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OK, I know, maybe this post could have gone in the techy bit. however, not so many 'average Joe' Boxster owners would see it then would they?
My posting is intended to give hope to those Boxster owners that would love Satnav in their cars but have just the standard 'Porsche' (Becker) Radio CD player installed.
I purchase my Boxster S (2000 model) in may last year. Full stainless steel system aside, it has remained untouch or modified. However, I had retro fitted the Mercedes Comand Stanav system into an E class merc I had previously and over the last few months, decided to explore a similar retro fit in my Boxster. Not with the Mercedes comand of course but with a Becker Satnav unit similar to that fiited in the Boxster as standard.
Whislt the fit on the Merc was by no means easy, I had found out most of the information I needed from web sites and emails to 'those that know' on certain forums. As a result, there were a number of points and 'must have's' I had already established with just a couple of potential show stoppers which I had to be drilled down into.
My investigations uncovered a wealth of Becker SatNav units on Ebay which from the front, looked almost identical to my original fit Porsche CDR 22 Radio/CD player. I managed to pick up a bargain unit which had the the Sat nav aerial and the latest European maps for £225.00. FANtastic. The gamble (as I had not taken the existing radio out to check) was that the sockets and connectors where the same on the back of the unit. Both radios had a diagram on the top which shows the pin outs of each socket and as luck would have it, they were the same.
Now, just two issues to over come, where should the sat nav antenna go and more importantly, a speed sensor pick up.
For most satnav units, you need a speed or motion sensor. On the mercedes, this was fed from the ABS. Some cars, it comes directly from the speedo. If there were nothing already in place, I was going to have a real headache. However, on checking the pin location on the radio(s) diagram, I noted the speed sensor was already there in the socket! the same sensor is used for the automatic volume adjustment on the standard Porsche fit radios.
I could not beleive it, was this really going to be a 15 minute job? I routed the satnav aerial cable under the dash on the passenger side and placed the small black box (aerial) by the passenger side door pillar, in the window.
Time to test! On switching the unit on, everything come to life!, err, apart from the sound. There wasn't any. Satnav worked though and worked great! Right, why no sound?
On checking the back again, I had two sockets with cables on them from the car. on the radio, three sockets. The socket not in use was the speaker socket (socket B)! Well then, how did the standard radio work? On futher investigation, the yellow, smaller of the two sockets (socket C) was an accessory socket and it was my guess that as my car was fitted with an amp, all sound went through here. But why did it not work? I tried all sorts. In the end, I had to get some help from a pro.
I visited KamusiK in Leigh on Sea, Essex and ask them to take a look. Within half an hour the problem was solved. Basically, on the standard porsche radio, a voltage is sent from the radio to the amp via a red and black wire in the yellow accesory socket (socket C). This switches the amp on. All we needed to do was cut that red and black wire, and connect the loom side of that wire to a wire which was live when the radio was on, in order to power up the amp. We bared back the grey wire in socket A (which is live when the radio is on) and connected (and soldered) the red and black wire two it. Sound at lasts!
One more very valuable point came out of my £8 pound visit to KaMusiK (yes £8 pound!). If you look at the front of the standard radio with the back furthest away from you, on the left hand side, about half way down is a white square of plastic. This acts as a reflector for an alarm sensor on ALL Porsche convertable models. After market radios do not have this. Therefore, you need to either take this off and fit it (glue) it to the 'new' radio or tape over the sensor inside the dash to aviod the alarm going off all the time. I am reliably informed that Porsche will charge you £80 pounds to do this!
In summary, to get satnav installed in my boxster, all I had to do was as follows:
A. Buy a Becker Satnav radio/CD
B. cut the red and black wire in socket C and connect the loom side of this wire to the grey wire in Socket A
C. route the satnav aerial under the dash and either leave it under there or for a better reception, place it on top of the dash in the window (does not notice unless you know it is there)
D. tape over the sensor in the dash on the left had side as you look at it.
E. Find somewhere I did not know in order to see if it worked!
That's it! All the hard work has been done by me now so go out and find yourself a nice Becker sat nav system on Ebay and have fun this summer!
Justin
My posting is intended to give hope to those Boxster owners that would love Satnav in their cars but have just the standard 'Porsche' (Becker) Radio CD player installed.
I purchase my Boxster S (2000 model) in may last year. Full stainless steel system aside, it has remained untouch or modified. However, I had retro fitted the Mercedes Comand Stanav system into an E class merc I had previously and over the last few months, decided to explore a similar retro fit in my Boxster. Not with the Mercedes comand of course but with a Becker Satnav unit similar to that fiited in the Boxster as standard.
Whislt the fit on the Merc was by no means easy, I had found out most of the information I needed from web sites and emails to 'those that know' on certain forums. As a result, there were a number of points and 'must have's' I had already established with just a couple of potential show stoppers which I had to be drilled down into.
My investigations uncovered a wealth of Becker SatNav units on Ebay which from the front, looked almost identical to my original fit Porsche CDR 22 Radio/CD player. I managed to pick up a bargain unit which had the the Sat nav aerial and the latest European maps for £225.00. FANtastic. The gamble (as I had not taken the existing radio out to check) was that the sockets and connectors where the same on the back of the unit. Both radios had a diagram on the top which shows the pin outs of each socket and as luck would have it, they were the same.
Now, just two issues to over come, where should the sat nav antenna go and more importantly, a speed sensor pick up.
For most satnav units, you need a speed or motion sensor. On the mercedes, this was fed from the ABS. Some cars, it comes directly from the speedo. If there were nothing already in place, I was going to have a real headache. However, on checking the pin location on the radio(s) diagram, I noted the speed sensor was already there in the socket! the same sensor is used for the automatic volume adjustment on the standard Porsche fit radios.
I could not beleive it, was this really going to be a 15 minute job? I routed the satnav aerial cable under the dash on the passenger side and placed the small black box (aerial) by the passenger side door pillar, in the window.
Time to test! On switching the unit on, everything come to life!, err, apart from the sound. There wasn't any. Satnav worked though and worked great! Right, why no sound?
On checking the back again, I had two sockets with cables on them from the car. on the radio, three sockets. The socket not in use was the speaker socket (socket B)! Well then, how did the standard radio work? On futher investigation, the yellow, smaller of the two sockets (socket C) was an accessory socket and it was my guess that as my car was fitted with an amp, all sound went through here. But why did it not work? I tried all sorts. In the end, I had to get some help from a pro.
I visited KamusiK in Leigh on Sea, Essex and ask them to take a look. Within half an hour the problem was solved. Basically, on the standard porsche radio, a voltage is sent from the radio to the amp via a red and black wire in the yellow accesory socket (socket C). This switches the amp on. All we needed to do was cut that red and black wire, and connect the loom side of that wire to a wire which was live when the radio was on, in order to power up the amp. We bared back the grey wire in socket A (which is live when the radio is on) and connected (and soldered) the red and black wire two it. Sound at lasts!
One more very valuable point came out of my £8 pound visit to KaMusiK (yes £8 pound!). If you look at the front of the standard radio with the back furthest away from you, on the left hand side, about half way down is a white square of plastic. This acts as a reflector for an alarm sensor on ALL Porsche convertable models. After market radios do not have this. Therefore, you need to either take this off and fit it (glue) it to the 'new' radio or tape over the sensor inside the dash to aviod the alarm going off all the time. I am reliably informed that Porsche will charge you £80 pounds to do this!
In summary, to get satnav installed in my boxster, all I had to do was as follows:
A. Buy a Becker Satnav radio/CD
B. cut the red and black wire in socket C and connect the loom side of this wire to the grey wire in Socket A
C. route the satnav aerial under the dash and either leave it under there or for a better reception, place it on top of the dash in the window (does not notice unless you know it is there)
D. tape over the sensor in the dash on the left had side as you look at it.
E. Find somewhere I did not know in order to see if it worked!
That's it! All the hard work has been done by me now so go out and find yourself a nice Becker sat nav system on Ebay and have fun this summer!
Justin
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