Alpine iLX-007 Parking Brake Bypass

[mortybryant]

I installed the Alpine iLX-007 in my '15 RS1.0 last night. I've read a few places where you can ground the parking brake wire in order to bypass it. Is this true? I didn't connect it because I didn't think it was that important. Turns out, the unit is in "DEMO MODE" and I can't turn it off without being able to access General Settings, which is impossible without the parking brake wire connected.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Chimera]

depends on brand and unit, ie, my pioneer requires a double switch action, (grd, un grd, grd again) however my girlfriends alpine just needs to be grounded. in my girlfriends car I wired hers to ground always. in my car I have a simple rocker switch with the green lead on one terminal and a wire to ground on the other, allowing me to switch ground.

you can try touching the wire to pretty much any metal and see if that's enough, if its not (like with the pioneers) you may need a rocker switch, they can be have from auto stores or radio shack for $10.

edit:
there are also relay based automatic bypasses out there on ebay and such, I haven't messed with them, seem like a waste of money to me, but they probably work, and then you don't need to worry about switches.

[keithr]

Originally Posted by mortybryant

I installed the Alpine iLX-007 in my '15 RS1.0 last night. I've read a few places where you can ground the parking brake wire in order to bypass it. Is this true?

From what I've read, you can't just ground it on that model.

You can either wire it properly to the parking brake wire (dig around the forum here, the info is out there, I just don't have it at the ready), or you can get a bypass. The PAC TR-7 will work and is around $15 US, give or take, depending on what sources you have for purchase. Or you can search for "alpine microbypass" and the cost is probably around the same.

Originally Posted by Chimera

there are also relay based automatic bypasses out there on ebay and such, I haven't messed with them, seem like a waste of money to me

If rocker switches are about $10, and you can pick up a micro bypass for about $15 instead, I'd consider the $5 to not be wasted if it saves the hassle of having to dink around with switches every time I wanted to utilize features on my radio.