First Review Dynavin in Sydney

I think it would be worthwhile. More information is always better than too little...

I have a Dynavin but the radio and steering wheel controls aren't connected. This is something I would love to get fixed but I'm not sure where to start. I rang a car stereo shop and they hadn't even heard of Dynavin before...so abit iffy about letting them rip into my car as an experiment!!

Originally Posted by gue555

Hello,

Do i need to re wire the antenna amp in the c pillar to give it power? If so can has anyone done this and could share a pic?

I was thinking of starting a dynavin thread specific to au users in the australia section (including problems and apps that may be specific to our region) , is this worth while or will i just get flamed?


Thanks in advance

From memory on the other thread, you didn't need the fakra cable did you? I know on mine, (fakra cable) I need to run a new antenna cable along the length of the car.

And yes, you will probs get flamed, Aus or not, the problems are the same across the globe.

Originally Posted by Alpine

I have a Dynavin but the radio and steering wheel controls aren't connected. This is something I would love to get fixed but I'm not sure where to start.

Did you have a 4:3 or 16:9 screen? if so, the steering wheel box may not be plugged in. I'm pretty sure I had to rewire a couple things on the fakra cable to get the steering wheel controls going, and as above, had to run another antenna cable for the radio. I did not run the antenna, as I simply despise the radio.

16:9 screen

Originally Posted by Alpine

I think it would be worthwhile. More information is always better than too little...

I have a Dynavin but the radio and steering wheel controls aren't connected. This is something I would love to get fixed but I'm not sure where to start. I rang a car stereo shop and they hadn't even heard of Dynavin before...so abit iffy about letting them rip into my car as an experiment!!

Drive down to melbourne. I'll fix it for you

Can you give me some advice, fgin? I wish you were up here in Brissy!

Originally Posted by Alpine

I think it would be worthwhile. More information is always better than too little...

I have a Dynavin but the radio and steering wheel controls aren't connected. This is something I would love to get fixed but I'm not sure where to start. I rang a car stereo shop and they hadn't even heard of Dynavin before...so abit iffy about letting them rip into my car as an experiment!!

not working?,why not? do you, have the canbus adaptor unit attatched to the harness? and as for the radio, i am not sure if the 330ci and the 325 have the same radio antenna setup but i installed a "dynavin clone" ahem,cough,,, in my vehicle which i see is the same vintage as yours and radio and steering wheel controls work fine.
It still suffers from the same nitpicky little problems as the dynavin but overall i love it! i,if you have the oem screen i think you need to run antenna cable from the dynavin to the boot where all your radio hardware is, that will fix your radio problem, the in dash screen in e46 is just that,a screen, everthing else is in the left side of the boot, hope that helps

my radio reception is horrible as well. i have the fakra cable as i initially had the OEM nav. what are you talking about the c-pillar to get better reception?

Originally Posted by asdetail

not working?,why not? do you, have the canbus adaptor unit attatched to the harness? and as for the radio, i am not sure if the 330ci and the 325 have the same radio antenna setup but i installed a "dynavin clone" ahem,cough,,, in my vehicle which i see is the same vintage as yours and radio and steering wheel controls work fine.
It still suffers from the same nitpicky little problems as the dynavin but overall i love it! i,if you have the oem screen i think you need to run antenna cable from the dynavin to the boot where all your radio hardware is, that will fix your radio problem, the in dash screen in e46 is just that,a screen, everthing else is in the left side of the boot, hope that helps

That's the thing. I could not locate the harness in the dash at all!! Nor could I see an existing antenna cable to connect to. I do have the Dynavin adapter and antenna adapter to plug in. It's like the harness was cut off or removed?! I have no idea what was done back there.

The original stereo did have a touch screen TV unit in the front, and a 6 CD stacker in the back, and another box that appears to be a TV tuner or something. Not sure if there's a GPS unit as well.

Does this mean I need a FAKRA cable? Would that get my steering wheel working again as well??

yes you do need the 5m extension cable as all the radio hardware,apart from the display screen and cd player behind it,is in the boot ,unless you want to put your head unit in the boot,i am not sure if an antenna extension cable comes as part of it,but i guess you could get one of those at any car sound retailer,hope this helps

and yes, if you have canbus/ibus box plugged in you will get steering wheel controls,you could actually make a fakra cable,just a matter of cutting supplied harness and extending the wires 3-5m,bit time consuming though!

OK finally managed to get a dodgy picture of what's behind the head unit up front. As you can probably see (or not, it was pretty scary back there), there's no harness and no antenna lead to plug into, hence no steering wheel controls and no radio. Looks like you're probably right, asdetail...that FAKRA cable looks like it's the missing link in my case.

What I would like to know is what are those two unconnected rectangular plugs actually for??





And here is the ORIGINAL gear that was removed from the car but given to me when I bought the car:



As you can see, there's the OEM screen, 6-CD stacker and another box which I think is the TV tuner unit?? But no OEM GPS Navigation unit.

So...FAKRA cable needed for my steering wheel controls and radio??

Originally Posted by Alpine

OK finally managed to get a dodgy picture of what's behind the head unit up front. As you can probably see (or not, it was pretty scary back there), there's no harness and no antenna lead to plug into, hence no steering wheel controls and no radio. Looks like you're probably right, asdetail...that FAKRA cable looks like it's the missing link in my case.

What I would like to know is what are those two unconnected rectangular plugs actually for??





And here is the ORIGINAL gear that was removed from the car but given to me when I bought the car:



As you can see, there's the OEM screen, 6-CD stacker and another box which I think is the TV tuner unit?? But no OEM GPS Navigation unit.

So...FAKRA cable needed for my steering wheel controls and radio??

remove the trim from the l/h side in boot and you will find the fakra connector in there somewhere,probably connected to the radio module, you need to extend that connector to the dash mounting point..hence the fakra extension cable.
BTW why was it removed?

All removed because the Dynavin, Kenwood amp and new speakers went in.

Originally Posted by Alpine

All removed because the Dynavin, Kenwood amp and new speakers went in.

watch this should explain everthing.

just studied the photos you posted and i can see no steering wheel control adaptor box anywhere in that jungle of cables,i could be wrong but it looks like the harness that came with the dynavin has been cut and spliced into something,i am not sure what?

http://www.incarmedia.com.au/dynavin...arka-cable-5m/

your radio antenna is connected to a cable that disappears into the dash i'm betting an extension cable to the trunk

An update - I took the car to a reputable car stereo shop that has done lots of work to my previous cars over the years so I know the owner pretty well. He said he would have a look at it and advise on what could be done, bearing in mind he had never heard of the Dynavin brand before.

What his installer confirmed was we need to run a cable from the boot to the front for the radio antenna to get working. Didn't specifically mention FAKRA but he pulled some cables off his shop shelf to show me. It didn't look like a FAKRA cable to me, just an antenna extension lead basically.

As for the steering wheel controls, they weren't able to help with that at all, and suggested I contact a Dynavin supplier for more help. You may be right that the Dynavin's harness has been cut off and spliced into what could be the stock wiring, which also doesn't have a harness. I don't know why it was done like that when a FAKRA cable should have simply made this a plug and play job.

I was quoted about $170 to route the antenna extension lead to at least get the radio working, but looks like nothing can be done about the steering wheel controls due to the apparent butchering of the factory harness. I didn't go ahead as I said I would need to think about it. $170 seems like alot for just radio reception, and still getting nowhere with steering wheel controls.

Sigh......

the fakra cable will solve all your woes with connecting the dynavin as the radio end of the harness will just plug in the back of the head unit,however, and this is a fairly big however, it looks like you dont have the little ibus adaptor,a small black plastic box that plugs into the harness at the boot end of the connector,without that you cannot have steering wheel functions.
If you dont have that you need to get one from either incarmedia in australia(dynavin agents here) or j&d distributing in fresno california usa(cheaper).
Routing the cables is easy,plenty of tutorials on the web.

Is this the ibus adaptor (small black plastic box) you're talking about? If so, I tried plugging the stereo jack in behind the Dynavin into IR IN and the box end into a matching connector but no go.

Originally Posted by Alpine

Is this the ibus adaptor (small black plastic box) you're talking about? If so, I tried plugging the stereo jack in behind the Dynavin into IR IN and the box end into a matching connector but no go.

Looks like it,i dont actually have a dynavin,but on my unit the ibus adaptor plugs into the harness via a connector plug,it just worked,cant actually change what the buttons do though,you still need 5m extention harness

OK, so even if I'm missing what appears to be the Dynavin harness / OEM harness, routing a fakra cable from the rear to the front will allow me to connect the radio and steering wheel controls regardless of my missing harnesses?