Connecting up aftermarket stereo (Alpine CDE178BT)..?

JustAnotherSaver

Just had a start at this tonight into the MK4 Golf. Never worked on a Golf before so i found out routing the iPod cable into the glovebox isn't going to be as easy as removing my MK4 Astra glovebox. YouTubing a how to seems to say damn near the whole dash needs to come out ... so that's one for a day when i've more time.

But while the standard stereo was out i thought i'd at least connect the new one up to see if it works & the thing wont power on.

Now i'll warn you before i go further - i'm far from an expert in this. When all the wires had been chopped in a previous car i had to take it to the car audio place in town but on my current car i was able to fit the stereo fine, have done on my wife's old car, brothers Polo - all no problem.

* Anyway so there's a blue/yellow block connector that goes into the rear of the standard radio but i think this is linked to the CD player above it.
* Under this is a brown block connector and a black block connector. Then the ariel on the other side.

So i took from the packaging the wiring which plugs into the rear of the Alpine CDE-178BT. In the other end i plugged in the brown and black block connectors coming from the car. At this point i hadn't plugged the ariel in.

So i go to turn the thing on and it wont power up. Simple as that really.

There's a whole stack of other wiring that isn't connected to anything at all. Do you call them bullet connections?

Hopefully this has made sense to someone. Failing that i'm going to have to pay someone to do it for me which i'd rather not.

System

Given you quite clearly don't know the first thing about electrics and with the possibility of setting the car on fire being a real one then pay someone.

JustAnotherSaver

Tarambor wrote: »

Given you quite clearly don't know the first thing about electrics and with the possibility of setting the car on fire being a real one then pay someone.

Do you know how to connect it?

molerat

Are the wires on the Alpine harness all connected, they have a habit of leaving the joins disconnected. You need to swap the red and yellow over at the joiner. The mk4 also needs a powered aerial adaptor (but the alpine may already have a power supply via the aerial socket - not something many of them advertise) and the speed pulse wire in the car harness needs disconnecting from the stereo (although it should not matter on a quality stereo).
http://uk-mkivs.net/topic/11361-how-to-upgrade-the-stereo-in-mk4-golfsboras/

As for all the other connectors - a picture paints a thousand words.

JustAnotherSaver

Sorry it was only after packing everything away that i then thought of making this thread.

I used to be a member of a car forum years ago which was very helpful. Following guides & just asking questions on there i was able to sort my radio out no problem. This is going back a bit though & my memory isn't the best.

With a little Q&A with people who know what they're doing i think things like this you can avoid having to pay someone.



One thing i do remember is i needed a couple leads when installing in to my car. One was certainly for the steering wheel controls which this Golf doesn't need and i forget what the other one was for. There actually may not have been another one. It's been that long that i might be merging different cases in my head.



At any rate:


That is supplied with the radio. The bottom block obviously goes in to the rear of the head unit.
The top two do connect to the black and brown block connectors coming from the car itself.

As for those bullet things - no idea.



rear of the head unit.

Le_Kirk

Do you have the wiring diagram of the radio and of the car? Sometimes radios require a permanent live feed, maybe that is REM01 and the feed from ignition switch is REM02 (or t'other way round)

takman

Le_Kirk wrote: »

Do you have the wiring diagram of the radio and of the car? Sometimes radios require a permanent live feed, maybe that is REM01 and the feed from ignition switch is REM02 (or t'other way round)

"REM" will stand for "Remote" and are used to turn on and off things like electric aerials and amplifiers when the stereo is turned on and off.

JustAnotherSaver:

The connectors you have in the picture is just a standard Stereo ISO connection and you can get the wiring diagram online. The plug with 5 cables on it is the one which has the power.

You just need to check that your car has the connections in the same place on the one that plugs into it. (Some cars the pins on the connector need to be changed around).

almillar

Yep, the big blocks are known as 'ISO connectors'. One has all the speaker connections, the other has power. There will be a red, and yellow wire in amongst this. You MAY need to swap these round. One will be a permanent live, one will only be live when the key is at the 'ACC' position (Accessories). If you turn your car off and take the key out, and the stereo stays on, you need to switch them, there's usually bullet connectors in case you do.
As for the rest, the REM1 and REM2 connectors, I assume, are for the steering wheel controls, or for some other accessories (amp, for example) you can hook up - Alpine are very modular and have loads of features you'll never use.
The little black cable with the bullet connector - I can't see it but there's a label on it - have a read.
The fatter black cable looks like the aerial connector.
The big square socket near the middle looks like it's for a multichanger (remember those?!).
Over at the right there is a USB cable. You might want to get an extension for that to stick in the glovebox, or out into the dash somewhere, to plug a USB stick, iPod or phone into to play music from.

molerat

https://www.alpine.co.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/manuals//car_audio_manuals/CDE-178BT/OM_CDE-178BT_EN.pdf

Are those yellows and reds connected ? (they need to be red to yellow and yellow to red) Looking closely at the pic I can see 2 loose yellow bullet connectors and as there is only one yellow it means there is no power going to the unit.

molerat

Le_Kirk wrote: »

Do you have the wiring diagram of the radio and of the car? Sometimes radios require a permanent live feed, maybe that is REM01 and the feed from ignition switch is REM02 (or t'other way round)

They are nothing to do with power to the unit. OP, please do not connect them up ! All the power is supplied through the ISO connectors. Link to wiring diagram in my previous post.

Le_Kirk

Well a wiring diagram will help. Don't they supply one with the units these days?