Where to fit USB and aux in port for Dension Gateway 500s BT

[bentwenty]

Hello all.
I bought my car last week, it is a 54 plate 3.0 tdi quattro with mmi 2g. The very first mod on my list was some kind of multi media interface.
I looked at doing an OEM AMI install, but parts seemed to be hard to get, and very pricy for what you get.
I then looked at the VNS media option, but they were out of stock, and their Facebook page was full of people who has bad experiences ordering from them.
So last night I splashed out and bought a Dension Gateway 500S BT dual FOT. I can't wait for it to arrive!
My question is this; I don't want to use the USB and aux extensions in the glove box, I would like to extend them out to somewhere more convenient and reasonably OEM/neat looking, but where?
I'm not afraid of bit of dremmel and soldering action, but it it could be fitted somewhere reversible that would be great.
Cheers

 

[rich dj]

Hi i mounted mine in the glove box as its connected it in line with cd multi player (most optical connector for the audio) and power wires from yhe cd player too. it must be a constant live.
also handy to plug in your phone into its usb.
I really hope you have better luck than I have as I've had a few issues. I would like to know how you get on. PM me if you need any help.

 

[bentwenty]

Hi i mounted mine in the glove box as its connected it in line with cd multi player (most optical connector for the audio) and power wires from yhe cd player too. it must be a constant live.
also handy to plug in your phone into its usb.
I really hope you have better luck than I have as I've had a few issues. I would like to know how you get on. PM me if you need any help.

Thanks very much for the reply Rich! It's a bit quiet around here compared to the 8P section, I can practically hear the tumble weed
Have you installed and Dension Gateway as well? What issues are you having with yours?
I'm not too worried about the install and wiring, I did a big install on the A3 and I'm an electronic engineer by day.
But I like the little detail to be right on my installs! I agree that mounting in the glove box would be the neatest solution, but its a bit out the way for me, I don't fancy having to reach over into the glovebox every time I get in the car to plug it in, and then having to keep the phone in the glove box as the cable would stop the lid closing.
In the A3 I would have done something like this: http://www.audizine.com/gallery/data/500/aux_in.JPG
So one for the aux in, one for the USB in, and I'd make up extension leads to run under the trim to the Dension.
Thanks very much for your offer of help! I will certainly keep this updated, I'm hoping it arrives in the next few days as I'm seriously missing my 128GBs of music on my iPhone!

 

[rich dj]

Hi I have just purchased a longer usb cable for the iphone. To run under the trim and come out where my phone is attached to a holder as the signal is better on the road. Some leads seem to work better than others on the new connectors on the iphone.
My Bluetooth plays up all the time loosing connection and whistles at you when you turn off the ignition on a call. The iphone playback gets confused sometimes and won't play or like today when a text came in the volume lowered and didn't come back up. Sometimes it just says loading cd and won't do anything.
I have been backwards and forwards to technical but no solution as yet. Tried new firmware etc.
My aux in is to connect to an Apple TV1 with all my iTunes on as it has an external 1Tb drive on it. (I like wav files .
To be honest I'm thinking of turning off the Bluetooth and fitting a used Audi type.
Also an electronic engineer by day and Apple home product help (not official).
Yes, you soon miss your tunes

 

[MarkWizard]

Out of interest Ben what did you pay for your Dension?

 

[bentwenty]

Good evening all! My apologies for the radio silence, my life has a habit of getting very busy at the moment!

It arrived last Tuesday, Which was very impressive considering it came from Poland and I ordered it on Sunday! Mark; it cost me a total of £314 delivered, I went for the highest spec one they do.
I got it fitted on Tuesday night, as expected, the install went fairly well, I think it took me about a total of two hours to do.

I wanted to do it all properly, so I had the car to pieces to fit it.

I fitted the module in the top of the glovebox out the way.

When taking the car to bits I spotted the nice piece of removable trim under the climate control, so I fitted it in there, it works very well in that location. BTW while I'm on the subject of climate control, why does mine look different to everyone else's? Am I missing any features?

For the moment I have given the Dension power from an unused fuse slot, but every now and again the Dension won't boot when I start the car which is causing the MMI not to boot. I suspect this is because of the fact that it has a switched live from the fusebox, I'm thinking of giving it a permanent live to fix this. Maybe someone can shed some light...

I have found the device works very well on the whole, it works best if you select an album or a playlist from the phone, and then browse within the from the MMI, this is because the menu for browsing the whole phone is very clunky and not worth using. The Bluetooth integration with the MMI phone button is superb! My iPhone connects automatically and the car treats it as if it is the normal phone (not fitted on my car). I can view my contacts etc very easily. The audio over Bluetooth is also very good and connects quickly. I'm looking forward to getting rid of the Bose and putting some proper audio in it now!

To address your points Mark,
I haven't had any issues with the Bluetooth, I've had the odd hangup with the playback, but it always sorts itself out.
The issue with the volume lowering for notifications is the with iPhone, I used to get it all the time when I was using the 3.5mm line in on the A3, I always got around it by bringing Siri up and then getting rid of it, always brought the volume up again.
I've thought about a Gen2 ATV install, what are the major advantages over my 128gb iPhone? What do you use as a display? While I do have a good number of WAVs and FLACs fro my home listening, I find AIFF on my iPhone is more than good enough for the car!

Sorry for rambling on!

 

[B5NUT]

You should use a permanent live fuse slot.

 

[bentwenty]

You should use a permanent live fuse slot.

I will crack out the trusty Fluke on the weekend and check. Are all/some/none of the slots in the fusebox by the glovebox permanent?

 

[B5NUT]

There are both in that area, I've used spare slots to power AMI, dension etc using permanent live

 

[bentwenty]

There are both in that area, I've used spare slots to power AMI, dension etc using permanent live

Perfect, I'll have a poke about in my lunch break, will be a simple case of moving the blank fuse from the current slot to a live slot. I expect that will solve my bootup issue, it should allow me to use it with the key out of the ignition as well.

 

[MarkWizard]

Thanks. I asked as I paid £330 for a brand new AMI on ebay

 

[rallymangtb]

I've got one of these in my car but God knows how it works only had the car 4 days lol. there's a left and right stereo connection box with a blue led and on and off switch. female USB and old iPhone conector in the glove box and a lead with usb. Old I phone and phono plug that comes out by the centre arm rest .any guidance would be much appreciated

Thanks

 

[bentwenty]

Thanks. I asked as I paid £330 for a brand new AMI on ebay

I did seriously consider going the AMI route. I'm sure the USB in functionality would be much more reliable with the AMI, but I think on balance the dension is worth it for the number of other features it offers.
The bluetooth connectivity is really good and the integration with the Audi phone is awesome!
I habe also noticed that a few of the hangups I've had with the USB playback have actually been caused by my iPhone freezing (which it has been doing since iOS9).

 

[bentwenty]

I've got one of these in my car but God knows how it works only had the car 4 days lol. there's a left and right stereo connection box with a blue led and on and off switch. female USB and old iPhone conector in the glove box and a lead with usb. Old I phone and phono plug that comes out by the centre arm rest .any guidance would be much appreciated

Thanks

Try and snap some pictures and post them, it will give us a much better idea for what it is you have.
If it is a dension unit you have, you can access it by pressing the CD button on your MMI, then press the button for Source, and scroll down to select it. If you have a CD changer it will come up as CD7
The functionality of the on/off switch is dependant on how it was installed, in a certain mode of installation it will manually select between the dension and the glovebox CD changer using that switch.

 

[rallymangtb]

OK I'll get some pics tomorrow and post them up .thank

 

[N17ELE]

Hi
With regards to your climate control, its not. Its Air conditioning. I have the same.
Hope all works out, I would like a usb connection for music, but don't want to take car to bits like you, I am not that brave

 

[rallymangtb]

here's the pics of the denson bits the USB in the glove box I've got to work but the others a haven't if you plug the dongle in the other one it lights up but can't get it to do anything on the mm I. Another question doses the mmi have Bluetooth as standard as mine seems to have it as well as a parrot system as well ???

Thanks

 

[bentwenty]

Hi
With regards to your climate control, its not. Its Air conditioning. I have the same.
Hope all works out, I would like a usb connection for music, but don't want to take car to bits like you, I am not that brave

Hi Nigel,
Thanks for the info on the aircon! What are the functional differences between aircon and climate control? I had climate control in my A3 and this seems to work in a similar manner. It does seem a little slower to respond though.
It wasn't that hard to do actually! Can do a step by step on removing the interior bits if your interested. Most of the parts come out with clips.

 

[rallymangtb]

Hi bentwenty

I think the main difference is you also have the controls for the fan.heated seats and air vents on the panel as well and it all comes up on the mmi screen don't know if it would be a plug n play or not

 

[bentwenty]

View attachment 72190 View attachment 72191 View attachment 72192 here's the pics of the denson bits the USB in the glove box I've got to work but the others a haven't if you plug the dongle in the other one it lights up but can't get it to do anything on the mm I. Another question doses the mmi have Bluetooth as standard as mine seems to have it as well as a parrot system as well ???

Thanks

Hi, I don't recognise what those cables are for, perhaps not a Dension unit. Someone else may be able identify it better.

 

[bentwenty]

Hi bentwenty

I think the main difference is you also have the controls for the fan.heated seats and air vents on the panel as well and it all comes up on the mmi screen don't know if it would be a plug n play or not

Ah I see, thanks. Sounds like nothing major.
I have half leather seats at the moment, I'm thinking about having the centres re-covered as the alcantara has bobbled up a bit and at the same time having pads for heated seats added. So I would probably upgrade to a climate control panel at that point.

 

[rallymangtb]

I don't know if it is a denson or not to be honest mate I've got a car stereo fitting shop near me ill pop in there and see if they can shed any light on it

 

[rallymangtb]

Like I say I don't know if it's plug n play or a complete head ache lol the heated seats do work well though the bit I found a bit strange with them though is when the passenger gets out the car the heated seat stays on I would of thought it would turn of can't be a sensor in the seat

 

[B5NUT]

View attachment 72190 here's the pics of the denson bits the USB in the glove box I've got to work but the others a haven't if you plug the dongle in the other one it lights up but can't get it to do anything on the mm I. Another question doses the mmi have Bluetooth as standard as mine seems to have it as well as a parrot system as well ???

Thanks

That is the original (MK1) dension gateway, and none of them had BT as an option, if you get the phone screen then someone may have retrofitted Audi BT system. The parrot system would have been a sod to remove (They were a sod to install) so I bet they just left it in the car, as they are not worth much S/H

 

[rallymangtb]

Hi b5nut

Thanks for the reply it defently has 2 BT addresses one audi and the other parrot can't seem to connect to the parrot for some reason but the audi one works fine with my phone .any idea how to get the 3 connectors in the arm rest to work like I said the mem stick lights up but can't get it to work on the mmi not got an iPhone so can't try the iPhone plug in the glove box nor the one in the arm rest

 

[bentwenty]

Like I say I don't know if it's plug n play or a complete head ache lol the heated seats do work well though the bit I found a bit strange with them though is when the passenger gets out the car the heated seat stays on I would of thought it would turn of can't be a sensor in the seat

Retrofitted them to my A3, probably the most worthwhile mod I did!! Wording was a bit of a pain, but I already had climate control, so it was a case of changing it out for one with heated seat controls.
I will look into it further when I look into the seat re-covering. It might end up being cheaper for me to simply buy a pair of heated half leather front seats.

 

[rallymangtb]

Yea I was going to say that you can get sline front seats on eBay cpl of hundred quid