soldering.

I found 1 but it was more expensive than the Bluetooth headunit i was looking to buy

Edit: beat me to it. Ta.

Have a look at the link I posted, I added in the details of the products, and also the install instructions (which may be useful to you in their own right). The lead wasn’t cheap, but it works and achieved everything I wanted without chopping the loom or binning the CD changer. May not be what you are after though...