# Uconnect 8.4 tips/tricks



## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

Hey all, I finally made the decision to unload my 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland to get a 2018 Jeep GC Altitude. I was thinking for the longest time that I wanted to put an iPad in my Jeep, but the integration just wasn't something I wanted to deal with, especially with it getting so hot out here in Phoenix. That being said, I really like the 8.4 Uconnect system that these things have, and the version in the 2018's seem to be better than prior versions, or so I've gathered from forum reading. I thought it had carplay, but even if it doesn't, I see two usb ports. I'd like to use the factory headunit and not bypass it as others have done. Would I be able to get a good, clean signal to my dsp and amps feeding an iPod, or something similar, to the 8.4 factory system?


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

PAC makes a plug and play adapter that gives you 6 channels of clean, unequalized RCA output.

https://pac-audio.com/catalog/amppro-amplifier-interfaces/


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

eficalibrator said:


> PAC makes a plug and play adapter that gives you 6 channels of clean, unequalized RCA output.
> 
> https://pac-audio.com/catalog/amppro-amplifier-interfaces/



Thanks man, I just checked out that. $350 is kinda steep for that, though. Is this completely necessary then to get a flat signal from hu?

Also, I see that it offers digital output. How is this possible as I believe it's sending an analog signal to the oe amp, right?


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## What? (Jun 5, 2008)

Less expensive than a radio.
Less expensive (or similar to) and better solution than an integration device.
Easy install and available harness that plugs into amp wiring.
Seems like an easy choice.


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## dobslob (Sep 19, 2011)

It is by far the best option for the system you have. We don't sell it, but we advise people use it to work with our products because it is the best. You can go about it other ways and it may work but there are more bad scenarios than good.


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

fair enough, it's not overly expensive, just more than what i was expecting. that being said, i do like the idea of it being plug/play and made by a reliable company. now, i am curious about the digital out capabilities of it, though. i haven't yet investigated the amp area, but i am not expecting a digital signal to be sent to the factory amp. how would that pac unit extrapolate a digital signal then?

aside from amp integration, source material is a concern for me too. this has at least two usb inputs. i prefer to run lossless files, but i don't need hi-res. would i be able to use something like an ipod to provide it lossless files? and, would the signal through the 8.4 remain uncompressed through to the pac unit? i'm hoping this is the case as it would be the path of least resistance by far.


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## JVD240 (Sep 7, 2009)

Had that device been available years ago I would have bought it in a heartbeat.

The u connect system is total garbage to interface with. 

Low level. Noisy. Just plain bad.


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## rpr13 (Jul 19, 2014)

The full volume low voltage signal from the HU to the amp is very clean. It’s the signal from the factory amp that’s garbage in these 8.4 systems. If these PAC solutions are using the signal downstream of the factory amp, I would tend to disagree with the consensus on their value. They will help I’m sure, but if they’re working off the signal downstream of the factory amp, in my opinon you would be much better off with a solution that works off the low voltage full volume signal off the HU.


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## rpr13 (Jul 19, 2014)

I don’t know why this site turns apostrophes into the mess shown above? Apologies for that.


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

does anybody know where the amp would be on an 18 jgc altitude? on my old overland it was under the little storage tray on the left of the spare tray. ive not removed that panel yet but i did remove the little tray and felt around and didnt feel any amp.


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## carlosg_313 (May 9, 2016)

brett said:


> does anybody know where the amp would be on an 18 jgc altitude? on my old overland it was under the little storage tray on the left of the spare tray. ive not removed that panel yet but i did remove the little tray and felt around and didnt feel any amp.


Rear quarter panel, driver side. Will need to remove the spare tire, plastic surrounding the spare tire, lean the back seats forward, and unclip and the quarter panel carefully.


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

rpr13 said:


> The full volume low voltage signal from the HU to the amp is very clean. It’s the signal from the factory amp that’s garbage in these 8.4 systems. If these PAC solutions are using the signal downstream of the factory amp, I would tend to disagree with the consensus on their value. They will help I’m sure, but if they’re working off the signal downstream of the factory amp, in my opinon you would be much better off with a solution that works off the low voltage full volume signal off the HU.


The PAC unit intercepts the signal in between the head unit and factory amp. What comes out of the RCAs never went through the factory amp. The trick is that the factory amp has the volume controlled by a CAN signal and the "pre-outs" from the head unit don't natively scale with volume selection. The PAC interface grabs these unscaled "pre-out" signals from the UConnect along with the CAN based volume message to make a traditional scaled RCA pre-out that feeds amps like we are used to for installations. That's why it's worth the cost.


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

coincidentally enough, i literally just got done chatting with 'robbie' at pac. i gave him my vin, and he suggested that i wouldn't need the amppro module since there's no amp and that i could instead simply use the locpro converter. this saves a ton of money. i won't have digital out, but that's not a huge deal for me on this build honestly.


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## DavidRam (Nov 2, 2014)

brett said:


> coincidentally enough, i literally just got done chatting with 'robbie' at pac. i gave him my vin, and he suggested that i wouldn't need the amppro module since there's no amp and that i could instead simply use the locpro converter. this saves a ton of money. i won't have digital out, but that's not a huge deal for me on this build honestly.


There is no amp in the base system... But the output surprised me, especially the bass. I could have sworn it had a subwoofer and an amp...


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

yeah man, the bass from the 6x9 in the doors is surprisingly strong, but it does hit limits in power compression pretty quick.


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## DavidRam (Nov 2, 2014)

True. That's why I ripped everything out. lol


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

i gotcha, i just like the factory uconnect system as is and purposely got a newer jeep for that system. as long as i can feed it a quality signal through the usb ports and get a quality signal after the hu, then i'm good.


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## 307Bronco (Dec 11, 2016)

DSR1 and the aCH2 harness from Idatalink


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

307Bronco said:


> DSR1 and the aCH2 harness from Idatalink



not sure what you're trying to say, but i already have the 360.3 which i plan to use, so that is taken care of. i'm only concerned about getting a clean signal to the hu, and out from the hu to the dsp at this point.


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## Gas Is Expensive (Aug 26, 2008)

brett said:


> coincidentally enough, i literally just got done chatting with 'robbie' at pac. i gave him my vin, and he suggested that i wouldn't need the amppro module since there's no amp and that i could instead simply use the locpro converter. this saves a ton of money. i won't have digital out, but that's not a huge deal for me on this build honestly.


The 3Sixty.3 accepts high-level (speaker) inputs. You don't need to convert the signal, you can just tap into the speaker wires and feed the 3Sixty.3 with those leads.

A bit of warning and advice: The Uconnect system uses load sensing. If it does not sense a proper load on a channel when the power is first connected to the rear of the unit (or the vehicle battery is disconnected and then reconnected), it will NOT output any audio on that channel. In other words, if you disconnect your stock speakers from the Uconnect system, you won't even have a signal for a LOC to convert. Without some modifications, you won't be able to feed the 3Sixty.3 with those channels either.

Here's the solution: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Z7NSNM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

5 watt 47 Ohm ceramic resistors. 

Unplug the harness from the back of the head unit (thereby removing the power source), wire the resistors up between the head unit's speaker leads and the 3Sixty.3 and then plug the harness back into the rear of the head unit. This is your workaround.


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## Gas Is Expensive (Aug 26, 2008)

Well, this thread died quick and swiftly!


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## 307Bronco (Dec 11, 2016)

Gas Is Expensive said:


> The 3Sixty.3 accepts high-level (speaker) inputs. You don't need to convert the signal, you can just tap into the speaker wires and feed the 3Sixty.3 with those leads.
> 
> A bit of warning and advice: The Uconnect system uses load sensing. If it does not sense a proper load on a channel when the power is first connected to the rear of the unit (or the vehicle battery is disconnected and then reconnected), it will NOT output any audio on that channel. In other words, if you disconnect your stock speakers from the Uconnect system, you won't even have a signal for a LOC to convert. Without some modifications, you won't be able to feed the 3Sixty.3 with those channels either.
> 
> ...


Another great reason to us the DSR1 and the aCH2 harness from iDatalink...


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## Gas Is Expensive (Aug 26, 2008)

307Bronco said:


> Gas Is Expensive said:
> 
> 
> > The 3Sixty.3 accepts high-level (speaker) inputs. You don't need to convert the signal, you can just tap into the speaker wires and feed the 3Sixty.3 with those leads.
> ...


Wait WHAT? I'm talking about a $5 solution. How can you compare the two? 

OP already has a 3Sixty.3 (as do I), so why would we add a DSR1? 

Makes zero sense.


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

Gas Is Expensive said:


> Well, this thread died quick and swiftly!


i've not had a chance to do much lately. i like your idea though. i was curious, wouldn't disconnecting the battery accomplish the same thing?


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## Gas Is Expensive (Aug 26, 2008)

brett said:


> Gas Is Expensive said:
> 
> 
> > Well, this thread died quick and swiftly!
> ...


Disconnecting the battery will do nothing, unless you have a load connected to each one of the Uconnect HU channels you want to get a signal from when you reconnect the battery. Without a load attached, you'll get NOTHING. The channel is effectively dead without a load. My solution places a load on the channels without introducing another speaker. It works, I promise.


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

Gas Is Expensive said:


> Disconnecting the battery will do nothing, unless you have a load connected to each one of the Uconnect HU channels you want to get a signal from when you reconnect the battery. Without a load attached, you'll get NOTHING. The channel is effectively dead without a load. My solution places a load on the channels without introducing another speaker. It works, I promise.


sorry, i think i confused you with my phrasing. i totally understand that the hu needs to see a load. my intention was that, in disconnecting the battery to run power wires, etc, could i not simply use that as an opportunity to tap into the wires, connect the resistors, connect the dsp, etc? i've removed the hu from my old jeep plenty of times and could do it on this one too, but if i can avoid that step, i would. especially if i can tap the wires closer to the dsp, this would help as well.

i'm also watching your thread concerning output on the 8.4. that being said, how are you sending the hu signal? are you using your phone, ipod, etc? are the files lossless? that is the next thing i need to figure out is how i'm going to provide signal to the hu. i don't yet have an iphone, but was considering getting one as long as it could store enough lossless music and provide a seamless interface. however, i don't really like the idea of taking it in/out all the time and would much prefer a more permanent solution. if i could get some other media player to put there stationary, that would be ideal.


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## Gas Is Expensive (Aug 26, 2008)

brett said:


> Gas Is Expensive said:
> 
> 
> > Disconnecting the battery will do nothing, unless you have a load connected to each one of the Uconnect HU channels you want to get a signal from when you reconnect the battery. Without a load attached, you'll get NOTHING. The channel is effectively dead without a load. My solution places a load on the channels without introducing another speaker. It works, I promise.
> ...


Gotcha. Yes, disconnecting the vehicle battery and then reconnecting it will accomplish the same thing as disconnecting/reconnecting the HU's power harness.

I generally use Google Play Music via Android Auto as my source, but I also occasionally play FLAC files via Android Auto. A mix of lossy and lossless, but mostly lossy.

I might go another route now, and start using my Android tablet as my primary source unit, with a USB OTG powered DAC sending an optical signal to the 3Sixty.3. Then I'll just use an LOC to convert the stock HU's speaker outputs to RCA and feed just those RCAs into the 3Sixty.3's aux inputs, so I can still switch over to the stock unit as a source when I need to make phone calls or use Google Assistant. Unfortunately, that'll mean giving up audio cues and warnings from my safety features, like blind spot detection and park assist. 

This is a frustrating vehicle to work with, for sure...


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## Gas Is Expensive (Aug 26, 2008)

Well, my 3Sixty.3 just died out of nowhere on Thursday. Not happy and don't have the cash to buy another one @ $700.00. 

Thinking I'll go with the DSR1 or miniDSP for the time being. Possibly have the 3Sixty.3 repaired and then sell it in eBay.

Bummed AF.


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

so, i tried to wire resistors in line as suggested, but am not getting signal to the dsp. i actually have another thread going, but figured i'd ping you again to see if you have any suggestions. i'm thinking i didn't connect the resistors properly.









does this wiring diagram look correct?


was hoping i could get some guidance on this. honestly, i'm not so sure why it's bugging me so much but i keep second guessing myself. i only included power and signal turn-on, signal flow i have down. the remote/switched lead going to the relay and then to the blue sea block is what's...




www.diymobileaudio.com





also, what did you do about your dsp situation? repair/replace?


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## carlosg_313 (May 9, 2016)

brett said:


> so, i tried to wire resistors in line as suggested, but am not getting signal to the dsp. i actually have another thread going, but figured i'd ping you again to see if you have any suggestions. i'm thinking i didn't connect the resistors properly.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


which size resistor did you use?


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

5 w 47 ohm, which was the suggestion and general consensus.


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## MrHarris (Feb 3, 2011)

brett said:


> 5 w 47 ohm, which was the suggestion and general consensus.


Did you ever figure out what value resistor worked without over attenuating ?


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