Technical What to look for when purchasing a double DIN head unit?

[nnlbwn]

Hey everyone,

For a while now I’ve used an FM Transmitter to connect my phone to the car stereo with Bluetooth but that’s a janky solution, I prefer something cleaner like a head unit with Apple CarPlay.

I’ve been browsing AliExpress (I know what some of you are going to say, but there’s no way I’m spending more than 100 € on a head unit for a car that I’m driving temporarily, as in 9 months I’ll be moving to another country and will leave this car behind as a backup car for my parents who already have a nice modern SUV) and there are quite a few different models of double din head units. The main ones I could find being RK-A175 (listed as “for Panda” on some places), RK-7157B, 7018C, 7023C (CML-Play) and others.

What worries me is that the RK-A175 looks a bit different than the others from behind (even tho they’re all supposed to be “universal” double din), also some sellers of the “for Panda” one make you choose which radio type you originally had (either the Blaupunkt single din with a little storage compartment above it or in my case - the double din one that perfectly blends with the Panda interior) but they never show the difference between the two, they are advertised as the same aftermarket head unit (except the price goes up if you select you had double din initially). Is there really a difference? I thought double din was a standard and the connectors were standard as well. Would any of them fit in my Panda?

I did find the fascia separately, so that should mean I could in theory pick any of the “universal” models I listed above and install it.

Also a lot of them have a reversing camera - how does one install that in the Panda? Is there a convenient place for the cables to run? It’s not like I can’t live without a reversing camera but for the tiny difference in price it could be convenient whenever there are tall passengers in the back.

Another question I have is if the new head unit would interfere with my parking sensors in any way - they are factory fit from Fiat, I believe. How do they connect to the speakers to play the beeps?

Sorry if my questions are stupid, I did try to find more information about this online but I’m still not too confident about it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[DaveMcT]

Put up with the janky transmitter for nine months and use your time for something more valuable. However, there might be a plug-in solution.

 

[nnlbwn]

Put up with the janky transmitter for nine months and use your time for something more valuable. However, there might be a plug-in solution.

Yeah, to be honest I'm not in a need for a better head unit, I just thought it might be a cool project to do, however I might screw up the antenna wiring since those wires need to be joined and I still don't own a soldering iron for some reason. Right now I'm thinking of just finding a good stand and permanently putting my old phone on there, might use it both as a dash cam and a screen for the Waze map.

I have seen plug-in solutions but they're not any cheaper than the head units, yet I'll still have cables hanging around (which I don't want in any case, that's the reason I don't just put my phone up on a stand and leave it charging in the cup holders right next to the transmitter which handily has 2 USB ports) and besides they won't even be connected to my stereo (since they take up my only 12V power outlet where I at least have my transmitter ATM and I don't have an AUX port either).

So right now I guess it's just up to me setting up my old phone and finding a nice semi-permanent place to run its charging cable, so that it doesn't annoyingly hang around the center console.

All of that aside, for some reason my 12V power outlet feels very lose - it doesn't hold anything in the proper position, I always have to put a piece of paper and fiddle a bit to make sure it makes contact, I've tried a phone charger, the transmitter and a tire pump - they all work after I adjust them.

 

[koalar]

Another question I have is if the new head unit would interfere with my parking sensors in any way - they are factory fit from Fiat, I believe. How do they connect to the speakers to play the beeps?

No

The wiring I have is from about 2005. Fiat may have changed things but unlikely

The speaker is separate and is wire directly to the parking control unit

The are some other considerations

The original radio is controlled via the CANBUS you will either need a CANBUS converter adapter thingy or feed an ignition switched wire to have the unit switch on and off with the key

A better place to ask is in the I.C.E section (in car entertainment)) which is where the electronic tinkering people normally hang out

 

[koalar]

Also a lot of them have a reversing camera - how does one install that in the Panda? Is there a convenient place for the cables to run? It’s not like I can’t live without a reversing camera but for the tiny difference in price it could be convenient whenever there are tall passengers in the back

there’s several opinions

I would cable tie it under the carpet following the original front to rear hatch wiring. Probably not the easiest. Under the passenger sills carpet or behind the A pillar trim and across the top

 

[nnlbwn]

there’s several opinions

I would cable tie it under the carpet following the original front to rear hatch wiring. Probably not the easiest. Under the passenger sills carpet or behind the A pillar trim and across the top

Update to this: it’s been a whole year and I decided to come back to this.

Yes, I moved but I still come back home for like half of the year and I still own the Panda and enjoy it whenever I can.

I wanna get a new head unit, not because I’m in dire need of one but just for the fun of fitting it, a nice beginner mod.

The fitting of the head unit itself would be straightforward I hope, as the units I’m looking at use the standard ISO connectors that my original one supposedly uses.

I’m not sure about the cage, as not all of them seem to come with one but I’ll figure it out, this forum is for the Panda and not for I.C.E.

Now back to the reverse camera wiring which is a Panda-specific thing:

I’ve looked at some videos on YouTube of people fitting those reverse cameras, I think I might be able to get it underneath the plastic edges that run below the doors along the carpet, I’m not particularly worried about getting it from the front to the back of the car. The bigger problem for me is, how do I get the camera from the inside to the outside of the vehicle and how do I mount it securely.

The vehicles shown in these videos usually come with the plastic handle to open the boot and that seems quite flexible, they’re able to comfortably push the cable through it whenever they pull it a bit harder. However, mine has the body paint and I’m not sure I could get the camera to go under it. I don’t think the license plate lights are much of a possibility either. In terms of positioning/height, that place would be perfect, however I just can’t figure out where the camera would run through.

Another variant I saw was getting the camera under the bottommost edge of the car, at the height of the exhaust. That might be easier? But then that position seems weirdly low and I have no clue if the camera would be of much use. Also not sure if it can be mounted in a stable way because that edge of the chassis is mostly vertically flat.

Thanks in advance!

 

[koalar]

@stepheninlincolnshire any advise,

 

[stepheninlincolnshire]

Update to this: it’s been a whole year and I decided to come back to this.

Yes, I moved but I still come back home for like half of the year and I still own the Panda and enjoy it whenever I can.

I wanna get a new head unit, not because I’m in dire need of one but just for the fun of fitting it, a nice beginner mod.

The fitting of the head unit itself would be straightforward I hope, as the units I’m looking at use the standard ISO connectors that my original one supposedly uses.

I’m not sure about the cage, as not all of them seem to come with one but I’ll figure it out, this forum is for the Panda and not for I.C.E.

Now back to the reverse camera wiring which is a Panda-specific thing:

I’ve looked at some videos on YouTube of people fitting those reverse cameras, I think I might be able to get it underneath the plastic edges that run below the doors along the carpet, I’m not particularly worried about getting it from the front to the back of the car. The bigger problem for me is, how do I get the camera from the inside to the outside of the vehicle and how do I mount it securely.

The vehicles shown in these videos usually come with the plastic handle to open the boot and that seems quite flexible, they’re able to comfortably push the cable through it whenever they pull it a bit harder. However, mine has the body paint and I’m not sure I could get the camera to go under it. I don’t think the license plate lights are much of a possibility either. In terms of positioning/height, that place would be perfect, however I just can’t figure out where the camera would run through.

Another variant I saw was getting the camera under the bottommost edge of the car, at the height of the exhaust. That might be easier? But then that position seems weirdly low and I have no clue if the camera would be of much use. Also not sure if it can be mounted in a stable way because that edge of the chassis is mostly vertically flat.

Thanks in advance!

I ran my cable up the passenger side front screen moulding ( this was also the roue for a dab aerial that I stuck onto the front screen
I then went up over the doors pealing the roof rubber and running the cables into the boot

I then joined into the reversing light cable and mounted the camera under the front bumper on a home made bracket there was a convenient hole behind the spare wheel which enabled me to get to the outside of the car
hope that makes sense















































xc3

 

[nnlbwn]

I ran my cable up the passenger side front screen moulding ( this was also the roue for a dab aerial that I stuck onto the front screen
I then went up over the doors pealing the roof rubber and running the cables into the boot

I then joined into the reversing light cable and mounted the camera under the front bumper on a home made bracket there was a convenient hole behind the spare wheel which enabled me to get to the outside of the car
hope that makes sense

xc3

Thanks for the reply, could you show the home made bracket you have? I like your idea of using that hole as it sounds less destructive than drilling through the body paint on the tailgate (as is a common solution that people use for mounting these cameras)

 

[stepheninlincolnshire]

As mentioned taking the rear near side rear light cluster off I disconnected the light wiring connector and separated the wires
I cut the Grey wire and twisted the live feed to the camera onto this wire and pushed these into a crimp joint, then inserted the other end of the grey wire into the other end of the crimp joint and squeezed together
I then repeated this process with the earth wire.
what ever you do dont cut the red wire otherwise you will only have 10 seccond to find the yellow wire and cut that. Failing to do this will result in a controlled explosion of all airbags in the car!!!!! (just joking)

please see attached pictures of the bracket i made. One thing I will say is that a double din holder that i purchased on Ebay was a close fit but not perfect. so I had to file a few places to get a snug fit.