Chat about RNS510 installation into T5.2

[Sunny43.5]

H'mm if you are an AM fan then there would be no point buying a Chinese one , I don't listen to radio whilst driving most announcers annoy the crap out of me but I digress our Chinese units have next to no AM reception and we are only 30 kms out of central Brisbane . FM is not much better . I have over the years tried some off shelf boosters but they are no good that last unit I fitted to my wife's T5.2 I purchased a powered roof mount aerial from a Nissan Xtrail it made a difference but not that it would satisfy some others . There is just something about the factory radio's and the built in VW antennae once you separate them whatever you put back unless its a VW one just don't play . I did ask an car Audio place for some info as they do a few installs in different model VW's their suggestion was that there is a wire in the loom at the back of the head unit if you use a test light and connect one end to twelve volt and then probe the wires apparently when you hit the right one the radio reception will suddenly spring to life , I tried but it did not work for me so went with the roof mount .Ryda Car Audio - Aerpro AP199 Nissan X-Trail 2001-Up($66.25)

[Sunny43.5]

No problem buddy needed to make sure I did not sway you into a Chinese one , it does seem to be an issue with VW radios that are replaced so a better OEM one should fit the bill . Because some T5's use diversity antennae getting a radio to work correctly can be a problem .It would seem that VW have made their radios unique to their own system and obviously aftermarket ones could not always be compatible . Lets face it it would be pretty hard to make aftermarket radios that would work only for one specific model car the cost would be unprofitable . I was reading some stuff on the net this afternoon and there were some statements that made sense , apparently the old extension type metal antennae were the best for reception because as we all know AM has been around since man started to drive cars almost , FM only became popular here in Australia in the early 70's and in Europe they use several different bands of frequencies . Now the Americans are moving towards HD Digital and Satellite so we are only just starting to go Digital god knows what century we catch up with the rest of the world . So in Europe where our cars are made they have gone to these diversity systems and glass mounts as AM is slowly disappearing from the main stream , these aerial's now are just not as good as the old metal ones by a mile plus the fact that in Europe the FM band is absolutely swamped with stations . I know when we were there as far back as 1984 in some countries there were no restrictions on FM so any one could set up a transmitter on his roof and transmit a signal . I know some head units are now coming out with DAB here but very limited and most AM stations are also transmitting on the Digital band as well , but again the proliferation of digital is almost limited exclusively to the metro areas around Australia so if you are outside the city forget it .

[kordo]

Ok so I've just ordered a RNS510 with bluetooth module, multimedia adapter and RVC (aftermarket RVC goes through the adapter).

So my questions are:
- where does the RNS510 GPS antenna sit?
- where do you route the bluetooth microphone and unit?
- are there any issues in setting up/coding the bluetooth?
- is it best to route the reverse camera wiring through the roof lining or floor lining?
- is it possible to wire in a second set of speakers from the RNS510 and where in the harness are these speaker wires?

Thanks in advance

[Sunny43.5]

I cannot answer all your questions so her e goes GPS antennae can go anywhere with clear sight to the sky , in my T5 I have it underneath the tray above the radio it lifts out and mine is in there . Or you could mount it to the windscreen centre top using a sealant type glue or some two way tape 3M . If the microphone connects to the back of the head unit you will need to route the wire across to the end of the dash and then up the pillar trim , you can remove the end cap of the dash and use something flexible to get the wire from the side to the radio . Coding no idea as I said in earlier posts all our Chinese units just plug in and work no coding .The reverse camera wires I ran through the roof trim area less chance of them being squashed . I am also not sure if the factory plug has facility for second set of speakers it would depend on what spec your van is Is yours a Transporter or 4 motion or one of the more upmarket ones ? if a base Transporter then I doubt there would be any wires in the harness you may have to run some to your extra speakers . Again our head units have RCA outputs and we then use two amplifiers to drive our aftermarket speakers . Hope this helps , someone else may be able to shed more light on the coding issue . Last bit if you are wiring up the camera you will need to feed the wires through the roof to tailgate grommets so when you get to that point have some silicone spray it will make getting the extra wires through much easier .

[kordo]

Thanks mate.

It's a transporter crew, so it has the back seats and the factory foam/vinyl flooring. If it doesnt have wiring for aditional speakers I may hide a small amplifier if I think she needs it. Any issues in replacing the speakers in the doors and what size are they?

And yes I'm expecting the grommets to be a PITA. I've got lots of silicone spray and generally use a zip tie to help get it through.

Now I just need an answer on the coding etc

[Lams]

hello, just thought I'd chip in a few thoughts after having installed a few things in my 02/10 Caravelle, and also having purcahsed Chinese units in the past.

My Caravelle is an ex-cult (PM me if you want details, it's interesting!) car and when I bought it from a dealer they fitted in a new RCD510 for me. But as it is used for commercial passenger services a satnav is important, and I had an RNS510 off my Caddy so I didn't consider fitting anything else.

The dealer said the Caravelle had bluetooth and cruise control. Lies, it had no bluetooth and had an ugly aftermarket cruise control unit.

Apart from RNS510 I also fitted a 729B Skoda bluetooth I had lying around, plus a Tiguan MFSW. I couldn't get my GTI gear-shift paddles working and I believe not having factory cruise is the reason for this.

Back on the RNS510 - I fitted the GPS next to the dash tweeter, and the bluetooth module deep inside the dash (there's plenty of room in there!). The overhead light console did not have microphone provision so I stuck it in next to the light (not visible). This took roughly an hour. I then added an OEM camera off a Jetta or something, had to butcher the camera holder and now the camera sits central between the license plate lights. It looks a bit rough and if there's time I'd probably have another go at it. I also added rear speaker wiring while I was in there. The RVC was a pain to install, straightforward but fiddly especially getting it through the tailgate. In the end we had to take the plug apart to feed the wires through.

All these parts added up over time would have cost $1500 or so. Yes it may be expensive but what you're getting is functional VW hardware with the typical VW user-friendliness and attention to detail. In comparison, in our Crafter Bus we have a $400 Chinese unit paired up with a $10 camera. I've had to work with the manufacturer to switch wires, test software patches... it does its job, but it is a piece of turd. Slow to start up, every time we start the car it loses power and has to boot up, user-unfriendly, lots of bugs, and what annoys me most is the built in sound amplifier is stuffed. On 0 BAL I lose the main channels and everything is distorted. The FM only works 30% of the time. I can go on and on and on

So I would highly recommend you buy the VW bits. When you're done with your car, you can sell them and probably lose 10-20% of what you spent, but unlike a Chinese unit you would be impressed by it, rather than frustrated by it. My Chinese unit for my Mercedes Crafter cost me $410 shipped new, and now I highly doubt I can sell it, main reason because my concious would not allow me to pass these problems to any other Sprinter/Crafter owner, it's just not nice. Unfortunately the equivalent Mercedes systems are not as plug-and-play as VW systems, and there isn't a community of Mercedes people fiddling with their cars like there is with VW.

[kordo]

So once the wires are run the bluetooth is just plug and play?

[Sunny43.5]

Hi Lams maybe you should get one of these cameras CCD CAR Rear View Camera VW T5 Transporter Multivan T5 | eBay

[kordo]

Lams, how/where did you tap in for additional speakers?

[Lams]

Thanks Sunny. I used an OEM Jetta one which was plug & play. Not sure how to make one of those work with the RNS510
Kordo you need to add 000979021 wires to the radio plug so you can run rear channel output. You'd need to code the RNS510 to a 4 speaker system too. For the bluetooth, most kits are now plug & play. We used to have to solder onto the CAN network and add a power source from the fuse box etc, but these plug and play kits make things a lot easier

[kordo]

So where do you source the 000979021 wires and where in the plug do they go?

Also how do you code the RNS? I'm guessing I need a tech to plug into it or can I download firmware from somewhere?

[Sunny43.5]

No worries LAMS I just thought it might interest you , I have never seen the arse end of any RNS units except for the stock unit I removed from our latest van but as the clever little Chinese buggers make the plug with CAN bus adaptor for their VW units it just plugged straight in and worked right off the bat , the connections for extra speakers and camera and numerous other inputs and outputs are all part of the head unit .

[kordo]

So can anyone give details on where to tap into the rear speaker wires?

[Sunny43.5]

kordo does your van look like there are places for rear speakers at the rear if not I very much doubt there are speaker wires for the rear , you may have to run your own and fit the speakers in a suitable location if you have a look at the post on our T5 project I fitted speakers into the roof trim at the rear and just ran my own wires to suit . If you are trying to hook up extra rear speakers at the rear of the head unit there may not be any there at all from factory , probably the only vans that might have rear speakers and wiring standard would be the top of model ones only . Now if you are fitting a factory unit that has front and rear fade you may have to add the wires for the rear speakers at the plug if there are none there you are going to have to tap into the plug directly onto the back of the head unit somehow , I had a look on the back of our factory unit and it shows rear speaker outputs but I cannot remember if there were matching wires in the factory plug . As for changing the factory speakers [incidently they are probably made in China as were ours] you can but its a bit of a challenge as the speakers are actually moulded into the mounting that is riveted to the door inner skin . I just cut the old speaker out from the mounting frame and attached new ones of a much higher spec as I am running large amplifiers for front splits and the subs . Another interesting thing is that both of our other T5s from 2005 had factory tweeters fitted into the dash top at each end , those tight arsed bastards at VW did not bother with them on the new one along with a heap of other things the buggers left out as well .

[kordo]

So if there arent wires in the harness how do I assertain which wires in the head unit plug are the rear speakers and which is +ve and which is -ve. Does anyone have a wiring diagram?

kordo does your van look like there are places for rear speakers at the rear if not I very much doubt there are speaker wires for the rear , you may have to run your own and fit the speakers in a suitable location if you have a look at the post on our T5 project I fitted speakers into the roof trim at the rear and just ran my own wires to suit . If you are trying to hook up extra rear speakers at the rear of the head unit there may not be any there at all from factory , probably the only vans that might have rear speakers and wiring standard would be the top of model ones only . Now if you are fitting a factory unit that has front and rear fade you may have to add the wires for the rear speakers at the plug if there are none there you are going to have to tap into the plug directly onto the back of the head unit somehow , I had a look on the back of our factory unit and it shows rear speaker outputs but I cannot remember if there were matching wires in the factory plug . As for changing the factory speakers [incidently they are probably made in China as were ours] you can but its a bit of a challenge as the speakers are actually moulded into the mounting that is riveted to the door inner skin . I just cut the old speaker out from the mounting frame and attached new ones of a much higher spec as I am running large amplifiers for front splits and the subs . Another interesting thing is that both of our other T5s from 2005 had factory tweeters fitted into the dash top at each end , those tight arsed bastards at VW did not bother with them on the new one along with a heap of other things the buggers left out as well .