Has anyone 'upgraded' to the 2010+ RNSe?

[PetrolDave]

I have noticed you can have a compass displayed on the DIS, not sure if that was there on the old one.

It's always been there.

[pDkALO]

I went for it and now have a mint A3 faceplate 193 spec rns-e courtesy of the chaps in Lithuania - £454 including next day delivery - can't argue with that!

Before I embark on an evening with the mini screwdrivers to do the faceplate swap I thought I'd best wire it up in place of the OE unit just to be sure all is well - fired up all fine, bluetooth and cd changer all working straight away (only glitch was menus in german at start up - easily sorted by reference to the manual to work out which buttons to press though!)

Only things not the same as OE are the unit not switching on and off with the ignition (as per a couple of earlier posts) and by the fact that it's now got the GALA option in the sound menu, I guess it doesn't know it's connected to a Bose system.

Please could someone confirm for me that these are (as I assume), straightforward settings that need tweaking through VCDS?

I'm also assuming that the OE unit can be reconfigured in the same way thru VCDS to A3 settings if I decide to sell it as on A3 unit once the faceplates are fully swapped across?

Thanks in advance for the advice, cheers David

[sakimano]

it's very straightforward (the Vagcom reprogramming) and should be outlined on that thread on audiforum.us

It can also be reversed just as easily should you part it out to an A3 owner etc.

[pDkALO]

Great, thanks.

I think I need to invest in VCDS for this and, no doubt, lots of other stuff!...

[sakimano]

there's a shareware VCDS out there that works with a $20 cable...not sure it will work for this, but getting a full cable would be a good idea for logging/fault codes etc.

[PetrolDave]

there's a shareware VCDS out there that works with a $20 cable...not sure it will work for this, but getting a full cable would be a good idea for logging/fault codes etc.

The shareware version can't access adaptation channels above 127, and is a real b*tch to use with the Bluetooth module (the timings on that are really tight). So the shareware version has limitations and can lead to lots of swearing and frustration.

[PetrolDave]

Well I finally got round to doing 2 things today:

1) checking the 64GB SDXC card - which didn't work, card wasn't recognised.

2) swapping the glovebox CD changer to the 8P0 057 785 AMI that I had bought over a year ago - which does work. I bought the 250GB Audi anniversary hard drive and cable, and have copied all my music onto it - and it's only about 1/3 full. Took me a couple of hours to do the swap (I had previously changed the audio connector to the 32-pin AV connector needed for the 2010+ RNS-E) and recode the RNS-E from 309753 to 309721 - no other recoding needed.

AMI unit in the glovebox, with hard drive in the drawer :

Hard drive (in AMI unit) listed in Media menu:

Album playing from hard drive:

[mac911rs4]

whats this 250gb hard drive PD? sounds interesting,
cheers
m

[PetrolDave]

whats this 250gb hard drive PD? sounds interesting.

It's the "100 Years of Audi" special edition sold by Audi dealers for AMI, see http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-250GB-ha ... 41657f1dac

[mac911rs4]

NIce one PD, question if i may? If i load all my music content on this, it'll run through the head unit?
If so, under what? I've just upgraded my nav disc to 2010 RNS-E, so i've aux enabled,
thanks
M

[mac911rs4]

Excuse my ignorance PD, picked the thread from the end, just read through and seen i'll need a head change too, i'll begin to look into, could have saved me ages re my issue of aux and sat nav over my iPod issue.
cheers
m

[pDkALO]

i'll need a head change too, i'll begin to look into, could have saved me ages re my issue of aux and sat nav over my iPod issue.

To run a HDD as PD you'll also need (unless I'm mistaken) the AMI unit for the 2010+ RNS-e - and they're not cheap (around £300). And once you've added the AMI interface to the later RNS-e, it will then fully integrate with an iPod anyway.

Going back to where this thread started, I've done the change to the later RNS-e and I'm really pleased with the result - I have about 6,000 music files so they'll fit comfortably on SD. Bought the new one for £430, and sold the old 'un this weekend on the 'bay for £350 - I also took the opportunity to add an aux-in socket under the handbrake - went with the chrome buttons too as for me they work nicely with the silver trim in my car. So taking account of ebay fees etc, a 32gb SD card and aux-in bits it was about £150 all in cost to change, which to me is great value considering that's about what a Dension costs.

Big thanks to the help from other members with advice to get it done - I worked out some tricks to the faceplate change along the way, so if anyone else is contemplating doing this, feel free to ask

aux-in socket and griffin USB charger

new head unit and chrome buttons

[PetrolDave]

I worked out some tricks to the faceplate change along the way, so if anyone else is contemplating doing this, feel free to ask

Be good if you could share the tricks here?

[mac911rs4]

yep, be very interested in learning more Dalo, if only i'd have looked into this a lot sooner Doh !!

So, a new head unit, say £400? then the AMI? this isn't a cheap fix, especially after the grief i've had so far, but to have the full music collection served in full via the head unit, maybe worth it, don;t suppose it's album art too? asking too much now eh?

cheers
mark.

[pDkALO]

Be good if you could share the tricks here?

yup, fair point Dave - I'll get scribbling!

don;t suppose it's album art too? asking too much now eh?

Mark - no album art with Audi parts I'm afraid - I believe aftermarket options from Alpine etc can do that (which some other have done) but it's then getting too pricey and "non OE" for me