do yourself a favor and download a the owners manual from alpine and the wrirng diagram for the tr7. Look at these diagrams. Figure it out on paper first. If you keep hooking stuff up and testing, you are going to pop a fuse and then youll be wasting time looking for which fuse you popped! Also, you probably need a better power source than the cigarette lighter. Most people hook into wires under the passanger footwell. There is a constant hot under there that is a good place to get power. There is also a switched and ground.

 

I have everything, I am just as idiot. The trigger was originally connected to the ACC line of the head unit. Is this ok? It seems to work when I programmed the trigger. The ground was also connected to the head unit. All of the other wires were connected correctly. I am about to throw in the towel and leave it as is. I am going to have to put it all back together so I can head into work tomorrow and my wife has us heading out for some couples dinner. I will have to look everything over and give it a shot next weekend. At least I know what the guts look like and I got the heads up in. I still need to test drive and button everything up.
Chris

Chris

 

You are not an idiot. It's hard enough hooking everything up, but you are trying to figure out what is hooked up wrong! Be patient- you'll get it!

 

I put everything back together and the trigger worked once, until I actually started the car, at which point the stereo kicked off for the milisecond it takes to twist the key and I lost it. It has yet to work again. The trigger says you can hook it to switched or constant. I think I am going to go with the constant. It sucks that I have to dig in the passenger well for the connection point. I searched and it seems there are extra wires that are taped off. Now to find them adn hook them . I think the power and ground source are going to be my issues. I do want to thank you for the help you have provided so far. I know it may be childs play for you, but it is rocket science for me.

Chris

 

trigger power needs to be hooked up to switched power. That's how it works. The head unit needs the pulse from the trigger everytime it comes on. Every time you turn the vette on, the hu gets the pulse, tricking it into thinking you are parked with the brakes applied. If you hook it into constant power, it sends the pulse one time, but the head unit needs the pulse every time. That's why it woorked when you first hooked it up and not on subsuquent starts. So at least you know it's programmed correctly!

 

IMO the trigger should come from remote turn on

 

I have mine wired into the acc wire that turns on the hu, been doing the trick for1.5 years. Now that I think about it, the remote turn on is better because if the hu is turned off when the car is started, it will trigger when the hu is turned on instead of when the car is turned on. I haven't checked it out becuase my hu is never turned off! Regardless, it needs to be switched on with the hu.

 

Ok, so after dismantling my dash five time, I think, I finally fixed the PAC tr7. I hooked that damned power wire up to everything and finally figured out it was starting at the same time as the stereo, but wouldn't fire again when I switched over to the DVD. I was looking over the wire loom from the head unit and found the power antenna wire and figured since I have the wires in the windshield and hatch glass, I wouldn't need it. I hooked the red (switched power) wire up to it and turned everything on. It had always worked the first time when I turned everything on, so I turned the system off and back on. The dvd didn't play and I couldn't get to the menus I wanted. I turned the headunit over to the stereo to activate the power antenna which would fire the TR7. I switched the headunit back over to the setup screen and viola, I had all the choices. I switched over to dvd and it worked like a charm. I don't think that is how it is supposed to go, but it works way better than before, even if I do have to switch it over to the radio first. I am looking at getting a Kenwood DNX XX20's in the near future, so the extra button push isn't a big deal.

I want to take a moment to thank wildwall and pentavolvo. You guys both helped me a lot and provided the information and support I needed to tackle this project and get everything working. Also, if anybody is scared to take their car apart to upgrade or fix something, don't be, it is far easier than you think.

Chris

 

fyi the kenwood dnx are great units, top notch navi, and no pac tr-7 needed, u just ground out the parking break wire and ur done