Parrot MK6000 review

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BennTech

Senior Member
Mar 10, 2006
154
2
I'd like to test it before wiring it to the head unit. I've just tried to branch it on a 12v lighter, but it don't work. I guess that there's a trick to do with the ignition cable. Is there a workaround to get it working anyway? I think it's something simple such as merging ignition and battery cables, or something like that.

The Parrot has 2 power connectors: (1) red 12V constant, and (2) orange 12V ignition. The constant 12V powers the Parrot, but it won't turn on until it sees 12V on the ignition. So, yes, I believe you're correct that you could just short constant/ignition to the same 12V. I can test it on my old MK6000 later today (it's 5AM here and I don't think the rest of my family would appreciate my efforts this early in the morning). :)

For your actual car install, if you use the alternate wiring to connect into your Aux input, then be sure to connect the Parrot's 12V ignition to your headunit's remote power output (if it has one). That way the Parrot turns on/off with the radio since it needs the radio to work. As for the 12V constant, I wired mine to the ignition so it cuts the power to the Parrot every time I turn off the car. The reason I did that is because twice my old MK6000 locked up so bad that didn't register changes to the 12V ignition input telling it to turn off. Once that happens, the only way to reset it is to pull the fuse or disconnect the car battery.
 

dafunky

Senior Member
Jan 7, 2009
395
43
Don't you lose all your contacts on the parrot if you completely cut power? What are the cons when doing like you, ignition as the main 12v power? On my car there is no easy ignition, I'll have to steal it on the car harness.
 

BennTech

Senior Member
Mar 10, 2006
154
2
Don't you lose all your contacts on the parrot if you completely cut power? What are the cons when doing like you, ignition as the main 12v power? On my car there is no easy ignition, I'll have to steal it on the car harness.

No. Contacts stay, and so do Bluetooth pairings. All that must be stored in non-volatile memory. (Personally, I don't use the Parrot's contacts because my phone has Microsoft Voice Command.)

The only downside I can see is that more frequent power cycles might cause the Parrot to fail SLIGHTLY sooner than normal because the initial burst of power is what causes most electrical components to fail. However, the MKi9x00 will be obsolete long before that should happen.

And it's not a big deal to use constant 12V power. The downside to constant 12V is like I said--if the Parrot locks up you have to pull a fuse or disconnect your battery. PITA compared to turning off your ignition. ;)
 

dafunky

Senior Member
Jan 7, 2009
395
43
Hello, thanks for your help. Here's my feedback, as I spent 6 hours yesterday in integrating the 9100 as stealthy as possible. Unfortunately is does'nt work like expected :

- Phone call is not really working, I can launch a call using voice recognition but during call, I hardly hear the other people, even with all sound volumes to the max. I can hear huge whine (not surprising). In the same time the other people won't hear me, even if I shout.
- Media playing is working like a charme, even via BT : when the phone plays a mp3, sound is clear, gain is good, no noise, all perfect.
- When playing a blank sound, I can hear that the left channel is lower and more noisy than the right one. I've rewired the parrot line-out to the radio line-in twice, no change. Since the signal/noise ratio is good when playing media stuff, this is not the biggest problem.

What I did :

- Radio SOT Harness to get 12v constant and mute.
- Parrot line-out to car line-in. I wired the radio line-in ground to a car bolt as the parrot don't give explicit ground. It's maybe a mistake, I should remove or change this wire.
- Double microphone under the roof as suggested by parrot
- Ignition stolen on a lighter wire

What I'm not sure to be good :

- line-in ground as said above
- parrot's mute : anyway, I don't see how this cable could be useful, as I doubt the car will switch to the aux input when the mute signal is fired... On the parrot's schema the mute is wired for the "line-in setup", but I wonder how it works.
- AD2P BT : maybe there is an issue coming from my phone, htc desire, so that media streaming is ok but not phoning. I'll have to test with an iPhone to be sure.

As you were talking about ignition, in my case the big problem is that my 12v lighters are powered only when the engine is on, so it's very very annoying to make tests (during first install I used a custom extra wire, but now everything is secured). I'd like to get an ignition coming from the radio, as you suggested.
 
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BennTech

Senior Member
Mar 10, 2006
154
2
It's been 3 years since I wired mine, but let me see if I can help. You didn't mention if you're using the standard European ISO connectors or some proprietary OEM wiring, and didn't mention if your radio has a Aux detection circuit like mine. This would help troubleshooting the wiring configuration.
- When playing a blank sound, I can hear that the left channel is lower and more noisy than the right one. I've rewired the parrot line-out to the radio line-in twice, no change. Since the signal/noise ratio is good when playing media stuff, this is not the biggest problem.
...
- Parrot line-out to car line-in. I wired the radio line-in ground to a car bolt as the parrot don't give explicit ground. It's maybe a mistake, I should remove or change this wire.
Your line in ground is absolutely wrong and should be undone immediately. "Ground" is always relative; the audio signal is the relative difference between the positive and negative/ground wires. Connecting to a different ground will result in either louder or quieter audio. Connecting to a random car bolt will definitely add noise and engine whine. It is probably the source of the left/right problem. Worst case is that you're shorting something and going to fry your Parrot.

Just so we're clear, the Parrot line in has 4 wires: a black/red pair and a brown/white pair. Your radio's line in should have either (1) 4 matching inputs, either separately or as a left/right pair of RCA plugs, or (2) only 3 inputs, being a left, right, and shared ground, like you find in an Aux jack or headphones. If you only have 3, then join both L/R grounds from the Parrot (IIRC, the black and the brown) to the radio's line in ground.

The ground for the Parrot's power is a different black wire running along side the red and orange 12V power lines. These 3 wires go from the black male Parrot Molex connector to the gray male power ISO connector. If you're using these standard ISO power connectors, then your Parrot should already grounded. If not, then that's the ground you need. You can connect it to a car bolt, just be sure to remember your article about ground loop. ;)

- Phone call is not really working, I can launch a call using voice recognition but during call, I hardly hear the other people, even with all sound volumes to the max. I can hear huge whine (not surprising). In the same time the other people won't hear me, even if I shout.

I have absolutely no idea on this one. If streaming music is working OK, then calls should work, too, especially the mic. The only thing I can think is that pulling the line in to ground is shorting the call/mic circuitry. Fixing line in ground might fix calls.

- parrot's mute : anyway, I don't see how this cable could be useful, as I doubt the car will switch to the aux input when the mute signal is fired... On the parrot's schema the mute is wired for the "line-in setup", but I wonder how it works.
The yellow mute coming from the Parrot connector is what I used to tie into the Aux connect/disconnect circuit, which automatically switches to Aux for me. I got lucky in that the Parrot mute pulls to ground when active, and so does my detection circuit.

If you don't have a similar detection circuit and you're using your radio's line in, then you should not hookup the mute. With the line in wiring, the Parrot uses the radio to play audio, but if radio mutes whenever the Parrot sends it audio... :)

As you were talking about ignition, in my case the big problem is that my 12v lighters are powered only when the engine is on, so it's very very annoying to make tests (during first install I used a custom extra wire, but now everything is secured). I'd like to get an ignition coming from the radio, as you suggested.
Most modern car radios should have a remote power. Just Google for your radio's wiring diagram.
 

dafunky

Senior Member
Jan 7, 2009
395
43
Your help is very appreciated. These are the facts :

I use a SOT Harness to connect the parrot to my BMW. The oem stereo radio is self amplified, no extra amp as we can see on some cars. The harness is providing constant power, and one mute cable. No ignition. I connected only the parrot's power plug to this harness, as mentioned in their diagram.

This radio head unit provides a 3.5mm jack stereo input. Using a tester I could locate the specific plug for this jack on the head unit, this plug has three wires : black, yellow and transparent. The yellow appears to be one pin of the jack connector. The transparent another one. But the black one isn't linked to the ground's jack connector. Unfortunetaly I can't access under the jack to see how exacty it is wired. I've cut the cable on the radio side and connected the parrot.

I couldn't find the wiring schema of my head unit, that is Alpine CD73.
This morning I cut the ground as you suggested me, and as a consequence another whine came instead of the first, same strength but another pattern. To sum up, now the black (supposed to be the ground) wire of the head unit "line in" is not connected to anything, and voice is still too low and micro won't work while I'm phoning. In the same time, I can still write SMS using speech recognition, etc.

Two options :

- The head unit switches to another audio source when I receive a call, that would explain the low level voice (on analog amps we can sometimes hear a source from another input). Maybe I used a plug from the parrots I shouldn't.
- The parrot tries to output the sound to it's amplified wires when phoning, and disable "line out" as if it wanted to mute it.

I'll check the voltage to each parrot's line out wires, I think I'm supposed to see about 1.2v RMS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level

EDIT : I've just read your post again, maybe I should wire the parrot's mute to the black unused "line in" cable I just described.
Here is the original three wire plug for the jack line in :

3724759254_1a37e69d02.jpg


EDIT2 : Maybe a solution, seems like the above "line in" original plug is not well fitted on the harness, but it would not explain the partial working...
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/gen...ling-parrot-carkit-into-2009-bmw-e90-lci.html
 
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Franx3

New member
Apr 8, 2024
1
0
Hi there,

I know it's been 14 years, but.... Would anyone have the firmware 1.03a file??
I am trying to find it, Parrot is not providing it in their site anymore.

Thnx in advance