who's got experience with PAC's SWI steering wheel control products ?

i have an 02 M3 coupe with a Clarion DRZ-9255 HU. I am interested in using the steering wheel controls for simple features, like volume up/down track up/down and source.

looking to see if the SWI-X works for my application, if at all, and anybody who's installed these in the e46 M3, if the install is easy or a pita...?

any comments, suggestions, pls post here...

thanks

bump...

swix works if the clarion has an ir remote control. Check www.pac-audio.com to see if they have a Clarion-specific adaptor that works with the unit you have.

The PAC module is not difficult to install. The instructions are good too.

my m3 doesn't have a sunroof, so the center overhead up near the front windshield is empty. i put the remote control up there and fired away, the radio received the signals even when the remote was pointed towards the front of the car and not directly at the deck....

why not just dispense with using a pac, and add wiring to connect those steering wheel controls to the remote control and place it in that overhead panel ? if the wiring from the steering wheel behaves in an on/off signal fashion i'm thinking it'll be easy to disassembly the remote control and solder wires directly to the buttons i want to control....

Originally Posted by zero7404

why not just dispense with using a pac, and add wiring to connect those steering wheel controls to the remote control and place it in that overhead panel ? if the wiring from the steering wheel behaves in an on/off signal fashion i'm thinking it'll be easy to disassembly the remote control and solder wires directly to the buttons i want to control....

Not that easy... The audio buttons generate different resistances, which go to the other bank of buttons, there a circuit board converts these resistances into serial network commands (i-bus). A single i-bus wire goes through the steering wheel volute spring into the column.

I have rewired the steering wheel controls so that the button resistances go directly into the steering wheel column. You could design and build a circuit that reads resistances and generates an output for each button. Each output can click a relay and then you can hardwire it per your idea to a remote's individual buttons. Not an easy task unless you have some electrical engineering knowledge....