Pioneer AVH-4000 NEX Install

After seeing the results of the USB/BT TSB on the factory head unit, I've decided to go ahead and swap out the head unit. While Mazda makes a nice car, their choice of "infotainment" electronics is questionable, and I've given up hope on them ever properly supporting my old classic iPod.

Thank you very much for the detailed information in this thread. Thanks also to the folks who figured out the rear view camera, etc.

So, I ordered a nice long list of stuff from amazon:

Pioneer AVIC-8100NEX (it sings, dances, and washes dishes.)
Metra 95-7522B (dash adapter)
PAC RP4-MX11 (electronic harness adapter - hopefully will come with a current firmware.)
Metra 40-HD10 (antenna adapter)
Pioneer CD-IU201V (ipod adapter for the HU)
SMAKN 12v/6v stepdown P/S
2.54mm pitch double row IDC socket male headers

I also pulled some RCA male connectors (x4 for the bose amp + 1 for video) from one of my parts drawers, and some lead based solder (which is 100x easier to work with than the newer non-lead stuff. I promise I won't eat it.) I might also grab some crimp butt connectors for the majority of the harness work. (They're easier to use, mechanically stronger than solder joints if crimped properly, and I have the proper crimping tools.)

This HU doesn't need a parking brake bypass - I can just ground the brake wire access a hidden (but well documented) option to bypass.

The stuff was shipped via USPS for delivery tomorrow, so I'll have a busy Saturday afternoon.

Based on doing other HU's in previous cars, I'm estimating it'll take 2-3 hours to do this one (mostly because I won't have to run wire to the rear of the car.) Then another 6-10 hours for taking it apart and putting it back together a few times because I screwed something up, forgot to solder something, and other stupid mistakes.


Some generic questions for others who've installed aftermarket HU's in this car:

If your unit came with a GPS, where did you put the aftermarket GPS antenna/puck? Will it fit alongside the factory GPS antenna inside the dash center speaker area?

How much room is there behind the HU area to work in? Is there a good place back there to fit all the various boxes/adapters/wires/etc, or is it extremely cramped?


Thanks
Gary

On my Kenwood, I have just placed it on the top of the stereo, it's magnetic.

jlcpremier (and others) - In the first post, it's described to push out the existing USB connecter from the center box, and use that hole to run USB from the new head unit...

Instead of doing that, why not just run the new HU's USB cable thru the little vent-like slot directly above the USB/power connections (inside the center box), and leave the factory USB connection alone? (see attachment)

(An added benefit of this is that the factory USB connector can still be used as a (slow) USB charger.)

The factory USB connection keeps unusable once hu is removed

ikerg said:

The factory USB connection keeps unusable once hu is removed

Click to expand...

I'm seeing something different... The factory USB is still powered. Even if it's not usable for playing music, it's still usable as a (slow) charger. When you have a wife and two kids in the car for a road trip, all with tablets or phones, having another charging port (even if it's slow) is priceless.

A note on the connection for the factory reverse camera: Wiring it as described works perfectly, but I had a problem with my "homegrown" connector popping out of the mazda harness. I ended up threading a thin zip-tie between the pins on my soldered connector and using that to secure it to the factory harness connector. Another note on using the factory camera: The guidelines are built into the camera and are NOT part of the HU. This means that you should disable guidelines on the replacement HU. (I'm willing to bet that the guidelines built into the camera are actually set to match the mount location on the car... they seem to line up perfectly for me.)

For my GPS, I ended up taking the factory GPS puck out (but replacing the metal plate) and then putting the pioneer GPS puck on that plate. It works perfectly. (I can't put it on the radio in my car, as I have a ham radio mounted on my dash directory above the HU - and that would interfere.)

For the bluetooth mic, I followed the OP's suggestion on mounting location, but I think I'm going to have to go back up there and modify it somehow. It seems to be picking up entirely too much road noise making recognition very hit/miss while driving at highway speeds (and completely useless if it's raining outside the car.) I'm wondering if some sound insulation all around the mic body might help with that.

So far, I'm MUCH happier with the pioneer 8100NEX when compared to the mazda HU. The only things I'm missing out on are the limitless frustrations of using the Mazda system. I will admit that tomtom's nav is probably a bit better than the nav built into the pioneer unit (but google maps via android auto is much better than the tomtom.)

Oh, one more point about the pioneer HU: This thing actually makes the Bose amp/speakers sound good.

So... playing around some more...

With the newest Pioneer head units, there's support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Both of those technologies use voice recognition which can be extremely unforgiving with a noisy microphone. With Android Auto (AA), I noticed about a 20% miss rate on the VR when travelling 40 MPH and the microphone mounted as described in the first post of this thread (up in the upper console, taking the same location as the original stock mic.)

I expect much better, and Google (via their account history page) allows listening to previously made voice searches/dictations (including those made with AA.) Listening to some of them, I started to wonder how google was as accurate as it was. They were NOISY! Oddly, when I'd make phone calls at the same speed, people on the other end of the call would tell me that I wasn't all that noisy - usually saying it was about the same as the bluetooth from the factory mazda. Perhaps BT phone calls have some additional noise reduction logic applied on the phone?

So, I started experimenting....

I took a block of melamine foam (a sound proofing material that's also sold as a cleaner called "magic eraser"), cut a channel in it, and shoved the microphone in that, and pushed the block of foam in the space in the overhead console. The only part of the mic that wasn't covered with the foam was the "business end" of the mic (which was facing down through the holes in the overhead console.) I tried that out at 40 MPH and, and my miss rate for android auto (at 40 MPH) jumped to almost 50%!! Listening to those sound samples was shocking. The noise level sounded like the mic was inside the engine compartment of my old Mustang while drag racing!

So, I went in a different direction. I did something so completely unorthodox for me that my wife fainted. I Read The Directions. (rlaugh)

I pulled the mic out of the overhead console, and attached it (with a piece of double sided tape to start) to black plastic covering behind the rear view mirror. (I have the tech package, so that piece is large.) I aimed the mic toward the drivers seat (with the rear view mirror between the mic and the driver's seat headrest.) I got in and tried it all again. 40 MPH again. Accuracy for the Android Auto VR? 99%. It was as good as if I were talking directly to the phone in a quiet room. I went home and listened to the sound google recorded... and they sounded like I was standing still in my car. There was just a little background wind-like noise (my windows were closed), but the speech quality was perfect.


So, while sticking the mic up in that console seemed like a great idea, and was most definitely the "cleanest" install, it certainly wasn't the BEST install. If you aren't using voice recognition, and the mic quality is "good enough" for phone calls, I'd leave it in the overhead console. However, if you are thinking of using something that does VR, you might consider ignoring a barely noticeable cosmetic blemish in favor of a more reliable system.

On a side note, I wonder if the mic location of the mazda factory unit is partially to blame for the horrid voice recognition it has.

Oem system is usable now with the USB bluetooth fix!

garyd9 said:

So... playing around some more...

SNIP...

On a side note, I wonder if the mic location of the mazda factory unit is partially to blame for the horrid voice recognition it has.

Click to expand...

I am glad that it is working out for you. As far as the oem unit goes...there is always the need for improvement. If you think Mazda's is bad, you should try the Subaru system...horrendous!

Originally, I found the oem system poor as you described. Following the USB "FIX" thread here, I was able to provide the dealer the TSB, and had my Bluetooth module replaced. It seems along with fixing the bluetooth USB issues, the new module/firmware has made the oem VR way better than before. I can actually use it now! LOL.

I mentioned in a previous post that the VR system in a 2011 Hyundai Tuscon (can we say cheap) was SPOT ON!! That indicates that oem VR does not have to su**
After the warranty is up, I will certainly investigate an after market unit..(spin)

Anyone have any suggestions for a small powered subwoofer I could add to the pioneer HU alongside the bose amp? I'm not looking to shake anything - just to fill in the lower end some. I'm kind of looking in the direction of one of the small 8" or 10" self contained slim units that can fit under the passenger seat.

I'd want to feed the sub amp directly from the HU subwoofer outputs.

(Keep in mind that I'm NOT looking for "powerful" bass. I'm just trying to complete the sound of the bose amp feeding from the pioneer head unit.)

Thanks
Gary

First thanks to everyone for some great info on this thread. Just installed the Avic-8100Nex in my 2015 CX-5. It went pretty well, but I've got 3 issues.

1) When I switch the rearview camera on in the settings menu in the pioneer unit, I get the rearview cam output on the screen when in park or drive, and the pioneer system output when in reverse. So it's behaving the opposite of how it should be. I've got the green wire from the PAC unit attached to the purple/white wire from the headunit. Anyone have any thoughts on why this would be getting the signal reversed?

2) For the parking brake ground wire, I've got it attached to a bolt going to the chassis. I still get a warning screen that it is hooked up incorrectly, but once I click OK, the unit works fine. Does everyone still get that error, or do I need to find another spot to attach that wire.

3) On the rearview cam, I'm getting two sets of "guidance" gridlines, the original from the car (I assume, built into the camera), and now a second set coming from the pioneer unit. Is there a way to switch off one of these so my screen doesn't show both sets?

Sidenote: The PAC RP4-MZ11 I received already had RCA plugs for the sound output attached, so they appear to have updated the module.

miltsface said:

1) When I switch the rearview camera on in the settings menu in the pioneer unit, I get the rearview cam output on the screen when in park or drive, and the pioneer system output when in reverse. So it's behaving the opposite of how it should be. I've got the green wire from the PAC unit attached to the purple/white wire from the headunit. Anyone have any thoughts on why this would be getting the signal reversed?

Click to expand...

In your manual, search for "setting the polarity of the rear view camera." It's a setting along with the other camera settings and it's called "Reverse Gear Setting." Switch is between "battery" and "Ground" to find the proper setting. (I don't remember which is the correct one.)

miltsface said:

2) For the parking brake ground wire, I've got it attached to a bolt going to the chassis. I still get a warning screen that it is hooked up incorrectly, but once I click OK, the unit works fine. Does everyone still get that error, or do I need to find another spot to attach that wire.

Click to expand...

I tend to get that warning once in a blue moon if I go into gear very quickly after starting the car. However, I should point out that I do NOT use chassis ground. I use the ground wire from the car interface. (I don't believe in using "chassis ground" in a car unless I've manually put straps between every piece of metal that makes up the frame myself. I've had too many headaches with ham radios when "chassis" wasn't properly connected to electrical ground.)

miltsface said:

3) On the rearview cam, I'm getting two sets of "guidance" gridlines, the original from the car (I assume, built into the camera), and now a second set coming from the pioneer unit. Is there a way to switch off one of these so my screen doesn't show both sets?

Click to expand...

Yes... 2 pages after the reverse gear setting in the manual is "Displaying the parking assist guidelines" and it's also in "camera settings" and this one is called "Parking Assist Guide." If using the factory camera, set this to OFF.

For the last week, I had everything working properly on this, except I needed to reprogram some of the SWC functions on the PAC unit. I pulled the unit out and went through the programming process. That was a bit of a headache as the program button on my PAC unit seems to work only sometimes, but finally got that sorted out. The pioneer unit was working fine at that point. I put it back into the dash and and turned it back on to test, and the Pioneer only displayed the back-up cam, no matter what gear I'm in. I can't get to any screen besides the camera input. I've since pulled it out, and tried 1) disconnecting the camera, 2) disconnecting and re-connecting everything, 3) cut the reverse input wire, 4) reconnected the reverse input wire. No matter what I've tried, I'm only getting the backup-cam input to the screen. None of the buttons respond. I wouldn't think that any programming on the PAC unit would have done this.

Anyone have any ideas?

miltsface said:

Anyone have any ideas?

Click to expand...

I had this problem as well when installing my AVH-4000NEX. The only thing I found to work is to disconnect the power completely along with everything else so it's not connected to the car whatsoever, wait a minute or two to internally reset, and then reconnect everything and power back on. Half the time it would still go straight to the reverse camera and not respond to anything, and then the other half it would boot up and load the way it should. It was extremely annoying as I was messing around with the rear view camera a lot at the same time, but I never did find a solid reason why this happened... all I can really say is good luck and I hope it starts to work for you one way or another!

I've made some progress. I emailed Pioneer, and they got back to me the next day with some helpful info. If you hold down the Map button for a few seconds, the head unit will exit the rear camera input and show you the system screens. That let me determine that there's an issue with the reverse input signal. If I have the rear camera input on, and have the polarity set to Battery, I will see the system screens on startup, and it will show me that no matter what gear I'm. If I have the polarity set to ground, I will see the rear camera input at startup, and it will shoe me that no matter what gear I'm in. So it appears that the reverse signal input is not changing when I move in or out of reverse gear.

The reverse signal input wire passes through the PAC unit, so it could be the signal from the car, or there could be an issue with the PAC unit (probably more likely). I had just been programming the SWC into the PAC unit right before this issue started, but the programming is all related to the SWCs, so I wouldn't think that you could modify anything to do with the reverse input signal. The green wire carries the reverse signal out of the PAC unit. Anyone know if it is the green/white wire that carries it from the CX-5 to the PAC unit? And would it work if I just bypassed it (though I think I'll start with a call to PAC first to see what they have to say)?

miltsface said:

So it appears that the reverse signal input is not changing when I move in or out of reverse gear.
...
I had just been programming the SWC into the PAC unit right before this issue started, but the programming is all related to the SWCs, so I wouldn't think that you could modify anything to do with the reverse input signal.

Click to expand...

A little story related to this: When I first installed my 8100NEX, I had everything working the way I wanted. Within 3 days, however, the SWC started not working quite right. Sometimes it'd work. Sometimes it wouldn't. Some commands did seemingly random things to the radio. After reprogramming the PAC unit 3 times, I realized that the problem wasn't the PAC unit itself, but that the plug from the PAC unit into the back of the radio (remote control plug) wasn't quite right. After I pulled it out and shoved it back in again, everything started working perfectly.

The reason for the story is that sometimes "not quite" electrical connections can have very odd results. Pull the radio and verify the reverse signal with a multi-meter. From the reverse signal (green wire coming out of the PAC unit to the radio - purple/white on the radio harness) to ground should show 0 volts when in park/drive, and something else (probably 12v) when in reverse. (The head unit should be configured for "battery" on the reverse signal polarity.)

There is no "reverse signal" on the mazda side of the PAC connector - the PAC unit determines a reverse signal via the CAN bus. I do remember from reading these threads over and over that some people had an issue with the reverse signal wire not working properly at first. Those people seemed to think that after a few cycles that the PAC unit "learned" what reverse was and then it started working for no apparent reason. (That might be accurate - I didn't have the issue, so I can't even guess.)

Also, as always, verify your crimp or solder connections. If the connection between the PAC unit harness and radio harness isn't good, then it might become electrically disconnected when the wires are all shoved in the space behind the radio.

Good luck
Gary

This should be my final update, as I've got everything working. Also found out a good piece of info for everyone. After talking with PAC technical support, they had me test the green wire to see if it was getting power when in reverse (it wasn't) and test the head unit to see if it switched to the camera input when the reverse signal input was fed with 12v power (it did). So my issue was not getting a signal from the PAC unit when in reverse. I pulled the plug from the PAC unit and slightly bent the male pin for the reverse signal wire, and put it back together and everything worked. So my issue was simply that it wasn't making good contact at the plug on the PAC box.

On talking with the PAC rep, we were discussing how the camera was set up. I had the power coming from the main red wire (which is what is described earlier in this thread), which means that the camera would be powered whenever the car is running, even though you don't see it on the screen all the time. When he said that the reverse signal input works by feeding 12v power to the head unit, I asked if I should power it thru that, and he agreed that by doing so, it would supply 12v power and only be on when the car is in reverse. I hooked up a power lead to the green/purple connection, and it works fine, and the camera won't be powered all the time. I don't know if being powered all the time would wear down/burn out the camera or not, but it makes sense to only power it when in use. So use the green wire (at the green/purple connection) as the power source for your reverse cam.

After reading this thread I feel like a real dufus. I Just assumed the RP4-MZ11 acted as a line-level output converter. I'm sitting here wondering why the beeps on my HU are so freaking loud and the thing is super loud at volume level 4 out of 50 -- and it's because I'm passing amplified signals to my BOSE amp. This isn't my first rodeo either, but it's the first time I've done anything with a car newer than like 1994.

My PAC unit did not come with any RCA cables as someone above mentioned. However, I didn't purchase it from them -- I got it from the Amazon Marketplace.

... Said quote:

miltsface said:

Sidenote: The PAC RP4-MZ11 I received already had RCA plugs for the sound output attached, so they appear to have updated the module.

Click to expand...

Also appears I won't get the super-duper secret menu on my CX-9 since the LCD doesn't show radio info, only climate control, trip, and clock info.

Oh well, at least I think my solution lies in 2 $12 cables.

http://amzn.com/B009B8EJYU

I realize this is the CX-5 forum, but can someone confirm that I should be going from my RCAs on my Pioneer to the speaker wires on the harness? Instead of the speaker wire outputs (amplified) from my HU to the speaker wires in the harness?

bilbravo said:

I realize this is the CX-5 forum, but can someone confirm that I should be going from my RCAs on my Pioneer to the speaker wires on the harness? Instead of the speaker wire outputs (amplified) from my HU to the speaker wires in the harness?

Click to expand...

I can confirm that for a 2014 CX-5 GT (with bose), but I can't possibly confirm it for the CX-9. However, being that the 2013/2014 CX-9 has the same HU as the 2014/2015 CX-5, I think you'd be good to go.

One thing to note: There's an advisory on the Rockford Fosgate website that suggests to hook the negative contact of each of the RCA adapters to chassis ground. That can be found here:
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/supp...er/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1002&p_li=&p_topview=1

You should ignore this advisory.

Keep in mind that the advisory is only for attaching the adapters to "speaker level" outputs (which might be done for splicing speaker outputs into a LOC) and NOT for attaching them to line/low level outputs (which is what you're doing.)

garyd9 said:

I can confirm that for a 2014 CX-5 GT (with bose), but I can't possibly confirm it for the CX-9. However, being that the 2013/2014 CX-9 has the same HU as the 2014/2015 CX-5, I think you'd be good to go.

One thing to note: There's an advisory on the Rockford Fosgate website that suggests to hook the negative contact of each of the RCA adapters to chassis ground. That can be found here:
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/supp...er/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1002&p_li=&p_topview=1

You should ignore this advisory.

Keep in mind that the advisory is only for attaching the adapters to "speaker level" outputs (which might be done for splicing speaker outputs into a LOC) and NOT for attaching them to line/low level outputs (which is what you're doing.)

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I will try out the line level outputs and see if my sound gets better. Unfortunately I have the "mid-level" stock head unit for the 2011 model year so I do not have the correct LCD that allows me to adjust the Bose amp gain/levels with the RP4. I really miss the old days of just sticking a head unit in with the appropriate wiring harness! (I sound old)

bilbravo said:

Thanks for the advice. I will try out the line level outputs and see if my sound gets better.

Click to expand...

Any update? Did everything work out for you? By sharing your experiences (both positive and negative) you help the next person...

Take care
Gary

I installed a 4000 NEX about 4 months ago, 2015 CX-5 Touring, everything is fine.

I am using a 128GB SDHC card, with music and videos, it is excellent, sometimes it will show format reading for 1-2 seconds, but not every time. That is a small price to pay for no thumb drive or hard drive sitting in the glove box or center console.

In regards to video formats it will play, I have mainly .mp4/.x264 720p, I have never converted any of the files, they all play perfectly.

The biggest task with the install was the backup camera integration, mainly in making the physical connection to the factory camera connector. I inserted the pins then used crossed zip ties to secure it in place.

I thought I would pass along the information about the SD card and supported file formats, because per the specifications for the unit, it shouldn't play the file formats and resolutions.