Audi Forum banner

Thanks!

6658 Views 12 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  mickymix
I just installed my RNS-E unit into my 2003 A6 yesterday and everything went EXTREMELY well.

I just wanted to say thanks to Haagie, AudiA4B6US, TeddyBGame, and all the other people who have done this before me that have relayed their information.

A little feedback on the directions install directions by Justin for the Allroad.
1) Even though I read the instructions, it never even hit me that I'd need an extra length of wire. It should be added to the materials list. A tap splice should be added to the list of materials as well. In addition, a pair of male/female spade plugs.

2) Removal of the trim surrounding the steering wheel was a little trickier than I expected, mainly because it kept on getting caught on the garage door like cover thing.

3) DAMN those screws on the cluster were REALLY tight. I used a cordless drill with a long screwdriver bit on it to loosen them. They wouldn't even budge with a screwdriver.

4) All three plugs on the instrument cluster do NOT need to be removed. If you only remove the leftmost one (blue) you can turn the cluster (in a North American car) towards the passenger side and rest it on the steering column.
To remove the blue plug, there is a purple lever that needs to be lifted up.

5) Running the wires from the cluster area to the radio area was simple. I used a wire coat hanger that I taped the wires to and pulled them through. There's plenty of room in there to get the wires through.

6) In my case, the fakra connector currently on the diversity antenna (I assume) should be removed and used on the Nav antenna. In my case, the connector was already broken when I went to remove it so I was unable to reuse it. The connector on the RNS-E was tight enough that I am not concerned about it coming off.

7) Although somewhat obvious, the FM antenna goes all the way to the right of the backside of the RNS-E. The diversity antenna goes to the left of that (in the double fakra). The GPS antenna goes in the blue connection on the left of the backside of the RNS-E.

8) When pushing everything back into the double din hole, there is plenty of space. The first three or four times I tried pushing it back in, it would get hung up maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch out. I then realized that the resistance was from the metal tabs that lock the unit into place, and NOT from a wire or harness. The key here is firm, cautious pressure. Make sure the wires are clear, get it to the point where it is about 1/2" out, and push the corners till they click.

9) When reinstalling the trim around the steering wheel, put the piece that screws on first, and the snap-on piece second. It will make it easier to get the garage door looking cover to stay out of the way.

10) If you have a PhatBox as well, you will need ot make sure your firmware is version 7.00 or higher. You will need to follow the procedures for resetting your head unit, found here: http://www.phatnoise.com/kb/index.php?page=index_v2&id=78&c=9

Thanks again for all of the knowledge of those that have gone before me.
Chuck
See less See more
1 - 13 of 13 Posts
Nice writing and welcome on board :wink:
Nice work Chuck. I'm next.

Do you have a pbox installed already? If so, I assume you ran the cdc cable to the trunk?

Is yours a US or Euro unit?

Did your plug and play adaptor support telephone and non-bose? I ask this because I was surprised to hear you say that it was easy to push the RNS-E back in place. The pnp adapter makes it a tad bit hard to push things back into place. I could be wrong. Maybe the RNS-E has a shorter mounting depth? I remember this being an issue when I installed my Nav+ (two years ago. ouch!).

Do you plan on installing the Dietz 1417 A/V adapter too?

I assume you put the GPS antenna behind the instrument cluster?

Keep us posted on how you like it. Thanks!
See less See more
Nice to hear

Hi Chuck, good to hear, enjoy your RNS-E!
TeddyBGame said:
Do you have a pbox installed already? If so, I assume you ran the cdc cable to the trunk?
I already had the PhatBox installed, but yes, the cdc cable was run to the trunk. The dealer wanted $1200 (no, I didn't mess up the zeros) to install the PhatBox. Tweeter did it for $70.
Navigating the PhatBox with the RNS-E is going to take some time to get used to. The system only goes up to 75 tracks, unlike the Symphony II which went up to 99 tracks. I have about 200 cd's on there, so getting through the list is a little cumbersome. This is on;y day two with the unit though, and I'm sure it will just take some getting used to.

TeddyBGame said:
Is yours a US or Euro unit?
It is a Euro unit upgraded to the US software.

TeddyBGame said:
Did your plug and play adaptor support telephone and non-bose? I ask this because I was surprised to hear you say that it was easy to push the RNS-E back in place. The pnp adapter makes it a tad bit hard to push things back into place. I could be wrong. Maybe the RNS-E has a shorter mounting depth? I remember this being an issue when I installed my Nav+ (two years ago. ouch!).
There was no adapter for phone support. There is a wiring harness that connects the existing wires to the RNS-E that is a little big. I found I had plenty of room to do what needed to be done. I've done previous car audio work and had MUCH less space to work.

TeddyBGame said:
Do you plan on installing the Dietz 1417 A/V adapter too?
I assume this is to be able to watch DVD's? I have no plans for that, but I would like to get the bluetooth adapter.

TeddyBGame said:
I assume you put the GPS antenna behind the instrument cluster?
Yep, the GPS antenna fit on the little shelf to the left rear of the cluster. I ran the wire along the shelf as well and it worked out great.

I'd be more than happy to help you out with the install if you need it.

Also, I have not done any VAG updates yet and everything appears to be working just fine. I don't really want the turns displayed in the red display, so I may just run like this for a while and see how it goes.

Does anyone know of a way to pause or mute the radio or cd?
Chuck
See less See more
clangrj said:
Does anyone know of a way to pause or mute the radio or cd?
The Euro 0330/0360 software has this mute function now. Don't know if the US software 0040 will include this as well or if we have to wait for a future US version. But there is no mute right now in the 0020 US software.
clangrj said:
TeddyBGame said:
Do you have a pbox installed already? If so, I assume you ran the cdc cable to the trunk?
I already had the PhatBox installed, but yes, the cdc cable was run to the trunk. The dealer wanted $1200 (no, I didn't mess up the zeros) to install the PhatBox. Tweeter did it for $70.
Navigating the PhatBox with the RNS-E is going to take some time to get used to. The system only goes up to 75 tracks, unlike the Symphony II which went up to 99 tracks. I have about 200 cd's on there, so getting through the list is a little cumbersome. This is on;y day two with the unit though, and I'm sure it will just take some getting used to.

TeddyBGame said:
Is yours a US or Euro unit?
It is a Euro unit upgraded to the US software.

TeddyBGame said:
Did your plug and play adaptor support telephone and non-bose? I ask this because I was surprised to hear you say that it was easy to push the RNS-E back in place. The pnp adapter makes it a tad bit hard to push things back into place. I could be wrong. Maybe the RNS-E has a shorter mounting depth? I remember this being an issue when I installed my Nav+ (two years ago. ouch!).
There was no adapter for phone support. There is a wiring harness that connects the existing wires to the RNS-E that is a little big. I found I had plenty of room to do what needed to be done. I've done previous car audio work and had MUCH less space to work.

TeddyBGame said:
Do you plan on installing the Dietz 1417 A/V adapter too?
I assume this is to be able to watch DVD's? I have no plans for that, but I would like to get the bluetooth adapter.

TeddyBGame said:
I assume you put the GPS antenna behind the instrument cluster?
Yep, the GPS antenna fit on the little shelf to the left rear of the cluster. I ran the wire along the shelf as well and it worked out great.

I'd be more than happy to help you out with the install if you need it.

Also, I have not done any VAG updates yet and everything appears to be working just fine. I don't really want the turns displayed in the red display, so I may just run like this for a while and see how it goes.

Does anyone know of a way to pause or mute the radio or cd?
Chuck
Actually, I have my pbox hooked up via my Nav+ and yes, the tracks go up to 99 (75 in your case; weird).....but when you advance past track #75...it will probably read track#1...but in reality that will be track #76. That's what I've found in my Nav+.
TeddyBGame said:
Actually, I have my pbox hooked up via my Nav+ and yes, the tracks go up to 99 (75 in your case; weird).....but when you advance past track #75...it will probably read track#1...but in reality that will be track #76. That's what I've found in my Nav+.
Same basic thing with the RNS-E, except you navigate with the dial. I was used to navigating with the buttons. It's just going to take some getting used to, that's all.
clangrj said:
Navigating the PhatBox with the RNS-E is going to take some time to get used to. The system only goes up to 75 tracks, unlike the Symphony II which went up to 99 tracks. I have about 200 cd's on there, so getting through the list is a little cumbersome. This is on;y day two with the unit though, and I'm sure it will just take some getting used to.
I also have RNS-E (actually 0330, but 0100 till last week): I could browse up to track 99 with both versions and it behaves as TeddyBGame explains: it goes back to track 1 but it's track 100 (2 is then 101 and so on), at least until you don't finish you playlist or genre...

I can also confirm the PAUSE function is available on EU 0330 versions and up, and I also discovered another small trick:

when you press the power button quickly for one time, the source playing goes into pause (or mute for the radio) but easily come back (PAUSE OFF) if you raise the volume using the command on the steering wheel...

I still have to find how to have the RNS-E continue giving me directions to my destination without using the voice but only with display advertising (this is something I got used to with my previous BMW X5 and is very useful if you have sleeping children in the car...).

I'm sure you'll soon try the DIS VAGging your car... ;-)

My compliments for your detailed description.

Ciao
See less See more
I still have to find how to have the RNS-E continue giving me directions to my destination without using the voice but only with display advertising (this is something I got used to with my previous BMW X5 and is very useful if you have sleeping children in the car...).
i am pretty sure you can turn off the voice guidance if you 1st press "NAV", then "SETUP" there is an option for "VOICE GUIDANCE" option in the menu

-- does this not do what you want??.. or am i missing something??..
fritzner said:
I still have to find how to have the RNS-E continue giving me directions to my destination without using the voice but only with display advertising (this is something I got used to with my previous BMW X5 and is very useful if you have sleeping children in the car...).
i am pretty sure you can turn off the voice guidance if you 1st press "NAV", then "SETUP" there is an option for "VOICE GUIDANCE" option in the menu

-- does this not do what you want??.. or am i missing something??..
Ooops... too much focused on "tricky" things that maybe I left over some basics as the one I missed.

Thank you for your precious suggestion. I was really convinced there was no such possibility I was not even searching it anymore...

Anyway, having a "quick" access to such function would have helped, instead of entering "setup", but the most important thing is that there is such chance.

Thank you again.

Ciao
A double click on the volume knob should mute the navi lady once (with sw 0330/0360).
AudiA4B6US said:
A double click on the volume knob should mute the navi lady once (with sw 0330/0360).
This is true, but when driving on the highway, the next exit is adviced at least 4/5 times (2Kms, 1Km, 500 meters, 50 meters, right on it) and this is somewhat boring...

So boring once I missed the exit just because I was thinking of how boring it was... #-o

And I had to drive 50 Km. more (forth and back). ](*,)
1 - 13 of 13 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top