Will DICE work for me?

I bought a DICE unit. My goal is to install it and have integration with my 1st generation iPhone.

I have a 2005 basic Prius, no sat, no Cd changer, no nav. I only have 4 buttons around my MFD, and my stereo doesn't have a cd changer or satellite button. I think is just has disc, am, and fm.

Everything I read says you plug the DICE into the cd changer socket in the back of the Prius' stereo.

I'm beginning to worry, I don't have a button to select that input, will the DICE work with my Prius' stereo? How will I select that input?

Thanks
Josh

 

Thank you very much for the response, I feel better now.

As far as the "mode" goes I assume you're referring to the DIP switches? And as far as I know, the DIP switches set the mode. So I have some more questions then.

If the DIP switches are set to a certain mode, let's say "MP3 Mode", what happens if I press AM "more than once" to get to SAT mode?

Let's say I've configured the DIP switches for "Sat Mode", what happens if I press the FM button to go into MP3 mode?

I suppose I really don't understand it at all, and since the box will live inside my dash it's not like I can change the DIP switches whenever I want to learn it all. Once I put my dash back together I am kind of stuck with my choice. SO, that makes me curious, which way should I set the dips, and which way should I access those modes from the head unit.

I've heard some people say they prefer MP3 mode, and I've heard some people say they prefer CD Changer mode. Actually your the first person I've seen that prefers SAT mode. What do you prefer about SAT mode over the other modes?

Since you've got experience with this product, your insight is very valuable to me.

Thanks in advance
Josh

 

Awesome, thanks for the clarification.

I suppose even if velcroed to the white cable box you still have to remove the glovebox to get to it correct? I suppose that's not too much work.

I also plan on drilling a small hole for the wire connecting my iPhone to the DICE unit.

I have read several instructions and it all seems very clear to me except for where to velcro my dice box, but I suppose that will be clear when I pull my car apart. I'm envisioning velcroing it to the wihte cable box, so once I remove the glovebox there it is. From pisctures it all looks very cramped in there, but from the text descriptions, it sounds like there's actually plenty of room for stuff.

Thanks
Josh

 

I got the unit via U.S. Postal Service Saturday. I am very pleased with the quick delivery. I installed the unit the same day and here are my observations and questions.

* The product itself is very legit. I was under the impression when ordering car parts it would come in a paper bag with no documentation. I have read posts here of people saying they got no documentation. Maybe that was back when the product was newer. My unit came in a nice plastic package and was packaged for retail sale. The instructions were well written and complete as far as I could tell.

* The DIP switches were not difficult to adjust as I had read in some posts, just use your finger nail and move them up or down. Also they are not the kind of DIP switches I am used to in the compute industry, they do not slide up and down, instead they rock up and down like a light switch, their backs must be anchored to a pivot. The first time I moved one I thought I had broken it since the entire switch didn't move just the tip end of it rocked down.

* Connecting it was easy, and I didn't have any of the issues I've read about here. For me, the jack snapped in very nicely and clicked well. The screw for the wiring bundle was not difficult to get to at all.

* The sound quality is great. I Rip all my stuff at 320 KBps, and while it isn't CD quality, through stock Prius speakers it's close enough to CD quality that you can't tell the difference.

* In Satellite mode I think the controls are pretty great, I can choose to play songs by track, artist, album or playlist. And the Scan Type button decides whether playback is linear or shuffled. It took me just one quick drive around the block to figure out the controls. The integration with the MFD and steering wheel is great.


Ok, now for the complaints, questions, and other tid bits.

1) I read a document posted on here regarding running the iPhone wire through the storage box under the stereo. I wanted to do this. I believe the title of the document was "iPod in a box". The document said to use a hole of 15/32. My plug was bigger than that, even after filing the hole to debur it, I had to use slightly bigger than 1/2" hole to get the plug to even go through it. This caused issues for me because the author said to use a 1/4" grommet, but a 1/4" gromment wants a 3/8" hole, any bigger and the grommet can fall through the hole, (as mine did), so now I'm grommet-less, oh well. So that document doesn't work for the current cords coming with DICE units.

2) I didn't know you have to reboot the entire car before changes to DIP switches would take effect. It ships in CD Changer mode, with the iPhone not being locked out. This was my bad for not carefully reading the manual. I hooked it up and turned on the car and pressed AM on my head unit and nothing happened. Then I tried pressing CD twice and sure enough I could hear my music in CD Changer mode, not what I had desired though. Additionally playback control through the steering wheel was not working, playback control was working only via the iPhone itself. So I read the manual and realized I had my DIPs wrong. I corrected them and rebooted the iPhone, but still pressing AM wouldn't let me get to SAT mode. I scratched my head for about 10 minutes, then decided to reboot the car, what the hell. Then everything started working as expected. Pressing AM put me in SAT mode, and my iPhone was now locked, and I could control the music via the MFD or steering wheel. Moral of the story, reboot the car too!

3) The iPhone with cable attached is too long to fit in the compartment under the stereo. Doh! and I just drilled that big hole. Oh well.

4) The cable that goes from the DICE to the iPhone is too stiff to work with. Getting it to fold up nicely into the compartment under the stereo is a battle.

5) I put velcro on the DICE and on the right side of the white wiring box. Then I stuck the DICE against it. So the DICE would be accessable just by removing the glovebox. The only issue is, THE GLOVEBOX DOESN'T CLOSE WITH THE DICE THERE. The good news is that I can still have the DICE there, just not as high, if I lower the dice so it's resting on the lower surface of the inside area between the glovebox and the white box, then the glovebox clears it. SO, the unit is installed where I wanted it to be, it's just a few inches lower and not secured via velcro, and now I have a big patch of velcro on the white box that isn't being used. Oh well.

6) I did gouge my dash when removing the vent cover. The dash is made out of a much softer plastic than I had imagined. I used a cloth and stuck a flat head screw driver in the gap, and rotated it, but when I rotated it, instead of the cover moving outwards and away, it stood in place and my screwdriver just cut into my dash. Damn I'm bummed about that. So the lesson here is to use a wood chisel or something with a much wider head, so you reduce the possibility of the tool just rotating in place and gouging everything.

7) The iPhone has to be in audio playback mode. My iPhone is usually in any mode but audio mode, I'm either in the web brower or in my contacts, or in the apps, or anywhere other than playing my music. I sat in my driveway for 30 minutes today boggling at this one. I turned on the car, plugged in the iPhone pressed AM, went into SAT mode, and all it said was "STOPPED". And the iPhone didn't lock either. After trying a few other things I stumbled upon clicking the "iPod" button on my iPhone to listen to some music. Then everything worked. So for those of you with iPhones, You can't be at the iPhone home screen or any other screen, you need to click the iPod button and go into music listening mode.

8) I still don't know what comes first, the iPhone or the car. Do I need to have the iPhone plugged in before starting the car? Or do I want to start the car and then plug in my iPhone? Does the iPhone need to be on or will the car turn it on? I feel like there's some special order of operations I need to know before it works every time. Today I had to turn off my car at a stop light and turn it back on with the iPhone on, in order for it to work. So I don't know what the correct order is. I would like to be able to plug the iPhone in at any time, car on or off, and have the iPhone in any state, iPhone on or off, and the car knows to turn the iPhone on, etc. That would be awesome. So what are the steps here? Maybe now that I know to always have the iPhone in audio mode now these order of operation issues will go away.

That's it for me, hope these insights can help out any new people that want to use this unit. I highly recommend it.

Cheers
Josh