how-to install parrot bluetooth in nav coupe c6
08-14-2005, 03:48 PM
#1
Team Owner
Thread Starter
how-to install parrot bluetooth in nav coupe c6
I am guessing this won't be used too often, but for those who do go for it, I am hoping to save them some time. I know I had a hard time finding info on it, and special thanks to forum members Blazer, shopdog, and Steve Germany. 
I earlier put some background info on the Parrot system and 2 competitors in the general section, if you're interested: link
For those ready to plunge forward with the Parrot, here goes:
Here's the parrot main box, and I added 2 strips of 2-sided tape:
It has 4 cables:
Here's what I did:
1. Console removal; it's not necessary unless you are going to mount the LCD in the console area. I did mount mine there, so it became necessary. Here's some great pics by leolufs: console removal pics. What you find as you do this is there are MANY connectors on the underside. On the accessory female in the console, it took me forever to figure out how to remove the plug, and finally the answer was provided by my forum bud QUIKAG.
The answer was the female has a small slot on it that seats a tab on the male, but when the factory installed mine, they aligned the slot upward where I couldn’t see it b/c it was facing the underside of the console. So, I had to take pliers and rotate the female assembly so as to get access to the slot, then just push the tab inward w/a screwdriver and the male pulls out of the female. The rest of the connectors have things to push with your thumb except for the cigarette lighter which is similar to the console accessory plug; the thumb ones might put up a fight but eventually they come apart.
2. one power connection – here’s the “Add a Circuit,” from Autozone.
Very clever. It plugs into the fuse box and replaces an existing fuse, providing protection to the thing it replaces as well as a new circuit. The lower fuse is the one you pull from the fuse box, and the upper provides protection to the circuit you’re adding. I plugged this in the heated seat fuse slot to provide ignition power to the parrot orange wire, that is, power that would be on only when the car is on. As the add a circuit instructions tell you, once you plug it in test it for power, because if you have it in backwards you won’t get any!
I earlier put some background info on the Parrot system and 2 competitors in the general section, if you're interested: link
For those ready to plunge forward with the Parrot, here goes:
Here's the parrot main box, and I added 2 strips of 2-sided tape:
It has 4 cables:
- On the left top: to the LCD screen;
- On the left bottom: to the microphone:
- On the right top: power requiring battery, ground, and ignition
- On the right bottom: what they call a mute cable, because it includes a mute wire, but it also includes a ton of speaker wires and a circuit box in an attempt to make it compatible w/many other systems.
Here's what I did:
1. Console removal; it's not necessary unless you are going to mount the LCD in the console area. I did mount mine there, so it became necessary. Here's some great pics by leolufs: console removal pics. What you find as you do this is there are MANY connectors on the underside. On the accessory female in the console, it took me forever to figure out how to remove the plug, and finally the answer was provided by my forum bud QUIKAG.
The answer was the female has a small slot on it that seats a tab on the male, but when the factory installed mine, they aligned the slot upward where I couldn’t see it b/c it was facing the underside of the console. So, I had to take pliers and rotate the female assembly so as to get access to the slot, then just push the tab inward w/a screwdriver and the male pulls out of the female. The rest of the connectors have things to push with your thumb except for the cigarette lighter which is similar to the console accessory plug; the thumb ones might put up a fight but eventually they come apart. 2. one power connection – here’s the “Add a Circuit,” from Autozone.
Very clever. It plugs into the fuse box and replaces an existing fuse, providing protection to the thing it replaces as well as a new circuit. The lower fuse is the one you pull from the fuse box, and the upper provides protection to the circuit you’re adding. I plugged this in the heated seat fuse slot to provide ignition power to the parrot orange wire, that is, power that would be on only when the car is on. As the add a circuit instructions tell you, once you plug it in test it for power, because if you have it in backwards you won’t get any!
Last edited by SteveL2; 08-14-2005 at 04:07 PM.
08-14-2005, 03:48 PM
#2
Team Owner
Thread Starter
3. battery and ground: sorry for the lousy picture, but I spliced into the cigarette lighter positive and negative. As noted below, an alternative might’ve been just to use the power that’s provided to the amp. Not sure if there’s enough wattage down there?
The white plug you see is that which goes into the back of the cigarette lighter. A few inches up the wire you see two blue blurs. Those are “t-tap” connectors, which can be found in the car section at Frys or other places. You just crimp them to the wire that you’re tapping into and they provide a female slot. The connectors also come with a crimp male that you attach to the other wire that you are adding, and then you plug that male into the blue female. Works very nice and avoids the need to solder inside your car.
Lastly, I supposed I could’ve used the power and ground to the amp, instead of these.
4. speaker wires: In the pic below are the two connectors that connect to the amp which is under the passenger side carpet in the foot-well area. First remove the amp, which is the metal box to the left of the fuse box -- from memory, I guess it to be about 4 inches by 6 inches? It is held in place at each of its 4 corners by a screw. Be prepared to twist your body like crazy! One connector is 12 pins and is called C1 in the GM spec sheets. And the other is 24 pins and called C2. The C1 connector is the same for coupe & convertible, but the C2 differs. I have a coupe so my connector C2 is the one labeled “Y07 w/U65” in the spec sheets. The pins and colors I tapped into are as follows:
Here’s a picture where I added RED T-taps to those four wires next to the C2 connector:
Here’s a picture of the parrot harness, which they call the mute cable because it also includes the mute wire, with my splices to reach to the amp:
So, the connections were as follows, taken from the FEMALE (NOT MALE!!!!) parrot connector, where you look at the connectors not the pins to distinguish the parrot female from the parrot male. In other words, you'll see that the Parrot has 2 black plastic plugs on it. If the C6 radio were compatible, which it is not, one of these would plug into the back of the radio and the other would plug into the c6 harness. However, since it's not compatible, you cut 4 wires going to the plug having the larger cavity, hence, it's the female b/c a compatible plug would fit inside it. Do not go by the pins inside the connector to determine the male versus female. Here's the 4 wires to this female that you cut into.
The white plug you see is that which goes into the back of the cigarette lighter. A few inches up the wire you see two blue blurs. Those are “t-tap” connectors, which can be found in the car section at Frys or other places. You just crimp them to the wire that you’re tapping into and they provide a female slot. The connectors also come with a crimp male that you attach to the other wire that you are adding, and then you plug that male into the blue female. Works very nice and avoids the need to solder inside your car.
Lastly, I supposed I could’ve used the power and ground to the amp, instead of these.
4. speaker wires: In the pic below are the two connectors that connect to the amp which is under the passenger side carpet in the foot-well area. First remove the amp, which is the metal box to the left of the fuse box -- from memory, I guess it to be about 4 inches by 6 inches? It is held in place at each of its 4 corners by a screw. Be prepared to twist your body like crazy! One connector is 12 pins and is called C1 in the GM spec sheets. And the other is 24 pins and called C2. The C1 connector is the same for coupe & convertible, but the C2 differs. I have a coupe so my connector C2 is the one labeled “Y07 w/U65” in the spec sheets. The pins and colors I tapped into are as follows:
- Pin A9 (dark blue, left door midrange speaker +)
- Pin A10 (light blue, left door midrange speaker -)
- Pin A11 (orange, right door midrange speaker +)
- Pin A12 (dark green, right door midrange speaker -)
Here’s a picture where I added RED T-taps to those four wires next to the C2 connector:
Here’s a picture of the parrot harness, which they call the mute cable because it also includes the mute wire, with my splices to reach to the amp:
So, the connections were as follows, taken from the FEMALE (NOT MALE!!!!) parrot connector, where you look at the connectors not the pins to distinguish the parrot female from the parrot male. In other words, you'll see that the Parrot has 2 black plastic plugs on it. If the C6 radio were compatible, which it is not, one of these would plug into the back of the radio and the other would plug into the c6 harness. However, since it's not compatible, you cut 4 wires going to the plug having the larger cavity, hence, it's the female b/c a compatible plug would fit inside it. Do not go by the pins inside the connector to determine the male versus female. Here's the 4 wires to this female that you cut into.
- Blue = + right speaker; so this goes to amp connector Pin A11 (orange, right door midrange speaker +)
- Green = - right speaker; so this goes to amp connector Pin A12 (dark green, right door midrange speaker -)
- Red = + left speaker; so this goes to amp connector Pin A9 (dark blue, left door midrange speaker +)
- Orange = - left speaker; so this goes to amp connector Pin A10 (light blue, left door midrange speaker -)
Last edited by SteveL2; 09-05-2005 at 08:22 PM.
08-14-2005, 03:49 PM
#3
Team Owner
Thread Starter
5. Mute wire – in the picture above, the yellow wire is the mute wire; I extended it with a piece of green wire. This wire puts out a ground signal when a call comes in or you’re placing a call. You have to use this to control a relay, and that relay interrupts the “Antenna Enable Signal,” which is a white wire in location B11 on connector C2 – that white wire is on the bottom row of C2 and is second from the left when looking at the end of the connector into which the wires enter. Indeed, if you look two pictures up, where I’m holding the C2 connector, you’ll see I had already cut the white wire. So, here’s what I did.
Buy an SPDT relay (single pole, double throw), which is $5 from Frys and cheaper if you find it in the right place. It has 5 terminals, but you’re only going to use four of those. Here’s an example: relay link
For the parrot Bluetooth, connect as follows:
What this does is when the parrot is not receiving a call, the relay stays off and the white wire is connected directly thru the relay, from terminal 30 to terminal 87a, so the amp stays on and your radio will play (and I am guessing OnStar too, b/c I think it goes thru the amp). When a call comes in, the parrot sends a ground to the relay which causes it to switch, so the white line gets temporarily “cut.” The amp then silences!!! This took me untold hours to achieve.
By the way, with the double sided tape on the side of the parrot box, I stuck it up in the area of the back of the glove box. There’s a nice cavity there. Many zip ties later and I had all the wires tied up out of the way, too.
6. Microphone. It comes w/a few different ways to mount it. One is double sided tape and a tiny stand, which I used on the top of my rear view mirror, which it turns out has a flat upper surface. Here’s a pic, and let me say that it camouflages very nicely in front of all the black things there:
I ran the microphone wire along the top of the windshield toward the passenger seat. You’ll find w/your fingers that it’s very easy to tuck a wire in there. When you get to the “A-pillar” plastic piece that runs down the right side of the window, give it a good yank and it’ll come unclipped, and you can then tuck the wire behind it, around the place where it intersects other plastic, and into the passenger foot-well area.
UPDATE: Some years later, I moved the microphone to the A-pillar so it would be a little closer to me. After the good folks at 21st Century Muscle Cars and Lingenfelter threw some more horsepower into my car, I found that acoustics changed a bit.
So moving the microphone was a compromise to overcome this issue.
7. LCD screen. I used 2-sided tape to attach mine to the inside of the console. Unfortunately, I have since learned that it gets so hot in there that the tape is failing. I have been too lazy to find a better solution. By the way, you do NOT have to cut a cable hole for this, as you’ll find there is a gap near the emergency brake where you can route the cable under the brake boot w/o having to cut any holes. Here's a pic:
That's about it. Peace.
Buy an SPDT relay (single pole, double throw), which is $5 from Frys and cheaper if you find it in the right place. It has 5 terminals, but you’re only going to use four of those. Here’s an example: relay link
For the parrot Bluetooth, connect as follows:
- Terminal 30: white wire from connector C2
- Terminal 87a: white wire in cable that was going to connector C2 until you cut it
- Terminal 86: positive voltage – I used the same heated seat line that I used for ignition voltage
- Terminal 85: the parrot yellow wire (the mute wire).
What this does is when the parrot is not receiving a call, the relay stays off and the white wire is connected directly thru the relay, from terminal 30 to terminal 87a, so the amp stays on and your radio will play (and I am guessing OnStar too, b/c I think it goes thru the amp). When a call comes in, the parrot sends a ground to the relay which causes it to switch, so the white line gets temporarily “cut.” The amp then silences!!! This took me untold hours to achieve.
By the way, with the double sided tape on the side of the parrot box, I stuck it up in the area of the back of the glove box. There’s a nice cavity there. Many zip ties later and I had all the wires tied up out of the way, too.
6. Microphone. It comes w/a few different ways to mount it. One is double sided tape and a tiny stand, which I used on the top of my rear view mirror, which it turns out has a flat upper surface. Here’s a pic, and let me say that it camouflages very nicely in front of all the black things there:
I ran the microphone wire along the top of the windshield toward the passenger seat. You’ll find w/your fingers that it’s very easy to tuck a wire in there. When you get to the “A-pillar” plastic piece that runs down the right side of the window, give it a good yank and it’ll come unclipped, and you can then tuck the wire behind it, around the place where it intersects other plastic, and into the passenger foot-well area.
UPDATE: Some years later, I moved the microphone to the A-pillar so it would be a little closer to me. After the good folks at 21st Century Muscle Cars and Lingenfelter threw some more horsepower into my car, I found that acoustics changed a bit.
So moving the microphone was a compromise to overcome this issue.7. LCD screen. I used 2-sided tape to attach mine to the inside of the console. Unfortunately, I have since learned that it gets so hot in there that the tape is failing. I have been too lazy to find a better solution. By the way, you do NOT have to cut a cable hole for this, as you’ll find there is a gap near the emergency brake where you can route the cable under the brake boot w/o having to cut any holes. Here's a pic:
That's about it. Peace.
Last edited by SteveL2; 08-04-2010 at 12:42 PM.
08-15-2005, 02:04 AM
#7
Drifting
Member Since: May 2005
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Excellent writeup...
Another thing to add to my "list of C6 things to do". Did you consider any alternate mounting locations? Will it fit for example, in the ASHTRAY console?
Rick
Another thing to add to my "list of C6 things to do". Did you consider any alternate mounting locations? Will it fit for example, in the ASHTRAY console?
Rick
08-15-2005, 10:26 AM
#9
Le Mans Master
Steve is da man! I actually came over to his house and watched him begin the installation. The write-up he did will save a lot of you a ton of time and hassle because it wasn't quite as straight-forward the first time. Right, Steve? 
08-25-2005, 01:16 PM
#10
Heel & Toe
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Hey Steve,
I noticed you don't have Onstar. Since onstar has a mic and is already patching through the stereo, I wonder if anyone else has had any luck tapping into those connections with an aftermarket bluetooth car kit? (I have sony-ericcson kit)
I noticed you don't have Onstar. Since onstar has a mic and is already patching through the stereo, I wonder if anyone else has had any luck tapping into those connections with an aftermarket bluetooth car kit? (I have sony-ericcson kit)
08-25-2005, 03:45 PM
#11
Team Owner
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by vette-oholic
You can use this for your cell phone? are you using it for any other bluetooth devices? what model did you get?
I would like to do the same.
I would like to do the same.
The bluetooth kit I used is the Parrot ck3100.
My cell phone is a Motorola V551.
I'm really not sure what other bluetooth devices are out there other than headphones, so I don't know how anything else makes sense to work with this kit. The big point of the kit is to take audio from a bluetooth device and play it thru the car speakers, while it also does some handoff between the kit and the phone, too. For example, if I am talking on the phone before I get in the car and then get in the car in the middle of the call, the kit automatically continues the call into the car speakers.
08-25-2005, 03:49 PM
#12
Team Owner
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by thirdwaver
Hey Steve,
I noticed you don't have Onstar. Since onstar has a mic and is already patching through the stereo, I wonder if anyone else has had any luck tapping into those connections with an aftermarket bluetooth car kit? (I have sony-ericcson kit)
I noticed you don't have Onstar. Since onstar has a mic and is already patching through the stereo, I wonder if anyone else has had any luck tapping into those connections with an aftermarket bluetooth car kit? (I have sony-ericcson kit)
08-25-2005, 06:19 PM
#13
Heel & Toe
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Originally Posted by SteveL2
It was much easier just running the wire for the additional microphone, which weighs next to nothing, and stick it to the top of the rear review. I bet you could sit 10 people in my car and 9 or 10 of them would never see that microphone, so it was an easy decision for me.
My Onstar mutes my stereo completely (rather than simply lowering the volume like the nav unit does). I'm wondering if there is a simpler way to tap into that functionality than building a relay. Any thoughts?
Sean
08-25-2005, 06:33 PM
#14
Team Owner
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by thirdwaver
My Onstar mutes my stereo completely (rather than simply lowering the volume like the nav unit does). I'm wondering if there is a simpler way to tap into that functionality than building a relay. Any thoughts?
Sean
Sean
, but I was determined to prove that this pin would mute the amplifier (uh, hence the name). However, I tried more things than I likely should have at the risk of damaging something, and no go. It is possible, I guess, that there is additional programming that is done in a car that uses OnStar, so it can use this very pin. But, I make no representations about it because it baffled me. After beating my head for days on this, a relay was a very acceptable alternative.
08-28-2005, 09:51 AM
#15
Drifting
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Very acceptable alternative indeed.
Mine went in with reasonable ease (helped that I used my long-time mobile audio installer too).
A thing to note though - your photo's & description of the audio connectors from the Parrot where "somewhat confusing". We ended up hooking the incorrect connectors wires into the speaker harness. After trial & error (and a call to Parrot technical support) we discovered or problem and hooked up the wires from the OTHER connector. Is the "female connector" the one with "recepticle holes" even though it extends like a male connector OR the one with the pins (even though they're recessed IN the connector)?
Viola'!
Nice implementation of bluetooth in the car. I drilled a hole and mounted the display on the "Passenger Airbag Idiot Light" console so I could see it better. Doesn't make sense to need to flip the console open @ speed to see/access the display functions. Volume through the door-mids is excellent. Noise rejection if good, though at highway speeds (between tire & GHL exhaust noise) it's not very good (will be resolved this week by "dynamat-ing" the rear cabin).
Good research, nice write-up. Made the install alot easier than flying blind. My installer LOVES these internet forums - they make his life alot easier.
Regards,
Rick
Mine went in with reasonable ease (helped that I used my long-time mobile audio installer too).
A thing to note though - your photo's & description of the audio connectors from the Parrot where "somewhat confusing". We ended up hooking the incorrect connectors wires into the speaker harness. After trial & error (and a call to Parrot technical support) we discovered or problem and hooked up the wires from the OTHER connector. Is the "female connector" the one with "recepticle holes" even though it extends like a male connector OR the one with the pins (even though they're recessed IN the connector)?
Viola'!
Nice implementation of bluetooth in the car. I drilled a hole and mounted the display on the "Passenger Airbag Idiot Light" console so I could see it better. Doesn't make sense to need to flip the console open @ speed to see/access the display functions. Volume through the door-mids is excellent. Noise rejection if good, though at highway speeds (between tire & GHL exhaust noise) it's not very good (will be resolved this week by "dynamat-ing" the rear cabin).
Good research, nice write-up. Made the install alot easier than flying blind. My installer LOVES these internet forums - they make his life alot easier.
Regards,
Rick
08-28-2005, 09:17 PM
#16
Team Owner
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by SickRick
...Is the "female connector" the one with "recepticle holes" even though it extends like a male connector OR the one with the pins (even though they're recessed IN the connector)?
Viola'!...
Viola'!...
Now I'm going from memory as I'm a bit umotivated to go pull down the panel and box to see what connector was what. But, from memory, I thought it was the female connector, where the parrot has two black connectors, and one could plug into the other. The female, therefore, had the bigger plastic housing and the male the smaller housing, where the male therefore is intended to plug into a larger housing on the back of a radio that uses that kind of connection.
With this defintion, was it the female connector you used? Please let me know so I can clarfiy my write-up for the next victim that comes along.
08-29-2005, 11:12 AM
#17
Melting Slicks
I meant is this only for phone or can you use with other devices. for example, can you send MP3s from a PDA that has bluetooth? sounds like it's only for phones?
Originally Posted by SteveL2
Sorry, but somehow I missed your question.
The bluetooth kit I used is the Parrot ck3100.
My cell phone is a Motorola V551.
I'm really not sure what other bluetooth devices are out there other than headphones, so I don't know how anything else makes sense to work with this kit. The big point of the kit is to take audio from a bluetooth device and play it thru the car speakers, while it also does some handoff between the kit and the phone, too. For example, if I am talking on the phone before I get in the car and then get in the car in the middle of the call, the kit automatically continues the call into the car speakers.
The bluetooth kit I used is the Parrot ck3100.
My cell phone is a Motorola V551.
I'm really not sure what other bluetooth devices are out there other than headphones, so I don't know how anything else makes sense to work with this kit. The big point of the kit is to take audio from a bluetooth device and play it thru the car speakers, while it also does some handoff between the kit and the phone, too. For example, if I am talking on the phone before I get in the car and then get in the car in the middle of the call, the kit automatically continues the call into the car speakers.
08-29-2005, 03:39 PM
#18
Team Owner
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by vette-oholic
I meant is this only for phone or can you use with other devices. for example, can you send MP3s from a PDA that has bluetooth? sounds like it's only for phones?
However, here's my two UNeducated guesses:
(1) it would work b/c Bluetooth is governed by a standard, so the the Parrot would pick it up and play it
(2) it would sound lousy b/c the Parrot recommends you only drive 2 speakers, so for my phone output I am only driving my door midrange speakers. The Parrot also has yet another set of outputs that theoretically can go thru an amplifier, but with all the madness of how the amp system works with the NAV unit I wasn't about to try this, plus this would requiring figuring out how to mute the head unit and I never figured that out (I mute the amp, not the head unit).
Hope that helps.
08-30-2005, 12:21 AM
#19
Drifting
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Originally Posted by SteveL2
Thanks for the comment. Ironically, I too hooked mine up w/the wrong connector so I was trying to avoid that for the next person.
Now I'm going from memory as I'm a bit umotivated to go pull down the panel and box to see what connector was what. But, from memory, I thought it was the female connector, where the parrot has two black connectors, and one could plug into the other. The female, therefore, had the bigger plastic housing and the male the smaller housing, where the male therefore is intended to plug into a larger housing on the back of a radio that uses that kind of connection.
With this defintion, was it the female connector you used? Please let me know so I can clarfiy my write-up for the next victim that comes along.
Now I'm going from memory as I'm a bit umotivated to go pull down the panel and box to see what connector was what. But, from memory, I thought it was the female connector, where the parrot has two black connectors, and one could plug into the other. The female, therefore, had the bigger plastic housing and the male the smaller housing, where the male therefore is intended to plug into a larger housing on the back of a radio that uses that kind of connection.
With this defintion, was it the female connector you used? Please let me know so I can clarfiy my write-up for the next victim that comes along.
The correct connector to use the wires from, is the one with the MALE PINS (even though it looks like a female connector). That's what threw us off, as the part with "recepticals" (vagina's if you will) is usually designated "female". (see how everything comes around to SEX if you let it?)
Rick
