Steering wheel controls thru serial or usb?

**welthqa** · 12-28-2003, 03:29 AM

Is there anyway to get the steering wheel controls thru something other than IR? converting to IR and then back seems wasteful to me. Does anyone know how a PAC device could be converted to either serial or to usb directly? Or is it worth avoiding the hassle of making something custom and just get an IR receiver?

Any suggestions or recomendations on a USB IR receiver?

**robiewp** · 12-28-2003, 04:23 AM

steering controls on what vehicle? what do they look like? how do they work? (complete a circuit, etc). The lame man's rig would be a hacked up number pad

**Dan Marsh** · 12-28-2003, 04:59 AM

I have thought about putting some buttons on my steering wheel as well. I am planning on canabalizing an RF wireless gamepad for the parts and then using joy2key or something similar to map it to keyboard keys.

**welthqa** · 12-29-2003, 08:09 PM

I have a nissan altima 2002. I'm talking about the controls for a stereo. I know you can reuse them with one of the rf pac things. I was thinking a number pad hacked up could do it too.

**SjLucky** · 12-30-2003, 01:39 AM

Or you could just hack of a serial port and write (or steal) your own software

**Defiler** · 12-30-2003, 10:33 AM

Or if you are using an IR reciever you could use a Steering Wheel Radio Control Interface and Girder.

**owenjh** · 12-30-2003, 11:04 AM

if the controls are just simple buttons you could rig it, if its got some kind of chip you could still rig it up you would just have to find out what output it gives when you do certain things then convert that to a serial signal somehow. Eitherway it wont be too easy to hook it up but would be nice.

**tejesh83** · 12-30-2003, 06:00 PM

In my Qx4, only 2 or 3 wires are run from the 5 button steering wheel controls. The Pac swi-x uses 2 of them, with a resistor inline on one of the wires. I believe it operates by detecting the resistance when each button is pushed. The inline resistor was probably used to bring the resistance into the pac swi-x detectable range.

If you're steering wheel controlls are rigged so wires are run for each button, it would be pretty straightforward to wire up a serial device. You'll find a few schematics for serial/com based buttons off google.

If its not already rigged this way, you may be able to convert it by soldering wires to each individual switch.

Or you could also try to recreate the pac swi-x logic. But thats beyond my knowledge.

I took the simple pac swi-x approach. It took about 30 minutes. I used the anir remote that came free with my wintv card.

**Jonjonr6** · 12-31-2003, 06:55 PM

Quote: converting to IR and then back seems wasteful to me.

Actually, IR is the best bet from what I can tell. Example, the keyspan remote has a very sensitive receiver, and isn't too directional, so even at some distance and off-axis situations, will still work. You don't have to worry about running wires through the steering wheel, or those wires getting caught or impeding the use of the wheel. Just mount the IR transmitter on the back of the wheel, and the receiver on the dash, and the keyspan receiver will probably pick up signals even when the wheel is turned.

Just a thought.

**GinoRP** · 01-14-2004, 01:20 PM

I use the PIE Steering wheel converter to my Ir devices. Depending on the vehicle, the voltage on the tapped wire is a constant 5v when the ignition is on. When each button is pressed the voltage will range from 1-5 volts in any fraction. The PIE will associate each voltage with a trigger and associates the IR freq it learns to that trigger.

Just get the PIE. It's actually pretty darn cool.

GinoRP