Customer Reviews

PAC SWI-JACK Steering Wheel Remote Interface

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I installed this last week in my 2004 Toyota Sienna, together with a Kenwood KDC-X492 receiver and a KCA-BT200 Bluetooth interface, since my factory stereo did not include Bluetooth support. So far it works "OK", albeit with a couple of quirks.

* If you push any of the steering wheel controls right after powering on your car, it becomes unresponsive for several minutes. I believe this puts the unit into some sort of programming mode (as if you were pressing the "programming" button on the box itself) - but I am not about to open my dash again to look at the unit in order to find out. I'll learn to give it 4-5 seconds of startup time before interfering with its inner workings.

* The steering wheel buttons are not quite as sensitive as they were with the factory stereo. It takes a fraction of a second before a push is registered, and also it seems that it takes a little time for a release is registered as well. The result is that controlling the volume, for instance, is a bit more tricky than it used to be for me: It takes about 1/2 second before the volume changes - and then it changes fast! I also have to release it slightly before it reaches the desired level.

A couple of other things worth noting:

* There are several SWI (steering wheel interface) models out there; this one is for use with JVC, Alpine, Clarion or Kenwood head units (hence, "JACK"). For a Pioneer or Sony you would use the SWI-PS instead, and for Eclipse you would use SWI-ECL2. (Though note that if you are getting an Eclipse head unit for a Toyota or Honda, you do not need a SWI adapter. Simply hook the factory control wire directly into the Eclipse unit, and download firmware for your car from e-iserv.jp).

* If you have not already bought your aftermarket head unit, check out the "Steering Wheel Interface Programming Guide" on pac-audio.com in order to determine which brands offer the best match for the steering wheel buttons in your car. I actually ended up with the Kenwood unit for this reason; I was first going to get a Pioneer DEH-P7000BT, but with the latter, the "up/down" buttons on my steering wheel would be "seeking" in tuner mode rather than selecting the next/previous preset channel.

* The SWI does not come with car-specific harness adapters. This means that you MAY have to do some manual wiring (soldering, cutting/splicing, etc.) onto your factory harness. In my case I was able to get away without such damage: I had some 22-gauge hookup wire available that fit snugly into the (female) connector in the factory harness; I just soldered that onto the end of the required SWI-JACK wires. Also, you will need to solder (or crimp, etc.) some of the wires to ground and VCC (+12V), which you can best do by sharing the corresponding solder points for your aftermarket stereo.

* In either case, you may want to follow specific instructions for your car found at the pac-audio.com website, rather than the included (very generic, massive, and confusing) printed material included with the kit.

I've installed a few stereos and interfaces in my day, but I have never run into such terrible instructions as this product has. The product comes with directions, then a little card saying to get online for vehicle-specific directions. And they seem to contradict each other!

The product also includes a variety of resistors for the installation. However, NOWHERE in the included materials do they identify the resistors. I had to get on a Crutchfield website in order to find out which resistor was which.

I installed this item and a head unit together. The head unit took me about 1/2 hour, including wiring the harness. This SWI JACK took me hours just to figure it out, get online to multiple websites, look through differing instructional documents, etc.

When it was finally installed, the programming is also very poorly explained. I eventually figured it out AND, the product works well and does what it says it will do. I'm glad to have purchased it, but I can imagine that a lot of people will give up on the installation.

Installing the device was fairly painless as long as you have patience and knowledge when it comes to car audio. Cut a few wires and press a few buttons and you're done. I thought it was so easy that I would do it again to save the money other places will charge to do it for you.

it works pretty good. it has they same reaction time as the stock steering wheel controls.

On my Mercury Milan with a JVC stereo I found this to respond slowly - when it worked at all. The first one was DOA, the second worked for a while. The setup was tedious, following a tedious install which required identifying and connecting small resistors.

I was ready to forgo the steering wheel controls until I tried Metra's Axxess ASWC. Poor instructions, but good tech support and a fantastic product that responds to commands quickly and programs itself.

I installed this unit on a 2005 Nissan Pathfinder SE (w/ Bose system). The installation was somewhat difficult as I had to wire in a couple of resistors (per the instructions and the included resistors) inline with the steering wheel control wiring. This usage of the resistors with the PAC unit depends on the vehicle application. Some vehicles do not require any resistors to be installed. Once I wired the PAC in, the programming of the unit was problematic and I ended up taking the car/PAC to my local Best Buy. The Best Buy professional car audio installer also had difficulties getting the unit to respond to the programming. The programming of the PAC unit is very time dependent as certain buttons/events, etc. have to occur as you are programming. Missing one event voids the programming steps altogether and you have to start over. Eventually after about 5 tries he got it programmed. The retries were not due to the timing issue but due to the unit not responding correctly. I installed a JVC Arsenal KD-A815 radio with the PAC unit. The PAC unit does not support some of the radio command functionality (EX: "preset down") using the PAC JVC radio setting selector. Once the PAC was installed and programmed, the unit responded slowly to commands coming from the steering wheel controls. There was about a 1 second delay for the various functions the radio understood. The problem was not with the radio being slow in interpreting the commands. I ended up un-installing the PAC unit and went with a Metra Axxess ASWC steering control unit instead. The ASWC unit responded much faster to steering wheel commands (basically just as fast as my originaly factory radio and the same steering wheel controls) and was far easier to install and program.

Detailed instructions for just about any car you would want to install this on. Programming was straightforward once it was installed and powered on. Factory steering wheel buttons now work as good or better with the Kenwood than with the OEM stereo.

I installed this unit into my Cadillac Escalade myself to a JVC AVX820 head unit. Works perfectly. three things you need to know. 1. How to hook the green wire up to you vehicles steering wheel control. This can be tricky, but if I figured it out you can. 2. How to read. Even the generic directions are simple, but read them a couple times to understand how to program this unit. 3. This is something I learned after I put everything back together. Program it with the car off, on ACC, and with the engine started. It remembers all three positions, and you can individually program each. For example with the car off, the source button can control source selection, but with the car on the source button can control muting the receiver. Weird, but cool at the same time.

A bit tricky to install, but instructions and phone support (if you need it as I did,) is excellent. Allows use of your factory steering wheel controls with aftermarket stereo. Excellent unit!

There have been several reviews describing a lag between pushing the button and getting a response on the unit. I installed this on my '05 Buick Rainier (GMT360 body - same as Trailblazer, Envoy, Ascender, etc) controlling a DNX9140. I made sure the connections are tight and programming done correctly - the result was a perfect install with no lag on single button presses at all. As a test, I pushed the Volume Up button 10 times in very quick succession and the unit registered 8 of them...not bad at all.

Also, you have to visit their website to get vehicle-specific instructions (this is because the SWI-Jack is compatible with almost a hundred different cars) [...]. Installation was not bad at all. The hardest part was getting to GM's control wire under the steering wheel. Programming took all of 2 minutes.

Overall, I give this 5 stars, and recommend it to anyone who has steering wheel radio buttons.