harmony to symphony wiring question - Page 2

General_Catastrophe · 20th October 2009, 15:09

I've been trying to upgrade a Harmony to Symphony, but have had some problems...
In true Professional Motor Vehicle Dismantler style, the cables to the ISO connectors had been cut on the Symphony I bought, and I already had a BMW-17 pin to ISO cable, so I thought I'd make up my own cables using the cut cables with ISO connectors and the BMW adaptor.
This consisted of wiring power ISO pins 2 & 3 into pins 10 and 17 of the BMW adaptor (Steering Wheel controls).
Then I tapped the Power, CD-Bus and earth cables from the Blue Mini-ISO connector into pins 9, 7 and 15 of the BMW adaptor.
Then, using part of an old PC male IDE connector, I made a 10 pin connector to join the 4 wires of the 10 pin Harmony CD connector to the blue mini ISO connector so:
10 L+ to 13 KB (Pink/Black)
9 R+ to 14 YB (Yellow/Black)
5 L- to 16 BK
4 R- to 17 BY

I plugged this all in and gave it a try. Everything seems to work, including the Steering Wheel controls, but I have a fair bit of distortion on the CD output. The piece of IDE connector can be mounted in alternate 'wrong' positions in the BMW CD Connector, so I turned it through 180 and plugged it in with only the last 2 pins connecting. i.e Pins 10 and 5 (L pos and L ground) were connected, but the other way around. I immediately received higher volume, apparently without distortion, on the one connected channel.

It looks like i may have the polarity of the CD connections the wrong way around, but I have double checked my wiring, and compared it with the factory Symphony cabling on my ZTT. I can't see anything wrong.

Has anyone had any similar experiences, or throw any light on my problem?

Duotone · 21st October 2009, 16:38

Have a read of this "how to" it shows all the connections for the changer..

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...ad.php?t=18173

Dave T

General_Catastrophe · 22nd October 2009, 08:26

I did read that 'how to', and printed it for use alongside my soldering iron, It was useful for the Symphony connections, but has no info about the Harmony CD connections. I had to refer to a BMW forum for that.
I'm wondering if I have a simple polarity problem due to a difference on the BMW data I found, or if I have something else wrong with my homemade adaptor?

It would be really useful to have the pinouts of say VUL100310, rather than a how-to that just shows a pic of the item. Sorry, I know that some effort went into that particular how-to, but it's missing some important information.

Not everyone wants to pay £15 for a s/h Symphony, and then £50 for the cable to connect it in.

General_Catastrophe · 30th October 2009, 09:43

Simple polarity problem caused by me confusing the pic of one side of a connector with the other. I now have the Harmony 10 pin CD connector wired correctly to the Blue Mini-ISO for the Symphony.

decebalus · 28th January 2016, 06:39

For furher reference in case anyone needs it, i found it very usefull. I compiled myself a new cd changer plug from this photos for vul100320 as mine was broken

https://goo.gl/photos/KeHLvPU9nAfedN9C6

20th October 2009, 15:09	#11
General_Catastrophe Regular poster ZT-T 190+, 75 2.5 Conn SE Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Belgium/GB Midlands Posts: 47 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Harmony to Symphony I've been trying to upgrade a Harmony to Symphony, but have had some problems... In true Professional Motor Vehicle Dismantler style, the cables to the ISO connectors had been cut on the Symphony I bought, and I already had a BMW-17 pin to ISO cable, so I thought I'd make up my own cables using the cut cables with ISO connectors and the BMW adaptor. This consisted of wiring power ISO pins 2 & 3 into pins 10 and 17 of the BMW adaptor (Steering Wheel controls). Then I tapped the Power, CD-Bus and earth cables from the Blue Mini-ISO connector into pins 9, 7 and 15 of the BMW adaptor. Then, using part of an old PC male IDE connector, I made a 10 pin connector to join the 4 wires of the 10 pin Harmony CD connector to the blue mini ISO connector so: 10 L+ to 13 KB (Pink/Black) 9 R+ to 14 YB (Yellow/Black) 5 L- to 16 BK 4 R- to 17 BY I plugged this all in and gave it a try. Everything seems to work, including the Steering Wheel controls, but I have a fair bit of distortion on the CD output. The piece of IDE connector can be mounted in alternate 'wrong' positions in the BMW CD Connector, so I turned it through 180 and plugged it in with only the last 2 pins connecting. i.e Pins 10 and 5 (L pos and L ground) were connected, but the other way around. I immediately received higher volume, apparently without distortion, on the one connected channel. It looks like i may have the polarity of the CD connections the wrong way around, but I have double checked my wiring, and compared it with the factory Symphony cabling on my ZTT. I can't see anything wrong. Has anyone had any similar experiences, or throw any light on my problem?

28th January 2016, 06:39	#15
decebalus Newbie Rover 75 Saloon Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Bucharest Posts: 10 Thanks: 4 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	For furher reference in case anyone needs it, i found it very usefull. I compiled myself a new cd changer plug from this photos for vul100320 as mine was broken https://goo.gl/photos/KeHLvPU9nAfedN9C6 __________________ ROVER 75 Cdt club 1999 Last edited by decebalus; 28th January 2016 at 06:43.. Reason: bad link

21st October 2009, 16:38	#12
Duotone This is my second home 75 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Leeds Posts: 8,432 Thanks: 176 Thanked 907 Times in 716 Posts	Have a read of this "how to" it shows all the connections for the changer.. http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...ad.php?t=18173 Dave T

22nd October 2009, 08:26	#13
General_Catastrophe Regular poster ZT-T 190+, 75 2.5 Conn SE Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Belgium/GB Midlands Posts: 47 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I did read that 'how to', and printed it for use alongside my soldering iron, It was useful for the Symphony connections, but has no info about the Harmony CD connections. I had to refer to a BMW forum for that. I'm wondering if I have a simple polarity problem due to a difference on the BMW data I found, or if I have something else wrong with my homemade adaptor? It would be really useful to have the pinouts of say VUL100310, rather than a how-to that just shows a pic of the item. Sorry, I know that some effort went into that particular how-to, but it's missing some important information. Not everyone wants to pay £15 for a s/h Symphony, and then £50 for the cable to connect it in.

30th October 2009, 09:43	#14
General_Catastrophe Regular poster ZT-T 190+, 75 2.5 Conn SE Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Belgium/GB Midlands Posts: 47 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Simple polarity problem caused by me confusing the pic of one side of a connector with the other. I now have the Harmony 10 pin CD connector wired correctly to the Blue Mini-ISO for the Symphony.