MikeMeyerhoff Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 I've had a Kenwood X997 for a while and really like it as far as sound quality and everything it can do. What I don't like is the interface. Changing sources required hitting a button and then using the volume knob (while looking at the display). Searching through radio presets was not much better. Overall its not very convenient while driving and to make it worse there is no easy power or mute to quickly turn it off when you need to. So I thought I'd give a steering wheel control adapter a try and it turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it would be. Wiring: For my 86, the steering wheel control harness has four wires:Black is groundBlue w/White line is 12V keyed accessory powerYellow w/White line is the signal wire that feeds the SWI-RCGreen is not used. (The FSM says connects to fused power. Mine is keyed, but less than one volt. Maybe its part of the dimming circuit for the lights on the steering wheel buttons?) For the SWI-RC:Black is groundRed is 12V keyed accessory powerYellow is signal input wire and should be connected to the Yellow w/White line in the cars steering wheel control harness.Blue w/Yellow line is the signal output that goes to the X997.I didn't use the 3.5mm mini plug output or the White, Orange, or Green inputs. There is also a solid blue wire that I didn't use and don't know purpose it has. Programming: Turn the "Radio" dial on the side to 3 for Kenwood AFTER that, program the "vehicle version" to 5 for Starquests Then you can program the individual buttons to a function. Keep in mind my 86 has the "early" buttons and yours might be different. The kenwood function stack goes in this specific order: Volume + function mapped to Vol + buttonVolume - function mapped to Vol - buttonMute function mapped to Power buttonSource function mapped to AM/FM buttonPlay function not usedTrack + function not usedTrack - function not usedDisc +/FM+ function mapped to Seek buttonDisc -/FM- function mapped to Scan buttonAnswer function not used How it works: Sources are cycled through and can be done without taking my eyes off the road. Same with radio presets and being able to skip forward in MP3 playlists. The mute function is really like 90% mute, but its better than having to spin the volume knob like crazy. The only thing to watch out for is holding the volume buttons to long. It seems to lag/store input... so if you hold them down you'll get a BUNCH of volume. Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importwarrior Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 Nice Write up!pinned for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeintheconquest Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 (edited) I have the same adapter, and yes, tapping the buttons is something you learn quickly! LOL I think I attached a wiring diagram in here somewhere. Edited July 23, 2015 by Leeintheconquest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importwarrior Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 link it in here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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