Hi All,
H2 fitment below is for years 2003-2007 Hummer H2. Unknown how 2008/2009 interact.

I had factory NAV Bose system & XM radio in my rig from the factory.

Just for public knowledge, an excellent option for fitment of a Hummer H2 friendly new headunit with all the modern features with no molestation of the vehicle required-
This Alpine iLK-W650 has a measured depth of only 2 13/16"!!
Less than 3" and that gives plenty of room for all the PAC adapters, steering controls, XM, wiring etc with no cutting of the dash, or existing wiring anywhere!
I highly recommend this, I am a purist with OCD and struggled with the decision to move away from the stock Nav, however with apple play, bluetooth, hands free, etc- all being fantastic adds as well as front & rear cameras- it was a no brainer.
It plays well with the existing wiring with the following adapters-
You retain Onstar, Steering wheel controls and it gives you a new "chime" box with the adapter - You can change the tone of the chime box by some tape over the hole (some state the replacement chime box sounds annoying - the tape trick works (what I did).
When you receive the PAC adapters and the Alpine wiring- don't be intimidated- start with the speaker wires first and you will see it all makes sense as you start making the connections between the Alpine Harness to the PAC harness.. If you need help- just ask. Crutchfield also has excellent tech support by phone. I am also glad to assist,
First 3 items came from Crutchfield (no affiliation).
1.Alpine iLX-W650 ($299)
2.Metra 95-2001 Dash Kit ($8)
3.PAC RP5-GM11 Wiring Interface ($74)
4. MicroBypass parking brake overide ByPass for Alpine (makes so you can use unit without stopping - safety thing..) Amazon ($15)
6.USB outlet - Batige Single Port USB 3.0 male - Female car flush mount (Amazon) $10 - I removed the left hand cigarette power outlet & put this in its place, it allows USB direct connect to the Alpine unit so you can simply plug your USB phone cord into it neatly.
7. You will need to pick out 2 cameras (if you wish for front & rear) - Amazon has them approx $30 each.
8. ProClip angled dash mount (for phone if you wish) simply clips on to side of dash trim and really works fantastic - Item: 853217 $30 (you will also pick out a cradle for your phone that mounts to this bracket- website will walk you through it - proclipusa.com
9. SirusXM SXV300V1 tuner - thats the adapter for XM, you can use your existing antenna (if you have) behind the glove compartment. (about $70) If you snap off the "cover" on your existing XM antenna it will plug right in to this adapter... If you arent "handy" to take apart that connector, you can buy the antenna adapter for under $10.

for the cameras - you can come up through the "transmission shift cable" grommet under the center console torawds the front- makes routing the cables easy from under the truck.

I also added a cheap self contained sub- fit perfect under the seat (rear seat behind drivers side)-
Figured since I had it all aprt why not- It doesnt vibrate your chect of course but it does compliment the lower frequencies-
here is that-

Rockville RW10CA 10" low profile subwoofer (Amazon) $120.
You will need some cabling also (to the battery, RCA's for input & the switched power on lead.

Here is some pics of the Alpine & holder-

 

I bought a cheap $200 pioneer apple car play for one of my beaters that actually made the whole vehicle more usable, it replaced a cheapy head unit the PO had installed.

My H2 has one of the usaspec adaptors that can plug my phone into the factory head unit for audio only. I definitely want to upgrade to essentially what you have here.

The One thing stopping me is that there are no good apple CarPlay headunits that have a volume and tuning dial that are not ridiculously overpriced or incompatible.

My complaint seems fairly common from what I find, I can’t understand why these headunit manufacturers can’t charge an extra 5 dollars to make their offerings more appealing and useful.

I religiously use the volume and tuning dial and it drives me up a wall on the other head unit not being able to make quick changes.


I think the best thing about your setup however is not having to cut any wires or the dash apart to make everything work.

 

I understand and felt like you on the *****-
However- on this unit, you simply take 2 fingers and slide up or down on screen to change volume - you can do without even looking.
also you have your steering buttons as well as the up down on bottom of screen....

One thing nice about this is, you have a HUGE screen that doesnt compromise lost space over buttons...

 

A real; volume **** was part of the reason I went with a Kenwood DNX693S.... that and the built in GPS is by Garmin which works great and the FM tuner has HD Radio which I also use.

A couple more tips - you can repurpose the Onstar microphone and GPS antenna too (unless you still have and use the Onstar of course). I just found the right wires for the mic, extended/spliced on the mic connector the Kenwood needed. The GPS antenna, the same but I got the correct GT5 connector (that Kenwoods need) and soldered that on. No aftermarket mic sticking out anywhere and no aftermarket GPS antenna anywhere. I realize most will just use some nav app on their phones these days but I keep my phone in my pocket. The Kenwood does have a disc player though so it did require cutting a bit of the plastic inside the dash to make it fit and you can cut a notch to the left and fit the adapters in the space above the 4WD buttons in that scenario.

I do like the media units though and at the time, had one been available with the features I wanted, I'd have gone with with a mechless media unit instead.

 

Nice job. Now that youve been using it for a while, how do you like it? Anything you'd do different?

 

Everything has been working flawlessly. Take your time on the install routing the cameras cabling (if you add them) - that was about the longest part of the install. Highly recommend - I am pretty OCD about keeping original and would do again in a heart beat. Waze from iPhone (Apple car play) is so much better than the stock nav unit from 2006. That alone plus hands free calling makes this an absolute joy to have installed. You won’t regret it should you go this route. If you do install and have any questions just ask- be glad to help where I can.

 

I may give it a try. Thanks for the nice list of required components. I'm a bit OCD about original as well, but the cameras and carplay may just be too much to resist....

If I do it, I'll probably take you up on the tech support offer!

Question: With the chime module, I assume this means the factory sounds all change? What are the new chimes like? I think I understood your tape comment to mean that the volume/intensity of the chime may be too strong and the tape attentuates it?

-Ben

 

Thank you Chrmer3 for your post. Very helpful as I just completed an Alpine ILX-207 install in my Hummer. Just like you, the lack of Bluetooth was killing me plus a rig this size has to have a back up camera to see little ones behind and hooking up trailers. Your order list was of great benefit. I have to be honest it was a not a walking the park. Hooking up the PAC to the Alpine took some time. I ended up dusting off the soldiering iron to make all the connections after fumbling around with the in-line connectors. It came out very clean and honed my recreational soldiering skills. My only complaint with the PAC is the chime module...it sounds really cheap. I called them and they said yeah we know but nothing we can do. I ended up just disconnecting it.

One of the largest challenges was routing the back-up camera wire to the rear of the vehicle. I tried to pass through the transmission grommet but did not have any luck. I ended up running the wire through the center console, under the carpet behind the driver's seat to the gutter trim and then under the trim in the cargo area. A sturdy wire fishing cable worked well for under the carpet.

For the radio, Amazon has the ILX-207 on sale with a free Alpine back-up radio. I think it is sold by Pacific Radio. I went with this stereo because it has a radio and a couple other bells and whistles.

Thank you again for starting this post. If folks are interested, I can share finished and WIP process pictures. I hope this helps folks.

Messed around trying to adapt the On-Star nav connector but ended up just running the Alpine GPS antenna which was much easier than I expected. I am really please with how easy the Hummer trim comes off. Trim has always been one of my weak spots but it was easy to work with and happy with how they put it together.

Important lesson I learned, when you disconnect your negative battery cable for several days while you work on your truck, it is highly likely you will trip the anti-theft and the truck won't start. I thought I screwed something up with the wiring and was ready to rip open the dash again. I spent several hours on the net and found this guy's video which was a life saver. Basically, you need to disconnect both positive and negative cables, touch them for 10 seconds to drain any left over juice and then reconnect to the battery. It worked perfectly.

 

how long did the install take for those that have done it? With the Pac adapters, there is no cutting /soldering cables? pure plug & play?

 

Hi mcu, I did the install over a weekend and it took me the solid days as I am not an experienced stereo install guy. Depending on how you connect the PAC to the radio will determine if you solder. You basically have to connect the PAC adapter in between the stereo harness to the wiring harness in the Hummer. The PAC wires will need to be connected to the stereo harness. I chose to soldier the wires for a stronger connection with less bulk but you can use in-line connectors. The PAC adapter is a plug and play with the Hummer wiring harness. The directions are complicated but if you take your time to read through them, it will click and make sense.

While I had the dash open, I also took the opportunity to replace a 12V adapter with two USB ports and another 12V adapter with a stereo USB and HDMI connector.