New DAB Radio

[StephenM]

I decided to update the radio in my car, it had an Alpine CDA - 9852RB stereo unit in it when I bought it with a sub-woofer in the space between the seats at the back. Now before you do any of this the manual tells you to disconnect your negative earth connection from the battery.

So it was out with the old:-


Which was reasonably straight forward, but getting the old cage out proved tricky until I realised it was only held in place by these thin metal strips:-


Once they were out it was time to start thinking about installing the new wiring. I went for another Alpine unit (the theory being the wiring will probably be similar) and I wanted one with DAB radio that also allowed Bluetooth, so I bought the Alpine CDE - 196DAB there is a slightly cheaper version which does not have the CD player bit but I thought for the extra few pounds it may come in handy one day!

I had also looked at how I could use the new DAB radio but without one of those unsightly window aerials and discovered you can buy a digital splitter which takes the signal from the existing aerial and provides a normal output and one for the DAB radio. Apparently you just need a power supply which I was advised comes off the radio.

So lots of new wires later I had this:-


I thought better check that all works before sitting the radio back into its slot and yes, it sounded wonderful and I could connect with my phone, it has a great sound and I was happy, well for a short while anyway. I realised that the normal radio was working beautifully and I could stream tunes from my phone, I could even ring people through the unit when connected to my phone. But I could not get anything from the DAB radio ! in the picture above the small silver box on the right hand side is the splitter and the blue wire is the one that needs some power, so I connected it to the spare live feed as shown top left of the wires.

So I checked all the connections to make sure they were all well seated and tried again. Still no luck. So have decided to install the unit and seek further advice.

So here is the (nearly finished) radio:-


If anyone know whats up with the DAB I will be grateful for any advice.

 

[stevie_a]

Not 100% sure, but do you not have to have a DAB Arial for it to work?

check it out first before buying anything .

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAR-DIGIT...239258?hash=item35d34bfd1a:g:r4sAAOSwKtVW1Zxd

Or

http://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/dab-car-stereos/sonichi-magnetic-roof-mount-dab-antenna

 

[Antm72]

Everyone i have seen fit Dab has fitted a windscreen mount Dab Ariel and disconnected the standard one

 

[GazHyde]

Nice write up, shame it's not 100% there but I'm sure the guys are on to something with the aerial!

 

[StephenM]

Have now done my homework and found that you need to connect the blue wire from the digital splitter to the Power Aerial wire in the wiring loom (which is also blue) so I have ordered some connectors and will update when they arrive.

 

[Paul M]

The layout of the alpine looks similar to the pure I put in mine. Mine needed an extra digi aerial. Which was ok for me as my analog one does not work. Any thoughts there?

 

[StephenM]

Today, courtesy of Amazon, some connectors arrived, so I ventured out to my Zed to connect the aerial splitter to a power supply. I had read that you simply connect to the power antenna wire from the wiring loom to the stereo and your good to go. So I did and guess what ? it worked, it actually worked ! and the great sound of DAB radio was heard in my Zed for the very first time.

However it was very short lived, because as soon as it started it stopped !. So I tried tuning to a different DAB station and it came back to life, only to disappear in exactly the same way. So I tried the same thing a few more times and got the same result. Now I am wondering if the power antenna only takes power for a short period which is why it is coming and going.

Well the good news is that the splitter does work, all I have to figure out now is how to keep it working ?, perhaps there's a setting or may be I will just have to find another way?

I will report back when I have found out more.

 

[t-tony]

I guess the power antenna wire is only fed for long enough to power the antenna up or down. When I fitted my DRL's on my Z3 I used the power feed for the smog pump and I had the same problem as the pump only runs for a timed period after start up. You maybe need to find a permanent fed I'm thinking?

Tony.

 

[Antm72]

There should be a wire possible blue/white on the new stereo which is a remote live wire used normally as a switching source for a amp.
This remains live as long as the stereo does it should do what you need

 

[StephenM]

Thank you, I will give that a try at the weekend and see if that solves it

 

[Antm72]

I would check the new units wiring diagram but im sure its blue/white may be a solid blue.It will be labelled as a remote/power feed.
Its sometimes slightly thinner than the rest as it is just for switching

 

[StephenM]

Checking the stereo wiring diagram I found a blue and white wire which was labelled remote turn on, so I tried that one.

Alas the same thing the Dab radio came on for a few seconds and then switched itself off again. Checked the normal FM stations on the normal tuner and they were all fine.

So either I have a malfunctioning splitter or may be just both these power supplies switch off after a couple of seconds.

Not sure whether to cut my losses and simply go for a screen mount Dab aerial (did not really want one of those stuck on the screen) unless there are any other options.

More reading required !!

 

[StephenM]

Finally....... it works !!!

But had to dump the splitter in favour of a new digital aerial on the windscreen. What do you think folks ?


Don't think it's too bad ?



So full DAB and all is well !!

 

[Paul M]

Best way, I have a magnetic one fixed inside the z3. In my Passat the screen aerial hangs through the grab handles above the door!