OEM radio internal organs

[Yves M.]

Hi,

In the past, to connect an external CD player, I have put a 1/8 stereo plug in my Jeep Cherooke's radio.
It was clear where to plug it as there where wires comming out of the radio section and going into the amplifier section. Two wires (left/right and grounds). Plugging an external CDplayer was cutting the standard radio and all worked OK.

QUESTION:
My question is, does anybody have done something similar to the Insight OEM radio. Is it clear where to cut wires to put the female 1/8 stereo plug

I wanted to try that out before replacing the radio with some CD/MP3 radio. I already have a portable that does it.

[Tim Maddux]

There are 3rd party harness adapters that can do exactly what you describe. IIRC the problem is that you need more than just a stereo miniplug, you need to pass some kind of signal to the OEM radio to fool it into thinking there is an OEM changer back there.

I think it's been discussed in these forums before... try searching...

[Yves M.]

Thanks, I will check the archives and harness. I thought that the changer used the FM modulation to go into the radio but if it uses the harness, I 'll find out.
I'll try to make pictures if it turns out to be possible.

Addition:
======
I opened up the radio. All circuitry are on one board. No way to know where the tuner goes into the amp. Therefore, it is not modifyable.
I tried to plug an extern source into the input of the CD Changer plug but it does not work (needs some control for the CD button on the oem radio to work)

I'll buy an other radio. The other option would have been to order through Internet, an "auxiliary Input" that plugs into the CD Changer plug. But it cost the price of a radio.

[Yves M.]

The final results:

I have bought a Clarion FM200 modulator that is plugged in series with the antenna. It was $45 cnd (about $32 usd) at Futureshop.ca

I have taken a picture of the opened radio and have created a web page with some pictures of the installation.

I added a socket for any stereo plug into the armrest and the Clarion is in the shifter console. The Clarion is plugged into the oem radio antenna and when I used radio frequency 89.1 I can llisten to my mp3 by puting a player into the pocket behind the seats.

Here is the link:
http://www.md92raid.100freemb.com/clarion.htm

Edit: Made corrections from bad links

[b1shmu63]

Congradulations on a very clean installation and a nice workaround. That was rather bold opening up the OEM radio. Are you a Tech? Thanks for posting the photos.

[Yves M.]

Hi,

Thanks b1shmu63. I am not a tech but I did some mechanical/electronic stuff in the past.

But I did thought that if it did go wrong, it would push me to replace the radio. It was simpler not to with this modulator.

Did some highway travel this weekend and it worked great.