Use this article if…
- The plug from your steering wheel control kit won't fit the headunit loom.
- You've fitted a steering wheel upgrade and the controls don't work yet.
- You're connecting an Android or Aerpro headunit.
- You can't find where the steering lead goes.
Find the input on your headunit
Start with the input, not the loom plug. The brand tells you where the lead goes.
- Alpine takes a 3.5 mm jack in the steering remote socket. It's on the body of the headunit or on the patch loom with the microphone.
- Pioneer uses the wired remote input.
- Sony uses REMOTE IN.
- Kenwood and JVC use the 3.5 mm steering remote or REMO IN socket, often next to MIC.
Don't use the main loom's REMOTE, REMOTE OUT, MON REMOTE or DVD REMOTE leads on an Alpine. The Kenwood and JVC light blue/yellow wire is for a brand adapter only.
Connect it with the 3.5 mm jack
Most headunits take the steering lead through a socket. These steps cover that case.
- Plug the receiver harness into the receiver module and into the back of the headunit.
- Push the 3.5 mm jack into the steering remote input from the section above.
- On Pioneer, Kenwood, Sony and JVC kits, use the 28-pin to 3.5 mm patch lead.
- Tape off the two key wires on the loom separately, clear of any metal.
- On Pioneer, set Steering Wheel Control to W/o Adapter. On Sony, set Steering Control to Custom.
If your headunit has wires instead of a socket
Some units have three steering wires and no 3.5 mm socket. That's supported.
- Join the kit loom's two key wires to the headunit's two steering inputs.
- Leave the third wire alone. It's ground and doesn't need connecting.
- Don't use the patch lead.
- Learn the buttons on the headunit.
Newer headunits all have the 3.5 mm socket. A unit with neither a socket nor steering wires, only a light blue/yellow adapter wire, can't be driven.
If you have an Aerpro headunit
Aerpro reads the wheel controls through a vehicle-specific control harness. We don't supply that harness. Not every Aerpro model has a 3.5 mm jack, so check yours first.
If the plug still won't fit
The white cable on the receiver is the horn booster. It never joins a headunit loom wire. Check the model lookup for your headunit, because a model that isn't listed hasn't been checked. Then send us a photo of the physical connections through a support ticket, and we'll rule out wiring first.
