VehiclePC / Blaupunkt radio

[Phil Payne]

> That Blaupunkt unit sure is nifty, but some guys went and built a
> whole PC plus GPS that fits in your radio slot...
>
> http://www.smartvehiclepc.com
>
> Actually...question...I have a Blau Tokyo, and it has an annoying
> habit of staying on, backlighting-wise, for up to 3 hours or so(its
> standard automatic shutoff) because it thinks the ignition is on(the
> instructions that came with it said for VW/Audis to tie memory+power
> together.)

Now that it's stable, I should write up the fitting of a Blaupunkt RNS
149 to the Bus.  It went fairly well, but we had a few gotchas and
wound up redoing quite a bit of it.  Connecting the reversing lights
to the radio was novel.  I took my 'permanent' off the cigarette
lighter -
the RNS requires 1.5 sq mm.  I found a switched 12V behind the
dashboard - there's a six-pin flat connector that nothing was using
and I discovered that the yellow wire at one end was a switched 12V.
The RNS has a time-out, too, but you can change the length.  I've got
it set for 1 hour.  It doesn't have a memory wire per se - one
function of the permanent 12V wire is to invoke the security code
function if the 12V ever drops.

I looked at your link - while I like the idea of some of the stuff
they offer, it looks to me like they offload some functionality into a
nearby box.  The user interface is all in the DIN slot, perhaps.

The RNS 149 is a genuine one-box solution.  Now that I have power
going to the antenna, the reception is very good indeed.  It uses the
RDS data transmitted on FM signals to identify stations and will
happily track Radio 4 all over England.  There are 42 connection in
total, though about 12 are for the remote CD changer and I haven't
bothered with that yet.  Driving around with it is fun - I set it up
even when I'm travelling along quite well-known tracks because it lets
you make sudden diversions with no danger of getting lost even for a
minute.

The weakness is that it can't learn.  The CD-ROM is read-only and
there's no PC interface to transfer learned information into.  You're
stuck with whatever CDs Blaupunkt (Tele-Atlas) come out with, and
there are signs that they're slowing down on this model already.

The major adjustment is aligning the laser gyroscope to the vertical
and to the main axis of the car.  The GPS aerial is mounted right at
the
front of the dashboard (total stealth) but manages to see 8 satellites
most of the time.

Communications is a personal issue.  Nothing I've seen for vehicles
even approaches the Nokia Communicator.

--
  Phil Payne
  http://www.isham-research.com/quattro
  +44 7785 302 803
  +49 173 6242039