Hey there...

I am going slightly mental and in need of some help...please.

This is the 1st time in my life I have ever attemped to remove and install a new head unit.....sad but true!

I have a Fabia vRS '04 and have removed the single CD Symphony, no prob.

I bought an Alpine CDE9880 and was told by Halfords I need 3 other items....

1) A face plate to make it look neat

2) A wiring harness

3) An aerial booster thing ;-)

So I have disconnected the negative terminal on the battery for fear of killing myself in the process

I connected the original brown and black plugs (that were connected to the Symphony) to the Halfords wiring harness and then connected the remaining ends to another harness (which came with my Alpine). The remaining end of that harness obviously connects to the Alpine (CDE9880). Is all this necessary...dont know where I'm gonna find the space to hide all these cables....

Then I have an aerial booster cable to connect, right? I took the one end and connected it to my Alpine and the other end which is a silver bar to the original skoda antenna and its seems to fit correctly. (Perhaps the wrong way around??) - There is also a loose blue cable which I have no idea what to do with so its just hanging there?

I then reconnected the negative term on the battery and tried to test but the radio doesnt work, it wont switch on. I must be missing something, surely....like a brain perhaps

If you do provide some guidance, pls let me know if I need to disconnect the battery again as well....not sure if thats necessary

Thanks so much

smanicom

Finally....how does the new HU get its power? Do I need to run a cable to the battery at all and/or is a ground cable necessary.

I am so confused. I need a step my step guide if possible please guys.

I tried taking to Halfords to installl and they wont because I bought the unit elsewhere and have ben quoted £120 by another company nearby which is crazy.....plus I am almost done, I just need confirmation on the connections

Thanks

Not sure you tried the SEARCH function on this forum, but it is very helpful as this topic has been covered NUMEROUS times. I installed a Pioneer HU and not an Alpine, so not sure what the Alpines are like, but I would have thought most HUs should come with some kind of wiring diagram to help you out.

For my Pioneer HU, everything fit direct to the car harness without the need of a Halfrauds harness adapter and the only wires I had to swap over were the RED and YELLOW power wires (which were connected to the Pioneer harness with bullet connectors, so were easy to swap), because in the Skoda (and other cars) the permanent power and switched power (which allows your stereo to maintain its memory when the car is turned off) are inverted. These are likely the ONLY wires you will need to swap over (so essentially the red wire from the HU connects to the yellow wire of the car, and vice versa). The Halfrauds harness adapters only purpose is likely to swap these wires for you, and you should be able to trace whether this is happening by following the wires. With my Pioneer HU everything else lined up, except for the BLUE wire from my HU which was left unconnected. This is the wire you need to hook up to the aerial booster, as this feeds power to the signal booster located in the base of the aerial. If your "aerial booster" was simply a silver connector, it is likely only an aerial adaptor, and you will also need another part that has a wire connection leading off from it. You hook the blue wire from your HU up to this. Everything else should just line up directly, but as I said I've never installed an Alpine unit. With the Pioneer I didn't need a wiring harness adapter (good thing, as there is next to no room behind the stereo after you get the aerial booster and cables back there) and you're better off buying the facia adapter (to fill the gap left by the aftermarket head unit) from Skoda directly, as it's much cheaper and looks/fits better.

Hope that was helpful, and if not maybe someone who has done an Alpine install can help. Lots of people on here have Alpine units, so maybe try a search!

Oh yeah, I didn't disconnect the battery when I installed my HU and had no problems, but others have suggested it is a good idea so it's up to you. You definitely shouldn't need to connect your HU directly to the battery terminals and as for the ground, one would assume there is a ground wire from your HU harness that connects to the ground wire in the Skoda harness. Again I would think the Halfrauds harness should have lined these up for you, but if the unit still isn't working you might want to try connecting without the Halfrauds harness to see if the stereo will at least turn on (with the battery connected). Even if the yellow and red wires aren't swapped over, then the stereo should still turn on (with the ignition on) to test everything is working before you actually finish installing it. Nothing worse than actually getting the stereo fitted perfectly before finding out it won't actually turn on!

Edited 29 October, 200817 yr by SkoDave

many thanks!!!!

I did browse the first 20 pages of the ICE forum and tried a search for Alpine installation but couldnt find exactly what I needed. Apologies all, I'm sure the regulars here are tired of hearing the same thing over and over

I'll give your suggestions a try today

Cheers

smanicom

After rereading your post, with regards the aerial booster, is the unconnected wire you mentioned coming out of the HU or the aerial booster? If it's the HU (blue wire) then you simply hook this up to the wire coming out of the booster. If it's the booster wire, and you don't have any loose wires left after using the Halfrauds harness adapter, then it's likely the Halfrauds adapter connects this wire to something else. This might not be a good thing, as normally the blue wire connects to a "powered aerial" (the kind that pop up when you turn the car on) and because the Fabia doesn't have one of these, you don't want this wire connected to anything BUT the aerial booster. What you will likely want to do is clip this "blue" (I say blue, because I assume it is always blue, it was for my Pioneer) wire (either from the HU or the Halfrauds adapter if you still plan to use this) and connect it to your aerial booster. Should be a noticeable difference with stereo reception. Hope that sorts everything for ya, others can feel free to chime in if some of my info seems a little confusing and they can explain it better.

Edited 29 October, 200817 yr by SkoDave

Hi again

Its sounds to me like your pioneer and my apline have the same connections!

Ok so here's the 'booster' I bought?:

Autoleads PC5-52 VAG Group 'Bee-Sting' Aerial Interface £10.40 including VAT. PC552. Buy discounted car audio online at In-Car Express

I was told my Halfords it is the corerct one. I hope so.....

Just so that I am clear on this:

The silver part connects to the original skoda aerial cable.

The black end connects to the back of the HU

And the blue wire (which is currently hanging loose) connects to the blue wire from the Alpine harness adapter (which is also hanging loose) - And this is what will power my unit? Because right now there is no power whatsoever.

And I will try and connect everything without the Halfords harness adapter, but I will need to swap red and yellow power wires on the Alpine harness adapter.

If I cant do this, I will use the Halfords harness adapter to make this switch for me.

I also dont need to run any cable to ground or battery and no need to disconnect negative terminal when I do this (although its advised)

I think I have it all under control now. :thumbup:

Cant wait to give it a go when the wife gets home with my car

Thanks so much!!

Sorry, one blue wire is coming from aerial booster and the other from the Halfords harness (not the Alipine) .....

You're still a little confused methinks. You are right about all the booster connections (though you may still also need an adaptor to connect the booster to your HU as I did, because I think the majority of aftermarket HUs have a different aerial connection from factory units (though Alpine may be OK without). What you need to realise is the blue wire WILL NOT power your stereo! It simply powers the aerial booster located at the base of the aerial. This will boost your reception of radio signals, and without hooking this up your reception will likely be crap (mine was until I connected it).

The RED and YELLOW wires are used to power your headunit. One is a permanent feed and the other is a switched feed. If you don't swap them around on the Fabia, then the stereo should still work, but when you switch the ignition off any presets (radio channels, settings, etc.) will be lost. So long as these wires and the black ground wire are connected, I believe your stereo should work. Let me know how you get on. Hope you get it sorted.

Thanks so much for your help I have it sorted now!!!

No need for the Halfords wiring harness - will be taking that back tomorrow!

Cheers mate

Glad to help. Enjoy the improved sound!