Scosche AXIPTA Ipod interface

After being underwhelmed by the three Ipod interface choices for the Prius (let's call them Brand "D", Brand "V", and Brand "C"), I stumbled across another option I had not heard of before. Of all the versions out there, I liked Brand "C" the best, but since nobody has actually *seen* one in real life, we'll have to assume it is vaporware.

Then I ran across this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4sXzLQ8mZY

and had to check into it further. I went to the manufacturer's website (http://www.scosche.com) and checked their application guide only to find the Prius was not supported. After talking to their Tech Support, they thought it should work. The installation guide that comes with the unit says it is compatible with the 04+ Prius, while the online guide says it isn't. Go figure.

Anyways, I got one to try out. Although there are a few things I would change if it were up to me (like steering wheel up/down control of songs), overall, the unit has worked quite well (doesn't crash the mfd as reports of Brand "D" have indicated). I think some of the text length display limitations are due to the MFD (some song titles are not completely displayed). The unit emulates a SAT receiver, gives you the Ipod interface, an RCA stereo input, and a pass-through for an XM connection.

Here are some screen shots of my display:
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Here is a write up of my installation:

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[Edit]
Here is the instruction manual that comes with the unit:

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I haven't seen any postings from fellow PC'ers with the Scosche interface. If you are out there, I'd like to hear about your experiences.

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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Winston @ Nov 8 2007, 05:33 PM) [snapback]536911[/snapback]</div>

Thanks Winston! From what I have seen, the list price is $199.99, but you can find them at vendors for around $140 by doing a Google search.

 

As long as you have the SAT interface connector on the back of your radio, it should work. I'm not familiar with the standard radio, so unless someone else here at PC knows then probably the only way to tell is to pull the vent panel or the glove box and take a look at the back of your stereo with a mirror. The connector is something like 12 pins, and about 3/4" wide x 1/2" high and is closer to the "passenger" side of the radio.

[edit] according to other posts here, all '05 radios have the SAT interface connector.

There is no SAT button on my car - I just have to press the AM button on the console a couple times and it switches over to SAT mode. You can't get to that screen unless some device is installed that emulates a SAT controller.

 

I haven't heard about any experiences with this in an '08 but the manufacturer spec sheet says it is compatible.

Nope, don't assume that. For some strange reason, all of the on-screen buttons for the Ipod control function while in motion unlike the buttons for the Nav or Bluetooth phone system.

Hi Evan, here's some answers:
1.) No, I don't have a satellite radio installed, although there is a SAT connector on the "Y" cable between the unit and the back of the radio. On the display, I have to scroll through 3 SAT screens. The first is for the Ipod control, the second is the Aux In for the Scosche unit, and I assume the third would be for the satellite radio if I had it installed.

2.) I never tried a DICE unit, just read reports of MFD crashing from others here on PC. I really liked the look of the interface on the Coastal unit, but you know the story there. The VAIS unit seemed to have limited display and control capability using the CD/MD changer interface. I've never had the MFD freeze up with the Scosche unit, but it does have some quirks. Sometimes it remembers what song was playing when you last shut down and sometimes it starts over from the main menu. Also, I've noticed that while it does recognize that you have more than 256 entries (playlists, artists, albums, etc), when you hit the 255th entry going forward it wraps over to entry 0. If you go from entry 0 back, it will jump to the last entry (say it's entry 455) then the next 'click' takes you to some random spot around 180. From there you can go forward or back but once you hit 255 it wraps over to entry 0. I mostly have everything in playlists so it's not a problem, but I do have a huge song list and can't scroll through all of them.

3.) No, as you found it's available for less than list. I think the lowest I saw was around $140 +s/h.

I'm interested to hear your comparison of the Scosche with the DICE Silver unit. The things I wish the AXIPTA had were steering wheel up/down track control and a memory register larger than 256 entries, but to me it's no big deal to use the up/down controls on the radio.

 

Evan - I had the same problem at first, until I tried the second cable that came with the unit - the one *without* the in-line fuse holder. There wasn't any documentation describing the difference between the two supplied cables, but ringing them out showed two wires swapped. I went back and modified the one with the fuseholder for use in my final installation. The only electrical difference I could find between the two harnesses was the solid red and the red wire with white stripe had interchanged pin positions at the large black 24 pin connector that goes to the Scosche interface box.

I'm not sure how the unit could affect the XM connection rendering it inoperable. The cable supplied by Scosche is basically a direct pin for pin pass-though on the 12 pin connector used for the XM. You should be able to unplug the Scosche unit from the large black connector and the XM should function as if it were plugged directly into the radio. I remember reading somewhere that the AXIPTA controller does have to go through some sort of "initialization" process with the factory radio - as indicated by the green LED. Do you remember if the LED was blinking or solid? As I remember, it would blink for a while then go solid green after everything was happy.

My Prius has both Nav and JBL and I've not had any issues with it. The buttons in the SAT mode do not always respond "instantaneously" which I attribute to a communication delay between the controller and the Ipod. When pressing a button on the screen, such as 'playlists' there is a delay while the Ipod is being read. After it loads the data, the tune knob scrolls through the options as quickly as I can turn it. I often drive with the MFD in Nav or Info mode with the audio playing in the background and have never seen any noticeable lag on the response of the controls. FWIW, I don't have any other NAV mods such as the Coastal Lockpick.

 

One other note - the instructions mentioned that the Ipod cable should be connected to the interface box but the Ipod should not be connected to the cable until after the interface had a chance to initialize. You should be able to switch to the SAT screen without the Ipod connected but nothing will happen when you press the buttons.

 

Wow, that's disappointing, Evan! Once I got the cable situation figured out, mine worked just fine. I dug up my install notes, and my unit did the same thing yours did the first time I installed it - when using the cable with the fuseholder. The green light came on but the AM button would not get me into the SAT screen. You may want to check the wiring between the two cables or look at my write-up pdf on page 6. The pinout of the red and red/white wire is somehow critical to the unit working. I'm not certain, but I think these may be audio lines. The red wire goes to the XM accessory jack and the red/white stripe wire goes to the back of the stereo plug. If these two wires are in the same pin position on the large black 24 pin plug between the two cables, then both harnesses may be incorrect.

The correct wiring is the following:
Looking at the back side of the connector (where the wires enter) with the release latch to the top, the red wire with white stripe will be on the top row in the 5th pin position from the left. The solid red wire is in the lower row in the 3rd pin position from the left.

Top row, left to right:
1 - black (ground)
2 - yellow (+12v)
3,4 - no connection
5 - Red with white stripe
6 - dark blue or blue with white stripe
7 - blue
8 to 12 - no connection

Bottom row, left to right:
1,2 - no connection
3 - red
4 to 7 - no connection
8 - Grey with black stripe
9 - white with black stripe
10 - white
11 - grey
12 - no connection

On the 12 pin connector going to the stereo (the white male connector), again looking at the back side with the retaining latch to the top:
Top row, left to right:
1 - blue
2 - white / black stripe
3 - white
4 - grey / black stripe
5 - grey
6 - black / white stripe

Bottom row, left to right
1 - yellow
2 - red / white stripe
3 - blue
4 - dark blue or blue / white stripe
5 - brown
6 - black

If you get yours working, I'd like to know what firmware version is in your unit. Mine is ver 2.18c. Neither of the cables in my kit were marked, so I'm thinking they might have updated things.