[E92Vancouver]

I installed a Sirius Plug and Play radio in my car. The cost was $49 from Best Buy. The dealer wanted $900 for the OEM model. I like the plug and play because it is cheap, I can take it into the house, on holidays, to a friends, etc. I also like the display, menu, remote control and 30 presets.

I elected to hard wire my unit into the car. The first step is to convert the adapter to a wire harness. The adapter is needed because it converts 12 volts to 5 volts, which is necessary to run the Sirius radio.

The steps below correspond to photos:

1. Buy a fuse tap and ground ring terminal.

2. Open the adapter and splice in the ground ring terminal and fuse tap.

3. Use heat shrink to cover any solder joints.

4. Assemble the adapter

5. The finished wire harness.

[E92Vancouver]

1 The centre console trim is a press fit and you simply pull it up.

2.Drill a hole in the bottom of the ashtray so that you can feed the wires for the radio through.

[E92Vancouver]

Step 3-Antenna:

1.Mount the antenna to the rear deck. I used Velcro. Tuck the wires under the trim.

2. Run the wire down along the rear seat on the driver’s side. Tuck the wire down quite deep.

3. Tuck the antenna wire up into the door sill moulding.

4. There is a carpet seem in the middle of the drivers door. Run the wire under this seem. If your car has a subwoofer, remove the grill and run the wire under the grill. I loosed only 2 screws on the grill and slipped the wire under.

5. After the wire is tucked in, reinstall the grill.

6. Run the wire up the transmission tunnel under the carpet seem. Feed the wire up and around the heater vents.

7. The wire comes out in the centre of the 2 vents

[E92Vancouver]

Step 4-Power:

1. Run the wire harness to an open fuse slot. There is a ground screw you can use for the ground ring terminal.

2. Run the wire from the fuse box under the trim and over the rear vent tube.

3. This is the power wire coming in. The centre wire is the antenna.

Tuck the adapter up in the fuse box area. Neatly wrap up any extra wire and secure it to a wire harness in the foot well area with a zap tie.

[E92Vancouver]

Step 5-Line in:

1 Remove the rubber moulding. This pulls up.

2. Tuck the wire to the side of the moulding. There is a guide way that you can use.

3. Tuck the line in wire in under the moulding to the left of the gear shift.

4. Plug in the line in cable and reinstall the rubber moulding.

[E92Vancouver]

Put the trim back together. Ensure wires are out of the way and to the side.

1. Wire harness (power, antenna, and line in) coming up through the ashtray area.
2. The Sirius receiver ready to be listened too.

I used a small strip of velcro attached the bottom of the radio's base and the bottom of the ashtray to better secure the radio.

[FrankoQ]

Nice job on that install!

Can you close the ash tray lid with the unit inside?

[E92Vancouver]

Originally Posted by FrankoQ

Nice job on that install!

Can you close the ash tray lid with the unit inside?

I can't close the lid with the SAT receiver in the way. I remove it at night so crack heads don't try to steal it. If I had the lid closed, crack heads would break into my car looking for loose change. I keep all lids open when I lock the car.

[joec500]

Used this for my same install today, but I opted to tap the power and ground from the cig lighter and with an inline fuse older, rather than tapping the fuse box.

Great writeup

[E92Vancouver]

Originally Posted by joec500

Used this for my same install today, but I opted to tap the power and ground from the cig lighter and with an inline fuse older, rather than tapping the fuse box.

Great writeup

Awesome. How long did it take you?

[rubber_ducky]

Great job on the DIY with all the photos and arrows and all. Sucks about the crack-head problem though.

[E92Vancouver]

Okay, I just uninstalled this portable satellite unit and installed the BMW Sirius unit that works with my BMW radio. I absolutley love it and couldn't wait for this product to be available.

I have a question though. The BMW Sirius unit is very large compared to the portable Sirius unit I had. Why is that?

Will the built in unit have better sound quality and a better signal?

[Bora20]

I used this today to install my Starmate 5. Thanks very much.

I powered the unit using the armrest 12v plug and placed the antenna on the dash by the driver's A-pillar. I remove the unit as I have the home kit and then I can close the lid.

Crackheads aren't that desperate in Kamloops as they are in Vancouver.

[ryanr0102]

Do you think this setup will work for the Sirius Sportster 5? I just purchased that plug and play unit but am afraid it may be to big compared to the units shown. Te number 1 thing I am worried about is never being able to close the lid again. Is this lid able to close still after the unit has been removed with the mounting bracket still there? Thanks for your help.

[Bora20]

Originally Posted by ryanr0102

Do you think this setup will work for the Sirius Sportster 5? I just purchased that plug and play unit but am afraid it may be to big compared to the units shown. Te number 1 thing I am worried about is never being able to close the lid again. Is this lid able to close still after the unit has been removed with the mounting bracket still there? Thanks for your help.

The lid can be closed with the unit removed from the base plate. No problems.

[J.P.]

im doing this tomorrow, except im tapping into the sharkfin in the trunk for my sirius antenna

[J.P.]

never mind, I just did it now, went to best buy and bought a 50ft terk extension, tapped into the sharkfin sirius connector in the trunk, and ran all the cables up front.
looks pretty damn nice, and the sharkfin satellite reception is miles ahead of the window one..

[E92Vancouver]

Originally Posted by J.P.

never mind, I just did it now, went to best buy and bought a 50ft terk extension, tapped into the sharkfin sirius connector in the trunk, and ran all the cables up front.
looks pretty damn nice, and the sharkfin satellite reception is miles ahead of the window one..

Good idea!!

[IancoleTX]

I did this a little easier, I just ran power and aux to the console, wires through the dash. Did the antenna line almost the same but I ran it up the side of the console closer to the shift knob area than between the air ducts below the radio. Took a little fiddling but I was able to connect fingers and pass it through. I also used the XM Onyx ($49 at Best Buy) which has customizable color, I changed it to orangish-red and it matches the instrumentation color just about perfectly. Which is awesome.

Only probably is my satellite reception is not fantastic (50%), so I might go the terk extension route but I am not incredibly sure how that will work. Is the extension in question: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882130208 ?? Would appreciate a little instruction on the subject. Thanks!

[E92Vancouver]

Originally Posted by rubber_ducky

Great job on the DIY with all the photos and arrows and all. Sucks about the crack-head problem though.

I spent 2 hours.

[IancoleTX]

Someone wanna explain how the terk extension works? I got some time to kill this Sunday and would love to get this knocked out.

[IancoleTX]

nm, found answer here: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=282590