XM on Carputer THE GUIDE

**nuclear** · 01-01-2006, 10:25 AM

After buildling a cable; has anyone noticed that the apps (any) to control the unit randomly cut off song titles and artist names? (I'm trying to figure out if this is normal behavior or if there's something wrong with the cable)

**jcdillin** · 01-01-2006, 11:03 AM

if you don't have the cable properly grounded or shielded it will cause problems like that.

**nuclear** · 01-01-2006, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by jcdillin

if you don't have the cable properly grounded or shielded it will cause problems like that.

I suspected as much...I planned to rebuild the cable once I get a decent soldering iron anyway since I made a mess of the cable and didn't have anywhere to connect the shield ground (The shroud is plastic??)

The cutoffs seem somewhat too predictable though...for example, Red Hot Chili Peppers is always 'Red Hot Chili Pe' regardless of the application used; and yes...the colums are expanded far enough to read the entire name.

Fortunately I have an 8' cable with plenty of room to cut off the mess and try again with the proper tools

**jcdillin** · 01-01-2006, 12:08 PM

yeah but I dont think i've ever had any name cutoff at all

as long as you tie the shield of the DB9 to the shield of the cable it should help, you dont really have to connect both ends of the shield.

**fixerofallthing** · 01-01-2006, 06:18 PM

I stumbled across this thread this morning with no intention of installing XM in my car, but after I read the install guide I decided to go down to Fry's and pick up the unit for $49 with a $30 dollar rebate and the cable was $7.99 and I had the rest of the stuff. XM is having a special with no activation fee so it was just the $12.95 for my first month's service and $30 worth of parts.

Thank you so much for an amazing write up because everything works as advertised through RR. It is great to have radio again!!!!!

**replicant** · 01-03-2006, 04:43 PM

awsome! i just went and bought my terk at circuitcity, however i was too late for the gift card deal that circuit city was having when purchasing this reveiver. anyway, i gotta work on doing the hacked cable (hoping i can make a usb one since my lcd touchscreen takes up the serial - yes i'm using an older gain/xenarc lcd.. pre usb touchscreen interface).

**nuclear** · 01-04-2006, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by jcdillin

yeah but I dont think i've ever had any name cutoff at all

as long as you tie the shield of the DB9 to the shield of the cable it should help, you dont really have to connect both ends of the shield.

I've redone the cable three times already--this time with a better iron for more precision. Soldered the shield wire to the side of the DB9. Same result...channel info is getting truncated. Not sure what else I can do at this point.

**Hark** · 01-04-2006, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by nuclear

I've redone the cable three times already--this time with a better iron for more precision. Soldered the shield wire to the side of the DB9. Same result...channel info is getting truncated. Not sure what else I can do at this point.

Just buy one from WebDog! Mine works great, no issues. Highly recommended.

**nuclear** · 01-04-2006, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by Hark

Just buy one from WebDog! Mine works great, no issues. Highly recommended.

I will if I need one, but I don't see the need to randomly buy parts before understanding what is wrong. As far as I can tell the cable itself checks out perfectly fine on continuity tests. I've gone so far as to test DB9 -> PCB and that seems to check out as well with the exception of DB9 Pin 5 (Ground) Not exactly sure what I should be seeing with that but I get readings on several pins on the PCB.

Does anyone still have Frodo's XMDebug app? I wanted to give that a try but can't find it.

EDIT:

I suppose this is more of an XM annoyance than a problem. I've read track info is cut off at 16 chars--which is exactly what I've been experiencing. Rather annoying, but I guess there's nothing to be done about it.

**Saturated_Fat** · 02-01-2006, 11:26 AM

In regards to the Names getting cut off. I've seen this happen first hand in cars that have XM built in, mainly the Acura TL. So I dont think its your wiring, might be an issue XM is having or the channel ?