Issues after replacing PU-1646 with PU-2184

[FarmerPug]

get some good pictures of what your doing because if you do it right ill do the same, and thanks

[FarmerPug]

will this bit of kit do the job
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165626
or do you have a link on ebay for what you bought

[Razza]

Oh. It was looking sooo good up till now. And then I soldered the phono plugs and... NO audio. I obviously shouldn't have soldered against the backdrop of driving rain and low light conditions. Still, I expected at least one channel to work! I'm wondering if I damaged the amp in some way. Will check tonight...

[Razza]

I bought:
2 off http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0319050501 (NB: "Excellent Speaker level to RCA level convertor with internal noise suppression to reduce noise problems associated with the signal changeover" so you shouldn't need those devices from Halfords)
8 off (pack of 10*) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0693122892 for splicing to the line converter's inputs [edit: don't bother with these as they don't make good contact so solder instead]
4 off (2x green and 2x blue) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0590562239 for connecting to the line converter's outputs.

Total spend for materials: ~£17

Sure, will take photos once it's working!

* I'll be using the two remaining splices to fix my driver's side airbag pre-tensioner warning light coming on once-and-for-all!!!

[Razza]

And the culprit? The splices didn't make adequate contact with the wires, especially the pretty fine input cable to the converters. Replacing them with a soldered connection and then insulated with heat shrink tubing did the job. So strike them from the shopping list.

The levels are much lower, without adjusting the trimmers. I'll test the TA volume tomorrow.

I tried to upload an annotated photo (318KB) but I kept getting "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached."

Instead I'll try to describe the connections...

On the back of the amp, the black connector has 4 green and brown pairs. The pair closest to the thick light blue wire is Left Rear, then Right Rear, then Left Front and finally Right Front. I've assumed the green is +ve and brown -ve.

Hint: It's easier to cut each pair and then attach it to the phono plug, and then solder the grey/green to the other cut end.
I also marked one converter as Front, the other as Rear.

Working on the Rear first, and using the wire pair closest to light blue on the black connector (Left Rear), solder the brown to the outside, and the green to the inner pin on the first green phono plug. Don't forget to slip on the relief shroud before soldering! Once soldered, use a bit of electrical tape to ensure the solder blobs are insulated, then screw the shroud over and plug it in to the black phono socket. Now do the same thing for the next pair of green and brown wires, resulting in the second green phono plug being plugged into the red phono socket.

Repeat the procedure for the Front cables and voila!

Once you have checked connections by playing with the Fader and Balance, push the converters through the black trim surround above the amp and stick it to the surround using the adhesive pads (supplied with the converter).

[Razza]

The TA went off twice this morning from two different channels. Both times the TA volume started off at 9 which I quickly turned down. Is the TA volume stored per radio channel? Surely not. It certainly wasn't the case with my PU-1646. I'll have to wait for the drive home to check if the TA volumes for these two broadcast channels are being stored. Hmmm... the memory IS working - channels ARE being stored...

If I can't get it to change the startup TA volume, I'll resort to the trimmers as planned, which I haven't adjusted yet. It's not as if I'm ever going to want to listen to volume levels higher than 10 or so, so it shouldn't be an issue to limit the maximum volume.

[highlander]

The board doesn't allow upload of any photos. You need to upload them to a photo sharing site (Photobucket is the easiest to use, I find) and then post image links to them. Photobucket even gives you the forum code required - you just copy and paste it onto your post.

[FarmerPug]

yip photobucket works very well, not just on this website but its much easier to send friends and family photobucket links rather than emailing attached pictures which takes ages to send. On another note about them blue connectors i once bought about 50 of them thinking this is a great job, but they dont make good connections and if they do the metal in them corrodes and that causes problems so solder is the best solution for electrical joints

[Razza]

Oh well. I was going to use the spare splices on fixing the airbag pretensioner cable. It's all a bit too tight down there... so instead I used a small screwdriver to push the spring contact in tighter. That seems to work... though I won't hold my breath.

The majority of TA announcements have used a lower volume setting. But every now an again I get an announcement at level 9, though to be honest, the frequency (excuse the pun ) of this happening is much lower now. I wonder why? Perhaps the second hand head unit is actually faulty...

[FarmerPug]

apart from the ta announcement feature problem is the rest of the radio ok ie is the volume right when the radio is set to 0 is there absolutley no noise, and is there less of a step between the volume numbers, because if so ill go ahead with it as i never use the ta because the two radio stations i listen to u105 and radio ulster do traffic announcements at the right times, does the ta function do anything else can it store announcements

[Razza]

I don't think this system can store announcements. I have to admit that was an irritating feature on my Audi S4 back in the day...

Yes, with 0, no sound. 1 is faint. So it does the trick. Plus since my last posting, all 5 TA announcements have been at the right volume. Now I'm wondering if it was the head unit that was misbehaved but now obedient...

Once thing to note was that I was getting a noticeable pop when turning the ignition on. With the mods, there is no pop.

So on the whole I recommend the modifications.

[FarmerPug]

audi/vw ta announcements are great i have never seen something as easy to turn on in my entire life, just a button saying ta and there its on and you are reminded of its onnness, but to get the damm thing off is a bloomin nightmare, is it even possible

[Razza]

And the long awaited photos...

[FarmerPug]

these are good pictures, but that amp looks different than the one in my car and mines still a 2002 just with no sat nav, is this the same thing as there is sitting on the right hand side of the boot

[Razza]

I have this amp attached to the plastic body shell which slides over the sat nav drive (which is attached to the body work). Related to a different thread I know but the I have removed the CD from the sat nat drive since it only worked a few times after a thorough cleaning 5 years back.

I'm afraid I can't comment on your model.