Anyone taken arpart their steering wheel controls?

Alright, im in the process of researching putting a carputer (mp3car.com) into my 06 mazda5.

I want to retain some of the functions of the radio controls on the steering wheel, and map them to a matrix which then passes the command to the pc.

My problem is, im not sure where to start. I did a search for taking the cover off the steering wheel controls... looks like it could be a couple plastic tabs.. donno, dont want to break anything... suggestions?

Another thought, the cables have to run down the steering column. Does anyone know if each button has its own wire, or does it use a another method?

Many thanks in advance.
 
Each button produces different resistance. The Mazda Stereo measure the resistance to know which button is pressed
 
That is correct, there are only two wires from the steering wheel controls,

they are just resistors wired in series, so that pushing one button produces 100 ohms, and another might be say 250 ohms, etc. The headunit deciphers the ohms, and produces the appropriate response.
 
Right, thanks.
But, how are the controls attached to the steering wheel? are they just clips? or is there a screw hidden somewhere?

Thanks,
n
 
Does anyone know of a product that will decipher the ohms, and spit out a singnal on individual wires?... ive seen the pac-swi interface, but, its not quite what im hoping for.

I want to connect the steering wheel controls to a keyboard matrix, so i can send signals to a carputer. The front end will interpret the inputs as keypresses... you get the picture.

Thanks.
 
Back