Dakota 2WD V8-4.7L VIN J (2005)
Remote Switch: Description and Operation
Two rocker-type switches are mounted in the sides of the rear (instrument panel side) steering wheel trim cover. The switch on the left spoke is the seek
switch and has seek up, seek down, and preset station advance functions. The switch on the right spoke is the volume control switch and has volume up,
and volume down functions. The switch on the right spoke also includes a "mode" control that allows the driver to sequentially select AM radio, FM
radio, cassette player, CD player or satellite radio.
The six switches in the two remote radio switch units are normally open, resistor multiplexed momentary switches that are hard wired to the Instrument
cluster through the clockspring. The instrument cluster sends a five volt reference signal to both switch units on one circuit, and senses the status of all of
the switches by reading the voltage drop on a second circuit.
When the instrument cluster senses an input (voltage drop) from any one of the remote radio switches, it sends the proper switch status messages on the
Controller Area Network (CAN) data bus to the radio. The electronic circuitry within the radio is programmed to respond to these remote radio switch
status messages by adjusting the radio settings as requested.
