This is not that hard to fix.

Some of the cheap "USB hard drive cases" that you buy for $10-$15 come with a USB "Y" cable. One connector supplies power and data and the other is just power. They do this because some laptop hard drives require more current than a single USB port can supply (500ma). All they do with the Y cable is parallel the power wires from the 2 USB ports on your PC so the HD gets 1000ma (1 amp) of power, plenty for any laptop HD.

While you could:
A. Buy a USB cigarette lighter adapter and use a Y cable to get the extra power
or
B. Add a home-made 5v power supply to run in parallel with the HU USB power
my suggestion would be to install a separate (could be home-made) 5v supply and power the HD exclusively from it. Then split off the data wires and connect to the USB port on the HU. This way there is no chance of damaging the HU USB port. You won't be able to use the typical USB cigarette adapters because most of them won't even supply 500ma. Same goes for most cell phone car chargers - about 250-350ma is all you get from them.

I did find this $10 5v supply on ebay. It claims 2000ma output (2 amps) which is a ittle hard to believe for a $10 device, but even if you only get half of the rated current it would power any of the USB hard drives.

.

 

What about an AC power inverter? My Dad has his entire office (printer, laptop, and fax) all in his truck running off an AC inverter.

John

 

Never mind, don't order from these guys! I ordered after a friend told me about them but their services sucks!

I ordered Monday morning and it still hasn't shipped (Thursday). They put a hold on my credit card Monday. I have called, left multiple messages, and sent multiple e-mails and I can't get a hold of them. I can't block them from charging my card because it is already authorized. I did a search for reviews, and get the same story over and over. They advertise stuff as in stock when it isn't and take a week or two for them to ship it out...if they don't claim it as discontinued and try to up sell something else to you.

I'm doing my best to cancel the order from these jerks. I should of looked for reviews before ordering instead of just listening to my friend...

 

I picked this up today. I saw on the back of the HU there's only a single USB port.

I thought there was two usb ports on it ? Anyway I wanted to hook up a usb HDD and the iPod at the same time.

 

Get the KCE-422i for the Full Speed iPod cable connector. Then use the USB port on the back of the head unit for your HDD.. I believe it'll have to be formatted in FAT32 (not NTFS) and if your external enclosure uses more than 500mA on the HDD, you'll need another source of power...

 

Using the KCE cable...does that diminish the quality of the audio ?

 

I'm not sure about the audio, but it slows it down. There is a noticeable lag between hitting a button and the response...like changing to the next song. Also, there is no Album Art support with the KCE cable. I've also noticed that once in a while when it goes to the next song it will still give the info of the previous song. I think it's because of the slower transfer rate. The USB connection is suppose to be something like 26,000 times faster...

Album Art is only supported on 5th gen and newer iPods. The iPod photo is 4th gen

I wonder if this head unit can rock the iPhone?

 

I just installed mine the other day, works awesome. Modifry DCI works perfectly with it as well

I have a 4th Gen Ipod Photo so I use the full speed cable. I also have the usb cable so i can connect a 5th Gen Ipod on that cable or just a thumb drive if I want

I could care less about the CD player, all I need is my ipod and sirius

 

That's my exact setup. Let me know if you ever notice it go to the next song but still display the previous songs info. So far I've only noticed it when I have it on random shuffle.

 

I'm still havin issues with my DCI and SCV

1. with headlight on and Dimmer set ON radio DCI stops work while headlights are on
2. SCV at 74-75-76-77-78mph constant speed keep going up/down/up/down on volume
also at 57-58-59mph

Modifry sent replacement, no DCI at all, plug in old one DCI works

I've check and rechecked all connection and pin switches
alpine 1-4 up 5-8 down