Bodge

ok i've fitted my alpine CDE-9880R head unit according to the alpine manual and the ISO connections guide from the ICE section on this site.

i've done it how it says to do it, and it works!

2 things concern me though:

-whats all this talk of a k-line? ive connected the blue power antenna line from the loom to the blue power antenna line on the head unit. whats the problem? how do people know its diagnostics line? surely its the line for the boosted aerial?! i dont get it, and nothings blown up yet! explanations please...

-ive correctly connected yellow-yellow and red-red. radio works once key is turned to first notch, and works if the engine has been turned off, until you pull the key out. but, as soon as i pull the key out the HU loses its memory and wont turn on. i'll try swapping them over like people say but i still dont get it. ive connected it correctly, it makes no sense to me!

I know there are loads of threads on this, but im still confused.

Also, how the hell have you lot managed to fit your head units easily?! Theres no room back there for wires. i spent a good few angry hours trying to slide the unit in properly. theres no room. i had to settle for having the unit sit out from the dash slightly. had to walk away in the end as i was on the verge of losing my rag and kicking it into the damn dash!!

thanks in advance for the help guys.

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Diamond Silver '02 Octavia vRS hatch

roo

Some cars use different wires for the permanent memory feed and the switchable power wire, skoda is one of those makes where they are swapped, so you need to reverse them to keep the radio memory.

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Jeff: Ambitious, but rubbish

Bodge

cheers for that buddy. i'll get them swapped over.

any words of wisdom on this k-line business then? should i pull out that blue wire?

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Diamond Silver '02 Octavia vRS hatch

roo

I could not even tell you what the symptoms of the K-line problem is as I've never had a car with the k-line problem, so I've never looked it up. If you are worried abut it your best bet is to search the forum using the advanced search in the Octavia 1 section.

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Jeff: Ambitious, but rubbish

georged30

Ross-Tech: VAG-COM: Afterrmarket Radio Problem check this page i think that explains everything

Dan Walton

Sounds like you need to swap the power wires around and your problem will be worted. As for the K Line, nothing will happen until you plug the car into VAG COM and blow up someones kit.
By connecting it to the power antenna you are sending voltage down the K Line which itself is supposed to send a small signal to monitor some of the cars features. It is not an amplifier for the cars ariel, it is for cars that have retractabvle arials. You turn you stereo on, the head unit sends a voltage to the ariels motor and it extends.

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J'ai douze ans!!

Bodge

Thanks very much for that guys. Great info. I'll remove the blue wire completely from the ISO to Alpine adaptor, so the K-line is connected to nothing. lucky i havent plugged my disgnostics tool in yet!!

you've saved me alot of money from the looks of things!

next job is to route the ipod and USB cables into my glovebox. looks like i might have to make a hole in the glovebox though so it's gonna hurt.

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Diamond Silver '02 Octavia vRS hatch

Dan Walton

Yup, that's what I've done, just drill a small hole in the corner of the glovebox so you can leave your iPod safely out of sight.

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J'ai douze ans!!

mbames

once u move away from having a VAG stereo in the car, you need to inject +12v to the amplifier at the base of the aerial. I assume Bodge has a power injector and have supplied the +12v from the back of his head unit. This is what I did with my Pioneer install.

Mine is even more cramp for wires, I have a hands free kit wired in too with the speaker bypass unit.

Dan Walton

No you don't!? I haven't and my radio reception is a good as it's ever been?

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J'ai douze ans!!

Bodge

righto ive sorted it all now atlast.

removed the glovebox to get some access, which made it easy. using a pin, i removed 3 wires from the ISO to Alpine adapter. pink/black (for phone), blue/white (for amp) and blue (k-line) which took a bit of bulk out of the wiring. then i swapped the red and yellow wires over. all works great, including radio reception.

after removing the glovebox, which was nice and easy to my surprise, i could see the wires at the back of the HU and move them around so the unit just slid straight in no problem.

to get the USB and ipod cables into the glovebox i just popped out the glovebox light unit, and tucked the connector for it back so it wouldnt rattle. then fed the cables through that hole. i dont have a drill here, so i think its a handy solution to the problem, and i doubt ill miss the glovebox light anyway!

so yeah, very happy now, it's all fitted nicely and working properly.

speakers next.....

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Diamond Silver '02 Octavia vRS hatch

bubba

I've just fitted my Alpine iDA X200 and the radio reception is very poor. I've been to Halfords and parted with £13 for a booster, however I'm not 100% sure of how I'm fitting it.

It has a small power cable (Blue one), I take it I can just connect that one to the ignition cable for the stereo, so that it gets power when I turn on the ignition??

I swapped the Yellow and Red cables arround (will that solve the K-Line issue), I have looked around and there are lots of pages on it and its still not 100% clear for me and I don't want to be responsible for blowing someones Diag tool up.

It was a nightmare to get the stereo in and after lots of huffing and puffing it was in...... but it was bloody upside down!!!!!

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Neil
Silver MkI Octavia VRS

simonlb

Remove the glovebox (4 screws) and remove it by pulling it forward then you can reach behind the stereo, route the cables to the side and slot the stereo straight in.
If necessary, you can also cut off the plastic bracket behind the stereo with a hacksaw blade so that the stero sits in flush.

trundlenut

I have a whole load of extra wiring behind the (currently) standard HU and I found that if you apply enough brute force and ignorance the HU would push back in. But I think it may end up in the back seat next time I remove it

I should shortly be fitting a new HU and I am going to get an adaptor to power the aerial but I was wondering what to to connect it to - permanent live or switched live, there doesn't appear to be a connection on the HU to attach it to.

Dan Walton

Switching the red and yellow round won't solve the k-line issue, it will mean your headunit won't lose all it's settings everytime you turn it off. Do a search, I've responded to loads of these threads with the same answers each time!

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J'ai douze ans!!

gathy

Hi
ive got the ariel booster on mine(03), just connect the blue wire on it to your switched live or your hu's electric ariel wire(normally blue) please use proper connectors my mate set his car on fire doing it with sticky tape .


as for the head unit normally you need to swap round the red,yellow so its red to yellow instead of red to red this will sort your memory out(like this on most cars,i dont think ive ever had one that was red to red.

as for the 12v issue i have removed/clipped back all the other wires on the iso connector(cars connector) so there is only live and switch live connected this will prevent any damage to diagnostics and your head unit.

ive had a 4 head units and no problems with plugging in my laptop to the car

as for fitting.if you remove your glovebox you can gain access to the rear of your head unit to guide the wires etc out of the way ,you may find that if you remove the plastic support at the rear of the head unit hole it makes it 100% easier to fit as nice head units have a big heatsoak on the rear making it slightly longer than the factory fit scrap,

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THE SPLUTTERER
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cheezemonkhai

The blue one from the head unit should not go to the ISO connectors as this will send the 12v aerial power on down the K-line, so disconnect this. Handily this is also ideal for sending to the aerial booster, so you can use it to send power to that whenever you turn the radio on

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