Volvo Install

[Tups74]

Hi

I’ve got a new VW phatbox off e-bay and am looking to fit it into a 2005 Volvo S60 (with Nav & RTi), I’ve had the leads made up to run from the back of the box into the existing Volvo wiring but I have the following issue:

1) PhatNoise Music manger did see the DMS cartridge as VW so I’ve run the Phathack and installed Volvo v4.01 software, but how do I select the correct head unit (the car has a HU-650 unit) to make things work – or can I miss this out

Also is there anything else I need to be aware of?

Regards, Bill

[S80_UK]

Hi Bill,

Welcome to the forum - and well done on choosing a Phatbox for your S60.

There is no head unit set up in the Volvo firmware.  You just plug it in and it should work.  I don't have the HU-650, but on the HU-850 that I have, use the CD button to toggle between internal CD and changer (=Phatbox).  You select the access mode (playlist, album, artist, genre) using the CD select rotary control.  Then the previous/next buttons to navigate. Holding them down in some modes such as artist will walk you through the alphabet reasonably quickly (but that only works on the HU, not on the steering wheel in my case). You then step one at a time to get to the artist that you want. 

Anything else - yes.  Check and double check the wiring before plugging anything in.  See my wiki page (I guess you already did that  )

And don't forget - the first time that you power up, the Phatbox will re-load the new Volvo firmware from the DMS - so you should get the green LED flash about 3 times a second for 2-3 minutes or so.  While that is happening, the HU will report a CD Error.  But when it's done, the Phatbox should restart itself and then the error should go away.  After that it won't need to do it again.  Normal start up is in the 5-10 seconds region (a bit quicker than the nav unit).

I've had this running just about three years now in my S80 - I would be lost without it.

Any problems - shout.

Cheers,

Les.

[Tups74]

Les,

Thanks you for the reply, within my line of work I deal with a number of different companies and one client who is electronics / audio based very kindly took the VW box and leads and using your on-line instructions did the hack /mods for me, so hopefully that part is correct, although they did voice concerns over one the VW pins which runs to ground? but the Volvo set up doesn't touch that pin, so they think that it should all be okay.

My part came last night getting the right software on the DMS and later this week the install into the car (using the Volvo fitting kit) so fingers crossed this all goes okay.

Regards, Bill

[S80_UK]

Hi Bill,

Well - I know of others (on the SwedeSpeed forum) who have done installs based on my directions, so it should work.

Where are you based?  UK / EU / US? - just in case we need to talk real-time.

Regards,

Les.

[Tups74]

Hi Les,

I'm based on the south coast of the UK

I'm away til Sunday so teh install willhave to wait until then

Regards, Bill

[Tups74]

Quick Update, its in and it works........

Sounds pretty good too.

[S80_UK]

Hi Bill,

That's great!  No problems then?  Any background noise? Or did you include a ground loop isolator?

Next step... Do you know if the box is hacked so that you can later replace the disc drive in the DMS drive (either should it die, or if you need to get something larger)?

Cheers,

Les.

[Tups74]

Only problem is when I blew the CD fuse and the Nav died, coupled with a neighbour burning rubbish gave me a minor heart attack!! thinking that I had burnt out some wiring!

Once the fuse was replaced it all powered up fine, I've used the Volvo fitting Kit  where the only pain was mounting the cradle and box under the parcel shelf - this took the longest time.

I've not used a ground loop isolator since the electronics client of mine who did the wiring for me said this might not be required since there was one in the ground lead of the Volvo loom that was part of the fitting kit, but if need they would up a lead for me. So I installed without out if and it sounds fine (there seems to be no background noise) and I think that the sound is better than the standard CD player.

How do I hack the box? - I updated the DMS to the Volvo software by using Phathaxck DMS Tools

Now I just need to sort out the playlists....

[S80_UK]

Only problem is when I blew the CD fuse and the Nav died, coupled with a neighbour burning rubbish gave me a minor heart attack

Been there, done that!  (but without the neighbour burning some rubbish to add to the panic).  Thought I'd killed everything for a couple of minutes.  Still - the Volvo wiring seems robust and well protected against mishaps.

Regarding hacking your box - take your time to gain familiarity and let things settle down.  Read up on this forum - the latest hack tools are here... http://forum.phathack.com/index.php/topic,1641.0.html

The author of the tools, VorTechS, is often around to help if you have problems.  I am off to Asia on business for a couple of weeks so won't be monitoring the forum so much for a while.   Hacking the box is a good thing to do.  It does not affect compatibility with your current DMS cartridge, and is quite separate from the head unit firmware, but it removes the checks that the software makes to see if the cartridge is an original, thus allowing other hard drives to be inserted into the DMS casing.  Several of us run 160GB drives for example (around 400 discs, mostly using FLAC).  (Which reminds me - I must hack my spare box when I get back..)

Glad you got it sorted thus far.

Les.

[VorTechS]

Yup, any problems and let me know