Going retro

[Robs89LXi]

Okay, I'm a zero when it comes to stereo, so please be patient and use small words. I have an SE-i steering wheel with stereo controls, SE-i Bose stock head unit and a Honda optional 7-band equalizer. I want to hook all this up in my '89 LX-i, and use an aftermarket amp to push my speakers. Now the questions:
1. Which wire on the HU is for the steering controls (is it that blue female connector)?
2. Will this HU plug into my existing LX-i dash harness (are the plugs different between SE-i and LX-i)?
3. Since there is no "remote" wire from the HU for an amp, could I use the "power antenna (+) wire to turn on the amp?
If anyone has done this before, or you get what I'm trying to do, please jump in.
ps. No, I don't want a new head unit. Yes, I know Bose is crap. .

[sporkHSP]

That looks pretty sweet, I have only seen one of those EQ's in the junk yard, and I didn't have time to fight the 95degree 95% humidity of St. Louis summer (especially inside one of the cars at the yard) to try and pull it out. Good luck, hope it all works for you.

[88accordalltheway]

Okay, I'm a zero when it comes to stereo, so please be patient and use small words. I have an SE-i steering wheel with stereo controls, SE-i Bose stock head unit and a Honda optional 7-band equalizer. I want to hook all this up in my '89 LX-i, and use an aftermarket amp to push my speakers. Now the questions:
1. Which wire on the HU is for the steering controls (is it that blue female connector)?
2. Will this HU plug into my existing LX-i dash harness (are the plugs different between SE-i and LX-i)?
3. Since there is no "remote" wire from the HU for an amp, could I use the "power antenna (+) wire to turn on the amp?
If anyone has done this before, or you get what I'm trying to do, please jump in.
ps. No, I don't want a new head unit. Yes, I know Bose is crap. .

ok,
1. That blue wire is probably the remote wire for (the wire to turn on and off) a stock amp...I might be wrong(seeing as it that most stock wires dont match the wires that are generally used for stereos)
2. the dash harness will be the same
3. If the blue wire in #1 isnt it, you could tap into the power wire(the red, not the yellow)that goes into the back of the hu because that sends the radio power when the car is on and off, it will do the same to the amp. The yellow one is constant(for remembering stations)

Good Luck, I think youll be able to handle it all

[Robs89LXi]

If you are numbering it left to right, top to bottom, then I assume mean the top left slot when you say #1? That wire is not blue, it is red, and according to the diagram I posted, it is for the front right (+). The only blue wire on the harness is in the #2 slot, and it is labeled as front left (+). I guess my biggest challenge right now is to figure out where the steering wheel control wire(s) go.
Has anyone converted to an SE-i wheel? Did you have to run a wire for the controls, or is it already there?

[shepherd79]

to convert to SEI wheel you need SEI wheel hub to go along with it.
the plug on the back of Boss stereo is diff. what you have is standart honda plug. you probably will have to do a lot of splicing and running wires from the back to the front.

[Robs89LXi]

Alex, I got the wheel hub, and it has a single blue w/ red strip wire coming from it for the stereo controls. I remember Luis doing a post explaining that all the controls run through this one wire. This is supposed to be an SE-i head unit I got; are you saying it is not? What is different about it, and where on the correct SE-i one would that wire plug in?

[Luis 89LXi]

Hey Rob, to make remote controls work on the SEi HeadUnit (HU) you need:

- Sei Steering Controls
- Sei SlipRing (LX and LXI have 3 wires, SEi have 4 wires)

The blue female harness on the HU its for the single-wire Steering Control, i dont remember wich pin, i guess it have 2 pins on the blue conector dont remember now, have to check on my HU.

You migth need the BOSE amplifier, because the HU sound its to low.

Why you quit on the aftermarket HU you were working ??

[Robs89LXi]

Hey Rob, to make remote controls work on the SEi HeadUnit (HU) you need:

- Sei Steering Controls
- Sei SlipRing (LX and LXI have 3 wires, SEi have 4 wires)

The blue female harness on the HU its for the single-wire Steering Control, i dont remember wich pin, i guess it have 2 pins on the blue conector dont remember now, have to check on my HU.

You migth need the BOSE amplifier, because the HU sound its to low.

Why you quit on the aftermarket HU you were working ??

Hey, Luis! Glad to know you're still alive! You didn't respond to my last email, you bum !
Naw, I just found an SE-i HU cheap at the ol' junkyard, so I'm going to put it in for now with the steering controls and run it to an aftermarket amp I have. Yeah though, I'd still like to do the conversion you were helping me with later with a better HU, but this will be fine for now. I do want to keep it looking as stock as possible though, so do you know if there are any later model Honda CD head units that will:
1. Fit in our slot?
2. Use the SE-i steering controls?
That would of course be the best solution for me.
Thanks too for the info on where the wire hooks up. I believe it is the number one pin (B1) on that blue female connector.

[Hash_man_Se_i]

- Sei Steering Controls
- Sei SlipRing (LX and LXI have 3 wires, SEi have 4 wires)

The blue female harness on the HU its for the single-wire Steering Control, i dont remember wich pin, i guess it have 2 pins on the blue conector dont remember now, have to check on my HU.

You migth need the BOSE amplifier, because the HU sound its to low.

I believe you hit that one right on with the steering wheel controls... the dash is half appart on the wrecked se-i so I can take some pictures of how its all set up in the next couple days if you want.

Also, I have a strange feeling that it might now work using the se-i bose deck without the bose amp... the deck may actually not have an internal amp seeing as it was designed to work with the external amp... I can play around at work tommorow though, and get one of my installers to figure that out.

Also, if that isnt the case, and it will work, then you just run a High-level output to the amp, the "HU sound is too low" is what people think running many amps with a high level in... this is because on many amps, if the current the amp is recieving drops below a certain point, then the amp will actually shut off.

And lastly... I could be wrong, but I though the bose speakers in the se-i ran at 1 ohm, which could make things even more complicated seeing as the system was designed to all work as one unit.

IMO... I would just scrap that, and get an aftermarket deck which uses a remote, and get an adapter to use the se-i steering wheel controls, this will make your life a LOT easier.

[Luis 89LXi]

sorry about the last email.

for your questions:

1. you could use Honda HU ;till 97 i guess uses the same harness. SO you could use a CD HU

2. i dont know about any other Honda Steering controls, they migth use a diferent ressistance.

take a look at this diagram, you could get a better idea how it works:





Luis

[Robs89LXi]

sorry about the last email.

for your questions:

1. you could use Honda HU ;till 97 i guess uses the same harness. SO you could use a CD HU

2. i dont know about any other Honda Steering controls, they migth use a diferent ressistance.

Luis

Yeah, I've got that diagram, thanks. I saw how Honda managed to get four funtions out of just one wire; pretty ingenious of them (pretty damned smart of you to figure it out too )! I am hoping that Honda would not have changed that too much either, but even if they did, hopefully it will be as you said and only be the resistances may be different. If it is, I should be able to just solder in a resistor to match, yes? I'll explore this more and let you know what I find. Thanks again though, Luis.

[Robs89LXi]

I believe you hit that one right on with the steering wheel controls... the dash is half appart on the wrecked se-i so I can take some pictures of how its all set up in the next couple days if you want.

Does the offer for pics still stand, or do you not have the dash apart anymore?

[Robs89LXi]

Does anyone have one of these?

[Hash_man_Se_i]

^^ i'll get the pics for you in the next couple days.

[Forgar_88]

dude i gotta give you props for the old school setup. i like that sometimes with retro wheels and blaring RunDMC lol

[Robs89LXi]

LOL. No, it's not going to stay that way. For right now though, since I have just about all the parts except the blue clip, I'll run it that way so I can use the steering controls. What I am wanting to end up with is a much newer stock unit with CD from a late model Honda/Acura. I'm right now researching to see if their SWSCs are the same as mine. If they use the same resistances, then I would think the rest of the wiring should be easy, and I'd end up with a nice, stock looking head unit in my car.

[frantik]

sorry about the last email.

for your questions:

1. you could use Honda HU ;till 97 i guess uses the same harness. SO you could use a CD HU

2. i dont know about any other Honda Steering controls, they migth use a diferent ressistance.

take a look at this diagram, you could get a better idea how it works:





Luis

bumping this old thread.. anybody know where to get that diagram and the others in that chapter? my manual only goes to 25-78 or something like that

btw i think you can use the CD remote for the remote on the stock amp for those who find this thread in the search engine