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Wiring the Axxess ASWC (Automatic Steering Wheel Control)

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by MTKnife, Sep 13, 2011.

  1. MTKnife

    MTKnife New Member

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    The obvious appeal of the Axxess ASWC, for Prius owners, is that it automatically programs itself. The obvious drawback, for Prius owners, is that the installation instructions are wrong. An earlier thread suggested a corrected wiring scheme, but I was unable to get the ASWC working with this one.

    The ASWC's Application Chart notes that the Gen II Prius has an 8215 Shell connector for the steering wheel controls; this is correct. What's not correct is the wires it's supposed to include, and their positions on the connector: the three relevant wires are supposed to be blue (ground), black (connects to the ASWC #4 wire, green w/orange tripe), and red (connects to the ASWC #8 wire, black w/green stripe), at positions 6, 7, and 8, respectively. Not only are there no wires at those positions, but there are no wires with the colors in question on the connector (which has only a handful of wires), at least on my '07 Prius Base.

    The three relevant wires are in fact white, black, and red,* which connect with (respectively) the black, white, and tan wires on the harness included in the Scosche TA3103B adapter kit (note the potentially confusing fact that the black wire becomes white, while the white wire becomes black).

    An earlier poster suggested connecting the AWSC #4 wire (green/orange) to the TA3103B white wire (connects to the factory black wire), and connecting the ASWC #8 wire (black/green) to the TA3103B black write (connects to the factory white wire). I couldn't get this to work. I did discover later that my ground connection for the ASWC was a little shaky, but even when it was working, I could only get some of the steering wheel control functions to work.

    Looking again at the 8215 Shell connector, it's apparent that, if you count the wires the wrong way (at least, a different way from the way specified at the back of the Application Chart), the white wire is at position 6, the black one at 7, and the red one at 8. What I did was to connect the TA3103B black wire (connects to the factory white/"#6") to ground (I'm not sure connecting this one is necessary, but it certainly doesn't hurt anything), connect the TA3103 white wire (connects to the factory black/"#7") to the ASWC #4 (green/orange), and connect the TA3103 brown or tan wire (unhelpfully labeled "Mute"; connects to the factory red/"#8") to the ASWC #8 (black/green) wire. That worked. To summarize:

    Ground (possibly unnecessary) --> TA3103B black --> factory white
    ASWC #4 (green/orange) --> TA3103B white --> factory black
    AWSC #8 (black/green) --> TA3103B brown (or tan) --> factory red

    How did the earlier poster get his ASWC to work using seemingly different wires? It's possible that different model years within Gen II have different wire colors; the earlier poster's statement that the (factory) black wire is in position #8 supports that, because it's not in that position on my car, but rather at #7 (using the incorrect ordering I use above), but both he and I connected the #8 (black/green) ASWC wire to the wire in the #8 position in the harness (however, he also said that this black wire was connected to the TA3103B white wire, which shouldn't be in the #8 position). My suggestion is to pay attention to the ordering of the wires, and to experiment if the first arrangement you try doesn't work.

    By the way, I discovered that a nifty place to stash the ASWC is under the vent behind the passenger-side middle vent cover--that way, if something goes wrong with it, you only have to remove one piece to get to it. That space might also be good for mounting other equipment, such as an Aux or USB jack or a 12v outlet.

    * I think this one is red, but I wouldn't swear to that, and I'm not going to pull out the stereo again to check. If you start wiring and discover it's some other color (it's the one right next to the white and black wires), substitute that color for "red" in these instructions.
     
    #1 MTKnife, Sep 13, 2011
  2. thatguy

    thatguy New Member

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    2005 Prius
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    I installed an ASWC and a JVC radio in my 2005 Prius this weekend. The radio went in fine but the ASWC took a while to figure out. Happily it all came together and I now have a completely functional car with a much-improved radio.

    Short version:
    As you can see in the attached picture and .pdf there are five wires on the 20-place 8215 connector that used to be plugged into the back of the original radio in my Prius. In the 2005 base model they are red (pin #6), black #7, white #8, pink #9, and white #10. In the 2010 base the Steering Wheel Control wires should be pink #6, red #7, green #8 and should be wired the same way.

    Connect red #6 to the chassis ground wire in the harness that is connected to the new radio.
    Connect black #7 to the green wire with an orange stripe in the ASWC pigtail.
    Connect white #8 to the black wire with a green stripe in the ASWC pigtail.
    Connect pink #9 and white #10 together with a 68 ohm resistor if you don’t want to plug in the original stereo.
    Connect the ASWC to your new stereo using the ASWC instructions (in my case brown ASCW wire to JVC’s blue wire with a yellow stripe.)

    Test the system before bolting everything back together. Don’t press any buttons while it auto-detects. After a bunch of blink codes the ASWC should show a steady red and the buttons should control the stereo. Congratulations, you haven’t lost any functionality!

    Why?
    Three wires (#6, 7, and 8) are connected to each other through the buttons on the steering wheel but are not grounded to the car’s electrical system. The ASWC senses a button press by measuring the resistance between the two wires you connect it to and the ASCW’s ground. If you don’t connect the red #6 wire to another ground it will float and there will be nothing to measure the resistance between. I wired the #6 wire to the same chassis ground that is fed to the radio and the ASWC.

    White #8 is connected to the Mode button. If Mode is not depressed there is 100k ohms of resistance between white #8 and red #6. When pressed, that resistance drops down to about 1 ohm.

    Black #7 is for the Volume and /\ buttons. Values are the resistance between black and the red #6 ground reference.

    Column 1
    0 Black-->red resistance
    1 No buttons ..... 100k ohm
    2 Volume + ....... 1k ohm
    3 Volume - ........ 3.11k ohm
    4 /\ ................. 330 ohm
    5 \/ ................. ~1 ohm


    I took the picture to show the functional wiring.
    The .pdf came from a link off the axxess website after I entered a 2005 prius:
    Axxess Interface - Steering Wheel Control
     

    Attached Files:

    #2 thatguy, Feb 13, 2012
    Michael Cyr likes this.
  3. jessiejosco

    jessiejosco Member

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    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
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    Wow I wish I'd looked at this post or the Axxess website before I tried installing my Axxess this afternoon. It would have saved me a lot of frustration.

    The wiring chart that comes with it is really confusing. I don't think it is actually wrong, but it is incomplete. It only gives you the wire colors and positions for the car plug. I thought the # positions in the chart were for the Axxess, but they are for the car. Even more confusing the # positions are almost right for the Axxess plug. Only one wire is wrong. The prius positions are 6,7,8 and the Axxess are 6,4,8.

    You have to go to their website to find out what wires to use on the axxess. Their website instructions are clear and complete. I does actually say in the installation instructions to go to their website for specific information for you car.
     
    #3 jessiejosco, Feb 18, 2012
  4. ryanagray

    ryanagray New Member

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    2008 Prius
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    Thanks for the posts here everyone. I was able to get my ASWC and HU stealth installed with 100% success. For anyone giving this a try, you have to know that I tried using Metra 70-8114 as some have indicated that this will make it plug and play. While the ASWC fired up and auto programmed perfectly, I found that I was now missing AC controls and other data from my MFD display. My success came from leaving the car 8215 shell connector plugged into the factory radio and patching the ASWC green/orange into the pin 7 wire and the black/green into pin 8. (of course the black and red ASWC were already patched on the 70-8114). I now have full function on the MFD and full steering wheel control for audio and A/C. It just took 2 wire connections I wasn't expecting. All works great now.
     
    #4 ryanagray, May 6, 2012
  5. dianeinreno

    dianeinreno Member

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    There was some discussion in another ASWC thread about whether you have to connect the black wire to ground on the ASWC plug. You absolutely do have to connect it to a good ground (as I am sure that you already know) or the unit does not work properly - as I found out :)

    FYI anyone out there.
     
    #5 dianeinreno, May 9, 2012
  6. Chiru

    Chiru Junior Member

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    Model:
    Two
    I like your success story. Can you tell me if you still have the sound from the MFD after the install? For instance, if you have the audio when you press buttons on the MFD or any bluetooth functionality that was already in place before the install. Please let me know what kind of Prius was this installed on? It would help me to compare the install tips.

    I have a 2005 gen II with JBL and Nav. I have done extensive search but could not find a way to keep the NAV and bluetooth functionality. If I could, I would just add a single DIN HD radio in stealth install mode and be happy.

    Appreciate your feedback.

    Thanks,
    Chiru
     
    #6 Chiru, Jul 24, 2012
  7. Sparky9292

    Sparky9292 Junior Member

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    That's because you didn't crimp in the little resister between the two wires. Metra supplies this in the Prius Kit. If you don't do this, you'd have to leave the factory radio installed. It's not too hard, I used an inline splice crimp to do it.
    No it doesn't actually. It's not a big deal but it was weird pressing buttons on the MFD and not getting the usual beep. Everything works fine though.
     
    #7 Sparky9292, Jul 26, 2012
  8. Slava

    Slava Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
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    Hello,
    I have problem with installation 2 DIN DVD in my Prius 2008 gen II with CQ-MS0570A
    Please send me wiring connection if possible. Thanks
     

    Attached Files:

    #8 Slava, May 14, 2013
  9. bleachout

    bleachout New Member

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    The problem with the Metra 70-8114 harness is it doesn't have the 68 ohm resistor connecting pins 9 and 10 on the 20 pin connector. Solution to this is to get the Scosche TAAXB harness which is made to keep your auxilary input and steering wheel controls (including A/C controls). The TAAXB looks identical to the 9096B Auxilary and A/C Retention Harness that comes with the Scosche TA2103B kit.
     
    #9 bleachout, Oct 4, 2013
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