Fitting aftermarket radio to VW Tiguan

Sam Russell · 08-02-2019 1:23pm #1

I am trying to fit a new (Chinese) radio to my VW Tiguan. It has Navigation and a rear view camera. It appears to be exactly right and good quality - but .... no installation instructions.

Radio comes with the appropriate harness and an alternative one. (At least it looks as if it does - I have yet to try to fit it). It is sold as VW specific

There are three 'extra' wires in the harness labelled [Ant] [Reverse] and [Parking]. These are bare wires - no plugs.

[Ant] and [Parking] come from the radio and are not part of the VW harness. I assume [Ant] is for an electric antenna for raising when the radio is on - but I might be wrong. I assume [Parking] is for the output of untrasonic parking sensors.

Now the radio has a reversing camera, so the function of the [Reverse] wire is significant. Is it an output to turn on the camera, or is it an input from the camera? What do I connect it to?

Also, how easy is it to run the camera cable from the boot area to the radio? Do I try to go under the carpets, or is there a duct I can use?

I think the job is within my capability, but are there any gotchas?

colm_mcm · 09-02-2019 9:53am

I would guess the reverse wire is an input from the car, and the camera itself has its own plug.
These things tend to be almost universal, so you should be able to get instructions, they’re often included in eBay listings.

Bigus · 09-02-2019 10:06am

This lad in kimmage can manage high tech auto radio issues

http://www.obrienautomedia.com/Main/index.php

tossy · 09-02-2019 8:59pm

Ant will be power for the antenna signal booster that you will need with the after market radio.

Reverse is for the radio to know the car is in reverse and change the display to show the camera

Parking may be (but not always) for the parking brake, some radios will only let you access certain functions when car is stationary and handbrake engaged.

Sam Russell · 09-02-2019 10:46pm

tossy wrote: »

Ant will be power for the antenna signal booster that you will need with the after market radio.

Reverse is for the radio to know the car is in reverse and change the display to show the camera

Parking may be (but not always) for the parking brake, some radios will only let you access certain functions when car is stationary and handbrake engaged.

That all makes sense.

The [Reverse] signal connects to the radio and to the canbus box, so again it looks right, and I can just ignore it for the moment.

I will try fitting it and a trial connection. If it works, great.

Will an antenna booster be needed? I do not have DAB on the radio.

Thanks for all the responses - it is appreciated. I will post back my success or otherwise.

tossy · 10-02-2019 1:13am

Sam Russell wrote: »

That all makes sense.

The [Reverse] signal connects to the radio and to the canbus box, so again it looks right, and I can just ignore it for the moment.

I will try fitting it and a trial connection. If it works, great.

Will an antenna booster be needed? I do not have DAB on the radio.

Thanks for all the responses - it is appreciated. I will post back my success or otherwise.

Antenna booster is almost always needed with aftermarket head units on vag stuff without you’ll struggle to pick up anything outside of RTÉ radio 1 and 2fm.

If you didn’t get one in the kit you can pick them up in Halfords I think.

10-02-2019 4:47pm

tossy wrote: »

Antenna booster is almost always needed with aftermarket head units on vag stuff without you’ll struggle to pick up anything outside of RTÉ radio 1 and 2fm.

If you didn’t get one in the kit you can pick them up in Halfords I think.

What one do you use tossy?
I bought one off ebay and it made no difference at all.

tossy · 10-02-2019 6:03pm

BrownFinger wrote: »

What one do you use tossy?
I bought one off ebay and it made no difference at all.

The last one i used was one i got in a kit from car audio direct uk , halfords sell auto leads ones i think, autoleads are a good brand.

SweetCaliber · 11-02-2019 9:58pm

Sam Russell wrote: »

I am trying to fit a new (Chinese) radio to my VW Tiguan. It has Navigation and a rear view camera. It appears to be exactly right and good quality - but .... no installation instructions.

Radio comes with the appropriate harness and an alternative one. (At least it looks as if it does - I have yet to try to fit it). It is sold as VW specific

There are three 'extra' wires in the harness labelled [Ant] [Reverse] and [Parking]. These are bare wires - no plugs.

[Ant] and [Parking] come from the radio and are not part of the VW harness. I assume [Ant] is for an electric antenna for raising when the radio is on - but I might be wrong. I assume [Parking] is for the output of untrasonic parking sensors.

Now the radio has a reversing camera, so the function of the [Reverse] wire is significant. Is it an output to turn on the camera, or is it an input from the camera? What do I connect it to?

Also, how easy is it to run the camera cable from the boot area to the radio? Do I try to go under the carpets, or is there a duct I can use?

I think the job is within my capability, but are there any gotchas?

I have one of those radios. Usually the radio will know when you put the car in reverse through the harness, no extra wires needed.

For the rear camera I bought it on ebay and ran the wire along the sills of the doors back to the radio, there should be a 12v power wire out for it and a yellow aux in at the back of the radio for the camera video signal.

If you need any help send me a PM.

Sam Russell · 11-02-2019 10:26pm

SweetCaliber wrote: »

I have one of those radios. Usually the radio will know when you put the car in reverse through the harness, no extra wires needed.

For the rear camera I bought it on ebay and ran the wire along the sills of the doors back to the radio, there should be a 12v power wire out for it and a yellow aux in at the back of the radio for the camera video signal.

If you need any help send me a PM.

That is great - I thought that that must be so, but the lack of any info with the radio caused me to doubt my own reasoning.

The radio came with a rear camera, but I cannot see where to fit it. The VW one fits into a plastic housing that replaces one of the number plate ones. I do not have that, and anyway that is on the tail gate so running a wire has lots of difficulty.

I will try and fit the radio and just check how it all works with the camera in the glove box and see how that goes.

Does the original VW radio fitted to the car have a radio code?

SweetCaliber · 12-02-2019 2:15pm

Sam Russell wrote: »

That is great - I thought that that must be so, but the lack of any info with the radio caused me to doubt my own reasoning.

The radio came with a rear camera, but I cannot see where to fit it. The VW one fits into a plastic housing that replaces one of the number plate ones. I do not have that, and anyway that is on the tail gate so running a wire has lots of difficulty.

I will try and fit the radio and just check how it all works with the camera in the glove box and see how that goes.

Does the original VW radio fitted to the car have a radio code?

The one in my polo did but its stored in the ecu in thr car so no need to enter it again, yiurs should be the same.

What wires come off the camera ? I assume a power wire (+12v, ground) amd a yellow video connector ?

12-02-2019 4:18pm

I fitted one of these cameras

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/HD-Video-Car-Rear-View-Camera-CCD-Night-Vision-Reversing-Auto-Parking-Monitor/323506166428?hash=item4b52785a9c:g:riwAAOSwBgpbyPtu:rk:21:pf:0

Just drilled a hole straight up above the licence plate.It cant be seen at all.
you will find a rubber bung in the boot floor you can poke a hole through to get from the inside to the outside.

The genuine VW camera is under the boot badge to stop it getting dirty.

Sam Russell · 12-02-2019 5:28pm

SweetCaliber wrote: »

The one in my polo did but its stored in the ecu in thr car so no need to enter it again, yiurs should be the same.

What wires come off the camera ? I assume a power wire (+12v, ground) and a yellow video connector ?

The camera has a yellow RCA connector and a red power connector. There is another cable that goes from the red connector to red and black wires. The yellow RCA goes to an RCA male to male to connect to the back of the radio, which also has a red wire (free end) that would allow 12 v to come from the radio end if needed.

I assume the power can be taken from the reverse light in the boot.

It all sounds doable.

Sam Russell · 12-02-2019 5:30pm

BrownFinger wrote: »

I fitted one of these cameras

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/HD-Video-Car-Rear-View-Camera-CCD-Night-Vision-Reversing-Auto-Parking-Monitor/323506166428?hash=item4b52785a9c:g:riwAAOSwBgpbyPtu:rk:21:pf:0

Just drilled a hole straight up above the licence plate.It cant be seen at all.
you will find a rubber bung in the boot floor you can poke a hole through to get from the inside to the outside.

The genuine VW camera is under the boot badge to stop it getting dirty.

In the Tiguan, it is on the number plate light. It might be possible to get the part, but your solution sounds easier.

12-02-2019 5:30pm

you dont need to power it off the reverse lights.
use the red wire from the head unit to the camera for a switched 12v and the black to a ground on the car body.

Sam Russell · 12-02-2019 5:36pm

BrownFinger wrote: »

you dont need to power it off the reverse lights.
use the red wire from the head unit to the camera for a switched 12v and the black to a ground on the car body.

Do you mean to power the camera with the ignition?

The camera has four led lights on it - I think they would be on all the time and might disturb following drivers in normal driving.

I have aftermarket parking sensors, and they work off the reverse lights, so they only come on when reverse is selected.

12-02-2019 10:40pm

No,there is a wire coming out of the back of the head unit that powers the camera when reverse is selected (knows from the canbus system) .
Powering stuff off the rear lights isn't a good idea as it can confuse the canbus system.
I

colm_mcm · 12-02-2019 10:53pm

Yep a fella around here has a rear camera on a Passat and the LED lights around it flash when the indicators come on!

Sam Russell · 13-02-2019 10:12pm

BrownFinger wrote: »

No,there is a wire coming out of the back of the head unit that powers the camera when reverse is selected (knows from the canbus system) .
Powering stuff off the rear lights isn't a good idea as it can confuse the canbus system.
I

The wire labelled [Reverse] is connected to the head unit and to the canbus box. Does it have enough power to drive the rear camera and the leds on it?

I would not like to blow anything.

SweetCaliber · 13-02-2019 10:16pm

Sam Russell wrote: »

The wire labelled [Reverse] is connected to the head unit and to the canbus box. Does it have enough power to drive the rear camera and the leds on it?

I would not like to blow anything.

I powered mine off the +12v supply for the radio antenna, haven't blown any fuse yet.

OP can you take a picture of the wires coming off the camera, and the wiring harness of the radio if possible.

Sam Russell · 17-02-2019 12:52pm

Anyway, I have fitted the radio into the car.

It was not that difficult. I removed two little panels on the top of the plastic surround on the radio to reveal two T20 screws. Removed them and clicked out the surround. Revealed four T20 screws to release radio.

Fitted the harness* to new radio and connected the plug that went into the VW one. Connected the GPS antenna and the radio aerial. Installed the radio - cables got in the way, but went OK. I did not install the review camera at this time because I have yet to work out where to fix it at the back.

Powered on and all went OK - well mostly.

Navi system worked very well. Radio is only FM but works well. Selecting reverse turns on the display to camera - but it is not connected yet.

Bad bit. The phone does not connect to radio but works of the steering wheel controls which is no use.

Now I wonder if I have to go into VagCom to set it up. Anyone have any ideas?

[* Radio comes with two harnesses, one looks like an old version**, the other looks like the one to use and has the Canbus box already fitted to it - which is the one I used.]

[**There is a known problem with older cars that radios drain the battery, and a red wire has to be cut. The second harness has a connector on this red wire so cut it.]

Sam Russell · 25-02-2019 11:23pm

OK, I have got the BT to work the phone.

I stupidly assumed the radio would use the BT already in the car - it does not. It uses its own BT, and its own microphone, which suits a LHD car.

So, disable the car BT so it does not grab the phone - it can be done by having a different name.

Set the phone to be discoverable, and get the phone to link. That is it. Quality is not as good as the in-car version but usable. Controlled by the steering wheel controls.

Overall, it is a worthwhile upgrade - have yet to install the camera, but I think I will try and get the camera that looks and fixes like the original one for the car. If the [Reverse] wire from the radio would drive the camera then the wiring would be easier.

I have yet to solve the LHD image for doors open etc., and the China time on the radio, but that is no biggie. The car display is still correct.

The SatNav is impressive and easier to use than my Garmin.

Fitting aftermarket radio to VW Tiguan

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