[spudboy]

I was going to take the plunge and fit my Alpine HU and ipod interface this weekend, but I have just been told by the supplier of the wiring adaptor that the VW supplies no illumination or ignition to the aftermarket HU.

To solve this, they supply a guide that tells you how to wire these in by using the wiring at the back of the light switch on the right hand side. It involves peeling back the fabric casing and soldering the supplied wires to them.

Is this just the connector they are trying to supply, or is this right. Has anyone else done this yet?

Any help appreciated.

 

[Pat]

Hi mate, I fitted an Alpine 9853 to my mk4 with no such problem! I just plugged the unit into the adaptor, and the adaptor into the car's loom. Its worked perfectly and definitely illuminates!! Give it a whirl and find out before setting about the light switch wiring

 

[SteveTDCi]

Its correct, have you got the antena booster and aerial adaptor as well ? I fitted mine about 2 weeks ago. I haven't worried about the illumination I think its only there to dim the display lights. And yes you have to cut into the loom of the headlight switch. Its dead easy to do. I've got some pictures but they ain't that clear, I'll try and get some better ones today. Failing that if your anywhere near Stamford or Peterborough I don't mind giving you a hand

 

[Dsgwagen]

Pat,i have been looking at that headunit myself,how well does that bar thing work?

 

[SteveTDCi]

I've got the 9855, which is a very nice unit. The blue doesn't quite blend in. Its a little brighter that the rest of the dash but the red matches well. I need to play around with the blue a little more. The Glide touch bar takes some getting used to but after awhile becomes very easy to use. I also have the IPOD adaptor which works well. The only slight downside to the 9855 is the colour, its a metalic grey and silver BUT the grey is a match for the rest of the dash trim in the GT, the alloy finish would match that of the GTi. If you go for the next model down the 9853 the unit and display will match the Golf very well although I liked the biolight face and wanted on or two of the other features of the 9855.

 

[spudboy]

SteveTDCI,

Many thanks, that at least reassures me a bit before I go and start cutting into the headlight wiring! I have the harness adaptor, and an aerial adaptor, yes. Is there anything else I might need before I start?

How did you connect the wires? Solder? I have been told to use some scotch locks? Do you know if these are any good.

Would you suggest it's only worth connecting up the ignition then, and not the ilumination as well? Do you still get illumination, but only when the HU is switched on?

Sorry, so many questions, but I appreciate your help

I will be giving it a go this afternoon hopefully, so I will let you know how it goes.

 

[SteveTDCi]

You will need an antena adaptor, the VW has 2 cables as standard but you can only use 1. You need the BMW adaptor, 2001 on I think and it needs the male end, Halfords or an ICE shop should sell them. Mine cost a fiver.

With the cables, I soldered mine, I always do with any electrical connection. You can use scotch clips but I'm not really a fan of them. Just take car when cutting back the outer sheaf and make sure you tape the wires up after, even better a bit of heat shrink.

If you take the dash apart make sure you DO NOT undo the Airbag warning light (by hazzard lights) unless you have disconnected the battery. Any problems post up here and I'll check the forum reguarly.

 

[spudboy]

Ok, thanks again.

I will post if I have any problems.

Re: the battery, it is best to disconnect the -ve terminal on the battery anyway, is it not?

How easy was it to feed the wires past the steering wheel as well. Fairly straightforward?

 

[SteveTDCi]

Feeding the wires is easy, but you have to do it "blind" its a case of feeding it with one arm and grabbing it with the other. With the battery pull either off, I'd pull off the positive.

 

[SteveTDCi]

did you get it done ok ?

 

[spudboy]

   Unfortunately, didn't get a chance this afternoon.    I will be doing it tomorrow afternoon now, so I will let you know how it goes.

 

[spudboy]

Phew! Alpine 9853R and iPOD interface installed....

It's taken a few hours, and a bit of sweat, but finally got it done. It took so long because I was being VERY VERY careful, but once you have done it once it is fairly straight forward. I am a novice at this kind of thing, and if I can do it, I am sure anyone can.

The only tricky bit was soldering the ignition feed, but apart from that it all went ok. I have also left the illumination feed as you have, didn't see the point in stripping the wire for this. Seems ok without.

Steve, thanks for your help on this. I will try and post some pictures when I have some.

Ta

 

[SteveTDCi]

Glad you got in done ok. I mounted the Ipod control unit on the underside of the glovebox, the bit where the owners manual fits. Do you intend to upgrade anything else ?

 

[spudboy]

The HU has definitley tightened up the whole sound with the factory speakers, and although I am more than pleased with the results, I can't help but feel that the HU needs to be complmented with some new speakers.

I am tempted by your GB on the Rainbow's. However, I am a little unsure whether I want to be taking my door apart and drilling out rivets to get the installed. Have you done this before, do you know if it's a difficult job?

I also don't know from what I have read, whether the HU will provide enough power to the speakers. Is this true?

 

[SteveTDCi]

ideally the speakers need to be amped to get the best from them, you can pick up a 2 channel amp for about ?100 then an amp kit for about ?40. I'm sure its easy, i did the last lot in my focus, whats not easy is replacing the exhaust on a 16 year old escort whilst lying on the floor []

 

[tom_mk5]

Steve, that fascia you have for adapting the space left by the OEM
headunit for an aftermarket unit- would it allow you to fit two DIN
headunits? I.e. is that top face blanking plate removable so that, say,
a flip out screen could be put in the top one and another headunit put
in the lower one?

The 9855 looks great, nice setup.

 

[SteveTDCi]

Yes you can choose which position you want the head unit, so if you wanted to install a flip out scrren and a single din DVD player you could do. You can also get a adaptor from alpine to convert the standard dash into double din so that you could use a DVD player and one of there touch screen monitors.

 

[tom_mk5]

Thanks mate, just what I wanted to hear.[]

 

[Reddeath]

sorry to go back to this lads - can anyone tell me how to remove the headlight switch without wrecking the dash? i want to take a switched live myself

cheers

 

[spudboy]

From what I remember, you have to push it inwards and turn it anti-clockwise, and it should pop out.