Marathon Mod Day: PriusXM, Fog Lights and EV

Well, I spent most of the day installing three mods:

1) PriusXM

2) Fog Light diode mod

3) Factory EV switch

I had one little scare (left the "EV" connector out the computer, and the car was pretty whacked), but other than that it all went off without a hitch.

I took some photos, but I'm at the in-laws and do not have a way to get them off the camera and onto the web. :roll:

I can confirm that there is a "easy" way to put the XM in. You only have to remove the lower glove box (as described in the Prius manual under changing the cabin air filter), the two right A/C ducts, and a single 10mm screw (to get a connection box out of the way). There is no need to remove the the MFD, the factory stereo, or any of the left side dash parts. (This method only affects the amount of dash dissassembly, you still need to do all the normal stuff from there on back.)

I also did a "center" mount of the PriusXM micro antenna. Looks tons better than the side mount and seems to work fine.

I can confirm that the fog light mod is conceptually simple, and a bear to actually do. There just does not seem to be a good way to get access to those wires. But once it is in, it works great.

I'll post up some photos when I get back to my own PC.

 

Fog Light Diode Mod

I mainly did the fog light diode mod as the guides show. The exception is that I used some heat shrink tubing to insulate the diode. To remember which end had the stripe, I put a little kink in the end, then cut the kink off once the other end was attached:

[Broken External Image]:http://www.baxsie.com/prius/diode_for_prius_foglight_mod_with_heat_shrink.jpg

 

PriusXM center mounting of XM antenna

I would highly recommend the PriusXM XM radio kit. There is no way I would have had the confidence to do the install without the DVD. With the DVD, it was pretty straight forward.

One thing I did not like was the way he mounts the antenna off to the side.

I mounted mine center-line, and think it looks much better:

[Broken External Image]:http://www.baxsie.com/prius/prius_xm_antenna_center_mount_outside_view.jpg

The cable comes very close to the hatch when it opens, but does not quite pinch it.

I also kind-of did not like the way he just looped the wire over the weatherstrip. I removed the plastic housings on the antenna wire ends by prying out a small white piece, and that made the connectors small enough to make a reasonable size hole through the weatherstrip:

[Broken External Image]:http://www.baxsie.com/prius/prius_xm_antenna_cord_routing_1.jpg


Be sure to put the plastic housings back on the right wires -- yellow goes with the striped wire.

I then made a small notch in the headliner so the cord could pass under the headliner and trim all the way to the radio's mounting location above the 12v battery:

[Broken External Image]:http://www.baxsie.com/prius/prius_xm_antenna_cord_routing_2.jpg

 

"Easy" way to install PriusXM

The DVD that comes with PriusXM is great, but after reading some posts here at PriusChat, I suspected there might be an easier way to access the back of the radio.

I checked it out and it is really simple. Instead of disassembling the left side of the dash, MFD and radio, you just remove the lower glove compartment as described in the Prius manual for changing the air filter, and the right hand A/C ducts as described in the PriusXM DVD.

Once the glove compartment is out, you are close, except for a large junction box is right smack in the way:

[Broken External Image]:http://www.baxsie.com/prius/prius_xm_remove_junction_box.jpg

Just remove the 10mm head screw at the top of the junction box, then work the junction box out of the way, moving it towards the right. You can then easily see the back of the radio:

[Broken External Image]:http://www.baxsie.com/prius/prius_xm_radio_exposed.jpg

Now take the end of the cable supplied by PriusXM, pre-bend it as shown, and plug it into the back of the radio. It goes immediately to the left of the existing connector (the one that you can see already plugged into the radio). Press the XM in till it clicks, and you are done!

[Broken External Image]:http://www.baxsie.com/prius/prius_xm_insert_cable.jpg

Once the cable is plugged in, replace the junction box. Then route the PriusXM cable in the back side groove of the trim strip that separates the two glove boxes. I ran mine above the lower glove box light's connection and zip tied it in place as shown in the PriusXM DVD. I then followed the rest of the instructions on the PriusXM DVD (with the exception of the center-mount antenna, see above).