Blobcat
Moderator
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2006
- Messages
- 38,918
- Reaction score
- 27,650
- Location
- Grange Moor
- Your Mercedes
- R171 SLK280, Smart R451, Land Rover 110 County SW, 997 C2S, R1250 GSA TE 40th, CBR600FP
- Moderator
- #1
As Ebay sent me a £5 voucher and I missed not having DAB I bought a Nextbase DAB250 from this ebay link for £17.95 delivered so even if it's not great I'm not too far out of pocket.
Box arrived this morning so this afternoon I installed it
Torx driver and trip tools out (handy having a folding hardtop as there's more space to work)
Only 1 clip at the top of each A pillar and 3 torx screws holding the supervisors in then the trim panels lift out.
Now you know those simple Saturday afternoon jobs that start well then you wonder why you even started... well this one very nearly became one...
As I was finger tightening the antenna connection on the back of the unit to line up the elbow connector it went suspiciously loose. So screwdrivers out and I took the unit apart and the legs holding the antenna socket had snapped
So time to get soldering, gold plated connector so with sufficient heat quite easy to get a good electrical and mechanical joint
All back together and "warranty" sticker re-fitted
If anyone wants to know where the fuse paperwork is for an R171 it's in the passenger side fuse box
I haven't gone for a wired install for power - because I just wanted a quick fit today so fitted a dual 12V power socket and fitted it up behind the passenger kick panel.
Powered up straight off the bat and found stations
I haven't used the line out from the DAB unit, which I'd prefer to as I have the iPod adaptor on my Comand which replaces the line in socket in the glove box. I have run the cable around if I choose to use it in future (If FM transmitter proves poor)
It scans the FM band to find a clear frequency slot which is pretty neat.
Box arrived this morning so this afternoon I installed it
Torx driver and trip tools out (handy having a folding hardtop as there's more space to work)
Only 1 clip at the top of each A pillar and 3 torx screws holding the supervisors in then the trim panels lift out.
Now you know those simple Saturday afternoon jobs that start well then you wonder why you even started... well this one very nearly became one...
As I was finger tightening the antenna connection on the back of the unit to line up the elbow connector it went suspiciously loose. So screwdrivers out and I took the unit apart and the legs holding the antenna socket had snapped
So time to get soldering, gold plated connector so with sufficient heat quite easy to get a good electrical and mechanical joint
All back together and "warranty" sticker re-fitted
If anyone wants to know where the fuse paperwork is for an R171 it's in the passenger side fuse box
I haven't gone for a wired install for power - because I just wanted a quick fit today so fitted a dual 12V power socket and fitted it up behind the passenger kick panel.
Powered up straight off the bat and found stations
I haven't used the line out from the DAB unit, which I'd prefer to as I have the iPod adaptor on my Comand which replaces the line in socket in the glove box. I have run the cable around if I choose to use it in future (If FM transmitter proves poor)
It scans the FM band to find a clear frequency slot which is pretty neat.