the other day i installed my pioneer p4100 head unit. i got the pac swi, wired it up, programmed it and it worked fine at first. later on in the day it seemed to work when it wanted to. sometimes i could use my steering wheel controls and sometimes i couldnt. then the following day it stopped working all together. i pulled my head unit out to reprogram the pac and it wont even let me program it. i'll turn the car on, hold down the program button, let it go and the led stays lit. but when i push a button on the steering wheel it doesnt register and wont program anything. any ideas? could i have gotten a bad pac? should i just get a new one?

 

there all a bit spotty, none of them are perfect. I have had mine for about 2 years and pretty much 90% of the time my wheel controls will work but sometimes they get a bit messed up till i can turn off and on my car.


you can try and reprogram it but its a known problem

edit- reread your post. if it wont let you reprogram it then call them and get a replacement

 

maybe the steering wheel control buttons are broken. i had mine replaced under warranty twice for not working when i didnt have my pioneer p4000

 

My PAC SWI is a pain, it only likes to work when it wants to. If its not going into programing mode it sounds like you need a replacement pac swi. I wish there was a better option for steering wheel controls.

 

ok, so it looks like i'll get another pac swi and see what happens. if the next one doenst work i guess i'll live without steering wheel controls

 

also does anyone know how to bypass the p4100 so i can play a dvd while driving?

 

anyone??

 

ground that wire thats connected to the parking break to a powered switch

 

How and why would you ground it to a powered switch? Perhaps a switched ground circuit of some sort?

 

lol i mean ground it to a switch. so u can turn it off and on when needed. haha.. my bad on the wording.

 

thats what the guy who installed my avic-d3 did, the switch works like a charm

 

explain a little more please. where should i get the power for this switch from? are you saying i could just run a wire from say the wiper fuse to a switch and connect the parking brake wire from the head unit to the other side of the switch? is that correct? or am i wrong

 

u need a switch but u gotta ground it out on something that the radio is already not grounded on. ive been meaning to do it but im too lazy

 

They are saying to hook it to ground but put a toggle switch in the line. If you just hook it to ground the videos will not play you would need to turn the toggle off then on and then the videos will work I think. I would recommend using a relay. That is what I used for my p4000. This might help you out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8HCcNy9QQQ

 

my friend's been tryin to hook me up with a permanent fix for the p4000.. he ordered it 3 times and they keep backordering it. im almost ready to just do it myself.

 

oh yes that video helped me out. exactly what i was looking for. kick ass! now i just gotta get unlazy and pull my head unit out and do this.

 

**** a relay dude... get a 2 prong switch hook one side to ground and one to the parking brake and done

 

yeah but then i'd still have to flip the switch. **** doin things for myself i want them done for me! haha

 

and whenever your pulled over for having video playing visible to the driver and the cop says go ahead and turn it on and ill see if its playing video or not... automatic wont be so nice in that situation would it. Ive seen the tickets and they trump alot of stuff out there, tint, lights,hid, some speeding

 

thats when u tap the display off button.

 

Genius!!! haha

 

i do it all the time... especially when i see unsavory characters outside my car. dont want em gettin any ideas.

 

jj today i was thinking instead of fliping switch on and off, or off and on wtvr order it was i dont remember when i had my p4000 in my civic...i obviously can put a relay. but then thinking more i was like (i always had to switch it TWICE) and a relay will turn on with the remote wire obviously...but its its a naturaly opened relay it will just close the circuit giving it a constant ground...now iunno if it would work cuz i usually always pressed the switch twice anyways maybe i always had it grounded, then when i wanted to watch id unground and ground so IUNNO sorry for the retarted explanation ill try with a relay seeing as how i have thousands of them lying around but iunno im lazy as **** when it comes to this ARG

 

A relay will work great

 

a relay should work just fine but the reason i prefer the switch is control and ease of installation. a switch is easy... a relay, not so much