Installing DAB tuner - wires?

[chris watton]

A while ago, I bought a separate DAB tuner to go with my flip screen head unit:
http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/autodab-av-universa...



I liked this one because it has a USB port, where I can insert a memory stick to contain my whole music collection, leaving the other USB slot on the head unit free for my wife's ever growing number of Apple products.

It looks pretty simple to install and hide (it is quite tiny), but there are 4 stand alone wires that make me nervous:



Is it simply a case of splicing these wires onto the same coloured wires already there, or is there more to it?

Cheers.

Edited by chris watton on Thursday 19th June 12:12

[chris watton]

never mind, I'm an idiot anyway - I cut off the three RCA connections I need to connect the DAB unit when trying to get the head unit to fit back in....

So, it's try and splice the cables back together, or another head unit.

What a tw@t

[paul1962]

Splicing the cables shouldn't be too hard and you'll be able to move the connectors away from the back of the dash unit.

[chris watton]

paul1962 said:

Splicing the cables shouldn't be too hard and you'll be able to move the connectors away from the back of the dash unit.

Trouble is, there are two lots of wire in the cables, with one insulated...

ETA - I have managed to splice the three RCA wires back together, along with heat shrinking the fix!

All I need now is three male/male RCA adaptors, as both plugs are female, typically....

Edited by chris watton on Thursday 19th June 18:16

[shep1001]

chris watton said:

A while ago, I bought a separate DAB tuner to go with my flip screen head unit:
http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/autodab-av-universa...



I liked this one because it has a USB port, where I can insert a memory stick to contain my whole music collection, leaving the other USB slot on the head unit free for my wife's ever growing number of Apple products.

It looks pretty simple to install and hide (it is quite tiny), but there are 4 stand alone wires that make me nervous:



Is it simply a case of splicing these wires onto the same coloured wires already there, or is there more to it?

Cheers.

Edited by chris watton on Thursday 19th June 12:12

The loom on the head unit will have a switched & constant 12v live feed + ground. No idea what the 4th wire is for, what does the book say?

[chris watton]

shep1001 said:

The loom on the head unit will have a switched & constant 12v live feed + ground. No idea what the 4th wire is for, what does the book say?

The green wire (Parking - whatever that means - handbrake, maybe?) is a strange one. On my Power/AV/IR port definition picture, that particular pin is marked as 'Not Available', and shows no wire!

I am wondering if it's a safety thing, you must have the handbrake on to watch media files from a USB stick?

ETA - I don't think the green wire is that important, as I'm sure the people who I paid a king's ransom for installing the head unit never connected this safety feature (I think most if not all units capable of playing media/video files/DVD's must have them by law to stop drivers watching the screen whilst driving).

Edited by chris watton on Thursday 19th June 22:42

[jrb43]

chris watton said:

The green wire (Parking - whatever that means - handbrake, maybe?) is a strange one. On my Power/AV/IR port definition picture, that particular pin is marked as 'Not Available', and shows no wire!

I am wondering if it's a safety thing, you must have the handbrake on to watch media files from a USB stick?

ETA - I don't think the green wire is that important, as I'm sure the people who I paid a king's ransom for installing the head unit never connected this safety feature (I think most if not all units capable of playing media/video files/DVD's must have them by law to stop drivers watching the screen whilst driving).

Edited by chris watton on Thursday 19th June 22:42

Yes, it's a safety thing - whether it's law or manufacturer's agreement, I don't know. Just check how it's supposed to work - on mine, it had to be connected to ground otherwise it thought the handbrake was always off and you couldn't play video but, more importantly, couldn't program the satnav.

[chris watton]

This is what I had to do because I am seemingly incapable of thinking before hacking stuff up - the 2 audio and single video plugs spliced back together and sleeved:



I thought that was quite neat for me!

I have ordered a metre long male/male composite TV cable lead, as the cables on the DAB unit are only about a foot long.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0035XC494/ref=...

Ideally, it would be better to try and take off the lower dash to facilitate a neater fit for the myriad of wires, but I haven't got a clue how to do that...

Edited by chris watton on Friday 20th June 09:59

[shep1001]

chris watton said:

This is what I had to do because I am seemingly incapable of thinking before hacking stuff up - the 2 audio and single video plugs spliced back together and sleeved:



I thought that was quite neat for me!

I have ordered a metre long male/male composite TV cable lead, as the cables on the DAB unit are only about a foot long.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0035XC494/ref=...

Ideally, it would be better to try and take off the lower dash to facilitate a neater fit for the myriad of wires, but I haven't got a clue how to do that...

Edited by chris watton on Friday 20th June 09:59

3 bolts: 1 behind (under) the glove box, 1 in the vent closest to the steering column and the third I think is behind the radio

[chris watton]

shep1001 said:

3 bolts: 1 behind (under) the glove box, 1 in the vent closest to the steering column and the third I think is behind the radio

Thanks, shep.

just gotta wait for the extra cables to arrive....

[chris watton]

OK, cables arrived this morning, so I started taking the lower dash off. I seem to have only two bolts - both where Shep said they were, but I can't find one near the head unit opening. The dash doesn't seem to want to come off, it seems the centre tunnel is in the way, dammit! Plus, when I unscrewed the (very long) bolt in the glovebox, a nut dropped out onto the floor - so what are the chances of that bolt fitting back in! What a nightmare! Looks like I'll be left with a loose lower dash because someone couldn't be arsed to bond the nut to the rear of the bulkhead, the very place I can't get to!

ETA - I can get behind the bulkhead where the nut goes - phew!

Edited by chris watton on Saturday 21st June 14:38

[shep1001]

chris watton said:

OK, cables arrived this morning, so I started taking the lower dash off. I seem to have only two bolts - both where Shep said they were, but I can't find one near the head unit opening. The dash doesn't seem to want to come off, it seems the centre tunnel is in the way, dammit! Plus, when I unscrewed the (very long) bolt in the glovebox, a nut dropped out onto the floor - so what are the chances of that bolt fitting back in! What a nightmare! Looks like I'll be left with a loose lower dash because someone couldn't be arsed to bond the nut to the rear of the bulkhead, the very place I can't get to!

Have another look under where you took the glovebox out you can access both from there, only the one in the vent

[chris watton]

shep1001 said:

Have another look under where you took the glovebox out you can access both from there, only the one in the vent

Cheers, will have another look.

In the meantime, I wired everything up (jury rig style!), connected everything - and it works! My splicing of the RCA connectors seems to have been successful..

My only problem now in the DAB aerial - it has a sticky copper strip that should be earthed on the windscreen pillar - but I am sure the windscreen trim is glued in place, so no way of getting to the anti-roll bar.

[shep1001]

chris watton said:

Cheers, will have another look.

In the meantime, I wired everything up (jury rig style!), connected everything - and it works! My splicing of the RCA connectors seems to have been successful..

My only problem now in the DAB aerial - it has a sticky copper strip that should be earthed on the windscreen pillar - but I am sure the windscreen trim is glued in place, so no way of getting to the anti-roll bar.

Just run an earth to it from any earth point that way you don't need it on the window

[chris watton]

shep1001 said:

Just run an earth to it from any earth point that way you don't need it on the window

Thanks for that, that's what I'll do. Can I use any wire 9within reason) to do this?

[shep1001]

chris watton said:

Thanks for that, that's what I'll do. Can I use any wire 9within reason) to do this?

Yes, any sensible gauge will do. Go for black though to keep the colours correct

[chris watton]

shep1001 said:

Yes, any sensible gauge will do. Go for black though to keep the colours correct

Thanks again, shep thought as much.

I just thought, while everything's exposed, I could hard wire my dash cam lead! All I need to do is connect one with to the ignition and one to earth, is that right?

(Sorry for all the questions - have never done anything like this before, new territory for me, but tired of getting ripped off by 'professional' ICE 'specialists'..)

[Pursyluv]

chris watton said:

Thanks again, shep thought as much.

I just thought, while everything's exposed, I could hard wire my dash cam lead! All I need to do is connect one with to the ignition and one to earth, is that right?

(Sorry for all the questions - have never done anything like this before, new territory for me, but tired of getting ripped off by 'professional' ICE 'specialists'..)

Chris, you're right to have a go at it yourself! I went to see a ICE specialist, when I got there they were working on a Skyline so that the owner could control all ignition/security/music functions off his IPhone, great I thought, but alas no, apparently earthing a DAB aerial is a major issue in a fibreglass car, doubled the installation fee to about £200, the stereo was only £175, didn't bother in the end

[chris watton]

Pursyluv said:

Chris, you're right to have a go at it yourself! I went to see a ICE specialist, when I got there they were working on a Skyline so that the owner could control all ignition/security/music functions off his IPhone, great I thought, but alas no, apparently earthing a DAB aerial is a major issue in a fibreglass car, doubled the installation fee to about £200, the stereo was only £175, didn't bother in the end

I know! The cost to have my Pioneer head unit and sat nav installed was almost £300! I now know why - they spent hours trying to figure out how to change the RGB to say nav, instead of the default iPhone.

I didn't know this was the reason until last week, when I had to set up the units again after unplugging everything (everything resets to factory default). I read the instruction manual, and within 10 minutes, I had sorted it - it took the 'professionals' over three hours, with calls to Pioneer. It was in the manual all along!

I have not earthed the DAB aerial - I cut a length of black sleeved copper wire (quite thin gauge), connected one end to a flat connector and then fixed it to the copper strip - and for good measure, to ensure it doesn't work loose for any reason, carefully wrapped that with insulation tape. I then fitted the aerial and all the wires are neatly hidden in the inside edge of the windscreen pillar.

I then opened a small section of earth wire (black)from the DAB unit and soldered the DAB aerial to that, and wrapped it in insulation tape.

Everything seems to work! I have never done anything like this before in my life (which is quite shameful), so I felt great when switching everything on and all worked as it should!

I was on a roll, I thought I'd try and see why my reverse camera and light decided to stop working since I got it back from the re-trim - this is where my luck ran out - the release button on the handbrake sheered off when I tried to unscrew it (and with hindsight, why the hell did I even try to take it off, I didn't need to!).

So I now have a non-functioning handbrake, which is quite a blow....

Fixed my reverse switch, though, although that's small comfort...

Just ordered a new handbrake, but I know I can't replace that - I tried earlier...

This is where I earthed the aerial wire:



This is the aerial - doesn't look too bad and managed to hide three lots of wire, only showing at the bottom corner:



But look at the mess I'm left with!




ETA - Oh yes, I have ordered a windscreen mounted AM/FM aerial, as the one in the car doesn't pick up any signal whatsoever!

Edited by chris watton on Sunday 22 June 20:51

[Pursyluv]

When I was asking about this on PH, Shep told me to get it earthed on the handbrake switch, the guy at the shop looked at me in disbelief when I suggested this, so have decided to wait until I get it re-trimmed in a year or two