ZENEC ZE-NC2011D problems

[pjondeck]

Hi, has anyone installed this system and having issues? I, and a couple of friends, did it actually on suggestion from a VW salesman. The system has some good attributes, the GPS, Bluetooth, ipod/iphone connectivity, reversing camera etc all work fine. EXCEPT: the radio is useless. The glossy blurb claims "RDS tuner with automatic station search, 30 station memory (18FM/12AM) and best station memory". The radio sensitivity is extremely poor and the system scan and save function non existent. I have been pressing ZENEC for a fix and threatening to return the system for a refund but have been reluctant to do this as if this can be resolved then I think for $2000 it is a very good system. They told me that "110% it will be fixed" but now say that maybe it wont. We have three of us here pushing but feel it would really help if we can get a few more jump aboard to push it along.
Thanks muchly
Peter

[RUFNIT]

Hi, done a couple of these up here. What type of VW is your 2011 fitted to?

MR

[pjondeck]

MY11 T5 Multivan. ta

[RUFNIT]

MY11 T5 Multivan. ta

The Multivans are tricky as the antennas are in the side mirrors, not using the same twin diversity antenna system as a Polo, Golf, Tiguan etc. The car uses the "single fakra" antenna plug on the radio not the "twin powered fakra" we have had good results with a powered external antenna like an AP199 from Aerpro. Whenever we have a customer with a Multivan or Transporter we always let them know about the reception and give them the option.

MR

[pjondeck]

Wow, you might actually be getting me somewhere! The glossy brochure for the unit says "compatible with VW GolfVI, Tiguan, Scirocco, etc...Amarok, T5 Multivan". My understanding, and I'm pretty sure that of the installer is that the T5 uses the phase diversity FM dual tuner and assumed that that means using the twin powered FAKRA antennas in the rear vision mirrors. This would not perhaps account for the very poor sensitivity of the AM function, or would it? I suspect that the signal strength/sensitivity of the radio in AM and FM may be the reason that the scan and save (AS) function simply doesn't work. This is obviously a known problem to you if it warrants advising owners of Multivan/ Transporter models of the issue. I am grateful for your help and for finally shining a little light on the problem for me.
Are the single and twin powered fakra connections identifiable? I had an RCD310 in the vehicle originally and all of the radio functions, scan, save and sensitivity were fine. Is it possible for me to look at the RCD310 for instance and say "yes, that's a single fakra connection?"
Thank you heaps

Thanks heaps

[pjondeck]

Hi MR
My vehicle was delivered with the RCD310 which has a twin fakra connection and that radio performed very well. I'm now a bit confused. Can you shed further light upon what might be going on here please?
The ZENEC unit has the twin fakra connection of course. Wondering where to go from here?
Many thanks
Peter

[RUFNIT]

Hi MR
My vehicle was delivered with the RCD310 which has a twin fakra connection and that radio performed very well. I'm now a bit confused. Can you shed further light upon what might be going on here please?
The ZENEC unit has the twin fakra connection of course. Wondering where to go from here?
Many thanks
Peter

Hi Peter,

Talking with the guys in our workshop to confirm it. With your car having the twin connector (we did a 2013 Multivan on Tuesday up here, it had a single plug) it is possible the power connection to the factory antenna from the Zenec is not connected (we have seen it happen) We installed an external antenna (above the cockpit on the roof) from Aerpro AP199 as I mentioned earlier. As we have never had any luck with reception once the OEM radio has been removed in the Transporter/Multivan. In the early days we installed units from Alpine, Pioneer, Kenwood and Eclipse to see which was better and they were all worse than OEM for reception, hence why we suggest the external aerial.

I hope this helps. Or at least gives you an avenue to work out with your installer.

MR

[pjondeck]

Thank you MR
I appreciate your help and will talk to my installer. ZENEC Sydney have suggested I have the system removed and sent up to them (I am in Canberra). They propose to fit it in a vehicle and video record the behaviour to prove it works. Unless they install it in a vehicle set up the same as mine it may work fine. I passed on to them the likelihood of an issue with multivan but I don't think they believe me. I intend to make sure the installer sees what it is doing before it is removed and will show them what the RCD310 does as that will be going back temporarily. With the Aerpro antenna installed did the unit then perform as expected? Did the Auto Scan function work? Mine simply scans the band in both AM and FM and doesn't even hesitate on a station. Even the manual scan is useless so simply tuning a station that you know the frequency of is a hassle. It requires going into the mode that shows the old style radio dial and stepping through every allocated frequency. Useless when travelling which I do a fair bit of. The other thing ZENEC are doing is the mod to boot up the unit with the remote unlock so that the reversing camera is available sooner, I expect you know about that one?
Thank you heaps again.
Peter

[RUFNIT]

Thank you MR
I appreciate your help and will talk to my installer. ZENEC Sydney have suggested I have the system removed and sent up to them (I am in Canberra). They propose to fit it in a vehicle and video record the behaviour to prove it works. Unless they install it in a vehicle set up the same as mine it may work fine. I passed on to them the likelihood of an issue with multivan but I don't think they believe me. I intend to make sure the installer sees what it is doing before it is removed and will show them what the RCD310 does as that will be going back temporarily. With the Aerpro antenna installed did the unit then perform as expected? Did the Auto Scan function work? Mine simply scans the band in both AM and FM and doesn't even hesitate on a station. Even the manual scan is useless so simply tuning a station that you know the frequency of is a hassle. It requires going into the mode that shows the old style radio dial and stepping through every allocated frequency. Useless when travelling which I do a fair bit of. The other thing ZENEC are doing is the mod to boot up the unit with the remote unlock so that the reversing camera is available sooner, I expect you know about that one?
Thank you heaps again.
Peter

Hi Peter,

With the installer putting your Zenec into another car (same or not) it may show the unit that was in your car may have a fault, but you are correct in saying it could work fine if it is installed into a "Golf" (which the system was designed for, then VW used the same shape radio in other models) With the external antennas we have had no issues with reception we have found it to have at least 95% of factory reception and with some stations better than factory reception.

I have tested the "scan" function on our unit here inside our showroom in a display board with a normal single non powered fakra antenna. On the stronger stations that we have up here eg:- Nova, B105, TripleM. The radio will stay on that station for 10 seconds then continue, on the weaker stations 96.5 and 97.3 it will skip over. You can touch on the "frequency bar" near the radio frequency you want eg:- for 105.3 I can touch 105 then move the bar to 105.3 then save it in one of the 18 presets that you can save into. With poor radio reception, you can still play the station but you will still have static/interference. If the stations are not saving, once the car has been turned off, then the installer needs to check the canBUS interface is putting out the correct outputs to the Zenec to remember the stations.

With the "fast start" update, it still does not wake up the system when you unlock the car, it actually postpones the loading of the unit when the reverse camera trigger is activated. Its the best upgrade that Zenec has done to the units since its release.

MR

[pjondeck]

Hi MR
That's great info, it sounds more promising. I would prefer not to have to return the system but am prepared to do that if I cant resolve this issue. I have been using the RCD-310 for the last few days and have enjoyed the good radio reception. In the ZENEC User Manual under "Radio Mode" (p13) it says "AS - Searches for the six strongest stations and saves them as preset", do you think I am being too hopeful to expect that the ZENEC will do that on FM and AM? If it stops on the stations in the normal scan mode I am much encouraged. If it will do the AS function even with an external antenna then I will be content to go that way. Did the unit you tested with have a twin Fakra antenna input? I promise to stop harassing you soon and thank you once again for your valuable input.
regards
Peter

[pjondeck]

I am thankfully rid of the ZENEC. The agent/fitter finally conceded that the unit was never going to work in my MY11 Multivan and offered an arrangement for me to fit an Alpine INE-Z928E . The radio in the ZENEC was useless. The ZENEC national office was not the least bit interested in the problem, their standard response was "it's the best system in the world". I don't think I will put my response to that here. You may get it to work in some vehicles but woebegone you if you have a problem! The Alpine WORKS!!! The radio scans and saves stations in AM and FM, the GPS is really good with off road mapping and nav as well and the Bluetooth integration is fine. The 8" screen is really good although I have fabricated a small hood over the screen to overcome the sunshine issue that is inescapable whatever unit you use on the Multivan.
Thanks to MR (RUFNIT) for the invaluable help trying to resolve the ZENEC, I don't have your number so can't ring to thank you personally.
cheers all
Pj
Thanks

[RUFNIT]

Happy to assist you :)

MR