A8 Parts Forum - RNS-E Retrofit into a D2....

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- D2 - Sat Nav, ICE, Audio & TV (https://forum.a8parts.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=38)

- - RNS-E Retrofit into a D2.... (https://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1544)

Another day, another part arrives....

RNS-E install into the dash has halted (again) due to the impending install of a new airbag controller. The airbag controller sits on top of the transmission tunnel, and underneath the center console so I need to leave it all out to gain access....

Anyway, I've finished the audio loom off, which is a result. After running the Bluetooth and TV tuner into the boot, making my loom and running all the cables back again, there was still plenty to do.

This is where I also discovered a couple of important 'features' of the Kufantec adapter cables:

1) They dont put a wire in for the reverse pin. I'm not sure yet of the implications of this. There is plenty of chatter about the different ways that different cars use reverse either over canbus, or over the reverse pin. I dont know if the D2 generates a reverse signal over canbus, and the result of having no reverse is that whenever you go backwards, the Nav counts it as forwards, which is a double wammy as far as out-of-positioning is concerned. With this in mind, I have inserted an extra pin into my Kufantec adapter. It is pin C2 on the RNS-E, marked as RFSL and should simply be a +12 high when reverse is engaged. This can be taken off the reverse lights feed, or if you're upgrading from a factory fitted RNS-D, it will be in the multiplug connector from your RNS-D, also marked RFSL. Here is my modified cable:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268176819

2) If you dont order the cable with 'phone yes' then I suspect they dont put the pins in the adapter for use with a phone (I dont know, as I always tick this when ordering) - If you intend to install a bluetooth module at some point, then having this is handy as 3 of the crucial wires (Tel +, Tel - and Mute) will all have pins present that you can tap into. Without these, you will need to add another 3 wires to your Kufantec harness.

So, I've now installed the modified harness, hooked up reverse, connected the Tel +. Tel -, Mute & Kline for the bluetooth along with all the power and canbus requirements so its basically all there. I just need to mount it now, and actually drive the car to see if it works !! :D

Just a note for anyone not wanting to change due to gaps/colour mismatch. I just read something CraigyB wrote and he said if you use Kiwi shoe polish on the RNS E it will match the rest of the dash fine. Gaps ain't a problem..

Quote:

I think most people are put off by the "polish", the polish in question a liquid that is absorbed by the RNS-E faceplate and appears the same as the shiny black of the A8/S8. Crasher and MrFirepro and several others have blacked up their RNS-E's to match the dash. The white of the buttons and the LED's are not affected by this treatment. I will post some pics later.

1 Step forward, 4 steps back....

RNS-E is now 'in' the dashboard, although its not exactly working out in my favour.

Singh was spot on with his unit noting that the front cover wont fit on, so I am going to have to trim. It will look good once done, but OMG I am going to have to accurate with that trimming... not looking forward to that ! (see the ill fitment with red arrow)

Second problem is the size of my resultant wiring loom, (green arrows) which although very functional, it now a bit bulky to fit behind the RNS-E itself leaving me a loop of cabling to 'lose' somewhere.....

Both problems fixable, but setbacks nonetheless.....

Photo:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268598609

The third problem is that my car used to have the early fixed Nokia 3310 car kit in it, which is now redundant, so when I had the center console out I removed the now unused phone adapter from the loom :

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268598916

When I removed this, it seems I lost a +12 ignition feed on the mobile phone aerial amplifier that i was using in the boot to control the power on/off of the rear seat entertainment kit...., so now need another +12 that only goes live with the ignition...

The most annoying problem though stems from the aerial setup on the rear window.

There are 4 aerials on the rear screen, which feed into a diversity switch box, which then feeds 4 connections into the Tv tuner in the boot.

There seems to be some revisions to the way the aerial setup works with possible some large, and rather prohibitive changes to the aerial setup in the 1999 car I have (with the type A tuner, single A/V input, square and boxy) vs the later type B tuners.

The later type B tuner is well documented by CraigyB in an RS6 as being able to have the connectors to the TV tuner changed, and it works with the RNS-E tuner. The type A tuner though seems to have compeletely different aerials and a much earlier revision of the diversity tuner, so i'm now losing confidence that the aerials will work with the RNS-E unit when I want them to..... which i dont right now, but it will annoy me if it doesnt work and I could fix it now.

This has a knock on effect to other projects, as to gain access to the aerials, you need to remove the rear seats, parcel shelf and D pillar trims, so not only do I not get to put my rear seats back together (seperate project in interior trims), but I also now need to remove more bits :rolleyes:

I'm just going to have to retrofit the type B tuner loom into my car, along with the relevant aerials and diversity.....

oh joy....

1 Problem fixed....

After the earlier problems, I have made some progress.

The old type A tuner has a +12 ignition feed on a black/green wire. I have verified this using wiring diagrams, and a test meter so hurrah, thats a problem fixed. The last thing I really want to do is have to run another wire the full length of the car.

On another plus note, I get the chance to run the 3 x Av phonos from one side of the boot to the other. This is used to take the output from the rear seat entertainment kit into one of the AV inputs on the Audi TV tuner. This means whatever is playing in the rear, can be viewed in the front, and now I have RNS-E, not RNS-D, they are both widescreen too which is cool +++

I've been quite careful on these recent projects to ensure cables are insulated, fused and safe. This is no different so I take the ignition feed wire that needs to run from the old TV tuner connection on the left side to the RSE on right and I bundle that with the 3 AV connectors and bind it all up with fabric tape for safe keeping..... They can then all be run underneath the plastic boot lip trim....

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268599507

Got mine fitted now, brought some 'aluminuim oxide paper' from Halfords and spent the day getting it to D2 size, I'm happy with the fitment, hard pressed to find any big gaps. Once I have gone over it with the kiwi magic shoe polish it should look as if it just came like that out the factory. :)

shaving down to size.....

Right, its D-day - I need to make the RNS-E fit so I can start to rebuild the front of the passenger compartment....

So, with the RNS-E in place and the wood bezel on the front as best possible, I use a sharp knife to score the sides of the RNS-E for the best fit....

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268858460

So, now we have the markers, time to trim it down to size. Sure sandpaper would work, but I'm on a timescale here, so time for something a touch quicker:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268858460

Less than 5 mins and shes chopped down to size.... It was coated in cling film first just to stop too much plastic dust getting inside and causing any weird optic problems with the laser.

....and da - dar - A D2 shaped RNS-E is born, ready for fitment....

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268858460

And here she is in place.... beautiful..... +++

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268858460

So, I guess its nearly done now... As long as the transmission tunnel covers go back on with the extra wiring in place, then we're good... I cant actually test it until I can move the car, which cant be done until I fit a drivers seat... <doh>

Looks good though.... :D

Sounds fishy.... Tuna

I'm more determined than ever to sort out the aerials now before I commit this RNS-E project as complete.

To recap, I'm not 100% sure that the older style TV tuner with its old pre 2001 diversity switcher etc will work properly with the RNS-E tuner. This may become more of an issue when I want to go digital, so whilst suck it and see is 1 option, I've decided the only solid solution is to retrofit the later Type B tuner aerials.....

Firstly, here is the location of the diversity switcher. I'm no expert, but I believe it basically takes the aerial input from all 4 aerials on the rear screen, selects the best signal and squirts that out to the tuner. It also supplies the audio headunit with its radio aerial feed:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268859716

I have the aquired 4 later aerial amps, but after removing my parcel shelf I was pleasantly surprised to see that I already have the same versions, which is good. Note there are 4 different aerial amps, and they are 4 different part numbers doing presumably slightly different things. All are marked TV/FM apart from one which also does AM... 2 aerial amps are at the bottom of the screen (1 either side) and there are 2 on the D pillars, again one either side. Each amp connects with a single wire to the rear screen where the actual aerial is, and in turn it has an SMB coax connector and power feed back into the audio loom....

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268859716

To change over to the newer type tuner setup is easiest if I just add in the later tuner loom. The type A tuner has round push fit coax connectors and as yet I havn't been able to identify their name. the Type B tuner has instead newer fakra connectors which are an SMB connector with a fancy keyed plastic cover on. The switcher has 4 aerial amp feeds in, 4 feeds out to the TV tuner and 2 connections to the head unit. It also has a simple +12/ground power supply connector:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268859716

So, I start with an entire type B tuner loom from a D2

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268859716

and I strip out the 4 coax feeds to the aerial amps (red circle), and the 4 feeds from the diversity switcher to the 2 x dual Fakra connectors for the Tv tuner in the boot (green arrow) The power connector is the same as the Type A tuner, and the aerial feed to the HU is an SMB on the type A, which will plug straight into the Type B diversity. The diversity feed is SMB too, but the wrong gender so I've ordered a fakra connector and set of crimps so will have a go at putting that single connector on.... eek.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268859716

Finally, the wide dual connectors on the Type B tuner are too wide to fit the RNS-E tuner, but changing them over should be easy. The SMB connectors inside pull out, and the plastic green/brown blocks can be bought from audi parts to fit the RNS-E tuner.... This is my plan anyway...

Tomorrow will see this loom being fitted so I can refit the parcel shelf and hopefully get the rear seats in too..

New aerial loom goes in...

Installing the new loom was fairly straight forward. Firstly remove the D pillar trims and parcel shelf.

Two of the aerial amps are at the bottom of the screen on each side as per my previous photos and the other two are tucked up on each side like this circled in green.

Its a fairly short run to the diversity switcher circled in red on the passenger side, and from the drivers side the coax wires run along the edge of the parcel shelf as arrowed in black.

Note the extra foam layer on top of the parcel shelf for sound deadening which you only get on facelift cars and the roof airbag ignitor which is a fairly big looking beast when the covers are off....

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268945806

I then run the 4 coax cables from the switcher through into the boot area and after taking them out of their original brown/green housing that wont fit this tuner, I directly insert the SMB connectors into the tuner to test...

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268945806

and the result kind of speaks for itself really :D

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1268945837

I guess there cant be many D2's running RNS-E with working Audi TV Tuner too.... +++

probably because fitting one is sooooooo damned involved. Don't think i'd be brave enough to tear most of my car to bits, but i got to admit it looks great! :D