XM Radio Install Comments

Well done Sung, You may find the antenna placement chosen might lend itself to signal dropouts. The fix is reruning the cable and antenna to the back of the car and placing it on the roof right behind the radio antenna. I also did my own install. My antenna is still in the car. I find I really do not have dropouts unless I am in the shadow of a tall building, or under a dense tree!
This will happen no matter where the antenna is placed. In fact much depends where a person wanting to receive Sirus/XM is located in the states. Signal levels are not uniform across the US!

 

Had trouble with dropout on a factory installed Sirus/XM on a Chrysler Caravan. It only happened when being underneath some of the wide overpasses here in Houston. Seemed to work pretty good overall though, but did notice dropout's from time to time. Also noticed them when being underneath some of the canopies at the various gas stations here and there. Didn't keep the vehicle long, so I did not have a chance to trouble shoot it.

Well done Sung, hope you have good luck and great sounds for the road.

Ron

 

It took me all of 25 minutes to install my XM radio integrated radio module?? Dont know how/why it too you 3 hours.

I disassembled the gloveblox removed the vent to the right of the stereo. Had a friend with skinny arms help me by plugging the wiring harness into the back of the radio. We felt back there first for the plug hole. Ran the wires to the glovebox, where the XM module rests, and ran the antenna through the A pillar under the weather seal to the rear passenger side of the car.

I even zip tied the wires behind the glovebox and made it all pretty. In beer-time, it was a 1 beer job. lol

 

Toyota puts the XM antenna on the inside passenger side because they did not plan on putting the antenna outside. Ooops.....
That being said my antenna is on the inside because I installed the thing myself. I have no problems! However, for those of you that do have problems there is actually a little work involved fix that you can do yourself.
If you did not know this, your XM receiver is mounted under the right rear passenger seat. Toyota runs the antenna wire through the door sill forward and up the right side of the dash. There is extra cable coiled at the receiver, at least I had enough slop to do this.
You can unplug the antenna from the XM antenna jack, and completly pull it out of the current location. Being VERY carefull NOT TO DAMAGE the connector. You then place the antenna pod directly behind your radio antenna, even though its magnetic, I would place a drop of clear Silicone Sealer on the underside of the pod and as you mount it, and let it ooze out and make a good seal to the top of the car. I used that technique on my 4Runner 6 years ago, and the antenna is still rock solid in place!!!

Now here is where the problem arises, you have to make sure when you are finished you still have a weather tight seal where ever you penetrate the hatchback seal.
You can gently massage the seal away from the body of the car. slip the antenna connector trough and pull all the excess wire through. Now its up to you how you put the gasket back. Remember the antenna wire also has to fit. I would run the wire parallel to the metal lip, and I would notch out just enough metal at the lip edge so you can transition the antenna wire to the inside of the car.
You DO NOT want to bend the wire in a hard kink, THAT WOULD BE BAD EGON!!
After you have the little notch cut out and we are only talking a little bit more in diameter than that of the cable. Make sure you smooth the edges of the cut so you do not damage the wire when you pull the gasket back over the wire and lip of the hatch opening. Take a little of the Silicone and add it at the point the antenna wire exits to the outside world. On the inside run the wire along the inside of the passenger side roof, down inside of the trim pieces on the the side and under the back seat to the XM Receiver.
Close the hatch, plug the antenna back in and you should now have a good weather tight seal, as well as good reception!!!

Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/2008-xm-radio-reception-problems.64601/page-2#ixzz2FRHia0el​

 

So Sung, what did you end up doing. I got a chuckle about the zip tie thing! I over tie myself, and now the new fad in pro type wiring like I do, is Velcro cable ties! They do not compress the cable causing trouble in fast data video speeds! For the auto application, zip tie away, it works for me!

 

Slightly off topic but the cables used for SATA connections in PC's have warnings all over them about folding and tieing etc. I would think it would be along the same lines as the high speed video cable KK6PD referred to. I haven't seen a problem yet with the ones I have zip tied loosely, but the warnings are on the packaging.

Ron

 

Exactly, I have seen TDR (Time Domain Refelctometer) Pics of a video cable that is carrying a 1080I signal deteriorate in steps corresponding to some sort of cable impingement. It changes the cables capacitance at that point so the path is no longer a true 75 ohm impedance. You can see where connectors are in the signal wire path. Same for new computers. Buying a high data speed rated cable is now actually a great idea. You want the signal path to be as smooth as possible!

 

Sung, in my experience all the Sirius/XM connectors are the same and have been for quite some time (Ive been a Sirius subscriber since pre-2004 and have gone through MANY cars and many different Sirius/XM kits). Therefore, in my theory that antenna "should" work.

 

That's the puck that came with my XM unit. It is already magnetic, small. As long as the connector is compatible, you should be fine!