Stereo/DVD: SC-xxx AUX INPUT HACK

[bobbych]

ok after trying to find a solution that does not cost the earth, i found the AUX hack trick, and decided to try it myself. So here is how it is done.

It basically allows you to tap into the TAPE DECK sytem, by soldering in some external connections.

This is ONLY FOR THE SC-XXX series of VOLVO HEAD UNITS


Firstly, remove the Stereo, and remove the TOP 4 screws



then you will see the TAPE UNIT. remove the 4 corner screws shown

Remove the tape unit by LIFTING up the unit gently. it will come out of the connector at the rear as shown



now, have a look at the connector. it sits on what is known as a RISER. it is a small circuit board. Simply pull up the rider shown, and remove it.



now you have the card out, have a look at the labels. You will see 3 items listed as L[eft] R[ight] and A-GND[ground]

these are the areas where the Stereo takes the TAPE DECK L+R outputs. So we are simply going to tap into these

Get yourself some PHONO connections. I plumped for some female ones, so i can connect normal male ends to it once in the car

Solder on the two connections to the pins. Solder your RED connector to the L and the WHITE to the R. then both EARTH wires to the A-GND. Then apply some tape over it




now refit the RISER CARD to the stereo. you will then have the two connectors. you have some options to get these OUTSIDE the stereo now.


the way i did it, was to remove the back plate, and cut out one of the oval slots. this way you can feed in the wires.



next, fit back in the tape unit, and screw in the 4 screws. Now replace the lid. and you are ready to refit to the car





once back in the car, connect your ext source, in my case an IPOD

Now, here you need to fool the system into thinking you have a tape in, before it will let you select it. What i did, before i replaced the top lit, was manually put the tape deck into the LOADED mode. this way you do not need anything in the deck, and you simply select TAPE and it will play. You will then hear your external source perfectly.

However, if you press the eject button it will eject the mechanism, and you will then be stuck to get it going again

so the other way, is get an old cassete, OPen it up, and remove all the magnetic tape, and assmeble again, so you have a blank cassette case. THen simply slot this into the player. this will allow you to select TAPE but no sound will come from the cassette. Simples!!!




with this hack, you do NOT tie up your CD Changer port. it does also allow the TAPE to be used also, so you do not loose that function.

so, now i have TAPE, RADIO, CD Changer, AND EXT AUX inputs on my SC-801!


the whole process took me 1 hr to complete.

I have a spare SC800, so if anyone wants this, with the AUX sockets let me know, and I can mod it, and sell it to you.

[AndysR]

Excellent post, I now have an MP3 player and was wondering what the best way to play sound through the stereo was without either loosing the CD changer or broadcasting the music via the FM transmitter on the MP3 player which is tempremental. I shall have to go and get me some phono leads now and get this done

[bobbych]

it is an easy hack mate, and works a treat!

[bobbych]

here is the original post, that I used to do it with

http://www.tadfad.com/2007/09/15/volvo-radio-hack/

[dave.robbo]

Excellent post... Now... If only I could do something similar to my HU803!!

[ShadeTek]

Does anyone have a schematic for one of these units available? It's doubtful anyone uses their tape deck any more, so why not completely disable the tape deck and use its audio channel for a full time aux input. Would mean disabling the motor full time...IDEA, why not put the tape deck into loaded mode and then disconnect the motor, this would stop the tape carriage from being ejected and thus the subsequent dismantle and manual re-load. I would assume that there is a mode switch on the deck theat tells the system that it is loaded so it would be in "tape loaded" mode all the time? Only down side I can see is when pushing the eject button it mutes the tape deck, but that might not happen if the mode switch still says "tape loaded" or the system may detect a tape jam error if the carriage does not reach an unloaded postion. Why not give it a go bobbych?

(P.S I was an audio engineer for years repairing things like this).

[colinwick]

Hi i have a sc802 radio tape player,i have taken the lid off and it is different to
the one in the picture,it dosen't have a riser,the tape deck is conected the the main board via a tape like cable,with no marks on it
i have also looked through the rest of the thread and see any tape decks that look like mine
any ideas
kind regards
colin

AND REMEMBER

IF IT AINT BROKE FIX IT TILL IT IS

[bobbych]

the 802 is very similar in design to the 805, but without the CD, so I would have assumed inside would be similar too, as the tape deck is in the same place

but, if you could take a pic of the tape unit inside it might help

[colinwick]

hi,i have put it back in the car at the mo,i will get it back out and try to put a photo on,when i reed the desciption on how to do the 805 it dosen't seem to make sense when i look at the internals of mine,but ill take back out.
i would like to do this mod as i use my ipod a lot.
i may even buy a second hand head unit so i can mod it.
regards
colin

AND REMEMBER

IF IT AINT BROKE FIX IT TILL IT IS

[bobbych]

you can pick up a cheap 800/801 for around £20. Be aware though the MOD is currently not verfied, as if you read, I am unsure if I have MONO or STEREO

I do have a spare SC800 which i will be modding this week to test it on another, so we will see then, if it works, I will put it up for sale