RNS510, MDI woes...

[Luminary]

Guys I've been having trouble posting... lost the post twice now with extensive writing....

I'll just post the copy from yesterday before I was cut off and edit till it works...

Hi everyone,

Back from holidays this week and have some good and bad news. Before I went away, a problem that I had put down to my iPod (an old 60GB photo one) turns out to actually be a much bigger issue with the RNS510 unit. Hadn't used the MDI much at all anyhow. But when I did and music was playing from the iPod, it would occasionally cut out, and the music controls would grey out and come back after some little while.

I had taken the car in for the 1500 service; and mentioned a rattle in the back as well as the MDI not wanting to connect to the iPod. They said it was working fine with their iPod etc.

I put my iPhone on it and it also failed to pick it up. Only repeated resets, and watching it closely over a week revealed that the MDI was dropping back to AUX and occasionally the MDI was greyed out and not selectable etc.

Then I noticed when playing the radio, sometimes it would start stuttering almost with a rumbling tone and at first I thought it was the broadcast - but then noticed it was doing it on all channels.

It was only after I disconnected the iPod altogether and tried using the AUX in that it became obvious that it wasn't my iPod at all, but the whole MDI RNS combo that was at fault. The modes changed from engine start to the next. MDI was available and then not. AUX appeared and then not.

I took it in again and showed them photos of the problem and they tested it again taking off the codes of the RNS510. Two items showed as faulty. A replacement was ordered from Germany.

The blessing here is that I'd bought a Skoda bluetooth system last year and had been waiting on all the parts to come at first; and then the Christmas break saw Swallowtail busy and me lacking any suitable time also - which meant the bluetooth wasn't installed.

I can only imagine how hard it might have been if the unit had been installed and I had been blamed for the problems!

[Luminary]

Anyway it was replaced today, but I left the car yesterday and they couldn't get round to it... long story short... the head mechanic was around and saw the bluetooth unit that was sitting in the car...

Said they'd done them before and they could install it today...

Skoda unit... C version I think... works nice except the phone section has a green coloured interface not red like theres of the VW unit...

The MDI seems to work but needs the iPod to be playing a song already to work... otherwise says No Audio Files...

There is an extra bluetooth icon at the top row on the Media section on the far right... presumably this is stereo over bluetooth playback...


RNS510 doesn't seem to have been replaced... didn't think it was $5000 like they said... the work invoice says "DNS" replaced under warranty... maybe this is some behind the scenes part??? Not sure... but it seems to have done the trick...

Haven't tried the phone button on the steering wheel, or any voice features etc.... will have to wait and see how it all is...

[nivek]

I had taken the car in for the 1500 service;

Hi Luminary,

Is there a 1500km service? I've been told that the first service is 15000km?

Sorry for the OT discussion, but I'm quite worried as I have passed 1500km sometime ago.

[apom]

Skoda unit... C version I think... works nice except the phone section has a green coloured interface not red like theres of the VW unit...

The colours of all the pages can be changed from within the VAGCOM setup

[G-rig]

It's easy to be critical of head units once you're used to them but you try using a few other ones and you'll realize how good the RNS-510 is.

I also have the Skoda BT & MDI and the combination of this stuff with the RNS works fine so put it down to yours being faulty.

The colours of all the pages can be changed from within the VAGCOM setup

+1, i've got red for media, blue for nav and green for phone... looks great.

[Luminary]

Well I don't know why but even when I ordered the MDI and before the car was delivered I had something in my bones tell me that there was going to be something wrong...

On my Honda Euro, I had ordered a Dension kit and installed it with much trouble to find it was flakey; and had to send it back etc; wasting time and money. I had longed for the day when I'd have simple iPod connectivity...

Still not happening...

Friday after I picked up the car, I had noticed all my stuff on the HDD was still there - but the "DNS" had been replaced the invoice said... and the MDI was working...

Not for long... next morning and all weekend the unit displayed AUX/AUX and there was no sign of MDI except for one brief moment on the Monday morning when I rang VW to find out what a "DNS" was.

They said it was the RNS510 unit... I told them that it appeared to be the same unit - even a button that I know has a small mark was still there. The fellow said he'd call back and then did...

The unit had not been replaced. It was in the warranty guy's office in a box.

They had had the car two days and I could only think that the guy's who installed the bluetooth on Friday thought the RNS510 had been replaced the day before when no work was actually done.

Anyhow... had to wait a week till today for the replacement.

They did it today... and I have the new RNS510 with the * instead of the i in the top right corner which I think means it's a version C with the 2680 firmware.

All that is great, except the MDI still does not show up when I was there to pick the car up... drove back... they looked at it for an hour... tried things apparently and something to do with the coding is not allowing the MDI to communicate to the RNS510.

So no iPod now until mid February when they have booked in for a 2 day service to get it right. Alot of my music is in lossless and AAC format which means the MDI is the only really practical solution; the SD card only works with MP3 and some other formats I don't use.

At least the bluetooth works... but they haven't wired the mic into the RNS510 but directly to the Skoda unit - so no voice command there - unless they change the wiring around. I'll probably get them to do this on the 2 day service - but it has been a drag having to go in so often...

The saga continues... no MDI, but bluetooth works... for now...

Will update next month...

[G-rig]

Sounds like they don't know what they're doing mate, unless the MDI or RNS is faulty (or not wired up correctly).

I think i'll probably order this kind of thing from the factory next time, even though mine worked out well.

Sucks when you pick up a car and immediately you can see the issue isn't fixed (happened at Audi Centre Brisbane all the time).

GL with it, it's a winning combo when working properly.

[Luminary]

Sounds like they don't know what they're doing mate, unless the MDI or RNS is faulty (or not wired up correctly).

I think i'll probably order this kind of thing from the factory next time, even though mine worked out well.

Sucks when you pick up a car and immediately you can see the issue isn't fixed (happened at Audi Centre Brisbane all the time).

GL with it, it's a winning combo when working properly.

Well my feeling is that the MDI unit may also be faulty, but I'll wait till the service to see what happens there.

I think the only thing they wouldn't have done in the hour when I took it back is stripped the whole thing down and check the wiring.

Either the MDI wire was completely overlooked and lies back there unplugged, or it is faulty, or there really is some coding problem. I don't have enough experience to know which it is.

I ordered the MDI and RNS510 from the factory... that's what makes it doubly frustrating... you'd think it would just work.

The plus side is the new C version hardware... and the bluetooth is in... but the MDI still awaits......

I honestly thought the MDI was a simple plug and play thing...

[G-rig]

enough experience to know which it is.

I ordered the MDI and RNS510 from the factory... that's what makes it doubly frustrating... you'd think it would just work.

Was it installed in the centre armrest console or glove box? Nice when stuff ordered from the factory was actually installed at the factory.

I honestly thought the MDI was a simple plug and play thing...

Still not plug and play, have to splice canbus, power, ground & audio wires..

Some info here.

[Luminary]

Was it installed in the centre armrest console or glove box? Nice when stuff ordered from the factory was actually installed at the factory.



Still not plug and play, have to splice canbus, power, ground & audio wires..

Some info here.

Yes it's in the glovebox in a pull down unit...

So strictly speaking all the wiring/harness etc should have been ready to simply go... plug into the new RNS510 etc... at least that's what I would be led to think...

I have just printed the installation instructions on that page. Thanks for the link and it has the coding instructions - I might get them to check it out sometime before the service in February to see if that's what they've done.

If they can get it to work with the coding, then I don't think I'll bother with any other things like voice command etc.

[Rthirsty6]

I put my iPhone on it and it also failed to pick it up. Only repeated resets, and watching it closely over a week revealed that the MDI was dropping back to AUX and occasionally the MDI was greyed out and not selectable etc.

Luminary,
I have a similar problem with mine, when listening to my ipod, on a regular basis it drops out and the screen blacks out to aux. Sometimes turning the car off makes it come good for a while. Haven't had time yet to go to the dealer. I ordered the car with factory fit MDI, but found out that the dealer installed it locally. I have the feeling that they incorrectly installed it or that the MDI is faulty.
I will post as soon as I have been back with mine.