mrkabc....

I talked directly to Raxiom this morning. From 07 up...meaning 07 - 14...there is something internal to the wiring in the Mustang that will tell the Raxiom unit when you are in reverse and to turn on the camera....you do NOT need to find a way to hook up the green wire marked BACK. The green wire marked back is not used if you have an 07 or later...this direct from my conversation with Raxiom tech. Which by the way...you can call if you need additional help at: 844 - 580 - 1799 The tech was great, friendly and answered all my remaining questions completely.

Tomorrow I will purchase the Sirius XM kit SXV3000V1 which will give me the antenna, wiring and tuner that will make the Sirius XM radio connect and work. On sale right now at Best Buy...it's another $46, but it will make everything complete and make this thing work like I thought it all should from the beginning!

I think I'm ready to start my install soon...now that all my questions have been answered and resolved.

 

Well, as they say in show biz... it's a wrap! The Raxiom is in, everything is reassembled, and I went out for a drive to test it and see how it all works.


Before I give the final verdict, let me pick up where I left off - I had two steps to go to finish: Wiring the pink e-brake line, and the green reverse wire. I decided to tackle the reverse wire first, so I ran it behind the glove box to the SJB in the passenger kick panel. I pulled the electrical tape off the harness and exposed the wiring bundle. Man, that's a lot of wires! Jim010 said earlier in this thread that I was looking for either a white wire with a yellow stripe, or a dark green with an orange stripe. Well, there was no dark green with an orange stripe, and the white wire with a yellow stripe gave no voltage reading when reverse was engaged. Guess I struck out. Then, I saw Sabre's comment above that we don't need the green wire after all. It's true! The Raxiom does know when the car is put in to reverse without any additional wiring! Just FYI, I did test the Raxiom's green wire and it does actually engage the camera if you apply 12v, so you could actually wire up your own momentary switch or whatever if you wanted to run the camera manually.


Now to run the pink e-brake wire: All you need to do is attach it to the red wire coming off the e-brake switch as shown in the pic. Easy as pie. FTR, if the e-brake is OFF, it's 12v. Pull up the e-brake handle, voltage drops to zero.


I recommend getting one of these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321737035451?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I drilled the center console using a hole saw and installed the plug/cable. I ran the USB cable/video and audio wires through the center console and plugged it in to the head unit. I think it's better than just letting RCA cables flop around. I did test the USB cable, it plays MP3 files off the USB stick just fine. I didn't test video yet.


Now pack the wires carefully around the rear of the head unit, making sure the backup camera/USB cables (and satellite if you have it) is plugged in and ready to go. Secure head unit with the four 7mm bolts.


Now get the face plate and plug in the TCS, power port, hazard, and climate control plugs. Secure the face plate using the six 7mm bolts.


Plug in the side "wings", they snap right in. Then pull the e-brake and drop in the center console. Secure it using the two 7mm bolts in the front, and the two 10mm nuts inside the storage bin. Be sure to plug in the power point (and auto trans plug if you have it). Now drop the center console top back on, snap it in to place in the front, and secure with two Phillips screws in the rear. Snap in shift boot bezel if you have a manual. (not sure what to do with an auto, I don't do slushbox)


Do a final check to make sure all wiring is secured. Zip tie any loose wires.


Congratulations, you are done! Now go for a test drive.

 

I hope my comments/instructions have been helpful. It sure was a bit more work than American Muscle let on - like I said in an earlier post, I have been installing car stereos since the 1980s, and I don't think there is any way this could have been installed in the two hours that AM claims. With decent instructions and all available tools, I'd say between 3-4 hours. I do believe that the work required to install this unit is not terribly complicated, just a bit on the tedious side. Just take your time, have a beer or five, and it will come out right.


Now, for my final verdict in answering the question: IS THIS UNIT WORTH THE $700+ COST AND FOUR HOURS TO INSTALL IT?


First, let me cover the features as I have tested them:


PHONE/BLUETOOTH: I have talked to different people for about an hour so far on this unit using the Bluetooth feature. I sorely miss steering wheel controls; without them it's difficult to dial a call, and I don't think there is voice recognition for dialing (not saying there isn't any, but I couldn't locate it). Voice quality is good, although I believe the noise canceling isn't as good as some other units since the people I was talking to complained of an echo from time to time. Using Bluetooth with the top down is pretty much a lost cause due to wind noise, but then again it would be on a handset anyway. Answering/hanging up is simple; large icons on the touch screen appear when there is a call. Dialing out calls up a menu of your last callers, you can scroll through and dial that way, but you'll need to take your eyes off the road to do so.


AM/FM RADIO: This unit does have good reception using the stock AM/FM antenna. A welcome addition is HD channels for both AM and FM; you are notified if a HD channel is available by a small icon above the frequency display. Touch it and it will scroll through the available HD channels. You get 18 FM presets and 6 AM ones. I don't have satellite radio so I didn't test that feature.


CD/DVD PLAYER: A single disc player is included. It loads quickly, and had no trouble reading recorded CD/DVDs. An annoyance is the "lawyer lockout" if you are playing a DVD or a CD containing MP3 files. Hey you stupid lawyer, an MP3 is an AUDIO file. What is interesting is the Raxiom knows what the e-brake setting is even without hooking up the pink wire to the e-brake circuit, so merely shorting it out to 12v doesn't work since I think it cross checks the switch with another signal elsewhere. I tried just hooking up the pink wire to 12 constant to avoid the "lawyer lockout" but it didn't work. Maybe jim010 or someone like him can come up with a hack to get rid of that annoyance.


USB: Very low current, so don't expect to charge your phone from this port. It plays MP3 files just fine. You have folder navigation on the screen, so you can separate out your music by folders and navigate that way. I tested using a 32 GB stick, I anticipate this will be my primary method of listening to music on this unit. Navigation/skip works fine. You get prominent buttons for repeat, shuffle, search, and folder view, as well as song info.


BACKUP CAMERA: The included camera works well in low light. I tested it in a dark area using only the car's backup lights, and the image on the screen was very good. What's not so good: Any time you engage the camera, there's an annoying 2-3 second lag where you'll see a warning "No signal" before the camera kicks in and gives you the image. Also, when running the radio for an hour or so and then putting the car in reverse the camera wouldn't come on at all. I tried applying 12v to the green wire to see if that would engage the camera and it still would not come on; I had to shut off the car, allow the radio to power down, and then restart to get the camera to come back up again.


NAVIGATION: Nice map. During your initial setup, you can choose a voice for your navigation director. The NAV display shows a compass, prominent street names, your direction, and current speed. It also knows the speed limits for major streets; if you are exceeding the speed limit a flashing red speed limit sign appears in the lower left corner of the display. It doesn't have POI (points of interest) or icons for gas stations or other things; I suppose those are extras you have to purchase from Rosen. I can definitively say that the OEM Ford navigation antenna that I am using rather than the included magnet mount antenna appears to be the way to go. Navigation was flawless using the OEM antenna - I didn't lose signal once. My issues are that it's not intuitive to leave the NAV screen mode, and there is no clock display showing when you are in NAV mode. I kept looking down to see what time it was to no avail. If I had to hazard a guess, I speculate that the NAV portion of this radio was designed by a different team and sort of "patched in" to work with the other software present on this unit.


USER INTERFACE: Navigation around the UI is primarily by a semi-customizable menu bar at the lower part of the screen. It gives you options like FM/AM, DISC, IPOD, AUDIO, USB, SXM, PHONE and you can change some to other options like AV1, AV2, CAM, and a few other things. Pressing one of the on screen buttons causes the audio to fade out while the input changes; it fades back in with the new selection. That's a nice touch. You can customize the background to a certain extent; there are built in options for wallpaper and colors. I didn't see any way to import your own images, though. Also, you can't customize the startup "RAXIOM" screen. Now the bad news: It is possible to lock up the unit; I did this several times by changing inputs too rapidly. Once I manually engaged the camera, and then it froze and nothing I could do would exit camera mode. Pressing the screen, pushing buttons, even turning off and turning on the radio didn't help. For those situations, there is a tiny "reset" button located just above the AUX input jack on the right hand side of the radio. It reboots the radio, but you will lose some of your custom settings when you do. I hope that a future update provide more stability, since the UI, while good, does appear to be "Version 1.0". This is very apparent when playing MP3 files from a CD; you are given a totally different looking blue/white interface with playback controls, but as soon as you try to press a button like NEXT or something, the standard UI controls will appear on the screen and force you to use them and not the blue/white ones. Definitely a "huh?" moment. It works, but is kind of clunky.


OTHER NOTES: The unit is noisy. You can hear the fan run, and there is an annoying low-level electrical hum coming from the speakers. I tried to eliminate the wiring harness as a source of the noise by moving all the parts around before packing them into the dashboard; that didn't seem to help. I also taped up unused RCA connectors and (for me) the unused satellite antenna port. In the end I couldn't get rid of the hum. It's not noticeable when the car is running, but I can imagine it annoying someone if they are sitting in their car with the engine off listening to music. Adding to the litany of noises is the beeping when it powers off. When you turn off the car and pull your key, it will continue to hold power for a moment or two, then it actually powers off with a series of beeps. Not sure why it does this?


Fit and finish are excellent; it looks like an OEM unit. It physically bolted in with no trouble, the plugs were self explanatory (they had to be, since the instructions were wretched) and worked well, and the unit is pretty intuitive to use.


THE VERDICT: Overall I am pleased with my purchase of this unit. It adds many 21st century features to my 2005 Pony, yet looks OEM. Yes, there are a few minor caveats to this unit, but overall I'd say that Raxiom has a winner here with the features it offers.

 

Try this:

In the AV screen tap the top right corner and a keypad will pop up... type in 7253 and it will bring you to a screen that has about 6 options... the 1st is for Bluetooth.. the 2nd says break, turn that off and bam... u can watch dvd's while u drive...

 

Hahahaha! I tried to enter a review on AM's website, here's the message I got... why isn't AM taking customer reviews?

 

Hi Jim!
No joy... the code doesn't work.

 

But the keypad does pop up?

 

No, the only keypad that appears is in the main "setup" menu.


I tried pushing all over the front of the screen in other menus with no success.

 

I want to say: Job well done. You have provided us with your unbias, humble opinion about the unit and shared your lessons learned. I am sure this will be a sticky.

 

I have to agree!

Thank you mrkabc! Your photos and commentary is going to make my install much easier than it would have been, had I jumped in and started the install at the same time you did! You've provided clear and detailed instructions and photos...unlike what American Muscle supplied.

Oddly enough, when I talked to the Raxiom tech....he was quite aware that the instructions from AM were complete crap. He said that they (Raxiom) had complained to AM about not supplying detailed enough instructions with the kit....but to no avail. Also oddly enough...he said that American Muscle had supplied VERY complete and detailed instructions with the 10-14 kits...but those of us who needed and bought the 05-09 kits were just out of luck and got the short end of the stick!

I have a notion to send an email to American Muscle and chastise them a bit for the lack of detailed instructions....and for the ambiguous advertizing of the Sirius XM capabilities.....I feel they should at least note on their webpage that you will need to have the factory satellite antenna and wiring to make it Plug N Play. I doubt it will do much good. By the way, the antenna, tuner and wiring from Sirius...Model SXV300 that I picked up yesterday at Best Buy for $46 contained everything I lacked yet needed to complete my install and to hook up the Sirius XM radio portion to the Raxiom unit.

So....future purchasers of this Raxiom unit who don't have factory satellite radio antenna and wiring already in your car...be aware that you will need to purchase the Sirius kit Model SXV300...or other equivalent I guess...if you want to hook up and have Sirius XM satellite radio in your car.

 

Nicely done, you don't happen to live in Maryland, do you?

Do you have any advice for searching for someone with your skill sets for doing the install? Are there retain chains to consider? I mean, I totally don't have a clue with electrical tasks. I tried the Crutchfield route, and after spending some time on the phone with sales, I felt like such an idiot that I just thanked him and gave up. I had no way of knowing what I was comparing.

I just want hands free bluetooth (which you sort of get), navigation, standard radio and CD capability. For now I'll live with my earpiece and voice app, and printing out Google map routes!

Again, really really nice write up.

John

 

Awwww... thank you guys so much for the kind words!


jwgroovin, I live in CA, a bit of a drive for ya... otherwise I would totally help out! Maryland, hah? That's the location of the Most Beautiful Girl in the Universe (Germantown)! Maybe I should try to visit her again... (I thrive on rejection, what can I say!)


Seriously though, if you have a garage and hand tools and a bit of patience, with the directions I put together you should be able to do it yourself. No need to pay Geek Squad or some other car stereo shop. There really isn't much wiring to do per se, Raxiom figured out the hard stuff for you. All you need to do is plug the harnesses in and it works!


I am curious to know how long it takes Sabre to do the job now that he has instructions and knows "things to avoid" - that will be the real test!

 

Just FYI, I ran across this!


http://www.ebay.com/itm/400802940717?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It is a backup sensor that works with the backup camera in the NAV unit to add a proximity warning. Sure wish I had seen it when I had the bumper cover off the car - this would totally make it like the new Fords where not only do you have the camera image, it beeps as you get closer to an object!


Dang it... I may very well have to take my Pony apart again to add this bad actor. Stay tuned!

 

LOL, I'm tempted to take some time off for one heck of a road trip. Anyhow, I've been wrenching for many years and have tackled most things, but oddly enough, I have always been squeemish with electric, although my son took to it and completely rewired I don't know how many fox bodies. I was content swapping engines, trannies and rear ends. that said, I really REALLY want something like this in the car, so what the heck, I'll order one and give it a try. If it's not that big a headache, I'll buy a second one for the other Stang...

 

I put mine in today....my brother came to help...so there were two of us. Did it all in about 5 1/2 hours. The backup camera works wonderfully...great picture in the screen. Not sure I'm getting it set right in the setting though...can't get it to come on in reverse. Haven't tried pairing a phone to it yet...will give that a try tomorrow. The SiriusXM trial station came in perfectly...tomorrow I will call and activate the service. The GPS also brought up my location...but was off just a bit. I was setting next to my shop which is a steel building. Tomorrow I will get out on the road and see if it clears up and calculates my position a little better. I did put both the SiriusXM and the GPS antenna in the depression under the package tray of the rear window....as of now, they both seem to be receiving the signals and working well. One bug at this point...shutting the unit of seems to work well in either satellite radio or navigation...but when in AM or FM mode, the screen goes off, but the radio seems to stay on. Not sure what is going on there....might need to call Raxiom again to get that one resolved. Anyway...it's in...it looks great and seems to mostly work like it was supposed to....just a couple of little glitches that need to be resolved.

 

Congrats Sabre!! Glad to hear that you got yours in. How did the directions work out?

• Go to SETTINGS>CAMERA and enable REVERSE TRIGGER. You'll need to set that to ON in order for the camera to work in reverse. By default it's off.
• Which GPS antenna did you use? I have read on other forums that GPS and Satellite antennas may interfere with each other. Not sure how true that is, but maybe that might be a problem if they are too close together?
• By shutting it off you mean pushing the left **** to turn off the radio? Does it power down when you pull the key and open the door? When you push the left **** in, the screen will dim. Push it in again, the screen goes black. Push and hold to turn the radio off.
• Did you do the remote mic? How about the USB cable?
• Pix??

Awesome to hear you got it done! A banana for you.

 

Your directions and experience really helped. Pretty much had it mapped out in my head how it was going to go and it did.

I started with the backup camera. Took the rear bumper cover off to drill the hole. Camera in...bumper cover back on...ran the camera wiring along the existing loom on the right hand side up to the back seat area.

I used the GPS antenna that came with the Raxiom kit and used the SiriusXM antenna that came in the kit that I had to buy to have the satellite radio. I put both of them under the package tray beneath the rear window ( about 3 inches apart ) and then brought the wires to the backseat to meet up with the camera wires. I used the depression under the back seat to spool up and zip tie all the extra wire length.

Took the console out to bring the wires under the carpet and up into the center stack. I brought the USB cable from the radio down, out the center stack and into the storage compartment of the console. The phone mike I took across under the dash to the left hand side A pillar...tucked it in up and across the top of the windshield and was able to clip it right up against the plastic piece that houses the map lights.

The camera has a great picture...as good as the one in my 2013 F-150 I'd say. I did go into settings and set the reverse trigger to ON....but I still get nothing when I go into reverse.

Perhaps I'm not pushing in and holding the left **** on the radio, long enough for shut off. I've just been giving it a quick push and then screen goes blank, but radio stays on...I'll play with it some more today and see what happens.

I'll try pairing my phone today and will call and get the SiriusXM registered and working...will come back and let you know how both of those went.

 

OK...so another quick update this morning.

Paired my phone....works great. Sound quality is very good and volume is easily adjusted with the in dash unit volume ****. I made a couple of calls on it and was told that I sounded good on the other end....they said at least as good as when I call through Sync in my F-150...so I'm happy with that.

Took a little drive and tested out the GPS...it is now spot on for locating and tracking me. Was able to enter my home address as a destination and it brought me right back home perfectly....so I think it's going to be fine.

Still no backup camera in reverse...though the camera works fine when you activate it through the camera button on the unit. Called Raxiom....may actually have to hook up the green wire marked "Back" to the backup light circuit, after all. He said they tested it on 05 -06 cars and it's possible that something changed in the way the Ford routed the signal in my 07. So....at some point I may investigate digging the green wire out and finding a spot to tap into the backup light circuit.

Found out I was just not pushing in and holding long enough to turn the unit off. Once I held the on/off/volume button slightly longer, everything shut off as it should. I have a shorty aftermarket AM/FM radio antenna. I live out in the boonies and have not had great reception with the shorty antenna until I get closer to the station or city. I think that is the hold up with the AM/FM reception that I'm getting with this unit now too...but will I investigate this more, when I get out on the road and go somewhere.

Really....everything is pretty much working exactly how I wanted it to work...the only hold up is the backup camera when in reverse...and it sounds like there is a wiring work around to fix that.

EDIT....I haven't tried connecting my MP3 player to the USB yet...forgot to do that this morning, when I was trying to sort out all the other issues that seemed more important...will give the USB a try this afternoon.

 

Here is another code to try to unlock?https://themustangsource.com/forums/...d-code-532909/

 

I actually did get a new stereo but with a more affordable system. I got the Jensen VX7022. Still need to connect the back up camera but seems to be a nice unit. I installed it myself with a little assistance on making it look as factory as I could.