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Old 05-11-2013, 11:07 PM   #1
deanesn
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 260578
Join Date: Oct 2010
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Mundelein, IL
Vehicle:
2011 WRX Premium
WRB

Default Install Parrot Asteroid Smart + Unika in 2011 WRX

I've seen some fellow subys have installed the Parrot Asteroid Smart in their cars but I figured I will do a little write up on some of the frustrations I encountered during mine in hope that others won't have go through.

Let me start by saying the Parrot Asteroid Smart is a very nice unit. The unit has everything I needed and if it didn't have it out of the box I got it myself later one. A good example is the stock iGO maps just plain suck, but I have gotten myself Sygic navigation installed and I love it. Ok, let's moving on.

The install of the Parrot unit itself was very easy and I won't do any write up on that since anybody can figure that out. For my install I contacted SVXdc (David) and I got the 20-pin forward harness with 3 SWC cables for the steering wheel buttons. I want to thank SVXdc for making my life easier with his harness. Very nice guy, quick responses and fast shipping. Just awesome. Like I said the Parrot unit was a breeze to install and I got it up and running in less than an hour. Ones I got that working I used it for a couple days and I realized that I will definitely need the steering wheel media buttons to work. Since Parrot Asteroid Smart does not have any physical buttons other than the power button it is really annoying to control volume on the unit while driving. So I tried to get the Unika unit that is needed to get any steering wheel buttons to work with the Parrot Asteroid Smart. And no, Metra will not work so give up on that idea. Parrot are based in Europe so they have partnered up with Paser (manufacture of Unika) which are big company like PAC and Metra here in the US and Unika is the only device that will work with Parrot at least for now. I ordered my Unika unit from Amazon and few days later my order was canceled and my money returned because they didn't have it. Later I tried to get it through TigerDirect but called customer service before I bought it and I was told that 9 were left and again few days later my order was canceled and money returned. Finally called Crutchfield and asked if they have Unika and they did and I got it few days later. This where all my headaches began. The instructions with the Unika unit are worthless but I hope I can help here. I've found this diagram online that was created by Parrot or Paser and let me tell you that it was wrong, but I have corrected the diagrams and also made the right colors of cables that came with SVXdc's harness. EDIT: David pinged me by email and made these nice diagrams. I had originally screwed the position of the cables in my. Also he was nice enough to make one for those without BT buttons.


Do note that the diagram is looking from back of the our stock 20-pin connector. Also 2011 Subarus use resistive communication and not CAN so don't try to set the dip switches on Unika to CAN communications.
So, you need to take Unika V1 cable and connect with RED/BROWN(pin 4) cable, Unika GND goes to BLACK/GROWN(pin 14) cable and Unika AUX1 goes to BLUE/BROWN(pin 13). Also you need to hook up Unika with power so you will need to connect Unika to ACC and IGN power cables from your harness. The 4-pin small connector from Unika that goes in the back of Parrot has red cable that gets power from Parrot but the voltage is only 3.5V and it is not enough to power Unika.
I hope this is simple enough to understand. On the original diagram from Parrot/Paser it said use V1 and V2 and GND but that was wrong. V1 connected to the RED/BROWN cable will only give you 4 buttons which are VOL+, VOL-, FWD, RWD. Also let me say that the Modes A, B, C and D on Unika have nothing to do with the dip switches. The modes only mean how many buttons would get. We will only get 7 buttons out of all the 8 available. This is because Unika assigns Voice Command and Call Button to a single button. So when you are programming your buttons you will have to make a choice of which button will be the Call/Voice function. I assigned the Subaru Voice command button to be the Call/Voice button. The end call button functions as normal it end calls and it takes you to your home screen. The Unika will understand the resistive com from our Mode, Call, End Call and Voice through Unika's AUX1 cable. So you need to pair up AUX1 with BLUE/BROWN cable. Unika's GND cable pairs with our BLACK/BROWN. After connected just follow the instructions on how to program your buttons and you are all set.
Here are my cables connected from Unika to SVXdc's harness.

Here is how my dip switches are set.


This how I hooked up my AUX 3.5mm and USB. I actually reused the original Subaru media box that is in the center holder. I did buy aux adapter from Amazon and here is the link to http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003B01AHS/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I ended up reusing just a plain old USB extension cable with A Male to A Female. The USB extension fit perfectly in the media box ones I removed OEM Subaru USB and 3.5 AUX board. Here is what I did.



I have yet to decided if I want to widen the 3.5mm aux hole to shove iSimple Aux adapter all the way in but for right now it works perfectly. I have left some slack under my hand brake and I can pull the extension out if I needed and when done just shove it back in. It works for now but it's an eye sore. Well here are the final pics of how it looks in my car.



I hope this helps anybody that decides to buy the Parrot Asteroid Smart.
I am very happy with my Parrot even though it has a whole bunch of bugs. Like the biggest one is that when the unit completely goes off and when it is turned backs on again it will start playing your USB music from the begging. Parrot said they will fix this issue in the next update but I don't know when this will happen. I also have rooted mine and I have installed Google Play store and that is how I got Sygic Navigation. I also have installed ADW Launcher EX and Fuelio to keep track of my fuel consumption. I also have Google Maps but you will need to tether your phone's data in order for Google Maps to work.
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Last edited by deanesn; 06-20-2014 at 01:56 PM.
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