Looking for a latest CAN Gateway for my Skoda Octavia II, I came across this on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261039878838?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

It is of the latest (If I'm right) revision, which is: 1K0 907 530 AD, the price also seems fair. However, it is a Chinese make. Has anyone tried this on their Car? If not and were given a choice between this unit and a much much more costlier Czech Unit, what would you choose?

Edited 18 July, 201213 yr by hell666

Interesting. I got a used one last week on Ebay to accomodate a Bolero stereo upgrade.... £20 + £5 postage!

I believe the latest CAN's are 5N0 units, but the one you list is one of the last 1K0 ones and should be OK.

However, I'm not sure I'd trust a clone with something that important on the car. Just my opinion.

But I can see the attraction at £25 compared to £85...

Interesting. I got a used one last week on Ebay to accomodate a Bolero stereo upgrade.... £20 + £5 postage!

That's dirt cheap, what version/revision number was it?

I believe the latest CAN's are 5N0 units, but the one you list is one of the last 1K0 ones and should be OK.

However, I'm not sure I'd trust a clone with something that important on the car. Just my opinion.

But I can see the attraction at £25 compared to £85...

So, should I look out for 7N0xxxxxxAD/AE/AF instead?

I upgraded my CAN to one of the latest ones (5N0 or 7N0 - I can't remember without checking) and found that there were very few coding options on the latest ones!

Makes life simple, but it makes a big difference to whether your car acts like a pre-FL or a FL when it comes to coding other stuff as many options on the 1K0 CAN's is not possible on the newest ones.

I'd stick with the 1K0 personally.

Well, I prefer a Controller with as many options to Code to be left with me as a User, rather than leaving it to its own "Intelligence", so I guess 1K0xxxx will it be for me.

On a side note, is there not a Skoda Manufacturing Unit in China as well? So it is very likely that the above link is indeed pointing to a "Genuine" OEM unit, just a thought.

Item location shows as Taiwan. There is a BIG difference between Taiwan and China. Taiwanese firms have been making excellent electrical parts for decades now.

Converting the ebay China/Taiwan one from USD to GBP give just under £80 - for that you can get a genuine Skoda brand new one from Eddie-NL on this forum.

I know which I would choose...

Ebay does have used ones occasionally and you can occasionally get them cheap, especially as the 1K0 ones have been superseded now.

With the endorsement of someone of Mike's stature, I'd buy one. Even though it means I've changed my mind from earlier.

In fact they have a steering controller which I might get...

Mike: can you confirm that the AD version you have has more than 3 bytes of long coding available please.

With the endorsement of someone of Mike's stature, I'd buy one. Even though it means I've changed my mind from earlier.

In fact they have a steering controller which I might get...

Mike: can you confirm that the AD version you have has more than 3 bytes of long coding available please.

That sums it up, this Chinese Unit it's gonna be. I have made him an offer, waiting for a reply now.

BTW, even though the Item location on eBay shows as Taiwan, looking at the picture clearly, you can make out it is a "Made in China" Product

Its such a mine field. A prog on tv sometime ago had a guy, head of anti-counterfeiting, UN or Euro? Anyway he showed a pack of drugs, packaging right down to the anti-counterfeiting hologram was "identical" ie the proper manufacturer couldn't tell, it was that good. Contents were junk though and lives would be lost if used. The problem is that great.

Good news is that places like Taiwan work hard to consistantly produce excellent stuff. Being on the front line against PRC for so long they realised they counldn't compete in manpower, so focused on intellectual superiority. First class education, investment in R&D and high ethical standards.

Lots of premium japanese brands use Taiwanese components.

I remember watching a similar/same program on Nat Geo on how they fake critical life saving drugs by using poisonous ingredients in them, and since people would anyways avoid drugs originating from this country, they label them as "Made in India" and export them.

I have high regards for Taiwanese gadgets, they have excellent control over their quality. If this Gateway unit was made in Taiwan, I would have no second thoughts what so ever over purchasing this, which is not the case, that's why the concern that I had.

That's dirt cheap, what version/revision number was it?

It's 1K0 907 530Q (2008) which is all I need to run the Bolero on a 2004 Mk2 Octy. It wasn't very well listed on Ebay, had a buy it now of £25 and I offered £20 :p

You could try CarSystem.pl as they have one of the newer ones cheap (listed under VW though). I think it is suitable, but up to you to check for certain.

I did contact them last week and was responded with a good price of $80 (w/o Shipping) for a new 7N0907530C, which is supposed to be the successor to 1K0xxxAE/AD/AE. I'm now in touch with them trying to get a better deal for Parktronic and Climatronic Controllers along with the Gateway.

Looking for a latest CAN Gateway for my Skoda Octavia II, I came across this on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/...984.m1438.l2649

It is of the latest (If I'm right) revision, which is: 1K0 907 530 AD, the price also seems fair. However, it is a Chinese make. Has anyone tried this on their Car? If not and were given a choice between this unit and a much much more costlier Czech Unit, what would you choose?

I just found out that the OEM CAN Gateway in my Car (is a 2006 make) is a 1K0 907 530 H and is a "Made In China", so I guess these units indeed are genuine and have their credentials.

Forgive my ignorance here, but in simple terms what is a CAN gateway? Is a controller a separate unit and is it already connected to the device you're trying to add? If anyone can point me in a direction to satisfy my curiosity I'd be grateful. I'm trying to understand the architecture in case anything goes wrong on one of my older VAG cars. I'm not planning to retrofit anything (yet). Will look on Wikipedia, but I'm really looking for the VW perspective.

As a high level

The CAN Gateway is the "gateway" to the devices that are on the "CAN BUS" in the car. Basically allows the engine management to control/talk to devices that are otherwise not able to by itself.

The reason you would upgrade the CAN gateway is to allow newer devices to work in older cars - i.e. I retrofitted a Bolero to my 2006 car and I needed a new CAN Gateway. I can't remember the specifics, but the old gateway cannot respond back to the Bolero with the correct commands when the ignition is off, the radio keeps on requesting, and eventually the battery drains.

The new gateway can give the radio the correct signals hence there is no battery drain.

That is a very woolly explanation, but I am sure it is correct.

Edited 16 August, 201213 yr by g_tee

Brilliant. Amazingly fast too.

Sounds like you only need one gateway then to cover all the controllers you may have, and you might need to replace it with a newer version to allow for more recent devices and/or their controllers. Next dumb question - Are controllers separate from or built into the devices they control?

Thanks for bearing with me on this...

I believe there is only one CAN Gateway for controlling the devices that hang off it - most other things in the car can be communicated with directly.

I think there are other controllers you can "upgrade" for new features - cornering foglights is one example, for example!

This Wiki article explains the system pretty well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus

Effectively CANBUS enables different electrical systems in the vehicle to communicate with each other, without the need for central processing.

So yes, CANBUS vehicles have different modules that are in charge of controlling and managing different aspects. It was a standard that Bosch developed so the fitment and logic is broadly similar across vehicle manufacturers. Obviously the benefit with VAG deployment is that we can interrogate, adjust and control a lot more of it via VCDS

Thanks - I'm a little wiser now (although the section on "Bit Stuffing" was an anticlimax ).