Blaupunkt radio/cassette, key card issue

Richard53

Not a request for a radio code, more for advice from anyone who knows these units.


Blaupunkt Melbourne RCM148, fitted to a 1999 Mazda. When I try to turn the radio on, I get a message on the display "WRONG KC". I have checked with the owner manual online, and this does not mean an incorrect key card, but a card of the wrong type such as a credit or phone card. And yet the card in the slot (with a magnetic strip) is branded Blaupunkt and seems to be of the correct type.


Does anyone have any knowledge of these units and can give any advice or assistance? Or should I just bin it and start again? I don't think I own any cassettes these days, but a working radio would be nice.

GabbaGabbaHey

I would imagine that the mag stripe in the card has got corrupted or wiped.

New car radios are so cheap these days (Halfords do a Philips for £40, and you'll get a second-hand one even cheaper) that unless you really want the period look, it will be easier just to put a new head unit in.

Richard53

GabbaGabbaHey wrote: »

I would imagine that the mag stripe in the card has got corrupted or wiped.

New car radios are so cheap these days (Halfords do a Philips for £40, and you'll get a second-hand one even cheaper) that unless you really want the period look, it will be easier just to put a new head unit in.

My thoughts exactly. The card looks genuine, so perhaps corrupted. I have now got a copy of the handbook, and there is a process for 'teaching' the unit a new card. I am going to take the card out and then try to fool the unit into thinking it is a new one and re-learn it. If that doesn't work, I'll be fitting a new unit, I think.


The only issue is that the car is a convertible, so whatever goes in is going to have to be more securable than the average head unit. Not bothered about originality - I just fancy a bit of music now and then.


Thanks.

DUTR

Richard53 wrote: »

My thoughts exactly. The card looks genuine, so perhaps corrupted. I have now got a copy of the handbook, and there is a process for 'teaching' the unit a new card. I am going to take the card out and then try to fool the unit into thinking it is a new one and re-learn it. If that doesn't work, I'll be fitting a new unit, I think.


The only issue is that the car is a convertible, so whatever goes in is going to have to be more securable than the average head unit. Not bothered about originality - I just fancy a bit of music now and then.


Thanks.

If it's a magentic strip then the data can be corrupted by being in proximity of a strong magnetic field, does Blaupunkt UK still exist?
I didn't think people still stole radios nowadays :eek:

Richard53

DUTR wrote: »

I didn't think people still stole radios nowadays :eek:

Probably because most modern cars have the radio components distributed throughout the car. You'd have to dismantle most of the dash to get one complete radio. But this is going into a standard ISO slot, one where you can hoick it out with a pair of coat hangers.


Unlikely, but undesirable if it happens.

GabbaGabbaHey

Richard53 wrote: »

The only issue is that the car is a convertible, so whatever goes in is going to have to be more securable than the average head unit.

MX-5?

Most head units (even the cheap ones) will have a removable front plate, so you can just take it out of the car along with your hairdressing tools{*} or lock it in the glovebox or central console thing.

{*} Only joking - I had a 1999 MX-5 1.8 and it was much more fun to drive than my other (far more expensive, and much faster) cars.

Richard53

Yes, my new toy, an MX-5. The radio doesn't have a removable faceplate. The security appears to be a removable card. Great fun, and I am enjoying fixing the little niggles that develop on a car that has been neglected for a couple of years.

Problem is solved, and I am putting myself forward as Muppet Of The Year. The card has two grey stripes which look very like magnetic strips, and which in the daylight and with my reading specs on, are damaged and delaminated. However, I think these are part of the design now I look closely. There is a gold chip on the card, not immediately obvious, but visible if you look hard. I reversed the card with the chip facing in, and the radio works perfectly. Durr.

Thanks all.