I have a quick simple question regarding OEM climate controls

I know they cannot be used with double din kit (that's why all double dins come with controls)
The question is why?
Are they like a part of entire facia thing and cannot be separated from the rest of the stuff?

I had my radio out and apart long time ago and cant remember if they are removable or not.

I'm sure you audio guys know the answer to that question.

 

https://g35driver.com/forums/audio-video-electronics/224099-reason-why-you-need-jdm-ac-controller.html

This pretty much explains it.

It can't truly be separated.

 

How about my Macgyver idea of JDM double din.

I'm thinking of getting Metra double din kit and converting it to JDM double din.
I want to cannibalize Bose radio for climate control buttons and modify Metra kit aluminum trim to accept those buttons that I plan to mate to IC board that comes with Metra climate controls.

Thoughts?

 

At that level of modification, I think you'd have better luck getting the cheap metra kit, harnessing the climate control board and rigging it to an OEM trim kit with a DDin-sized opening cut into it. If the metra buttons are microswitches, you'll have to use hot glue or some other method that connects to the back of the OEM buttons to hit the right spots, if the metra buttons are conductive patches directly attached to the rubber buttons, you'll just have to cut out the contact patch and attach that appropriately to the back of the OEM buttons. That takes care of the buttons, but that still leaves the climate control ****. I would assume that the control **** works like a mouse-wheel, so you just need to send the momentary contact signal for each direction soldered to the pushbuttons on the metra board.

It sounds like a "fun" challenge to put together. If you sent the parts, I'd give it a go.

 

that's fantastic.

Thanks for the offer.
I'll get the Metra kit and see what is the situation is with the buttons. If it's too much for me to handle I'll defiantly reach out to you.

On a temperature **** though, I thought of soldering it out of the OEM and putting it on to metra to retain the spin action. Bun once again though, this is just wishful thinking, I need to get all of that stuff out and taken apart first to see what is what.

 

Pretty cool idea! I am excited to hear more.

 

Good luck with it, when you get the metra kit, take some good pictures of the board for reference.

 

Report on my Macgyver idea.

In short: IT AINT GONNA WORK.

as you can see on the pictures that buttons are completely different. Re soldering them is not an option as Metra buttons are part of the board.






As far as cutting OEM trim to accept Metra buttons is doable but won't be easy. In order to eliminate (cut out) all OEM buttons the cut out window will be too big for DD stereo so top 4 round buttons on top of the CD slot will have to stay there and you have to cut out from CD slot down to create a window. Even in this case window will not be proper size because slot for CD is wider than opening for DD stereo. So it is a possibility to hack the OEM trim to accept Metra buttons, but it will not be pretty.
Larger DD hole could probably be addressed by different spacer brackets that you can get for DD stereo.

Verdict:
Converting OEM buttons to Metra kit IMPUSIBUR
Converting Metra buttons to EOM trim possible, but requires lot's of hacking.

Another option would be is to purchase JDM buttons (as they are sold separate from the trim) and hack the OEM trim to take DD stereo.

 

Can you give a better shot of the metra board? I'd like to see how it overlays onto the factory button layout. It still looks like you could graft the conductive contacts from the rubber metra buttons onto the factory buttons. Still not sure how to work out the temperature controls.

Edit:

This image had me thrown off, until I realized you were holding the board upside-down, with the temp buttons to the left.




It looks like the buttons all line up close enough:


I'd still give it a go, at least it looks like the 03-04 and metra line up pretty much perfectly with the factory buttons.

 

yeah, does not look like 06-07 will work

 

Man, this backorder JDM crap is annoying I'm almost ready to give in and go metra..

 

It still seems to line up just fine. With mounting at the proper distance, and those conductive nubs from the rubber on the back, all the buttons should work. I'd have to look a little closer at the wheel to try and get that to work. An option would be to make the wheel only turn a few degrees in either direction, solder in a couple microswitches that link to the board so holding left or right closes the connection across the bottom and top, respectively.

Since the metra seems to just respond to connections across the top or bottom pads to make the connection, you could probably find something that generates a connection across the top when turned one direction and across the bottom when turned the other way to keep it more like stock operation.



The offer to try and work this is still on the table, I just need the old trim and the metra board.

 

I have to find another bad radio to send you the trim piece from as I do still enjoy the limited entertainment my bose system still provides. And driving with a hole in the dash is not exactly fun.
I'll make it happen within next few week.

 

I'll check my spare parts bin, I think I've got what's left of my wife's OEM trim that would have all the parts I need to frankenstein it together. I might be able to put a test setup together with just the metra climate control portion, if you can part with that.

I'll be taking my radio out to do the Kindle Fire HD6 setup in a couple weeks once that ships out anyway, might as well test the climate controls while everything's accessible.

 

I do have Metra, I bought it just for that reason. I'm not putting that ugly thing in my car.
So I can send it to you any time.
Why kindle fire? Why not Android device?