2016 iMiEV + ILX-007 [Aftermarket radio install]

Hello y'all,

New guy here. I got a 2016 iMiEV back in the middle of last summer and I'm finally getting around to making modifications! I got all the bells and whistles with this guy so I have the navigation package (which sucks) and planning on attempting to install an Alpine ILX-007 tomorrow so I can have a super baller status CarPlay radio (I'm an Apple guy). I've looked around and I've not seen much documentation on replacing a double din nav package here (and especially not on a 2016) so I'll be documenting my struggles here.

I'll start with what I've bought and what I'm buying:

Bought:
- $4.79 - Metra 70-7001 Radio Wiring Harness for Mitsubishi 1992-Up
- $41.99 - Metra Axxess ASWC-1 Universal Steering Wheel Control

Buying:
- $509.99 - Alpine ILX-007

Neither of the Metra pieces technically fit my car, but I've seen some success here with single dins and Metra 70-7001 so I'm hoping to have the same. As for the Axxess ASWC-1, there is only one steering wheel control emulator that I've used before so I'm going with that again.

So I pulled out my radio just a little bit ago and took some pictures. The first thing I noticed was that there are a crap ton of wires and I was a little concerned at first:
http://i.imgur.com/4DyaJaz.jpg

So I started looking for a wiring guide for my radio:
http://i.imgur.com/ydnDKQU.jpg

I found this guy here which is not explicitly for my radio, but for one almost just like it (if not identical). It matches up perfectly with the back of my radio:
http://i.imgur.com/fVkhtIP.jpg

Comparing that manual with the manual for the ILX-007 I find that there are some concerns from the beginning... for instance my camera signal for the backup camera is a part of this guy here:
http://i.imgur.com/MNbQbW1.jpg

Whereas my camera signal on the ILX-007 is a composite connection. Another (not so big) concern is that my mic input is also a part of a different auxiliary connector.

I feel like tomorrow I will be able to get this guy mostly installed, but I will still be missing functionality of at least the camera if not also the steering wheel controls. This is assuming that the wiring harness actually works.. which I hope it does.

Please comment if you have questions, comments, concerns, advice, or critiques! I'd love to get some input from people who have gone through this or a similar process with the iMiEV.

- Phil

Edit: This images are huge so... I'll just link them. They kill the thread layout.

Quick Update:
I have ordered the ILX-007 and I'm gonna pick it up from my local BB here in a few once I get off work. I was able to find this guy here that should resolve my backup camera concerns. UPS still hasn't dropped off my wiring harness or steering wheel control converter yet, but I'm hoping it will be there when I get back with the head unit!

Well the good news is that this radio looks awesome. The bad news is, the Metra 70-7001 is nothing like I need. I see that there is a Metra 70-7005 that looks a little more like what I need, but it's missing some pins in comparison and I'm not sure if it's a perfect fit. YMMV. Unfortunately Crutchfield hasn't researched our vehicle and Metra doesn't look like they've made a match with it yet.

I think I've come to terms with breaking the #1 rule of car stereo installation and cutting the OEM adapter off. I'm going to keep it with my radio and if I need to I can always attach it back. I just don't want to waste any more time or money on adapters. Mainly time.. Amazon won't get it to me until Monday.

I'm sure I'll be updating again tonight as I further consider my plan and it's consequences/rewards.

So tonight was fun. I cut the wires and brought the harness upstairs. I matched up the wiring diagram to the harness and paired the wires together I could figure out. I brought that out to the car and hardwired them all. The unfortunate part though is there are multiple of the same color wire on the harness so it's a little bit of roulette. I was able to get the radio to turn on by hooking the ignition switch straight to the battery, but I couldn't figure out which one wire to throw it on to get it working properly. That's problem #1. Problem #2 is that I was getting no sound at all. I suppose I'm just going to have to look into that a bit further and try to figure out both of those tomorrow.

If you have any ideas what I need to put the ignition wire on and/or what I need to do to get the speakers working. I'm open to ideas!

- Phil

Edit: It looks like on the Audio Sub 18P Connector there is a wire that turns on the amp. I'll have to try activating that tomorrow.

Edit again: I'm wondering if I need this to get the factory amplifier working... http://www.installer.com/item/display_item.php?it=mito-03

So I ended up getting the speakers working without anything extra. I had a couple wires hooked up to the wrong same colored wire. At this point I have all the basic functions working with exception of: 1) parking brake bypass, 2) steering wheel controls, 3) built in microphone, 4) back up camera. I think I'm just going to say screw the built in microphone and just use the microphone that came with it. Steering wheel controls I have tried to set up, but had no luck yet. Back up camera parts are coming in. The parking brake issue.. I thought I had fixed, but when I halfway installed the radio I think I might have messed it up (or it just wasn't working to begin with.

More details and pictures to come, but this is looking good.

Sorry about the delay in update. I've been a little busy.

Good news is, I got most of it working! The diagram I listed in my first post was spot on and the issues I was having was the coloring of the mitsubishi wires and a bit of my own stupidity. The reason why the steering wheel controls weren't working is because i neglected to connect the ground to the proper location. Once I did that all was well (although it had to be manually programmed).

I've added some pictures to an album to share here. The first is my completed install. There are gaps on the side because the stock radio is wider than the double din. I'm leaving it as is for now because I don't care, but eventually I'll fabricate/buy something to fix/replace it. The second and third are wiring (when they weren't completely done) and the last two are my hack job for the usb. Mitsu put some proprietary end on the back of the usb that is slightly smaller than normal so you can't plug anything in. My solution? Take off the top of that adapter, screw it into the USB extension that came with the radio, and gorilla glue it where it used to be

What is not working:
Brake detection (for extended functionality of radio):
I've had it connected to two different grounds.. it works at first and then stops. These are shared grounds so I'm going to try a dedicated ground just for this guy next to see if that helps. Worse case scenario, I just end up buying that "bypass" from Amazon for a couple bucks.

Camera Input:
Waiting on my adapter still

Camera Activator:
...Let's kill one bird at a time. I'm not sure where I'm going to hook this up at yet...

- Phil

Phil, thank you for posting. Hope you get everything working. There are a number of OSX/iOS users on this forum, but the attraction of CaniOn has outweighed just about everything and Android had become the i-MiEV OS of choice. I'll be interested in seeing how your setup further develops... hmm, does iOS have an Android emulator? :roll:

JoeS said:

hmm, does iOS have an Android emulator?

Click to expand...

Apple has this stupid policy against emulators in the App Store. Maybe it exists for a jailbroken iOS device?

Phil, thank you for posting. Hope you get everything working. There are a number of OSX/iOS users on this forum, but the attraction of CaniOn has outweighed just about everything and Android had become the i-MiEV OS of choice. I'll be interested in seeing how your setup further develops... hmm, does iOS have an Android emulator?

Click to expand...

Well the good thing is that anyone will need some type of idea on how to do this regardless of their radio platform. If we are honest with each other, my radio probably runs android underneath and runs an "App" that emulates an iOS-like interface.

It's really no problem at all though, I came here searching for a thread like this, didn't find it, so I'm creating it as I go along.

Just a quick update. The camera adapter was much better than I had hoped. The only problem is that it doesn't send any freaking video! I'm about to rage quit and buy a new camera, but the wife asked me to calm down and take a fresh look at it tomorrow.. Given the fun I've been having and my successes do far.. Probably not a bad idea.

Edit: for those who don't look at the picture, the adapter includes a wire to hook up to the reverse sensor and it's working perfectly!

Sorry about the delay once more! Lots of things have been happening.. including me removing all the content in this thread (more to come in a bit about that).

So right now I have a 99% complete radio at this point! I ended up rage quitting on the camera. After reading around the internet, I became convinced that Mitsu put some kind bizarre camera that needs a special voltage (read: not 12V) in order to operate. Other people with similar radios in other Mitsu vehicles apparently also were having issue. I ended up buying this to replace the backup camera and getting it Friday morning of last week.

When I got it Friday, I installed the physical device (no real wiring done yet), tore some stuff apart, and went to Walmart (the wife needed some stuff). I plugged into the L3 like I normally do (on the off chance I actually go to that terrible place) and went in. (This is where the reasoning for me removing the post comes in..) I came out and my car would not start. It would make the click, but my RBS, Battery, and Engine lights would come on and it wouldn't switch to "Ready". I tried charging it more and the charger wouldn't even start. It said it couldn't communicate with my car...

So I called up Mitsu Roadside and had them tow it in. Of course it was Friday and they couldn't even look at it because they were too busy... and of course it was the weekend they were closed on Saturday so they let me know they couldn't look at it until Monday... and of course, they had no rentals so they had to arrange for me to get a Hertz rental. Now the reason I removed the posts is because I told them about my recent escapades and they wanted to blame the radio. I told them it made no sense and they said that it did... yada yada.. So I decided to cover my butt and remove these details.

The issue turned out to be something that y'all '12s with DC ports have been experiencing. Apparently whenever you plug into an L3.. it has the possibility of tripping a sensor and rendering your car immobile. I was told it was just now getting addressed on the '12s and I was the first case with a '16. Essentially when this happens, they just need to reset the system with their magical $6000 tool and call it a day. Unfortunately this will involve towing the car to Mitsu because you and I aren't going to buy a $6000 tool to reset it. Yay for free towing though?

Back to the radio though, Right now I have the power for my backup camera loosely attached to my right license plate light (which is where I also fed my wires through). This requires at least my daytime running lights to be on in order to work. I tried hooking up to many other places, but settled on that as a temporary power source. The video cable I had to run in a pretty ugly fashion up the side of the trunk and tuck behind my rear light unit. From there, it runs up the passenger side up to the radio. I'll take pictures eventually, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

It's been rough, but it's totally worth it. I love CarPlay!

On a side note: I'm not sure why, but the lights for my climate control only work when the lights are on and my car is off... It's really weird because they should be on when my lights are on regardless.. but something is keeping them off. I don't think it's the radio though because I can have it on ACC and they will be on.. but if I start the car.. they turn off. I've decided to live with it for now, but eventually I need to figure that out.

philulrich, in order not to get off-topic, I extracted the L3 problem portion of your commentary and posted it on the following new thread:

i-MiEV Will Not Start After DCQC Charging
<http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=26541#p26541>

Did you ever find a plug for the radio? I have bought (but not yet received - SOON!) a 2016 i-Miev with the boring MP3 CD radio. It has to go! :lol: So if you know where I can get the connector for it, it would be a great help to me.

philulrich said:

It's really no problem at all though, I came here searching for a thread like this, didn't find it, so I'm creating it as I go along.

Click to expand...

Thank you for that! - We certainly need people like you who document new things as well as you have

Your wife sounds a bit like mine - Thank goodness for level headed women!

Installing an aftermarket radio in a new car certainly isn't as simple as it used to be. I've (mostly) installed a Pioneer NEX series Nav/CD/DVD radio in my 2014 Ford Transit Connect and it's been every bit as much of a challenge as you've encountered with your iMiEV. Everything in the car is controlled by the CanBus so finding and tapping into all the necessary signals is quite a job. I bought the factory wiring book (all 300+ pages of it) or I would still be stumped. I still haven't found the Vss signal which I read it needs to make the GPS more accurate, but I have it in the car with *most* of it working . . . . and it *was* worth it

Don

belcat said:

Did you ever find a plug for the radio? I have bought (but not yet received - SOON!) a 2016 i-Miev with the boring MP3 CD radio. It has to go! :lol: So if you know where I can get the connector for it, it would be a great help to me.

Click to expand...

I did not ever find one that works and I suspect that there is still not one. If you take a look at the manual I linked and match it up with your radio wires, you should be pretty close to hardwiring it correctly. You just might need to swap a couple same colored wires like I did. Keep a large multipack of fuses handy. You'll likely blow a few.