New Sirus Satellite Radio options.

I got mine installed at Best Buy today, and realized that there was no scrolling.. So I tore into the dash looking for where they installed it like a madman and found it behind where the CD changer storage compartment is. Crammed in and held together with wire ties. Needless to say, I cut them apart and placed the two pieces in the glove compartment area... I will be getting foam to permanently mount them there.. or possibly some 3m dual lock strips to lock them in place ;-) ,, one thing though. My wire harness (white plastic) had the screw on top which I did, and I worked the bottom part off.. but now the bottom plastic insert seems to not hold up well.. Should I just black tape it to the wall it was originally held to?

 

Thanks for all the great info!
I will def order the TSS combo package and install using all your great advice as soon as my components come in the mail and my Prius comes from the dealer:bounce:!

One concern that I didn't see listed in any of the responses on this thread? Does any of these actions void any important warranties on any parts of the car?

 

Ugh, I added some foam in today, and No matter what I have tried, the box on the left catches the glovebox as it comes down... I guess some repositioning is in order?

 

Just getting started here but very interested in adding sirius to my prius. Is the kits being offerred for $265 at the Prius shop the same hardware as the components discussed in this thread? thanks in advance

 

No, the Priuschat shop item is the factory receiver. The only advantage it has is the steering wheel controls jump between presets rather than single stations. It only shows 10 characters of text with no scrolling, and doesn't use the 4 second buffer to handle overpasses.

 

I just don't understand why the factory type tuners can't show at least 16 characters. Portable units have had this ability for many years.

I also don't understand why the TOYSC1/SCC1 combo doesn't allow steering wheel presets.

Why is it so hard for them to give us what we want in one unit? Any why don't they include a replay ability in the above two type of units? I mean, come on! In this DVR Tivo age, the feature to pause and replay radio is a must.

With this said, I am leaning towards the TOYSC1/SCC1 because the price is right. I might instead even go with the SCVDOC1 vehicle kit vers the SCC1. Then I could have replay ability using a Starmate.

 

I'm seeing something I'll call weird with the display as well.
Lets see if I can accurately describe it...
On my starmate unit when listening to the Grateful Dead Channel, I see this on the display for song title "Ripple 10/31/80 Warfield"

but on the TOYSC1/SCC1, it's truncated to just "Ripple"

It's like it ignores a portion of the song title.

If the song title is longer than the 16 characters it properly scrolls it, but it still ignores the ending portion of the song title. There must be some kind of flag set up for that portion of the song title and the TOYSC1/SCC1 is set up to ignore it.

weird...

I agree with the above...why can't they give us what we want...
accurate titles
replay
preset advance via the steering wheel

I don't think that's asking too much. I'd pay for those features in a 'premium' model if that's what it takes.

 

I know! This issue just pisses me off to no end. It isn't hard to give the consumer the features they want.

Also, can anyone else confirm if the TOYSC1 has some sort of memory buffer. I am hearing that it does but am not sure. If it does, how long is it? Sure would be nice though to have replay ability. Are any manufactures listening?

 

It just has the 4 second "overpass" buffer. Sirius broadcasts two feeds, one delayed by 4 seconds. The radio uses the first feed and delays playback by four seconds. If reception is interrupted, it switches to the later feed until the first comes back. This allows interruptions of up to 4 seconds.

However, the factory unit doesn't seem to do this. When I was using it, it would drop out without fail under every overpass. The SCC1 does not.

 

just finished installing the TOYSC1/SCC1 units, took less than an hour and had no problems thanks to 9gman's excellent directions... thanks.

I tried the between the glovebox install and had trouble getting the lower glovebox to close properly, and I was afraid they would fall out eventually, so I just stuck both units in the area behind the vent to the right of the gloveboxes. Plenty of room in there and I can see the connections just by dropping the glovebox.

Tomorrow I'll tackle the antenna hide....

 

Installed the TOYSC1/SCC1 today.

All in all, it's working well. I will say I am bummed that you don't see title/artist information on the screen with the presets. You have to press text to see the title/artist information. It would have been nice to have the station name alternate w/ the current title/artist. And I'll add my vote to the chorus of people that don't like way the steering wheel buttons work (go up/down from your current channel as opposed to step through your presets.)

I decided to put the antenna in the fin. I am not 100% sure that was best idea for me. I am in the Seattle area, and I think that since the antenna is sitting relatively low on the car, I may not be getting the best reception. I noticed a few drop outs on a quick test drive.
Since I am so far North and West I don't think I can afford NOT to have the antenna on the highest point of the car.

I'd be curious to hear from anyone who knows about the Sirius satellite orbits if that was a bad coincidence, or should I indeed be worried. In other words, since I am so far North (and West) will have problems not having the antenna on the top of the car?


Just thought I'd say that is is a nice solid (and relatively cheap) solution if you are looking to add a commercial free audio experience to your ride.


One more thing: Anyone know of way to access a service menu/screen that would show satellite reception levels?

 

I just don't get why it is so hard for a manufacture to make a product that does this stuff. Do it right the first time, for crap's sake!

 

This should help.

Sirius and XM Radio Satellite Service Coverage Map and Orbit Information

 

Thanks. That was a good read.

 

I will be getting a 2008 Prius with Package 2. Does the TOYSC1/SCC! combo work in the stereo that is part of this package?

I have a Sportster 5 and am looking into options on how to install cleanly.

 

Read over all the posts in this thread, it will help you understand it. I had to do this and now got it. But yes it will work. If you are going to use your Sportster 5 then you won't need the SCC1 tuner, just the dock kit for the Sportster.

 

An alternative mounting location

I installed the TOY-SC1/SCC1 combo in my 2008 Prius w/package 5 yesterday. The most difficult thing for me was removing the vent between the glove box and the radio. At first I installed the units between the upper and lower glove boxes. No matter how I adjusted them I could not find a way that they did not interfere with closing the lower glove box door. After fiddling for about an hour with the hot Texas sun turning me into a pool of sweat, I decided to abandon this location. After poking around I was able to mount the TOY-SC1 on the left side of wiring harness block between the glove box and the radio. I used velcro straps to hold it in place. I found an unused metal bracket on the right side of the glove box. I was able to strap the SCC1 on to this bracket. The bracket had sharp edges so I could not use velcro straps so I used a cable strap along with a bit of foam between the bracket and the unit. Here are pictures showing the location of the units. The velcro straps are different colors because one is reversed.

Sirius works great! Although I have scrolling turned on I don't see any scrolling. Nothing like it was on my old dockable unit. I do miss the ability to directly enter a channel number. Otherwise, color me happy.

 

A quick update to let folks know that I am not happy with the reception. In perfectly clear skies with no trees around, I am still getting drop outs. Once this merger mess is done, it looks like I'll be updating my receiver and moving the antenna out of the fin and on to the roof.

As anyone installed a sirius/xm antenna under a sharkfin? Any issues there?

Edit: Nevermind...found a thread on it here. Anyone have comments on reception?

 

Hryb, is your antenna currently in the spoiler (you use he term "fin" in your post above, but it doesn't look like you meant the shark fin)? I'm wondering whether the Sirius antenna needs to be attached to more of a ground plane than you're getting there.

Under the shark fin will give you a better ground plane but it's still not per the installation instructions for optimum reception (for that matter, neither is right behind the whip, which I think is where a lot of installers would put it). Under the shrk fin will put it in the shadow of the shark fin antenna elements.

If you're not going to be happy without optimum reception you should follow the installation guidelines and install the Sirius antenna on a flat metal surface at least 3 inches from any sheet metal corners or other antennas.

 

Yes, sorry about that. The antenna is mounted inside the spoiler.

I think I may suck it up and wait for the merge to complete, wait for new radios to appear on the market and start again.

I picked up a cheap XM receiver, and I am going to hook that up in the car (via aux in) and just toss the little XM antenna on the dash and see how XM does.