Ipod Control Solution For OEM Stereo 1st-Gen IS300 / 200 Finally Found - Plug'n Play

[Jerseyford2]

THE BOX IS WAY BIGGER THAN IT NEEDS TO BE, BUT CAN FIT IN A COUPLE PLACES. i WILL TRY TO RESTART THE CAR AND SEE IF THAT FIXS MY PROBLEMS yamadjs08 THANKS AND PLUS REP FOR THE INFO!

[bbowers22]

Okay, ordered mine last week....got it today...and installed it..
Has not worked since I plugged it in..I'm not sure what's going on...
Everyone made it sound SO EASY...and of course, I get the one that has issues.

I got it hooked up (correctly)....and when I hit the disc button...it doesn't even recognize there is anything hooked up back there...
It's charging the ipod..but....nothing is playing thru the stereo...

I'm sure this is a great product and I'm really exicted about it working..
I just need some direction as to what it could be
2004 Black Onyx....no changes to anything audio on the car..this was my
first attempt..

ANY HELP WILL BE APPRECIATED!!!!!!!!

[Jerseyford2]

Lol i have the same 2004 black onyx...When i got back in the car today after work i turned it on and the thing worked all the way home(4miles) we will see tomorrow how it goes. I would suggest doing what others have said and turn the car off and then back on with it plugged in and see how it goes...hope it helps out.

[Sonnet]

@bbowers22,

with that issue you should contact the GromAudio support directly. Over here in Europe some guys had some kind of problems. Some were able to fix their problems with the help of the support. Some others got a new box from Grom for free when the support was not able to fix their problems or the bug has been a known one.

Lately I heard from one guy that Grom will release a new version of the interface in februar 2008 which will solve all these issues like:

- not working on some IS Radios
- not working all the time
- not sending a stop signal to the iPod when switching of the ignition
- and so on

Under the following link you find a special forum where you can adress grom issues directly, due to the reason that the manufacturer om the GromBox is a member of the board

http://indashpc.org/vbullettin/

On this page choose the section

Car integration

and place the question.

It seems that the side admin jbors has a direct connection to gromAudio. Due to this you can find dialogues like:

Question:

I ordered the grom audion (hon1a) for my 07 ridgeline and hooked it up...wether I use an mp3 player or a portable dvd player the volume is way too low. I have to turn up the volume to max on both devices and the truck stereo to just hear it. When I switch input back to fm or cd, it is deafening, any advice on the volume?

Answer from jbors:

I think there is an issue with the audio chip. We will send you replacement.

Indash PC is one of the distributors from GromAudio, so it could be valuable to place a question there.

I hope it helps

Cheers from Germany

Sonnet

[Jerseyford2]

Thanks man plus rep. i will be contacting them

[bbowers22]

Alright, so it's like 11:00 pm...i'm sitting there right after I posted my last message last night....reading over the instructions that came with the GROM and reading some of you guys post.....I walk out side...switch the car on...switch the car off..switch the car back on......and this joker is working....
Alright, that's the good news..
The bad: haha...like an idiot, i scratched up my dash trim while trying to install this stupid thing....half of my dash is sitting in my passengers seat, cause I just left it all undone last night when I couldn't get it to work the first time...

Anyway...thanks for your guys input...the ON/OFF thing got it working fine......

This is a pretty neat little thing.....
and overall, a really easy mod to do.....just make sure to read the instructions.
haha

Thanks again!

[yamadjs08]

Well mine was acting up again today when I decided to switch to CD to play a CD that was already in the changer. Than later today went to go back to the iPod and it wouldn't switch, had to turn the car on and off a few times to get it to work again. And there is still a little static on some songs and I'm not sure if its the songs or what? But I'm getting a little frustrated with it and am thinking about returning it.

I'm going to burn a CD with the same songs that have static when playing with the iPod and see if there is static. That is what bothers me most, I'm super picky I guess, I just can't stand poor sounding quality... We'll see what happens from here.

Oh and I also just bought a Harmon Kardon Drive + Play 1 on ebay for like $25 and am going to see if it can be directly integrated and how it sounds. I'll be sure to report back...

[Jerseyford2]

I drove to work today and it happened again it just shut off on me and switched back to cd mode. I stopped to get something to drink unplugged the ipod plugged it back in and started the car and it worked for the last mile or so to work...I hope it is still working when i go home tonight. I dont know what is making it switch to normal cd mode and then not allowing it to switch back, but still allows it to charge? i know its hooked up right just not sure why it keeps switching. guess i need to contact grom like Sonnet said

[yamadjs08]

Jerseyford2, mine is doing the exact same thing, its hooked up fine because it will charge, just wont switch to the second CD mode to make it play. Honestly I'm getting more and more disappointed and am wondering if there was a faulty batch of them? Either way, hopefully we can get it straightened out...

[Jerseyford2]

for sure...sounds like we got them around the same time, so it could be a bad batch i dont know just want it figured out!

[yamadjs08]

Well I posted on the InDashPC.org forum about the problem. I will probably also call GROM tomorrow and see what they have to say...

[B_is300]

aw man...i just got mine in the mail today hoping that there hasn't been any problems with it. And i just had to stumble upon page 3 of this thread and see all these problems, lol.
Well, i'm gonna tackle it tomorrow and we'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed :S

[B_is300]

OK, nevermind....i got too anxious tonight and did the install. Everything went pretty smoothly and everything seems to work fine. I'm able to play my ipod when the car is running (don't need to turn it on/off), by just plugging it in.
So no problems for me .....The iPod sounds great and i'm really happy with it.

Oh yah, i put the Grom Audio black box in the glove box, didn't see how it would fit behind the stereo.

If ya'll got any questions, let me know....

[Sonnet]

Hi B_is300

perfect :-)

My box is NOT living behind the stereo. It's living UNDER the stereo INSIDE of the middle console in this empty space behind the ashtray.

To bring the box there just do the following things:

1. Remove the housing for the TRC and Seat heating swiches
2. Loosen all 4 bolds of the stereo
3. Lift the stereo for about 10 cm (complete remove is not nescessairy)
4. now there is enough room to bring the box inside of the console on the right hand side underneath the stereo (I brought some plastic tape around the box to aware noises when plastic works on plastic) I moved the box so far in the console, that I'm able to feel the iPod docking cable when Í grab behind the console from the passenger foot room. This gives me the possibility to unplug the iPod docking cable from the box and change it in - for example- the RCA cable to use a regular mp3 Player

5. Bring all the things back in
6. Pull all screws tight

7. Done

Cheers from Berlin and welcome in the "Lexus IS300 iPod world"

Sonnet

[bbowers22]

I'm back in the boat with you guys......
So the other night when I went and switched the car on/off/on and it was working....I still had my dash apart...well went home yesterday...(after a full day of working FINE) and put my dash back together...
It's now NOT working!
PISSED!
I'm starting to wonder if this was worth the hassle....

Maybe we need to try on/off/on/up/down/up/down/left/right/left/right/a/b/a/b/select/start