Has anyone fitted one? Now that my new old xjr has navigation it seems like a nice addition.

thoughts?

 

That looks intriguing. I'm not afraid to dig in and solder stuff, I had to do that in an Olds Aurora I had when I replaced the radio with a modern one. I had to hide the factory radio in a cubby space under the dash on the center tunnel and connect some control bus wires to keep the steering wheel buttons for the HVAC controls functional. That forum had all the info, and while it seems clumsy, the factory radio is out of the way and invisible, and everything worked from the steering wheel like it should; HVAC temp and fan speed, and music volume and prev/next.

What puts me off is the developmental nature of this device. "By placing an order you acknowledge that you agree there could be glitches and bugs in the early versions." Are updates going to be downloadable and installable, or are we stuck at the development stage we bought?

 

That’s kind of why I’m wondering who has tried it and thoughts. Having your hvac controls per of your radio makes things a bit tricky

 

Yeah, GM is stupid that way. The steering buttons for HVAC went through the radio first, just because they were on the same bus with the radio buttons on the wheel, and the radio then passed those along. The other goofy thing I forgot was that the only clock in the car was in the radio, so the dashboard "driver information center" could not set a date without the factory radio hooked in. Another bus that had to be tapped into in the radio and have the wires spliced into the harness, just so all the devices thought the original radio still existed. Well, it did, for everything except being a radio...

Other GM cars have other things in the radio, like the seatbelt/headlight/key-in-the-ignition warning. Seriously? In the RADIO???? The radio in the Jaguar doesn't seem to contain circuits for anything else in the car, the way GM does.

I still have the radio that I'd put in that Aurora, and I was going to put it into the Jag, specifically for BT streaming, but of course there's no exact aftermarket adapter for fitment into the console, although I'm seeing the adapters for the S-type fit but leave a gap at the edge. Advantage, it's already paid for, and I know it works. Disadvantage, changing the appearance of the dash console, and I'd have to run speaker wires since it has no idea what the optical bus is. I'd most likely lose the subwoofer as well. Haven't really looked into the audio wiring yet, being busy with troubleshooting, then dumping, the air suspension. This Jagaux kit would have to be purchased and wired in, but the car still looks original when it's done. Advantage and disadvantage exactly opposite my on-hand radio!

 

OK, I ordered one. Installation is not exactly plug-n-play, as you do need to be confident in your ability to get inside the radio and do some soldering. There are nine wires that need to be soldered onto very-well-identified pins on the various boards, and the ribbon cable between the CD player and the main board need two pins blocked, either by taping them over (which makes the cable difficult to reinsert into its connector) or by trimming the conductor off of the cable (which makes going back if you change your mind a bit more difficult.) There is also a different one to order, depending on if you have the separate amplifier in your car or not, and that wasn't very clear on his site, but his email confirmed with me before he shipped that I was getting the right item. I had ordered the wrong one.

I had a spare radio on hand, one I'd gotten from eBay because my display was not illuminating (but does now thanks to this thread - did both tasks while I had the radio out,) so I cut the conductors from the cable, since I had another cable, indeed, another entire radio, if I ended up needing it.

Initial programming went correctly, the device programmed the steering wheel buttons and passed them through. However, my phone never saw anything to pair with. On one occasion I my BT scan returned a MAC address and told me I'd get a name after pairing, but it wouldn't pair. No other scans ever showed anything ne to connect to. For all I know that result from from a passing car while I was making the attempt to scan. I contacted the seller and he's allowing me to return it.

Conceptually, the device is clever. It inserts itself into the CD (or Tape, if you have a cassette player rather than a CD player in your radio) and either passes that signal through transparently, or substitutes its own audio stream back into the car, what it's getting from your BT music player. You leave your radio on CD, and a CD actually has to be in the radio and playing, even though you won't hear it if the device is switched over to BT streaming. A long hold on the Mute button switches it back and forth between BT streaming and CD playing, but the radio always thinks it's CD. Being able to substitute its own signal for the CD is why those two lines of the ribbon cable get cut, and the device's input and output connections are made at connectors near each end of the ribbon cable. It gets power and ground from the daughterboard that holds the radio's main connector, and it also sees the steering wheel buttons from a pin on that daughterboard.

I really don't know why my phone couldn't find it to pair with, and the jagaux guy had some troubleshooting steps I could have taken if I were a little bit better with the electronics end of things, but I'm not. Hopefully sending it back to him in Russia isn't going to be a significant fraction of its original cost! I haven't shipped it out yet, I heard back from him about the return just today. His communication throughout the process was excellent; he confirmed that I'd ordered the right one, which I hadn't. He notified me when he's built and shipped it, and he tried to work with me to troubleshoot, but what he wanted to do was beyond my skillset, and he understood it probably would be. If you can hold a fine-tip soldering iron and you have a set of magnifying lenses that let you see what you're doing, I still highly recommend giving this a try. It's not plug-n-play, it is a hobbyist-level project, and I really wish it had worked. I guess I'm back to playing CDs, which is rather... quaint.

 

I ended up getting an aftermarket direct fit radio ...We will see how that goes once I get to it. Similar costs

 

Found this thread through google and decided to hop in with an update

I have built first module for my X-Type. And was really happy to have, btw! I still think that is the best option for our Jaguars!
As any device I produce, it has to pass a lot of testing. Hours of driving, all kinds of button presses and a lot of firmware changes.
That stage has ended a year ago, I didn't have time to delete those warnings. I'll go and edit it right away )

wfooshee, I am sorry to hear, that you did not get a chance to pair your phone with the module. That is the 1st case, when the Bluetooth is not visible for pairing.
If only something might have happened to it during the delivery, that is the only thing I can think of. I test every module prior to sending.
You can send it to me via a regular mail and I will check and see if it still works.

On the soldering part. It was really hard to solder thin wires on the Premium version.
So I have developed a Solderless Extension, which lets you install the module with just a screwdriver and pliers.
It is sold separately for now, but I will completely switch all Bluetooth versions to solderless soon.

 

Hi all. New time user, long time lurker on the forums. Thought I'd chip in and resurrect this with an update.

I've just bought and installed the newest 2023 version of Jagaux for the Alpine / premium system in my XJ. Its a solderless installation now which is great. Been using it for about a week and so far, no issues at all. Thought I'd let you all know. Alex from Jagaux was super helpful over email as well.

I've made a video guide which I'll uploaded to YouTube which will hopefully help someone out there. Shows the full installation procedure (console dismantling, radio unit removal, modding the CD player and a demo of the unit working). I couldn't find a straight-forward and clear guide to removing the centre console (they're all blurry, dark, skip a discription etc.) so I've filmed it as an "absolute beginner" guide. Its literally a step-by-step idiots guide and therefore quite a long video but I'll add chapters if youtube lets me.

Watch this space...

 

Link to the youtube video plz

 

sorry it is the video on JAGAUX own site

 

Hey great!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by XxSlowpokexX

Hey great!

I have it installed. It works fine.

 

I started with the original not-pre-wired Jagaux a couple of years ago, got it installed, and my phone wouldn't pair with it. He was willing to take me through several troubleshooting steps, but what he wanted to do was beyond my capabilities electronically. He said he'd gladly accept a return, but it turned out the shipping on the return (at the time, to Russia) was a significant fraction of the actual price, so I elected to keep it and maybe retry someday. After a significant amount of time, meaning months and months, he contacted me by email and asked about my status with it. When I reported that I had none, he offered me the newer solderless version gratis, which arrived quickly.

Time passes, I had other issues with the car, notable the cooling system overhaul I just went through, but today I finally dug out the radio and got the new Jagaux installed. It worked perfectly, my phone paired with it and plays perfectly, and makes and receives call. I could not be happier with the device.

installation was SO MUCH EASIER than the prior version! On that version, you had to connect wires to specific points on the radio's circuit board, and remove a pin from the cable between the circuit board and the CD player. In this version, all of those connections are made with an adapter with two cables on it. You remove the cable from the circuit board to the CD player and connect the cables from the adapter in its place. There is a squueze-tap on one of the wires in the connector behind the radio, very clearly identified in the pictures. You still have to remove and open up the radio, so there's a certain amount of intimidation in that, but you don't have to do anything other than connect the Jagaux's cables to the existing sockets.

On set up and initially programming with the mute-forward-back buttons on the steering wheel, I was able to pair my phone instantly, and I have MUSIC STREAMING INTO the CAR!!!!! The appearance of the console is unchanged from the factory look, and the devices is hidden away inside the console. Running the microphone cable was just bout the most complicated piece of the installation! I can't say enough good things about the product, nor about the vendor, who outdid himself taking care of me through the whole process.