Wiring a PIE LD-1 into a Nissan Titan Auxillary Port

Before the iPod days, wiring in an MP3 player.

I bought an iriver 40gig mp3 player a little while ago and have been debating how I should go about mounting it in the Titan. Up until tonight I’ve just had a cord run from the player to aux input and just placed the player in a cupholder. Like most people, I was not satisified with the volume differences between the CD and AUX. So I copied Deeger’s plan, and bought a PIE inline amplifier for the aux input. It requires 12v, so I wired it off of the HU‘s “on” wire and ground it to a HU mount screw. This is the ACC wire that is violet and goes into the rear of the HU. Then I ran a RCA/mini patch cord from my MP3 player to the PIE. Then from the PIE I ran a RCA cable down to where the AUX plugs into the face plate. There I stripped the RCA cable and wired it directly to the AUX’s three wires (brown is R+, black/red is L+, and black is ground/shield.) Since I have a 2wd, I used the little plate that covers the 4wd knob’s socket as a mount for my player. I bought a cellular phone mount from Radio Shack that I slightly modified then used industrial velcro to attatch the player to. The cell phone mount was attached to the plastic cover with heavy duty mounting tape. A small hole was drilled through the plate to run a short mini plug patch cable through.

Results: Wow! Thanks Deeger for the good advice. This PIE amp makes the volume of the aux equal to the CD. I can still use my AUX input for other devices as it remains attatched to the face plate. No wires are visable at all and my player is safely mounted to a strong mount. The velcro is extra strong, but still allows me to easily remove the player for security or to load new songs.

To Do: I couldn’t get a car charger for my player since it is pretty new and the stores are mostly out of stock. Once one is available I will hardwire up a charger.

This is a simple wiring diagram:

Here you can see the PIE installed directly underneath the HU. It’s attached using the same industrial Velcro I used for the player:

This shows where I wired the RCA into the AUX input. Look at number 1 and you can see the AUX plug and wire nuts I used to wire it. Originally I used the crimp type of connectors but I wasn’t getting a signal. These wires are very thin. Number 2 points to the RCA cable that runs from the AUX plug to the PIE amp. You can see the heat shrink. I also used electrical tape to cover up the connections before reinstalling everything.

Here you can see the connection to the back of the 4wd hole cover. The white stuff around the connector is silicone sealant that will dry clear. I used it to help secure the wire in place. The advantage of mounting the player here is that I can easily replace that plastic cap for resale of the truck.