Write Up: Pioneer 3300Bt Adding A Rear Usb Hookup

[Oreo931]

A few months ago I bought a Pioneer 3300BT headunit. I really liked everything about it, except for the fact that the only usb port/ipod connection was on the front of the headunit. I always had to have messy cables sticking out whenever I wanted to listed to my ipod. I prefer a cleaner look, so I added a rear USB plug to the unit so I could hide away my ipod and cable. If you know how to use a soldering iron and a screw driver, this job is very easy. The only part you will need is a female usb plug. Go to any computer/electronics store and buy a USB extension cable.

The first thing you want to do is cut apart the USB cable and strip the four small wires inside. The colors are red, black, green and white.

With the radio out of your car, you want to remove the front face/screen. There are four phillips head screws on each side (circled in red below) you need to remove.

Carefully pry off the front screen making sure to pry up the plastic clips holding it to the radio cage. Once apart, it should look like this.

Next, use the blank hole in the back of the radio and fish the stripped end of your USB cable through it.

The picture below is the area of the screen you're going to be working on. Remove the screw circled in red. The red arrow points to a tab you will need to push in to free the metal cover and bend it. Next, carefully pry back the metal plate at the solid yellow line in the picture. You can do this with your fingers so as not to damage anything. Just be careful.

This is the back of the USB plug where you will solder the new wires:

Carefully solder each wire to the appropriate point (pictured below):

The pictures are sort of deceiving in terms of size. You will be working with a VERY small area. Below are two comparison pics, the first is my pinky finger, the second is a tooth pick.

After finishing the connections, bend the metal plate back and replace the screw holding it in. Make sure your wiring doesn't get bent.

Put the radio back together in the opposite order you took it apart. Partially install the radio in your car to check your work:

SUCCESS!

I opted to hide my ipod and cable in the glove box. I drilled a small hole in the side of my glove box to fit the usb cable through:

No more messy cables!

[TorontoR]

nice job man. Very nice unit too. Only a minor gap around the frame.

(btw...just curious but your temperature gauges look so different than mine...is that oem?)

[Oreo931]

nice job man. Very nice unit too. Only a minor gap around the frame.

(btw...just curious but your temperature gauges look so different than mine...is that oem?)

Lol, thats a manual climate control. Came standard on base model cars.

There is a tiny gap at the bottom, but you can only see it when you are looking up at the radio from the arm rest. When you are sitting in the car normally it's not visible.

[Yea-but...]

+1 for the music choices

This will be helpful for a lot of people.

Great work!

[MGD1]

Nice job. You can buy USB cables that have a built in mounting tab for the application you used though in the glove box.

http://www.frontx.com/panel_mount.html

[xRubyx]

Does this still allow you to play video off your ipod too?

[naqibroslan]

I follow all your steps, but I stuck at finding the USB connection in the circuit. I'm also using Pioneer car audio but it is a single din which I can take the head unit off. So I guess the USB connection is kind of different. So, any help?