Mic for RS3200 Upgrade

[jtmeyer]

I did the "HOW-TO: Adding LED to RS3200 without purchasing the upgrade" mod last night and it worked like a charm. Printed out the "Programming the RS3200 system" and I was set. And all for <$3 (for the LED). One thing you might want to mention in the "Adding LED to RS3200" is that the LED is 12V (or does that matter?). Radio Shack had several different voltages for LEDs and I just made a lucky guess on the correct voltage.

While at RS, I asked the guy if they had microphones. He pointed me to the spot and I decided that for $3.50, I might as well get one and see if I can use it as the GBS mic (see mic info below). However, I don't have a clue how to wire it. I followed the link to the "RS3200 EWD", but when I printed it out, it said RS3000 for 2002 Tundra at the bottom (I was expecting to see RS3200 for 2003 Tundra when I followed the link). Don't even know if that matters. The RS3000 shows the mic connected to the GBCU via two wires. One wire has a W above it and the other has a B.

Microphone info:

RadioShack model 270-092C, CB/PA/Mic, Condenser Microphone Element. It has two wires coming out the back. The red wire is labeled as V+ on the wiring diagram. The gray wire has a center wire and a sheild. The center wire is white and labeled as Output in the wiring diagram. The shield is labeled as Ground in the wiring diagram. The supply voltage is 1.5 to 10VDC. The nominal supply is 4.5VDC. The current drain is 0.5mA. The Signal/noise is 40dB. The sensitivity is -65+/-4dB. The output impedance is 1kohm.

Does anybody know if this mic would work and, if so, how would I attempt to wire it?

P.S. This forum is AWESOME!!. Only have 1500 miles on my 2003 (haven't made first payment yet) and have done the Full-time outlet power mod, the A/C fix mod (heater valve wasn't closing all the way), the chirp removal mod (actually figured this one out on my own before I discovered TS), the door chime eliminate mod, the door ring and seat belt light mod, and the RS3200 upgrade mod. Planning on doing the map light, cargo light, fog light, debadge, and sway bar mods next.

Thanks.

[Gilley]

I'm pleased that my writeup on adding the LED worked well for you. I am in the same boat as you about adding a microphone, so I hope someone else knows and can help out. I'm clueless as to how a mic works, but it should be like a very small speaker. If you have a voltmeter, you might be able to do some siagnostics on the RS3200 mic wires to see what you get for readings.

And congratulations on becoming a club member before your first post. I'm sure you will agree that it is well worth the price of admission.

[jtmeyer]

Thanks Gilley for your writeup.

Actually, now that I think about it, you probably would need to get a mic that only responds to a narrow frequency band (whatever the glass tapping/breakage frequency is). The mic that I bought responds to a huge frequency band (20 Hz to 15000 Hz). I'm gussing if I hook this thing up, the alarm will be going off every time a semi drives by or a dog barks or a kid screams.

Anybody know where to buy an alarm mic?

[jtmeyer]

Well, I looked around a little on the Net and saw that Car Toys sells car alarm GBS mics for $30. There is a Car Toys store just down the street from me so I think I'll stop by during lunch and see if anyone there can help me.

One more question though. Does anyone know if the GB control unit already exists in my truck or does that come as part of the upgrade kit? What does the GB control unit do exactly?

If it works out, I'll write it up as a How To:

The full upgrade, including mic and status led, would then only cost about $35. I just hope I don't burn up my new truck.

[jtmeyer]

Went to Car Toys. The GBS mic they have for $30 is a mic with a GB control unit already attached to it. The mic plugged into the GBCU with an RCA jack. The GBCU had about 20 wires coming out of it. They said I could try to install it but I would need to bypass the GB control unit already in my truck if I could figure out which wires to hook to. No thanks. I'm starting to think that the mic is just a standard mic and that the GB control unit is the brains that decides whether or not the signals coming from the mic are caused by glass breaking. In that case, I should be able to hook up the $3.50 mic from Radio Shack, shouldn't I? Anybody?

[Gilley]

The GBS is already in the truck when you buy it if you have keyless entry. There is a sensitivity adjustment knob on the box. See another writeup in the Garage about locating and adjusting it on the RS3200.

[jtmeyer]

IT WORKED!!. Finished the mod a few minutes ago and it tested great. I needed to turn up the sensitivity on the GBCU to about 5 to get it where I wanted it.

Here it is:

1) Do this: HOW-TO: Adding LED to RS3200 without purchasing the upgrade http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14134
but don't put the rectangular knockout back in just yet.

2) Buy the mic mentioned in first post of this thread at Radio Shack (about $3)

3) If you're looking at the GBS black 4p connector (the one you installed the LED into) with the tab on the top side, let's say the pins are numbered 1,2,3,4 from left to right. Connect the white mic wire to pin 1, the red wire to pin 3, and the shield to pin 4. See My Photos for pics.

4) Mount or hang your mic somewhere. I chose to drill a 1/4" hole in the rectangular knockout next to the dimmer and glue the mic behind the hole. The mic is right next to the LED status light. See My Photos for pics.

5) Do this: HOW-TO: RS3200 finding and adjusting the GBS sensitivity http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14135
I set the sensitivity to about 5. I had to rap the window pretty good to get the alarm to go off. I may adjust depending on how it performs (false alarms)

6) Put everything back together. Feel a little safer next time you park downtown in a dark lot 10 blocks away from stadium just to save $5 that you will then spend on extra beer at the game. But hey, I just saved about $130 on this mod so maybe I'll try out the $20 lot right next to the stadium next time.

Enjoy!! I already got alot of great mods and info from this sight and I'm just glad I can contribute something back.

[Gilley]

Excellent work and writeup, JT. You are a pioneer in this area now. You should do a full writeup in the Garage section and basically merge your posts together so others can learn from your hard work and save $120 or more.

[jtmeyer]

Thanks, Gilley

What do you think of merging our two mods together and calling it "HOW TO: Upgrade to RS3200Plus for $5"? I can do the merge if you don't mind me using your writeup (with full credit of course). I'm guessing it should go in The Electric Shop? I also need to figure out how to put links and pics into the posts.

[Gilley]

A merge would be a great idea. Here's the link to the post.
Link It's currently in "The Mod Shop."

For the pictures, I just linked to pics in "My Photos." Maybe our gracious moderator nhparrot can help after it's done by making a HTML page and incorporate our pictures.

I had to adjust the sensitivity of the GBS even after installing the Toyota microphone in the RS3200 upgrade kit. So it's not necessarily the microphone you used from Radio Shack. The Toyota one needs adjusting too. I adjusted mine so even a sharp rap on the passenger side glass will trigger the alarm. That link is found here. Link It is in the electrical shop.

Since the different threads are in different forums, I'm not sure which area the combined thread should go. The Mod Shop or the Electrical Shop.

[jtmeyer]

I posted the full upgrade instructions in "The Mod Shop". See "How To: Upgrade to RS3200Plus for $5"