Fiat Virgin needs help with ICE

[datprogrammer]

Hi,

Just aquired my first Fiat - 2 yr old Punto Mia. Came with ****ty factory fitted Blaupunkt Head Unit so one of the first things I did was whizz down To Halfords and grab a facia adaptor. Then I pulled out my nice little Santa Cruz Blaupunkt HU from my old fiesta and installed it. The factoy unit had a stabdard ISO connector on it so there's no additional wiring adaptors needed. Even managed to get an aux in cable fed down into the glove box (almost got my hand stuck, it's a very narrow gap there!)

Problem 1: Power - radio does not switch off with the ignition like it did on fiesta, which is a pain cuz it's displaying the clock all the time when the engine is off. I know that most of the ISO adaptor looms have a way of swapping the power leads around but how can I sort this as it's just the standard connector fitted by Fiat?

Problem 2: The car is fitted with only the 2 front speakers - is it feasable to put rears and possibly a sub in? Are the wires likley to be in place for the rears? is there any sort of "how-to" for upgrading to 4 speaker system for a punto?

Thanks for your time and I hope someone can provide answers!

 

[darkcircuitUK]

Hi,

Just aquired my first Fiat - 2 yr old Punto Mia. Came with ****ty factory fitted Blaupunkt Head Unit so one of the first things I did was whizz down To Halfords and grab a facia adaptor. Then I pulled out my nice little Santa Cruz Blaupunkt HU from my old fiesta and installed it. The factoy unit had a stabdard ISO connector on it so there's no additional wiring adaptors needed. Even managed to get an aux in cable fed down into the glove box (almost got my hand stuck, it's a very narrow gap there!)

Problem 1: Power - radio does not switch off with the ignition like it did on fiesta, which is a pain cuz it's displaying the clock all the time when the engine is off. I know that most of the ISO adaptor looms have a way of swapping the power leads around but how can I sort this as it's just the standard connector fitted by Fiat?

All Fiats that I have heard of keep the radio on when the ignition is turned off. It is possible to modify the plug so that the radio will go off when the engine does, but if your not handy with a soldering iron then I would not attempt it. What it involves is cutting the red power lead from the ISO plug and connecting it to the cable that is live when the ignition is on (someone else can confirm the colour of this wire).

Problem 2: The car is fitted with only the 2 front speakers - is it feasable to put rears and possibly a sub in? Are the wires likley to be in place for the rears? is there any sort of "how-to" for upgrading to 4 speaker system for a punto?

Yes it is very feasible to put extra speakers in, but are you sure that the car only has two front speakers? I believe all Mk2/2.b Punto's have two speakers in the back as well (either side of the parcel shelf). Knowing Fiat, if the rear speakers do not existing then you can almost certainly asssume that the wiring for them does. If it doesn't then it's a simple case of a trip to halfrauds to buy some extra push in ISO contacts, which will allow you to modify the standard ISO Punto plug so that it will accept the new rear speakers (make sure that the new contacts line up with the rear speaker inputs in your stereo's ISO plug.

There is no "how-to" as such as it's fairly easy to do. If you require any specific information then I or someone else will be able to help

Thanks for your time and I hope someone can provide answers!

No prob

 

[gaz.d]

normally for power you swap the red and yellow leads around, but my 2.5 punto has only 1 power supply so not possible unless you good with wires

rear speakers should be there like darkcircuit said, if not i would imagine the wiring should be there, could always go hunting down by the rear seatbelt reel, the iso for the speakers should have no empty slots if the wires are there

i think you may need to by some extra wiring from fiat to fit a factory sub, other than that you could run an aftermarket sub with amp, if you do it this way, then you could also run your rear speakers of the amp too

 

[datprogrammer]

Thanks for the quick reply guys, guess I need to pull the head unit again and check the wires on the connector, I only spent 15 minutes on it last night, I set the fader control to rear only and heard nowt, so I assumed I had no rears.

Only prob with radio power is that the blaupunkt unit I have displays a clock when the radio is not on - so I'm a bit worried about battery going flat - I'll have to mess with radio settings and see if I can disable the clock. Other option is to always pull the front panel off whenever I switch engine off. Bit of a pain!

I'll report back what I find about speakers.

(edited for spelling)

 

[darkcircuitUK]

Your battery won't go flat if it's just displaying a clock (unless you leave it for months at a time), LCD screens use very little power

 

[datprogrammer]

It's not LCD but I think the power drain won't be too bad. This is the Head Unit...

Balupunkt Santa Cruz

I've checked the rears and they aren't there. The car is the MIA edition which apprently doesn't have them fitted. I can see wires for the drivers side rear but not the other side. I'll pull away the lining and stuff to see if it's slipped down inside somewhere.

I'm thinking of going with amplified rears and a sub - I guess I need two amps right? one for the rears, one for the sub - I've seen active subs at bluespot.com which looks good.

Would it make sense to start with that and leave the fronts as they are, powered by the head? (Blaupunkt claims 45watts per channel)

What I'm aiming for is a nice rich sound with solid bass, mostly for listening to classical music and classic rock (led zep/meatloaf etc) - I have quite eclectic tastes in music!

I'm a newbie to ICE - beyond the standard head unit/factory speakers setup.

Would you recommend a professional installation or is it easy to do yourself?

Questions, Questions!

 

[AppleSei]

I loved that headunit and was going to buy it, but they had sold out so plumped for the sony instead.

What is it like the santa cruz?

 

[darkcircuitUK]

Dunno if you noticed this in the other features section:

Timer allows one hour of use with ignition switched off, to protect vehicle's battery

If you want to do a low budget install then I'm not the best guy to ask, but if you want a middle of the road good quality install then add me to either your yahoo or MSN list and I'll message you when I get home.

My msn is: [email protected]
My yahoo is: darkcircuituk

Dave

 

[paulbfd]

What size speakers are in the front?

Replace them with some decent components (£100), get a sub in a sealed box (£100) and power it all with a 4 channel amp (£200) and you'll have a right system.

Don't bother with active subs, they're not much good.

Install is simple enough, it depends how DIY capable you are and how many tools you've got . At most it's a seats out, carpet up job, which is only a few nuts, bolts and screws.

Ebay is your best bet for most bits (grey imports are cheap!).

 

[gaz.d]

for a budget system i would suggest jbl , cant knock it for performance vs price

you only need 1 amp, you could either get a 4 channel to power 1 set of speakers and a sub or a 6 channel which could power the lot

i've upgraded the standard system in my punto, i havent bothered with subs or amps....just yet, but up-rated speakers make a hell of a difference

when fitting new front speakers you may need speaker pods, this is because the depth of the new speakers may foul the inside of the door

 

[badboy]

Yes agreed it's not essential to install a sub im a more quality the quantity man which is why i have upgraded the components to alpines and 6x9's in the back... luckily they were there (6x9) when i bought the car. however its when u get a decent head unit u notice the quality!

 

[wolfracepunto]

Don't bother with active subs, they're not much good

Funny that, ive had two and theyre great

Front speaker size is 16.5cm.

The Mia has no rear speaker wires, better start routing some new ones

 

[datprogrammer]

So many replies! Thanks all!

Applesei, The santa cruz is very good. Kicks out quite a bit of bass even with the factory speakers. It's got all the usual extra blaupunkt connectors on the back for telephones, aux ins, steering wheel controls etc. I got it cuz of the aux-in connectors so I can hook in my iRiver, and also cuz it's can play MP3s off the CD (for when iRiver is not in the car) It seemed to have a ton of features for the price. The Santa Cruz is replaced now with the "Dresden" which seems to be almost identical in features

Paul - the speakers in front are standard factory fit - I was gonna ask what size I can put in there and what extra hardware I need to mount them - are pods easy to fit? Also for rears, what can I put on there size wise - I gotta rn some wires down for the rears, apparently the wires I found are for the uninstalled boot light.

Sounds like for now, best thing is to just try better speaker units and maybe go for the amp option later

Dumb question: If I get a 4 way amp, where does the sub connect to? Doesn't the sub need somethin to power it?

Seems there#s mixed feelings over active subs!

 

[thefishdude]

the rear left and rear right wiring all come down the same side of the car passenger side.

your punto is it the mk2 or the face lift mk2.5

the mk2 is easy to get to turn off with the ignition. i just swapped couple of wires and connected up with bullet connectors.

and am i missing something but cant you turn radio off using the power button ???? prob a silly question sorry

 

[datprogrammer]

fishdude - it's a 52 plate punto Mia edition - not sure exactly if thats Mk 2 or what... there's no wiring in place for the rears so I will run some down the side.

Yes I can turn on/off with power button but it's just nicer to have it come on automagically!

I'll put the headunit out at the weekend and see if I can sort the power wiring out. I'm only 5 minutes away from halfords if I need more wires/iso connectors!

 

[chaos]

Dumb question: If I get a 4 way amp, where does the sub connect to? Doesn't the sub need somethin to power it?

You would bridge 2 channels together to create 1 channel to drive the sub - you effectively turn your 4 channel amp into a 3 channel amp.

 

[CinquePunto]

The easy way of telling is if the front lights are big or narrow... narrow=mk2, big=mk2.5

Does ur stereo not have a face-off facility?

 

[CinquePunto]

Security is assured with a removable front panel and 2 year anti-theft insurance included

U should always remove the front panel when u leave the car, as it is an open invite to thieves... especially with an "attractive silver front panel"

 

[datprogrammer]

yeah the front panel does come off but I usually leave it on when it's parked at home.

I sorted the clock, there's a menu option to disable it - easy enough.

On the amps, so I was right then, if I want 4 channels (2 fronts 2 rears) and sub I would need a 5 way amp or a 4 way and single channel (or active sub)?

I should be able to understand all this much better! I can build a pc with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind my back so ICE should be easy lol just never really looked into it till I got my punto which is my car just for me, kids go around in wife's Zafera (which actually has a very decent factory fitted sound system)

I've got the urge to play - just wish I had all the $$$ lol

 

[gaz.d]

you would want a 6 channel amp

or a 4 channel amp and a monobloc (1 channel) to power the sub

ICE is very easy, im a bodger and only burned my fingers twice