Friday, October 22, 2010

DIY: Add Auxiliary Port to Blaupunkt RD4

As a Citroen C4 owner with RD4 unit I always wanted to connect external devices (iPod) into the auxiliary input. However, Citroen/Peugeot are making this a difficult and expensive task. It requires you to:
1. Go to your local dealer to enable AUX1/AUX2 input in your RD4 unit.
2. Buy and install 9706AG part.

The 1st part is mandatory unless if you have access to Citroen's software, cable and a password. I just went to a local dealer to do this. It's not expensive and you must have AUX1 or AUX2 enabled before you continue with this tutorial. You can check if you have it enabled already by pressing on the 'SOURCE' button in the RD4 unit. If you have AUX enabled you will see "AUX" displayed after two or three presses. If you don't, go to the dealer.

The 2nd part can be avoided by using simple parts and little bit of work.

DISCLAIMER: DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!

What you need

1. ATA connector - this can be any IDE or floppy disk connector from an old computer. I prefer the floppy disk connector since it has 34 wires while IDE usually has 80 wires for crosstalk reduction. It should look like this:

2. 2 RCA chassis sockets.  I bought from a local hardware store. I also found this in Farnell.
3. Small plastic box (optional). Found this in Farnell.
4. Wires to connect all these components.

You also need a soldering iron and a release keys to release your RD4 unit (you can buy release keys from eBay or try releasing by putting 2 small screwdrivers in the RD4 release holes and pulling easily).

Cut the ATA connector

First get rid of one connector by cutting it (we need only one side). You should also expose the wires for later.

Second, we need the ATA connector to be a 5 pins width (meaning a total of 10 pins). I used a small kitchen knife to cut it but I am sure there are more elegant ways to achieve this.

Find which wires correspond to pins 4, 10 and 11.

I assume we are going to plug the cable into AUX1 (RD4 has 2 auxiliary inputs), so we should find which wires corresponds to pins 4, 10 and 11 (these are the only pins we need). If you are going to connect to AUX2 you need pins 7,1 and 2 accordingly. For the rest of this article I assume AUX1, but you can do it with AUX2 as well.
When you look at the connector holes, pin 1 is the upper right hole, pin 2 is the one to the left, etc... Beneath pins 1 to 6 we have pins 7 to 12. Since our connector is 5 pins width (2 rows of 5 pins, total 10 pins), we don't really have pins 6 and 12. We have only the blue pins:
6  -  5 -  4 - 3 - 2 - 1 
12 - 11 - 10 - 9 - 8 - 7


To find which wires corresponds to holes 4,10 and 11, you can stick a small paper clip in the pin hole and use multimeter to find which wire short circuits the paper clip and the exposed wire.

Extend wires 4, 10 and 11 by soldering

After we found the correct 3 wires, we should now extend theme. The length of extension is depends on your needs, but I guess 50cm extension is enough.

Drill holes in the plastic box and put the RCA sockets (optional)

This part is optional. You can skip the whole box thing if you don't care about the aesthetic or that you just hides your RCA behind the car dashboard.

Drill 3 holes: 2 for the RCA sockets and one for the wires input. My RCA sockets are 6mm, so I drilled 6mm holes. You can avoid drilling if you have the extra time of digging these holes using a screw...


Screw the sockets and the exposed cable end into the box:

Solder everything together

Wire from pin 4 should go to the right RCA, wire 10 to the left RCA, and wire 11 (ground) is common for both. In this picture, the orange wire is coming from pin 4, the blue is coming from pin 10, and the white is from pin 11:
This is the final result:


Release the RD4 unit and connect the cable

Releasing the RD4 unit is easy if you have release keys: just put the keys into the holes and pull easily.

Now we can connect the cable. AUX1 is marked as input C, AUX2 is input D. Pay attention to the cable orientation (wire 4 should reach pin 4, etc...). You should be able to see the numbers in the RD4 connector.

Put the RD4 unit back in place, make sure to wire the cable in the dashboard so you have access to the 2 RCA sockets. You can't test it before putting back the RD4 unit because the car anti-theft mechanism disables the car. Plug the iPod and enjoy - it should sound great! Note that if you are connecting through the iPod dock connector you should increase the volume, since the iPod does not amplify its audio out.

I mounted the black box near the passenger seat. This is how it looks like in my car:




Thanks to Amnon who wrote this forum post (in Hebrew), C4 owners ICE/Sat Nav etc forum, and Tzahi for helping me mount the black box.

20 comments:

  1. Have looked at your guide and i love it!!!

    done this on a peugeot 407 - went for aux2 (only had 1 2x2 connector - used the pp2000 to enable aux2 and bingo, slide the radio back in and the tunes are bouncing!!!!!!!!!!!!

    great guide thanks very much :)

    David

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  2. Excellent guide.

    Followed your instructions, and now I have AUX on my Citroen C5 2005 (had to ask the workshop to enable it, of course).

    My only adaptation was to slice a little bit of the plastic off the no 1 end of the IDE-cable.

    Used some plastic heat shrink tubing around the cable, to make it stronger.

    Afterwards I discovered several ebay cables for sale, at 10-20 USD shipping includes; searched for AUX RD4 CITROEN. But it is satisfying to have put the old ide cables to use, and done some soldering :-)

    Thanks a lot.

    Jon

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  3. Do you have to enable the AUX feature after making the connector??? please answer fast!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes you need to use a garage diagnostic unit to enable the feature.

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    2. how much does it cost to get it done from the dealer>

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    3. £20 from chevroncitreonspeacialists,co.uk

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  4. You can get the aux enabled before or afterwards.
    Obviously it needs to be enabled for it to work.

    ReplyDelete
  5. can it be done conecting it to the AUX2 or disc changer? That way i won't lose my bluetooth, which uses AUX1!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi, mate,

    thanks for the great guide.
    I follow it and have one problem.
    My question is
    should AUX be visible like option from the Source menu even with no cable attached at the back of RD4 ( or for ex if cable is not correctly positioned) ?
    The thing is that my AUX should be activated according to dealer, but i do not see it like option in Source menu, even after made a cable and plugged it in aux of the back of RD4, so my doubts are now if the AUX is really enabled.
    Thanks for answering.

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  7. As far as I remember, you should see AUX1 or AUX2 on the screen after a few presses on SOURCE (even when no cable is attached)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you!
    It worked out for me.
    I have lexia 3 and I Had to turn on aux. It had nothing to do with CD-changer. I spend allmost all day looking for how to activate aux. It was not very logicall but in the end I did it.
    / Emir

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  9. Thanks a LOT!! Worked perfectly

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi,
    Brilliant guide, thank you very much.
    Do you reckon I could wire the ATA cable into one of these and leave the RCA connection out?
    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200588497921?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
    To be honest, I think all I need is a 3.5mm jack socket to connect my phone.
    Cheers,

    ReplyDelete
  11. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Male-3-5mm-AUX-IN-Audio-Cable-Adaptor-for-Citroen-Peugeot-MP3-iPod-iPhone/111365816686?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D22311%26meid%3D7459564089840753240%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D9701%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D321391848364&rt=nc

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  12. Thank you so much for a detailed work description! Just made a cable for my Peugeot partner 08 and it works like a charm. Had to stop by my Peugeot dealer to program my head unit of course..

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  13. hey,
    Thank you for the instructions. I prepared the cable. But my radio cannot be re coded to activate aux 1 or aux 2. Any suggestions? :(

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  14. Hy , is there any way to enable aux without go to workshop? also, how to enable bluetooth music? I have c4 Gpicasso with rd 4 with bluetooth for call! Regards

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hy , is there any way to enable aux without go to workshop? also, how to enable bluetooth music? I have c4 Gpicasso with rd 4 with bluetooth for call! Regards

    ReplyDelete
  16. can you post where to look in lexia for the aus please?

    ReplyDelete
  17. You have shared Valuable Info ! keep sharing !
    Wirelessecall

    ReplyDelete