Yet another Phatnoise install. So what is the big deal?
- Install of a VW Phatbox (the cheap one everyone ordered for $119)It works with concurrent SAT radio perfectly (using Audio passthrough)
- It is dirt cheap (for the DIY that knows soldering) < $15 material (assuming you have access to HU removal tools, if not add $15 on eBay)
For my install, I decided to install the PhatNoise in the trunk, under the “floor” (B6S4). Height clearance was not good enough, so I had to cut into it to make it fit:
I just glued some Velcro to the left side and the bottom right. It’s not going anywhere ;-) I’m not explaining the whole process of passing the wires through one end of the car to the other end. Many ways of doing it. STFA. Now for building the harness: Cut the VW connector from the PhatBox harness. Get 2 lengths of the 4 conductor cable you got from Home Depot (~13ft each if you run from trunk to HU) and assemble according to the following table. Make sure you identify your cables at each end before you install them.
Each cable has red, white, green, black and a bare ground. I decided to use green/white/black for the CD Data stuff (DI,DO,DCLOCK) and not use the red. For the power, I wanted to be safe and have thicker wires so I tied red/white for the Battery +12V and green/black for the switched 12V. I also used the bare Ground in both cable for the Ground. You may also need to run an extra length for the Audio to the XM. Keep the VW connector you cut as a reference for which wires to connect.
A quick picture of what it looks like at the XM end. You have to cut the pigtail in half and use the terminal at each end. You end-up with one extra… Oh well…
The following table shows what needs to be connected to what.
Signal Name |
HeadUnit |
VW |
XM |
DATA-IN |
13 |
1 |
|
DATA-OUT |
14 |
4 |
|
CLOCK |
15 |
2 |
|
Battery +12V |
16 |
6 |
|
Switched +12V |
17 |
8 |
|
GND |
10 |
3 |
|
Audio L |
|
10 |
A3 |
| Audio R |
|
7 |
A4 |
Audio Gnd |
|
9 |
A8 |
Audi P/N to order from your dealer: N-103-357-06 or N-103-358-07 -> Quantity 6 -> terminals to connect to the Head Unit (33c/each) 000-979-009 -> Quantity 2 -> pigtail with 2 terminals for SAT install (~$3/each)
I bet you can find the bare terminals for the XM for less than 50c/each (Therefore reducing the cost by another $5) but I just wanted it to be done and didn’t want to spend more time looking around ;-)
Stuff to get at Home Depot: 25ft of 4 comductors 18GA stranded ($20c/ft) Thanks: Thanks to John Wasser for the VW CD Changer Pinout info.
Thanks to Miwa for the hint on the XM Pass-through and thanks to NSX JR for confirming XM Pinout from the Bentley CD and Part Numbers for the terminals.
Thanks Sia for the encouragements ;-))
