Summary of Bluetooth Options for RNS510 & RCD510

[Swallowtail]

Fitted the 729 Bluetooth today... took a few hours. You need one part from VW to mount it under the seat of a Passat - it clips into slits in the carpet. Be warned, doing a full OEM style install of this thing is not a task for the faint hearted.

Remove stereo, run cables through the driver's side dash to the door sill, under the carpet to under the seat. Then run the mic cable up the A pillar to the head lining and over to the courtesy light assembly.

Put everything back together, then I discovered that the cable harness from Poland hasn't passed through the MDI connections, so I had to pull the stereo out again, remove the sub-plug for MDI from the car's quadlock plug and move it to the harness's quadlock plug.

Check coding in VAGCOM (slightly different to what the websites out there say and also from what the Ross-Tech software says for steering wheel control). I have upgraded the firmware on my RNS510 to the new one that does voice control so I have disabled voice control on the Bluetooth unit, and am controlling it all from the RNS510. The star button on the steering wheel initiates voice control, and the phone button answers / terminates a call.

So it's all done... but the Kufatec unit is easier to install. I installed it into apom's R36 this evening in an hour LOL. But, the mic is not voice control compatible for the RNS510, and doesn't fit in the overhead unit, the display in the MFD looks aftermarket (says KUFATEC FISCON instead of just Phone), Kufatec supports A2DP, but I don't want that really - it just is a pain with my iPhone.

I have run all the wiring for the harness to be stereo, but CarSystems in Poland haven't got back to me with how to connect it to the 729 unit to make it stereo, nor have they said anything about A2SP yet...

Is it the best option? Hmmm possibly.

Pros of 729 Bluetooth over Fiscon:

If you haven't upgraded your RNS510 to voice control, then the 729 is the only way to get true hands free (voice control) dialling.

It's truly OEM, works well. Can access an iPhone's call lists where Fiscon can't.

Cheaper than Fiscon if purchased from Poland.

Microphone can be used as voice control for the RNS510 (with upgraded firmware) by connecting to RNS510 and running new cable to Bluetooth. So one mic, all OEM, voice control for everything.

Cons of 729 Bluetooth compared to Fiscon:

Bigger unit than Fiscon, has to be fitted under driver's seat really (Fiscon squeezes neatly under centre console near gearstick). Therefore harder to install.

Cable harness from Poland does not pass through MDI / CD changer cables - small sub-plug needs to be removed from the car's quadlock plug and put into the pass-through quadlock plug.

Cable harness from Poland has non-compliant CAN bus cable.

No A2DP (we think LOL...), where Fiscon has A2DP.

If you have upgraded your firmware on the RNS510 to be voice control capable, then you can voice control a Fiscon unit from the RNS510 - you don't need the 729. However, you will still need an additional mic as the Fiscon's mic is wrong for the RNS510. So at the very least you'd still need a VW mic, and you'd still need to run it to the overhead console. You'd then have 2 mics - with the Fiscon's only operative on calls.

That's all for now, I'll add more as I think of it...

[Swallowtail]

I thought I'd pull together some of the issues that I had installing the Skoda Bluetooth unit, along with some pointers on installation.

The kit I got from eBay came with a plug and play wiring harness. Issues:

1. the CAN bus cabling from the stereo to the bluetooth unit is not compliant with VW specifications. I removed it from the wiring and replaced it with compliant cable - 000 979 987

2. The plug and play harness does not pass through connectivity from a CD changer / MDI. You have to remove one of the sub-plugs from the car's original quad-lock connector (it's plug 4 as shown here: http://www.my-gti.com/529/volkswagen...in-assignments) and move it to the new wiring harness quadlock connector that now goes into the back of the RNS510.

3. It does NOT do A2DP, or at least not so that anyone has been able to work out how to do it. The cable from the Skoda bluetooth unit to the RNS510 carries a mono signal only, which is connected to a single channel of Tel In on the RNS510. The RNS then bridges that to both channels.

4. Ouf of the box it won't provide voice control for a new firmware'd RNS510. It will do its own voice control though. I disconnected the mic cable that came with it, and routed that to the Mic In pins on the RNS510. I then ran a new shielded mic cable down the wiring harness to the Bluetooth unit's Mic In. Alternatively I believe that you can just 'tap' into the Bluetooth unit's Mic wiring and take that to the RNS510's Mic In.


Installation

Note - in a Passat you will need a part from VW to properly mount it. It's 3C0 919 738 A, it's about $30. It goes under the driver's seat with the Skoda unit wedged inside it. It's the ONLY other part you will need for a Passat mount, unless you are doing cabling modifications (compliant CAN bus cable, Mic loop to RNS etc).

Using trim tools, remove the trim surrounding the RNS510, and then undo the 4 torx screws and remove the stereo. Unplug it. Place safely to one side. Remove sub-plug 4 from the car's quad-lock connector (see note 2 and link above). Place sub-plug 4 into the same place in the supplied wiring harness's quad-lock connector. Connect the quad-lock connectors together so your new harness is now in place.

At this point I did a "dry run" and connected everything, did the VAGCOM coding, and tested to make sure everything worked before I put it all in place.

Assuming it all works, now run the cable that goes to the bluetooth unit and the Mic cable (if you are connecting the Mic to the RNS510) behind your dashboard and over to the fuse panel. I removed the lower dashboard cover panel to assist with this. Once at the fuse panel, the mic cable needs to go up the A pillar - more on that in a minute.

Take the Bluetooth harness, and route down behind the plastic trim piece that holds the bonnet release, ensuring that it sits clear of any moving parts. Lift the driver's door sill cover trim piece at the front end (it's one piece all the way to the C pillar, so you won't be able to easily remove it completely, and you don't need to anyway). Run the cable to in line with the front of the driver's seat.

Now at this point you have a choice. Either remove the driver's seat and run the cable through the channel that goes under the seat rail, or run it under the carpet. I chose the latter.

It's probably a good idea at this point to dry run fit the mounting piece from VW under the driver's seat - push it in, and mark where the mounting 'tongue' sits against the carpet (left hand side as you are facing the back of the car). Cut the carpet to suit, then insert the tongue into the carpet on that side, and clip the other side into the top of a cut in the carpet that is already there on that side (it's a small sqaure cut on three sides). Check before you cut...

Once you know where the bracket is going to fit, take it back out, and make another cut in the carpet on the outboard side further back for the cable. Now go back to the door sill and run the cable under the carpet (behind the corner of the carpet as it comes up the seat mount is best), round the front of the seat rail mount, and back to your further back carpet cut. You may find it easier to do this if you remove the black plug housing so you have only the blue connectors to push through. Pull the cable through, refit the black plug housing.

Once you have that there, mount the Skoda Bluetooth unit into the mounting bracket (I trimmed a bit of the black plastic so it fitted better), plug in the aerial, the cable harness, and mount under the seat. Phew...

Rebuild your door sill and trims!

Now the A pillar - remove the "AIRBAG" symbol from the A pillar carefully. It just clips in. There is a torx screw behind it - undo that, and pull off the A pillar cover. Be careful - there are airbags in here...

Run the Mic cable from the fuse panel, behind the corner of the dash, up the A pillar, routing inside the metal if you wish, so that it reaches the top of the A pillar safely and behind all the airbag bits.

Unclip the cover on the right hand mount of the sun-visor. Unscrew and remove. Remove the small light (just pulls out) above the visor. Remove the small mic panel from the overhead panel (where what looks like speaker vents are), and remove the centre piece of the housing. Now thread the cable through using the holes you have created, over to the console, above the head lining. Fit the mic and reassemble.

Reassemble the car, make sure everything is connected and working.

You will need to do some VAGCOM coding to finalise the installation. There is information on that available here:

http://www.my-gti.com/429/volkswagen...th-programming

However, note some differences:

If you are using RNS510's voice control, set Controller 77 to not use voice control (i.e. language spoken by unit to 0 for external control). If not, leave that at 2 for UK English.

Set the Steering wheel controller 16 as per your car, see the link above for details, but be aware that in my Passat the VAGCOM suggested setting did not work. It told me to do 8 - it needs to be 4.


If you are using RNS voice control, with Controller 16 set to have PTT (Push-To-Talk), and the Skoda Bluetooth not using its internal voice control, pressing the star on the steering wheel activates the RNS voice control, from which you can dial names, numbers, etc.

If you are not using RNS voice control, pressing the star button activates Bluetooth voice control.

In either situation, the phone button on the steering wheel answers or terminates a call. If no call is active or incoming, pressing this button brings up the phone menu in the MFD.

Cheers

Swallowtail.

[MurphyTheElf]

It's frustrating trying to work with service and parts departments that have no idea about the bluetooth options and have no desire to help. I'm yet to find a dealer in WA that can supply and/or fit a Skoda kit. I'm hesitant about buying an eBay model and a little squeamish about getting the wiring and coding correct. I don't know of any members in WA with VCDS.

I asked my dealer today about the 9ZB kit. They had to call the "Sydney technical department" and were informed that because the wiring harnesses are different, that unit cannot be retro fitted. In earlier posts, Swallowtail stated that the Skoda unit has/had the same issue - surely this can be overcome. It's probably just a matter of time until this kit is available from aftermarket sources.

[veebs]

I feel your pain MurphyTheElf - I ended up installing an eBay skoda kit (type E) myself.

Only downside is the CAN bus (sic) needs to be updated for the MFD to take advantage of the phone menu... Messing around in the settings of the car is a little more extreme than I wanted to get. (not that I have the cables/software anyway!)