HeadUnit Replacement

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Blackadder

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Oh I am sorry for asking this as there seems to be lots of these types of questions but I cannot find the answers I need.

I have purchased a Blaupunkt Nashville DAB 35 head unit for my Audi A4 TDI 2001 B6.

I have purchased all the required cables according to Bluespot including the harness for non-bose systems, which mine is. It's been a fair while since I last fitted a stereo so please ignore my stupidity.

1) I keep reading about needing a CAN-BUS cable or fitment to allow the ignition to switch the stereo off? If this is true where do I buy one? I was under the impression that the harness which is the PC9-401 or 404, I can't remember which should do all of this for me?

2) How easy is it to pull the windscreen window pillar trunking out to fit the cabling for the interior DAB aerial?

Sorry for the silly questions but it's doing my nut and I am looking to put the stereo in over the Christmas period so I could use a reply asap.

Kind Regards

Black
 
I wouldn't bother with the CANBUS emulator. They're about £100, and you can wire in an ignition on feed for about 50p. Either just wire up the perm live to the ignition on feed to the HU and rely on turning the HU on/off manually, or wire in a feed from the fusebox, so the HU switches on/off with the engine or for proper keys-out turn off (so HU stays on till you pull the keys out) pick up the feed from the steering column (really skinny red wire on the loom from the ignition) and wire that into a 12v relay. This is what I did, takes a bit more time but so much better than it turning off with the engine.
The windscreen pillar trim is just clipped on with metal spring clips, but they can be quite stiff if they've never been removed before. You can quite easily just poke the wire behind the trim using a small thin pokey thing.
You'll find the rear speakers and sub will be really quiet compared to the fronts, so better to rewire the rears directly to the HU, and then use the adapter just to feed the sub.
 
Well put it all in, the harnesses just didn't seem to work. No power, nothing even though they are wired exactly as the original loom which is odd. I tried the 401 and the 404.

So after much frustration I went for the CANBUS cable fortunately I got it off a friend of a friend. This seems to be ok and power the rear speakers and the amp fine with only minimal fade required. It doesn't seem to do anything it is designed too though like powering off when ignition is stopped or showing information on the DIS but it works. So it's a manual switch off. Although I can't find anywhere what CANBUS settings need to be for a Nashville DAB 35. 1 and 2 off 3 and 4 on is the best I can find same as the DAB 54.

My main issue though is the Blaupunkt DAB antenna. It took me ages to fit this but it doesn't seem to be working at all. I fed the 12v lead into the right spot but the Nashville can't find any DAB stations. It's driving me nuts now. It says to put the 12v into position 5 which is a relay but nothing. I tried in on other 12v outputs too but nought. It just says NO DAB when scanning or NO INFO.

This is my last attempt before calling and paying for experts to do it. Which will really pee me off to be honest.

Cheers
 
CANBUS emulator doesn't provide DIS info, you need the Blaupunkt cable to do that.
Can't understand why you've needed the emulator. Just pair the red & yellow wires and connect them to the perm live on the Audi loom, there is no way this cannot work.
It sounds like the emulator is just confusing the issue.
All you need to do is connect the DAB aerial to the power antenna wire on the HU and job done.
I presume you've checked you can receive DAB in your area?
 
Yeah I have a DAB radio in the house and that works great.

The harnesses didn't work at all. No power on either 401 or 404. Litterally I just plugged them in and tried to power on. Nothing.

The CAN BUS is the Blaupunkt one sold by Bluespot.

It's the antenna that annoys me most to be honest, unless it's faulty. On the CAN BUS harness there is already a powered filter for the radio which is plugged into the power ant. relay switch. I tried taking it out and adding the blaupunkt antenna 12v cable but still nothing. I get absolutly nothing not even a faint signal.

Thanks for your help Andy, it is appreciated.

Are there any decent instructions any where online for fitting a Blaupunkt DAB antenna and Head Unit?

Cheers
 
The 401 & 404? Do you mean the Autoleads PC9's?
These are purely to feed the signal to the rear amp, nothing to do with powering the HU.
Regardless, you don't need either anyway as the Blaupunkt HU already uses the same mini ISO plug that the stock Audi system uses so that part is straight plug & play.
Take out the emulator and just join the perm live & ignition on live to the perm live on the Audi harness, then connect the DAB aerial power to the power antenna feed on the HU. Job done.
 
yes indeed the PC9's made by autoleads, sorry.

So if the Blaupunkt plugs straight to the HU but the Audi harness needs the wires changing then that's probably why it didn't work when I tried it first of all? This will also explain why the PC9's didn't work. I read Audi fit the two round the opposite way or something?

I will still need the antenna power boost which has a 12v feed to the HU, won't I for normal FM radio? This is the same feed that the DAB aerial needs, can I just attach them?

What's the best way to attach all these wires? Take the receptical off and put all wires through it and plug it back in? That's kind of tricky though.

Do I need to unplug the battery? I don't want to have to do this really even though I was supposed to originally to fit the HU.
 
Sorry Andy if your pulling your hair out. It'e been a fair while since I last fitted a stereo and although its easier with all the ISO fittings there are so many more wires and I am getting confused.
 
All you have is 3 main connections:
A black ISO power lead - this just provides 12v perm live and earth to power the HU. The new HU needs a 3rd connection, ignition on live, to tell the HU when the keys are in the ignition. The Audi loom doesn't have this, so you either wire one in from the fusebox, or under the steering column, or just connect the perm live to the ignition on live and turn the HU on/off manually. The esiest way to do this without butchering the Audi plug is to buy a male & female power ISO harness, plug the Audi loom into the male end and plug the female end into the HU and then cut the perm live and the ignition on live, connect them together on the HU side and connect them to just the perm live on the Audi loom side. This will then feed perm live to both connections on the HU.
Brown front speaker loom - this just plugs straight into the HU
Black 20 pin mini ISO - this has the changer connection, DIS and rear amp wiring on it. This plugs straight into the HU, to give you the rear amp feed with the changer and DIS part not doing anything.
Lastly you'll have a blue flying lead labelled "power antenna", connect this to both the DAB aerial feed and the FM/MW/LW antenna amp. All this does is provide a 12v feed to both devices when the HU is turned on.
Sounds more complicated than it is. Just go and buy the power ISO harness (£5 from Halfords/Maplins) and a few bullet style connectors and the job should take less than 10 minutes. Good Luck.
Here's the female ISO power socket, but they also do one with the male plug on the other end.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=98788&doy=2m1
 
So I don't need anything to power the rear amp?

I got the bits from Halfords and the guy there seemed to think I needed a harness to power the amp, he said he does in his A3.

I have the harness but I ain't going to use it if the Blaupunkt can do it all anyway.
 
You only need the harness for other makes other than Blaupunkt & Becker. They both use the non-standard 20 pin mini ISO plug for the pre-outs (just like the stock Audi HU's) whereas all other makes use standard RCA's.
 
Well I followed that to the letter and still no joy.

It seems the original audi harness differs somewhat to expected. As follows:

I have Red-Black 12v Ignition wire, red-grey (not labelled) blue power antenna and another red 12v igntion wire.

then red-white (not labelled), yellow 12v perm, orange illumination and black chassis ground.

So now I am really foxed. The CAN BUS cable thing worked but could not power the DAB antenna and all that had was the red ignitiion wire and black feeding into the AUDI harness. I am totally baffled.
 
What are you referring to above?
You should have a standard black ISO connector on the Audi loom (shown below but you won't have the yellow wire with red stripe):
ISOPowerdiag.jpg

The only connections you need are Perm live & Earth, connect the red & yellow wires on the HU to the perm live (red with white stripe) and the black earth on the HU to the brown ground on the ISO plug.
Then the blue power antenna to both the DAB aerial and analogue antenna adapter.
 
My audi loom looks nothing like that?

I thought the yellow 12v Perm was the permanent live? I have TWO 12v ignition wires on my audi loom also.

I did notice something yesterday when I stuck the torch behind the climate fitting. There appears to be more ISO connectors hidden round the back. Is it possible that I am looking at the end of another harness fitted prior to me getting the car? There was a tax disk antenna on the car before I had my CK7w Nokia bluetooth fitted so maybe someone has add something to fit a car phone? Unless the ISO's are for connecting the climate or something? The cabling on the loom all looks original and marked as such.

Regards
 
The red and white cable is not in the same position as the picture. I also have a red and gray wire that is NOT labelled and a BLACK Chassis/Ground wire NOT brown.
 
Someone's definately been fiddling with your looms. The genuine Audi loom has no labelling, just the diagram on top of the stock HU to tell you what does what.
If you trace the wiring all the way back, pull it all out and see where it ends. The standard ISO connectors are only used for the HU, the CC and all other electrics have custom plugs.
Posting a pic would be helpful.
Failing that then just buy a 12v testing screwdriver and you'll easily be able to work out what's going on.
 
Yeah I'll trace it back and see if I can fathom out what should be where. If the red and white is the perm live then it maybe that I just have to connect the HU red and yellow to that even though it's in a different position to your picture. That would make things a lot easier.
 
The loom itself isn't labelled but the wires are. Sorry I meant the wires not the loom.
 
audi upgrades
nothings ever ****** easy is it? :3sadwalk: :sadlike:

No blimmin wonder nothing has worked accept that CAN BUS thingy which did get power to the HU but didn't work with the DAB Aerial.
 
And didn't provide auto on/off, which it should have done regardless of the wiring issue, so pretty pointless really.
 
Yes true that didn't work at all.

One thing is for sure though I am going to be in the bad books tomorrow for spending a further day trying to fathom out what the hell is going on.
 
Well traced it back to the original loom, traced the permanent live back to the new loom and added the desired cables. Stereo all working now except DAB.

I still can't pick anything up through the antenna. It's plummed in correctly I think to the 12v amp output same as the blue wire from the HU but nothing. I run a scan on the HU and it finds nothing, sometimes it just says NO DAB.

Perhaps I need a different antenna as I took the glass one off and even waved it about outside of the car. I then drove 35 miles to major city/town still no reception.

******
 
I only purchased this one for DAB so it's all a bit frustrating.
 
Yes thats the same one as me.

Tried moving it yesterday and hung it out the window but nothing. I am NOT convinced that I do have a 12v signal going to it but it's plugged into the 12v amp part of the HU where the blue wire currently is. The power antenna for analogue seems to work fine.

I have scotch locked the dab aerial onto this line but nothing.

Where should I plug into the permanent? Same place as the IGN and PERM feed from the HU? If so is it ok to stick another scotch lock on this? Can you have more the one on the same wire?

I had to use scotch lock in the end as Halfords claimed that they do not sell the ISO normal connectors seperately and Maplin didn't have any either. So I couldn't put them through one. They said they use Scotch Lock though and should be fine.
 
Another note, where on the windscreen have you attached your antenna. I did have it passenger side near the corner where I could easily earth it to the pull down blind . Now it's nearly behind the rear view mirror where the literature in the box says to place it. Problem here is that there is nothing I can see to ground it too.
 
For a start I wouldn't use scotchloks they are hopelessly unreliable. Buy some proper bullet connectors or use a terminal block. Can almost guarantee the scotchlock isn't connected properly, and even if it is any slight movement of the wiring can cause it to fail.
I've got mine to the left of the mirror, just earthed it on one of the screws that secures the interior light/controls.
Have you not got a multimeter or 12v testing screwdriver (£2.99 from Halfords/Maplins) - makes life a whole lot easier than all this guess work.
 
I don't have a multimeter so I will try and get one of these. Do they make them so that they can test a voltage say at the antenna end that is attached to the glass by just touching the sheathed wire?

As for the scotchlok that seemed to be the only viable solution as I couldn't seem to get the female crimp connector that is in the female ISO that plugs into the HU. The bullet connectors aren't the same or are they? Halfords claimed you can't buy them. The other end has the male part attahed also which I coul'd find either.

I am getting power to the HU and can use everything except DAB, which is annoying as it was the only reason I bought this unit. The power antenna for the tuner is working also which uses the same plug but has the DAB antenna scotchlokked to it. So maybe it is the scotchlok or dare I say it the DAB antenna is faulty.
 
Plugging directly into the perm live, is that going to cause any damage?

You say temporarily, if it works can't I leave it?
 
Panic over Andy.

Just got to my place of work which is a fairly big town/city tested it again and DAB working an absolute treat. So dispite being able to get DAB in my village it obviously isn't a very strong signal. The reception is fantastic and clear here. Really Chuffed.

All I need to do now is get it earthed. Same place as you I guess except I cannot see the screws that you speak of at first glance. Do you need to pull anything off first?

Thank you very much for your help, very much appreciated and I'd never of got it working without you. Your a star.

Cheers
P.S How do you mute rear speakers for Nokia phone kit? The front ones mute but not the back.
 
Glad you got it sorted, I guess you won't be spending much time sitting in the drive listening to the radio, so not a big issue.
Remove the plastic glass from the centre light, it simply prises off from the back. Then you can prise off the front grey bit that goes round the light switches. This reveals 2 screws that holds the whole cluster to the roof. Remove these and it pops out. You then have plenty of space to either earth the antenna on an existing screw or drill a new pilot hole for a self tapping screw (which is what I did IIRC):
B6interiorlight.jpg

B6interiorlightremoved.jpg
 
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