Toyota Sienna with Kenwood Music Keg

[arexsvn]

I would like to stuff an Keg into our 99 Sienna minivan. I understand that I would have to flash the Kenwood Keg to Toyota firmware. With your guidance I have succeeded this way in the past with Audi phatboxes connected to a Kenwood head unit and a Mazda OEM radio.

I was looking over:
http://www.pie.net/images/appguide/dpx.pdf

and I saw some choices for cables for Toyota TOY/PC-ALP also -SAN -SON and -CLR for the various radio makes to choose from. Looking at my radio from the Sienna, it says:

Delco Model (9 numbers). The closest cable on the PIE site that matches the PhatNoise instructions for Toyota radios is the TOY/PC-CLR for Clarion (not Delco).

Am I on the right track? Can I get the right cable from PIE? Any suggestions?

[SteveC]

It's my understanding that the Toyota, Honda, Porsche and other later additions to the supported lineup required a hardware change in the Phatbox. These changes were never made in the Kenwood Keg line. I believe that the original Keg can be used only with Kenwood, Sony, BMW, VW and TrafficPro headunits.

[arexsvn]

Thanks for the reply. So, if I stick with PhatNoise hardware, what should be my next steps to find the right cable for Toyota? Is it really a Delco or should I choose the Clarion cable? Where could I get the cable?

[az1324]

Well I think Porsche uses Becker (Traffic Pro) headunits right?

So the older hardware including VW/Audi dont work with Honda/Acura and Toyota and Ford/Lincoln/Mercury but they do work with BMW, Kenwood, Porsche/Ferrari, Sony, Traffic Pro, Volvo, and Mazda as far as I know.  

The best thing to try to do is try to find a Phatbox that is the lastest rev and then buy the Toyota cable from Phatnoise.  Then, of course, publish the cable pinout so others can confirm if Toyota does in fact need the new hardware.

[arexsvn]

I doubt PhatNoise will sell me the Toyota cable. Has anyone had success with them?
I have two of the Audi\VW PhatNoise boxes, purchased new (eBay). I assume the hardware version is relatively recent. And, the car is a 1999.

[az1324]

No the VW/Audi boxes are not the latest hardware revision.  I'm saying if you buy a used Phatbox standard box somewhere Phatnoise will sell you the cable once you give them that serial number.  The cable will most likely be useless with the VW/Audi Boxes.

[arexsvn]

Thanks for the reply.

So:
If I bought a PhatBox from PhatNoise in 1999, it would work if I bought their 1999 Phatbox and put it in a 1999 Toyota, right?

Yet, if I bought a 2005 Phabox for Vw/Audi it would not work with a 1999 Toyota radio?

[az1324]

I don't know the dates of the hardware revisions, but I think the latest is CAS-012-PBOX Rev B

I'm also not sure that there is such a thing as a 2005 Phatbox, when the last date a VW phatbox was manufactured, etc... but I have seen a whole lot of them and they are all the same.

[SteveC]

Thanks for the reply.

So:
If I bought a PhatBox from PhatNoise in 1999, it would work if I bought their 1999 Phatbox and put it in a 1999 Toyota, right?

Yet, if I bought a 2005 Phabox for Vw/Audi it would not work with a 1999 Toyota radio?

No, that's not correct. You have to understand the evolution of the Phatbox (this is just off the top of my head, some specifics may be off):

1) Phatbox Red - basically a beta unit, supported Kenwood, firmware updates add support for most 1st gen headunits
2) Phatbox LE (silver) pre-2002 (approximate) - The first "real" retail model. Supports Kenwood, Sony, BMW, VW, Trafficpro, Audi.
3) Kenwood Keg - basically the LE in a new chassis. The 710 was the entry level, the 910 had an upgraded audio stage.
4) Phatbox Visteon - Only supported Visteon headunits. The only Phatbox to support Visteon headunits. Can't be used with anything else.
5) VW Phatbox - like the Keg, just supported the 1st gen headunits.
6) Phatbox LE (silver) post 2002 (approximate). Made hardware changes to support Toyota, Honda, Accura, Landrover, etc. Supports any Phatbox compatible headunit (except Visteon).

So it doesn't matter what year Toyota you have, the only possible match is the late model Phatbox. Period.

Also, to the best of anyone's knowledge, none of the OEM versions were ever updated with the new hardware changes - they were all based on the 1st gen Phatbox LE - so you are correct that it doesn't matter what year you get your VW phatbox, it's still not going to work with the Toyota.

Finally, none of this takes 3rd party protocol adapters into account. I'm just talking about native support.

[az1324]

Thanks for the reply.

6) Phatbox LE (silver) post 2002 (approximate). Made hardware changes to support Toyota, Honda, Accura, Landrover, etc. Supports any Phatbox compatible headunit (except Visteon).

Range Rover interface is the same as BMW.