Technical Pop replacement radio

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Technical Pop replacement radio

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chrisincrawley

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Hi all, newbie here looking for help before i pay a professional. I've got all the bits for radio replacement, but canbus is confusing me, and also where to take a permanent live from, if that's what i need to do. Any help much appreciated.
 

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I don't think you need to worry about the CANBUS connection unless your Panda has steering wheel controls and you want them to work with the new radio.
 
Canbus is controlling the power to the radio (allowing it to auto-turn off after 20 mins when ignition off, for example). It will also control the display dimming, making it less bright when the headlights are turned on. It's probably also responsible for the 'speed related volume' function, that automatically raises the volume as you drive faster.

I suspect the standard radio has a permanent 12v live supply (the red wire with green trace near your thumb in your photo), and then the canbus signal operates a relay inside the radio as necessary... the yellow and blue wires show your radio has Canbus connected.

You are likely to need an adaptor connector such as this to interface to a non-Fiat radio... https://incartec.co.uk/product/Fiat-Alfa-Romeo-CAN-BUS-Radio-ISO-lead . This adds that relay outside of the radio (its the small black box top right of the photo). But, it will be a squeeze to get this in behind the radio in the dash - your existing plug goes into the big black connector bottom left of the photo, and the red and black plugs upper part of the photo go into the new radio to take the connections through.

On models with steering wheel controls (and so a Blue and Me or uConnect radio), there is a second plug that connects the radio in the dash to a control unit elsewhere in the car: this is the other connector shown in the wiring diagram on the back of your radio. You'll see there 'phone', 'mute' etc on the labelling of those pins.

Also, (as covered in anther thread), note that although your current radio has cables connected to all the speaker contacts (the ones nearest your fingers in the photo), but that this wiring does not go all the way into the rear doors - the Pop model never did have rear speakers, and now, it seems no Panda does. Bear this in mind if your planned new radio has a front/rear fader.
 
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Wow, that's a great reply, thanks a lot. If i didn't want to buy that and just wired the permanent live somewhere, and not connect the canbus what would be the consequence then??
 
I changed the radio on my daughters Grande Punto, it was fairly straightforward. You need a switched 12v, I took it from the cigarette lighter (as previously suggested), if you know the fuse for it you can get a piggyback fuse lead and use that (which is what I did).

Mini pggyback fuse holder:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-Pcs-Ad...ni-Blade-Fuse-Holder-ATM-ATP-12V/264376336088

Normal sized:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Pcs-12...-Blade-Fuse-Boxes-Holder-ATO-ATC/252944769113

You will also need a harness adapter and a steering wheel control adapter. They all plug into each other and just work. I used the ones made by connects 2.
Although....looking on the connects 2 website they only show adapters for the Panda up to 2012.

https://connects2.com/products/installation-kits/vehicle/Fiat
 
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The connector I suggested in post 3 will provide you the switched live and permanent live, and neatly connect all the speaker leads too. Saves ‘interfering’ with the car’s wiring at the fuse box or down to the 12v lighter socket.. a reminder of the link (May find cheaper - this was a ‘random’ choice from Google) https://incartec.co.uk/product/Fiat-Alfa-Romeo-CAN-BUS-Radio-ISO-lead
 
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