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So I spent all day yesterday with my dad working on Red Alert's audio. I had tried my old head unit in the car a few months ago when finishing up the dash, but the faceplate wouldn't come on.
For those that aren't familiar with my setup, I had hard-wired a 9 foot extension cord for my headunit's face plate using 2 cat-5 cables. I had the faceplate mounted in my sunvisor for awhile while the headunit was in the glovebox.
I thought for sure that the issue was the cat5 male-to-male adapter that I was using because the pins cross every now and then and it doesn't get a good connection. So I told my dad let's get rid of the adapters and just solder the wires together. He reluctantly agreed, so we decided to do a cool setup. Even with the carPC's internals in the dash, there was still all the open space behind where the stock HVAC controls go in the 98+ dash. So, we put the headunit there and pushed it back far enough so I could still pop the carPC bezel in place, hiding the headunit. I took the cat5 and ran it through my center console and drilled a hole in the center console, then my dad and I soldered the wires together so the headunit's faceplate would be in the center console. Lift the lid and there was the faceplate. Well, we finish soldering all 16 cat-5 wires together and plug everything in. Alas, no go! It wouldn't turn on.
Well, the headunit HAD to be dead, right?
So we went to Best Buy and I bought a new headunit, a cheapy JVC model for $80, I'm only using it to power the speakers, the CarPC's speaker output goes into the AUX IN for the headunit, and the headunit then disperses it out to all the speakers. It was the easiest way to do it rather than put another amp in the back and have to run wires to and from the amp, etc.
So I finish splicing the wiring harness together, very straight forward, go out there and plug everything in. Start the car and the headunit stays blacked out. WTF?
...and then I realized I pulled the radio fuse when I started the dash swap...
Needless to say, I now have a sweet new headunit and the carPC's audio is 100% fully functional.
For those that aren't familiar with my setup, I had hard-wired a 9 foot extension cord for my headunit's face plate using 2 cat-5 cables. I had the faceplate mounted in my sunvisor for awhile while the headunit was in the glovebox.
I thought for sure that the issue was the cat5 male-to-male adapter that I was using because the pins cross every now and then and it doesn't get a good connection. So I told my dad let's get rid of the adapters and just solder the wires together. He reluctantly agreed, so we decided to do a cool setup. Even with the carPC's internals in the dash, there was still all the open space behind where the stock HVAC controls go in the 98+ dash. So, we put the headunit there and pushed it back far enough so I could still pop the carPC bezel in place, hiding the headunit. I took the cat5 and ran it through my center console and drilled a hole in the center console, then my dad and I soldered the wires together so the headunit's faceplate would be in the center console. Lift the lid and there was the faceplate. Well, we finish soldering all 16 cat-5 wires together and plug everything in. Alas, no go! It wouldn't turn on.
Well, the headunit HAD to be dead, right?
So we went to Best Buy and I bought a new headunit, a cheapy JVC model for $80, I'm only using it to power the speakers, the CarPC's speaker output goes into the AUX IN for the headunit, and the headunit then disperses it out to all the speakers. It was the easiest way to do it rather than put another amp in the back and have to run wires to and from the amp, etc.
So I finish splicing the wiring harness together, very straight forward, go out there and plug everything in. Start the car and the headunit stays blacked out. WTF?
...and then I realized I pulled the radio fuse when I started the dash swap...
Needless to say, I now have a sweet new headunit and the carPC's audio is 100% fully functional.
357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven. 
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