Wiring In A New Cell Phone

[Marty Witt]

I just switched to Verizon and purchased an LG VX6000 phone (currently one of the most popular models). I also purchased the hands free car kit for this phone. I think I know where to get the "custom" mounting bracket, looks like the Tessco 86556 is the way to go. I know how to tear out the center console as needed to install the bracket and get to the stereo wiring. I know that there is an antenna wire in my trunk that is unused. But I have a few questions:

1. Will this antenna wire work for a digital phone? (the phone that came with the SC's was an Anolog phone)

2. If it will work with digital, where does the other end terminate? Center console? Dash?

3. If it will work with digital, what kind of antenna did Lexus hook it up to? A separate antenna? The motorized antenna?

4. Has anybody installed a similar system? If so, what is the radio mute wire for a 1995 SC400 and where is it located?

5. Is it possible to hook up the speaker through the cars system instead of installing the speaker that came with the car kit?

6. What are the best wires to hook up the 12V and ignition wires to? I assume it will be the main wires going to the ignition, but thought maybe the wires that go to the stereo might also work?

I have searched this web site but only found sporadic information, mainly for other Lexus models. So any advise will be a big benefit. If/when I get this baby installed, I will share my new found expertise with the group.

[Marty Witt]

Well, since no one else is replying, I will. I talked with a Verizon installer today and he was quite informative. The existing antenna wire will only pick up an analog signal, so I will have to install a new antenna wire and antenna. He recommended staying away from attempting to wire in the stereo for the sound. The speaker that comes with the kit works well he claims. I have ordered the custom bracket to mount the system on the right side of the console. So, hopefully I may give it a whirl this weekend. Feel free to comment.

[AWJ]

Nice work Marty. Had no idea. Let us know how it goes for ya.

[1990LS400]

Marty,

According to http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread...&highlight=mute the Lexus Portable Plus phone was available in the SC400 beginning in 1993. If you have a six pin male connector for the Portable Plus phone under your center console like I have on my LS, the installation of your car kit may be relatively simple. In my 00 LS, the mute wire is the front center pin in the the six pin male Portable Plus connector under the console. In my 00 LS, constantly hot and ignition-switched pins are also available in the same six pin connector. Use a simple 12 volt test light to find the correct pins in the connector. A coax cable for the Portable Plus phone was also under the console and could be activatedd by connecting two coax cables in the trunk.

To find the mute wire, probe the connecter with a grounded 12 volt test light until the radio mutes. On my 00 LS, all I had to do was jam the phone kit's mute wire (after stripping off 1/4 inch of insulation) into the center front terminal of the Portable Plus connector and secure it with a wire tie.

If you do not have or can't find a Portable Plus male connector under the console, you can probably find a simlar mute point in the wiring harness that would connect the phone transceiver in the trunk - in my LS the mute wire was "gray with green stripe" but the wire color may be different on your SC.

Although we did not install digital antennas on either our 90 LS or 98 Camry, the signal strength meters on our dual mode and tri-mode phones indicated that they worked very well regardless of antenna type. I thought the same co-ax cable type was used for both digital and analog antennas but I am not familiar with the technology. The antenna imprinted on the rear window of our 00 LS works great with my GSM/TDMA/AMPS tri-mode phone.

Consider buying an electrical manual or printing relevent pages from Toyota/Lexus TIS on-line = last time I checked a one day subscripion was $10.

It would probably be relatively easy to hook up a phone car kit to play though the radio speakers and lower the ventilation fan speed like the factory phone does but I didn't think it was worth the trouble so I didn't bother.

[1990LS400]

Whoops, I posted the wrong link to the web page that says that the Portable Plus phone was available in the SC beginning in '93. Now I can't find the link. Sorry!

Regarding connecting the power wires. On my 90 LS the phone car kit installer connected both the switched and constantly hot wires to the fuse box under the dash with spade connectors designed for that purpose and which he just jammed them into the fuse box . I had an audio shop connect the power wires to the ignition switch on my 00 LS. If I had known about the 6-pin male portable plus connector at the time I installed the car kit in the 00 LS, I would have connected the switched and unswitch power wires of the kit to two of the pins on the 6-pin connector.

[Marty Witt]

Thanks for the input. I will start by looking under/in the center console first before I connect the 12V and ignition wires. I was most likely going to do them under the dash because that is where I wired in my remote starter/alarm. I'm just waiting for the custom bracket to come in, hopefully tomorrow. I will update with my progress. Thanks again!!