My new car stereo was installed this morning Love it. Excuse the crap camera phone pics, I should have selected the more camera friendly red display.

One thing I've noticed is the dimmer option does not work, what do I need to do with the wiring in order to activate this?

Thanks

There is a wire on the car loom that has the switched feed for the dimmer, the voltage to this varies though depending on the position of the dash illum brightness kn0b. I can think of 3 scenarios where the dimmer wont work,

1) The ISO adaptor you used does not have the wire passed through to the HU.

2) The dimming function is not enabled in the HU menu.

3) You have altered the brightness of the dash so that its quiet dim, and the voltage from the supply is to low for the HU to realise the lights are on and dim the HU.

I had number 3 with a Sony HU in another car and had to increase the dash brightness slightly so the dimmer would work.

I assume you did use the appropriate ISO connection adaptor for VAG cars, because 2 things will happen if you have not.

1) the memory maybe forgotten each time you remove the key as VAG switch the 2 12v feeds so they are the opposite of standard.

2) your dealer wont be very happy when they hook up the VAG diag tool and it blows up because the K wire not disconnected as it should be with an aftermarket HU.

It was supplied and fitted by a local car audio dealer so I am unsure if they have used a VAG adaptor or not. Are adaptors always required and if so is it possible they have simply used a generic version? They have not charged me for an adaptor.

I have checked options 2 & 3 from your first list and can rule these out.

Thanks for your help.

I would always use the adaptor, but that wont affect the dimming function possibly just the memory, and maybe the K wire. For the later it depends on if the pinout on the HU is used for something else.

The memory is working without problem, as for the K wire I wouldn't know anything about that I'm afraid.

I'll slide the HU out this morning and have a look, I have noticed in the manual that the dimmer wire is not inserted into the iso block as standard. If I can figure out where it should be placed within the block then I may try to fit it in there myself.

I've had a quick look and the car connector has 7 of the 8 wire slots filled, in comparison the connector from the Alpine only uses 4 of these. The Orange dimmer wire from the HU is not currently connected to the block, I'm unsure which wire colour it should match with the car wiring as these are different colours.

nice looking unit... why cant o-e stuff take that kind of format.. with proper ipod...

I've had a better look at how it has been wired into the car and I see the installer has correctly swapped the red and yellow wires. He's also disconnected, cut and taped the Blue wire at the HU side in order to cut the feed to the K wire.

In order to get the dimmer working I'll need to get a new piece of wire to connect and patch between the existing wire and the ISO block. Problem solved.

Looks good wheres the ipod mounted to ?

Excuse me for sounding dim, but what is the K wire for, and how does one identify it?

I installed my HU (also an Alpine) about a year ago, and swapped the red and yellow wires around, but didn't know anything about a k wire, so didn't do anything else... Would like to sort it out asap if I've done something wrong.

Sneeks, that headunit looks mega smart! I've not seen the new Alpine range yet.

Edit: Ok, I've just done a search, and now know what the K wire is for, but is it easily identifiable?

With my Alpine it is the blue wire coming from the back of the HU.

The iPod is stored in the glovebox while i'm in the car, removed along with the removable front when I leave the car

I fixed the dimmer control problem by adding the required wiring to the iso connector and it's working properly now.

With my Alpine it is the blue wire coming from the back of the HU.

Cheers Sneeks, I'll check that tomorrow.

My new car stereo was installed this morning Love it.

I'm after an update. You still liking it?

Cheers,

Steve

lovely cd player that mate whats the specs and price

cheers

lovely cd player that mate whats the specs and price

Doesn't play CDs though

Thanks, even if it doesn't play CDs

oo am a bit confused lol is it just a media reciever for your ipod etc

Yeah, doesn't have a CD mechanism. You can add an optional CD changer to it though. Not much point when you'll have an iPod connected to it though

They're

cheers Steve mate nice unit though looks good aswell

Sean.

tbh i think that head unit looks too funky for the octy dash although im sure it looks great at night.

I'm after an update. You still liking it?

Cheers,

Steve

Hi sorry for the delay, I'd forgot about this thread.

I'm loving the HU, sound quality is great after replacing the front speakers in the vRS. It works brilliantly with the iPod Nano in my glovebox and is very easy to navigate around the menus.

I've switched to the red display which is less bright when driving at night.

In general I'm very happy with it and I don't miss having a CD player in the car, with a 8gb iPod there I don't really have need for anything more.

tbh i think that head unit looks too funky for the octy dash although im sure it looks great at night.

I think it fits in nicely but we all have different opinions

I'll post some night pics of it with the red display later.

It's not a cd player, doesn't have any cd features, that's what's put me off getting one to be honest. It just plays digital format, Ipod, mp3 etc..

Yeah it was designed for iPod use and is ideal for me as I used to hate carrying lots of CD's around with me. I could usually guarantee that the CD I wanted to listen to was not in the changer If playing CD's is a major factor to anyone then this is most definitely not the headunit to purchase. The sound quality from the iPod is excellent.

Some night pics of the headunit:

Could this also be used to control a fabia CD changer?

Would like to change the head unit and really like the look of this but would be nice to keep the original CD changer.

Many thanks

Mark

Could this also be used to control a fabia CD changer?

Would like to change the head unit and really like the look of this but would be nice to keep the original CD changer.

Many thanks

Mark

I'm pretty certain that's not possible I'm afraid. The original changer will become redundant as soon as you change the headunit. Shame really :(