Microphone mount and wiring route from receiver head unit?

[RMcG]

I am installing an aftermarket Pioneer DEH-S4220BT Receiver with a jack on the back of the receiver for a microphone for hands free talking on a cellphone. A microphone with clip and cable with a plug that fits into the jack came with the installation kit. See pictures, the mic can swivel on the clip. The cable length is about 9.5 feet (115 inches).

Crutchfield sold me the Pioneer receiver, but they have no suggestions or instructions for how to route the microphone cable from the jack in the back of the receiver unit to the microphone's final mounting point.

I looked on the forum posts here and I don’t see anything that is really conclusive on how to do this. Some people, however, suggest a mounting inside the overhead map lights, see e.g., this thread Grill near map light. A mounting there would probably require removing the trim on the A pillar to run cable under the ceiling cloth to get to the map lights. I am not sure exactly how to do this.

I have thought about temporarily mounting the mic on the base of the windshield wiper control lever until I can come up with a long term better solution.

Does anybody have any comments or suggestions as to how to route the cable or where to mount the mic?

Thanks,

R.

MicPic1.jpg

MicPic2.jpg

[CrankyOldMan]

Running up the A-pillar is a good option, just have to make sure the cable is long enough to reach wherever it's going. If your hatch has side curtain airbags--there's a label if you do, see attached--there are single-use plastic clips holding the A-pillar in place that will be damaged/destroyed when you remove it.

Parts diagram for the front door trim:
https://parts.toyota.com/a/Toyota_20...2420-6401.html

I drilled a hole in the inside of my driver's glove box for my Scanguage and also run the microphone cable through there for my Scion head unit. Less dismantling and routing but lots of leftover cable. The adhesive that came with it also didn't hold, so the mic is just dangling by the steering wheel. Not very elegant but it functions.

[RMcG]

Thanks for your reply Crank. After getting out in the car, doing the actual installation of the Head Unit and looking at the situation in the car, I came up with the following solution, which I think could be permanent.

I opened the "trap door" in the dash underneath the steering wheel & steering column. After removing the centrally located trim to install the Head Unit, as shown for example, in this video link, I reached the situation at about 2:35 on the video, with an empty space (or hole) for the head unit. At this point, it is possible to reach through the open trap door under the steering wheel with my left hand and touch the right hand that is reaching through the empty space (or hole) left by the old stereo. So I realized that I could hand the plug end of the mic cable through the trap door into the hole left by the stereo. And then I could connect the mic cable to the back of the head unit.

After plugging the mic into the back of the head unit, I then ran the cable up the inner side of the steering column-- this was possible to do even with the "trap door" closed, because the edge of the trap door has an opening in its middle. I then just attached the mic clip (see picture of mic clip in my previous post) to the front edge of the lid of the driver's side dash compartment, see attached picture. I tested this position (while not driving) by calling somebody on my cellphone using the blue tooth connection for the head unit and the mic worked well.

Even though the "spokes" of the steering wheel might get between my mouth and the mic when the steering wheel is turned, I think this position should be only momentary when making a sharp turn. And I do not think that it will effect the operation of the mic significantly. I will test it out though.

Even though the mic is attached to front edge of the lid of the driver's side dash compartment, the lid still closes completely. The lid also closes completely if the clip/mic is removed from the edge of the lid and the clip/mic is stored in the driver's side dash compartment (with the cable running up into the compartment.

By the way, there was plenty of cable left over, so I just wound the excess cable in a loop and secured the loop with the plastic/metal reusable cable twist tie that came with the mic.

This method is simple, you can't see the cable, the cable is out of the way, and the method does not require any tools (e.g., a drill) and it seems to work and I think the mounting could be permanent. It seems you can also open and close the dash compartment without any problem or significant inconvenience.

Thanks,

R.

MicrophoneMount.jpg

[CrankyOldMan]

Nice and simple. Well done!

[RMcG]

Originally Posted by CrankyOldMan

Nice and simple. Well done!

Thank you Sir! I value your input, comments and suggestions!

R.