Do I need a SWC Steering Wheel Control adapter?

I have a 2011 Tacoma Access Cab, and have installed a Atoto F7 SE and it works great. I have seen several videos and threads (below) that say I don’t have to buy an adapter. I can do the wiring, but don’t know anything about “resistive” wires. Has anyone done this. The connector from the steering wheel is present, and the wiring harness from the Atoto has ground and key1 and key2, and the steering wheel already has the control buttons on the left side. Don’t want to blow something up, any help appreciated.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/atoto-f7-and-toyota-2009-rav4-steering-wheel-controls.4319947/



How to Install Steering Wheel Controls *NO MODULE OR ADAPTER* TOYOTA 2009-2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rV5PwftEBM&t=1s

 

Bump

 

From the sounds of that link you posted, no, you don't need the SWC-1... just rewire the 2 wires from the wheel controls (even though there's 5 functions, they're varying the resistance on those 2 wires, it's not a straight up +12v trigger) to that HU, and then the HU has a programming mode where you 'teach' it what should do what by pressing each button.

 

I had an Atoto head unit for a while, and now have a Joying. Both worked perfectly with the controls on my steering wheel, without needing the expensive adapter thing. All I needed was the connector so I could wire my steering wheel buttons to the head unit:

$11 Metra 70-8114 Steering Wheel Control Wire Harness with RCA for 2003-Up Select Toyota/Scion/Lexus Vehicles

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064J4LOM

The connector isn't strictly necessary, but is worth every penny, especially if you ever replace the head unit. In principle you could cut the OEM wires and splice them directly to the head unit connector.

However, my truck is an '05, so it definitely has resistive buttons in the steering wheel. I don't know what is used on the '11s. If your truck has this exact connector, though, then they're probably resistive buttons, and all you need do is connect them, then enter the settings menu in your HU to program them as @fb40dash5 mentioned. (They won't work until programmed!) I even added a second bank of buttons to my steering wheel, purchased from Toyota for a later model year that had more buttons on the right side as well. They work perfectly too.

At some point, I believe they switched to using CAN rather than analog resistance for the steering wheel buttons. In that case, you would need either an external adapter to convert CAN to resistive commands, or a head unit with a CAN interface.

ETA: Pretty sure this wiring diagram was valid for my truck, although it's been a while so I can't say for sure.



You want to connect the Atoto "ground" wire to the common (W-R, #4) wire. Then "key1" and "key2" go to AU1 and AU2. It doesn't matter which goes to which, the programming sequence will identify the resistance combinations for each command.

The connector kit I linked above comes with a bunch of extra stuff that you don't need, FYI.

Final edit: Your head unit might have already come with the connector. The Joying did, but the (2018 model) Atoto just had bare wires from its connector, so I had to buy the toyota-specific connectors and splice them together.

 

Hey, thanks so much to both of you for your input . I took these pictures, mostly just to show the only connector that wasn't used, I think it's the right one.