Any idea what this could be?

[1337chaos]

Sorry for the vague title, but I can't think of any other way to ask.

I was pulling apart my MID and CD player unit today because I've been having an issue with not being able to get any radio stations, when I pulled out the CD player, this thing was behind it. It looks like it's wired directly into the CD player harness, but not into the actual car wiring. My car has one of those DICE Electronics ipod adapters in the glovebox, so there's an adapter harness from the CD harness to the back of the CD player, and that looks like where they spliced this into. From what I can see before I pull it out further, it's some kind of circuit board with a wire attached to it. The wire was coiled up behind the MID, and just a small amount was left out, just under the trim to the left of the MID. There's no end on the cable, as if it was cut off by someone.

So, any ideas what in the world this thing could be? Could it be the cause of my reception problems?









- - - Updated - - -

I decided to pull it out of the dash and take the tape off. Here's some more pictures. Also, there is a snipped off wire that was spliced into the wiring harness on the Brown and purple/white wires. Any ideas what this would be used for?

[BimmerBreaker]

Thats the flux capactitator. Don't drive above 88mph with it installed.

[JimLev]

Thats the flux capactitator. Don't drive above 88mph with it installed.

You'll either go back or ahead in time after 88mph. No way of knowing if you can return back.

It's a 12 volt to 5 volt converter, must have been used to charge up that flux capacitor.

[DanB]

You'll either go back or ahead in time after 88mph. No way of knowing if you can return back.

It's a 12 volt to 5 volt converter, must have been used to charge up that flux capacitor.

I believe the round coil actually bumps that to 1.21 gigawatts.

Also, you're probably being spied on 1337chaos.

[extra]

You'll either go back or ahead in time after 88mph. No way of knowing if you can return back.

It's a 12 volt to 5 volt converter, must have been used to charge up that flux capacitor.

My question is... Where's he getting the plutonium from?


All jokes aside, I'm not good with this kind of stuff... Sorry I couldn't help OP

[1337chaos]

You'll either go back or ahead in time after 88mph. No way of knowing if you can return back.

It's a 12 volt to 5 volt converter, must have been used to charge up that flux capacitor.

Winner winner, chicken dinner! Took the trusty multimeter to the wire that I thought was some sort of antenna. 5 volts! So now I'm thinking that they just bought a phone charger, took it apart and hardwired it into the car. And when they no longer needed it, they just snipped the USB end off and pushed it back behind the trim panel instead of actually removing it. I removed it entirely, as well as the other wire that I found back there (previous attempt at hardwiring the same adapter maybe?) and tested my radio. No more static! And my DICE ipod adapter is clearer now too! Hopefully this was the entire issue. Unshielded electronics directly next to the antenna cable couldn't be a good thing anyways.

[JB2mnytys]

All current iPods, iPhones, and iPads run on 5 volt charging circuits, since we all know that cars run on 12 VDC you need to drop the voltage for the DICE unit to properly interface with the device. The early Apple products used to run 12 or 5 VDC, through about the 3rd Gen Nano models and all of the other models changed around the same time.