Hi all,

Wanted to post a quick thread on this product from Coastal Electronic Technologies. You can find it here:

http://www.coastaletech.com/CORVETTEIPOD.htm

This product, like several others, uses the XM interface to the C6 Navigation system to provide IPOD functionality to your factory deck.

The first thing everyone should be aware of before looking in this direction is that this is essentially a "hack." Until GM releases their Vaporware Ipod Interface, you will not see true Ipod integration, but this is as close as you get today.

Based on a post from TheKomoman, I investigated and purchased this unit. The initial unit I received had the wrong harness. It was intended for the 29-bit Nav in the newer Cadillacs and other GM cars. The connections look identical, you you must be careful to order the right kit. Use the link above and you'll be OK.

The unit looks like this:



Installation

To install the unit, you must gain access to the XM tuner. In the Convertible C6, reference the excellent instructions Thirll6 put in his post here:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1733829

Once you have access to the XM Tuner, installation is extremely easy. Before connecting anything, make sure you have set the DIP switches properly. Both switch 1 and 5 should be towards the on position, as showing the in the printed instructions you received with the unit. Now that you have it set up right, let's do the install.

You simply unplug the factory harness from the XM tuner, by pulling out on the blue lock on the plug and then removing the plug. The harness that came with your unit plugs into the XM tuner. The factory harness plugs into one of the other ends (obvious which one). The remaining plug connects to the interface box.

I then used double stick tape to secure the interface right to the top of the XM tuner and then a Zip tie to make sure the wires never worked their way into the mechanism for the vert top. The Ipod cable is long...real long. The good news is that there is room to simply coil this cable and tie it either behind the waterfall frame or simply on top of the XM and Ipod Lockpicks and still get the waterfall back on.

Once done, put the car into accessory mode and ensure everything is working. If XM1/2 dissappeared, shut everything down and check your connections. If everything looks right, you may have received the 29-bit cable, which won't work in the Vettes. If the pinout looks like this (Red = actual pins), you have the wrong cable:



If everything went the way it should, when your radio is on, your Ipod display should look like this (only sharper):



You can switch to Ipod mode, by selecting XM1 and pressing and holding the lower right favorite button, as highlighted below. When it switches to the Ipod and shows Ipod#(# is the track number), you can release the button.



You can select from your playlists using the CAT buttons:



The name of your playlist will appear in the area highlighted in green above. Once you have selected the playlist you want, hit the Seek Up hard button on the radio to move to that playlist.

Immediately after a song starts playing, the display will show the name of the song, artist and album at the top of the display. You can press the INFO button at any time to bring that back up as shown below:



Product Review
The biggest grip many have with the Navigation systems in the C6 Corvette is the lack of ability to easily connect to Ipod external audio players, something even the most inexpensive of foreign cars can do today. Enter the various aftermarket Ipod integration products.

The Ipod Lockpick is part of a line of products developed by Coastal Electronic Technologies. They also product several Navigation override and bluetooth/Onstar integration products for GM cars and various products for other manufacturer's vehicles.

The Ipod Lockpick work as well as any "hacked" aftermarket integration can be expected to. It functions very much like the various products from vendors like PAC, ISpec, etc.

When connected via this unit, audio from the Ipod is transmitted directly from to the Navigation head unit over the factory XM harness. This ensures the audio maintains it's high quality unlike the FM transmitters many are using today.

Overall functionality is pretty straight forward. The interface is pretty reliable, although I have noticed it sometimes gets into a state where it will not change the tracks using the seek buttons. Seems to be related to the Navigation blocking features of the deck. This can be resolved by shifting into park (pulling the parking brake on the manual).

It's simple installation and functionality make this one a no brainer. if you want to avoid moving to an aftermarket deck and are tired of waiting on the promised GM integration solution, this may be a good option. Another great benefit is the price. It is cheaper than many other options (see their site for the price).

PROs

• Much better quality than FM transmitter
• Easy to install
• Easiest way to get tens of thousands of songs to your factory deck
• Song selection is much quicker than with MP3 CDs
• Song start times are much faster than with MP3 CDs

CONs

• Not true integration
• Can't search for music
• No SHUFFLE play
• Always starts back at song 1 when switching between playlists (no playlist position memory)

Rating (out of 5)
***


If anyone has any questions, please post 'em.

Shan

 

Thanks for posting this, I was looking for more info on this product...

 

When this is installed on the C6 with nav, do you keep both XM 1 and 2 or do you lose one of them. I think I read somewhere that you lose one with one of the IPOD integration units...I forget which one. I would like to get this one, but I don't want to lose anything either. Thanks.

 

I do not beleive you lose anything. It treats the Ipod as another XM Radio station. You should still have full functionality of all of your shortcuts in XM1 and XM2. I would test it for you, but I just replaced my factory deck so I do not have the Ipod Lockpick in there anymore. Perhaps someone else can check it for you.

Shan

 

OK. Thanks. I'll see if someone else can answer it. I e-mailed Coastaltech quite some time ago with that question and never got a response.

 

glad i found this it was what I needed to get my iphone working.

 

Does anyone know if the XM works normally if you do not have an iPod or iPhone plugged in?

With my iphone plugged in I get no XM and even if I unplug it during the same driving period XM will not come back.
Thanks
Ray

 

I was able to finally get a hold of Carlos at CoastalEtech and he informed me that XM will work but if you are in ipod or iphone mode you have to press and hold the 6th preset button on XM-1 for 5 seconds to go back to XM mode.

Also the iphone will work but will not charge and just say no to the use airplane mode.

If you have your playlist in shuffle mode prior to hooking it up to the lockpick it will stay in shuffle mode while connected.

 

I was able to finally get a hold of Carlos at CoastalEtech and he informed me that XM will work but if you are in ipod or iphone mode you have to press and hold the 6th preset button on XM-1 for 5 seconds to go back to XM mode.

Also the iphone will work but will not charge and just say no to the use airplane mode.

If you have your playlist in shuffle mode prior to hooking it up to the lockpick it will stay in shuffle mode while connected.

 

I bought and installed a LockPick iPod interface for my C6 this weekend. It works pretty good. I found that when I turn the car off when playing the iPod and then restart it later, the system reverts back to XM Radio and not the iPod. It takes a few button presses to get it back to the iPod. Does anyone know if there is a way to keep it in iPod mode between startups?

- Mark

 

I am new to this forum but have have owned 5 vettes over the last 10 years and always hated the stereo systems. I just picked up a 08 C6 with the nav system and XM. since i dont test drive, the car showed up and did not have the PAL system or any other way to get one of my ipods to integrate (the rf transmitter is now in my other car). Lockpick not only works but I was able to do it in about 45 minutes (i have zero mechanical skills). the hardest part was getting over the fear of ruining the Xm receiver (HAVE NO FEAR) and after that it was smooth and clean. Someone has a great set of pics on how they got their lockpick in and if you follow that its a no brainer. good luck

 

Hooked it up and all looked good. The next morning the battery was dead. Same thing happen the next night. I've had no problem after disconnecting it and before I return it, wanted to know if anyone else has had a simular problem?

Thanks

 

After I installed my lockpick, I have no xm functions. Even if I hold the 6 preset down. Any one else experience this? Also if I hit the xm1/xm2 button I get a bunch of weird stations, one of them says "gm aux".

 

After you start the car and you do not have your IPOD/IPHONE hooked up then you should be able to have XM. When you press and hold the 6th preset you; you have turned off the XM and XM1 is for your IPHONE/IPOD and XM2 is the 'GM AUX" so you can hook up something else to the lockpick. To get it back to XM stations you have to press and hold the 6th preset of XM1 again for 6 seconds.

 

I called the company from the link provided in the first post of this thread.
They told me the control buttons on the in dash radio will not work unless you actually have an actual IPOD brand "IPOD".

Any of the "generic aftermarket digital audio storage devices" (which cost a fraction of what a true IPOD costs) require the buttons on the actual audio storage device be used.

 

Hooray! This Lockpick is awesome. I don't have play lists set up so I need to get that done to make it work perfectly for selecting from the radio (and as I have an 05 I don't have steering wheel controls).

But...what is awesome is that I use the Wunderradio App on my iPhone to listen to stations across the country, and the Lockpick plays them over my car stereo!! Who needs XM Radiio with internet radio. What an awesome mod.

 

Son of a gun....I hooked it up Saturday and was thrilled with it. Drove around Saturday and all was fine. Didn't drive the car Sunday. Monday morning I went to go to work, battery was dead as a doornail.

I've never had the DBS (dead battery syndrome) problem before, I do have the factory computer OS upgrade for DBS, and a battery that's only a month old (replaced the original battery a month ago, it was nearly 4 years old and was getting weak).

That battery was really dead this morning - I charged it for 15 minutes at 25 amps and it wouldn't start the car so I took another car. Tonight I charged the battery for an hour at 25 amps and drove the car, it seemed ok.

Tomorrow morning will be the test. I'll post up.

I sure hope this unit isn't causing DBS but it's not looking good at this point.

 

Well bad news for me. I love the concept of the LockPick but it killed my battery again overnight after charged it yesterday evening.

As noted above, I even have the upgraded OS from GM to cure the DBS. I never, ever had a DBS problem before and had it the day after I installed the Lockpick in my 2005.

Out it comes...

 

Never had the DBS on my 09, I do however put it on a trickle charger each night.

 

I got a very nice call today from Coastal Electronics based on my email to them explaining the DBS problem. Kelly told me that since I don't have XM in needed another unit, and they are going to send it out to me tomorrow that should cure my DBS problem.

I mentioned to her that the instructions on the website and the written instructions don't specify that, and in fact the instructions tell me to plug it into the back of the radio which isn't possible, and she said she was going have her team revise the information as appropriate.

She also asked me to send back the old unit, on their nickel, and to please get back to them to let them know that it fixed my problem.

Hey, it's a new product and I'm happy to help debug it a little if they are willing to offer good service like this. I'll keep you all posted too.