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Sirrius FM direct adapter hookup?

Discussion in 'Audio & Video' started by Dakota Red, Aug 25, 2016.

  1. Aug 25, 2016 at 1:32 PM
    #1
    Dakota Red

    Dakota Red [OP] Well-Known Member

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    So I went to install one of these like I have done on a couple of cars Ive had but my 2013 Tacoma doesn't have the usual antenna plug in the radio. So what do I need to make this work? The adapters I have seen don't look like they would let you plug the antenna plug back in.
     
  2. Aug 30, 2016 at 10:49 AM
    #2
    Dakota Red

    Dakota Red [OP] Well-Known Member

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  3. Sep 4, 2016 at 12:03 AM
    #3
    DaveB.inVa

    DaveB.inVa Well-Known Member

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    I've never found an adapter to go from an XM antenna to the XM boxes like the SXV300 SiriusXM tuner.

    But I've used the factory XM antenna on every vehicle I have with aftermarket radios. A big factor is if you ever want to go back to the factory radio.

    I never do plan to go back so a little destruction is involved.

    In each case, the XM antenna is a coaxial cable. In my 2007 Ram, I was able to reuse the old Sirius antenna by breaking off the plastic connector surrounding the antenna coaxial cable where it connected into the factory Sirius tuner. The termination was a basic non RG174 terminal that then plugged into the SXV300. The termination wasn't the type that would snap into the SXV300 and would fall out. All I did in that case was epoxy the termination into the SXV300 and tape it to provide strain relief.

    On my Tacoma, I tried to do the same thing but the termination was a little different and I also ended up destroying the termination when I tried breaking the plastic connector off. :mad:
    What I did then was go to eBay and find a RG174 cable for sale with preterminated ends that was about 6" long. I think it was about $9. The cable had two female ends so I cut it in the middle and spliced the new RG174 cable to the Tacoma cable after cutting the end off. You'll attenuate the signal slightly if you do a good splice but it's not enough to affect the performance of the unit.

    Carefully strip the outer jacket off of the cables, peel back the shield so that you have plenty to work with. The inner core will have its own insulation, typically you'll have a single copper conductor in a white thermoplastic insulation. Strip the insulation off of a portion of the copper and splice the two pieces together, I'd twist and then solder. Now reinsulate this portion so that there is insulation from the white inner core insulation from one cable to the other. I used rubberized splice tape and then a wrap of regular electrical tape. The important thing is to insulate so that the inner core does not touch the outer braid shield. If they touch the signal is done!

    Once the inner core is spliced and insulated, then splice the outer shield. Twist it together and solder it. Insulate it and tape it down next to the core. You'll affect the performance a bit just because the core and shield aren't symmetric anymore, but it's not enough to stop your project. Plug the RG174 in and it should work fine. Believe me, mine was sloppy and it works great.

    You can also use the antenna that is supplied with the SXV300, just cutting and splicing it. I didn't do this originally because I thought it was too small to work with, but it has all of the same stuff (shield and core) and it strips out just as easy.


    On my BRZ, I had the best/easiest installation. I popped off the blue factory connector without destroying it then plugged the terminal into the SXV300. It wasn't a locking plug so I taped it in and was able to provide a strain relief. It performs just as good as the two other hack jobs above!

    Hope this helps, just reply if you have any questions. A lot don't believe you can reuse the old antenna or take an old Sirius antenna and use it with XM but you can. It's all pretty straightforward and you don't have to deal with running any new cable and having an antenna on the roof not doing anything.
     
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  4. Sep 6, 2016 at 8:35 PM
    #4
    crashnburn80

    crashnburn80 Vehicle Design Engineer

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    DaveB.inVa likes this.
  5. Sep 6, 2016 at 8:47 PM
    #5
    SOSHeloPilot

    SOSHeloPilot My 1st Muscle Car

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    Missing My Last Tacoma --- Had 11 Toyota trucks in the past and many other Toyota cars too.
    .
    IIRC .. there was a guy on the Ridgeline forum who posted a link to many adapters to adapt about any radio to any antenna.

    Was surprised to see that many different connectors and adapters ... so I know many are out there ... but I didn't save the website.
     
  6. Sep 9, 2016 at 10:27 PM
    #6
    DaveB.inVa

    DaveB.inVa Well-Known Member

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    That's an awesome pigtail! I looked forever for something like that and never found one.

    Same way with the 6V converter to power the backup camera. Metra has a plug and play converter for it now. When I put my radio in I had to build a 6V converter.
     
  7. Sep 10, 2016 at 8:54 AM
    #7
    crashnburn80

    crashnburn80 Vehicle Design Engineer

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    Took me a while to find that. I was surprised crutchfield did not carry such a product and instead offer those generic magnetic mount antennas.
     

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