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DIY: Adding an AUX input to Fiat Grande Punto (Delphi Head unit)

Discussion in 'Do It Yourself' started by mnvvishwa, Dec 8, 2014.

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Sanjeev Ashok Novizio

Messages:

42

Coimbatore

Linea Classic

mnvvishwa said: ↑

Background

I have a 2012 model Fiat Grande Punto 1.3 MJD Emotion and it comes with the Delphi Head unit. I was always unhappy with the ICE set up of my car because of the following reasons.

- It was not able to play music through Blue and Me(B&M).
- Bad Quality of Speakers.
- Does not have an AUX input.
- Can not change the songs in the HU when it played through USB (track change possible only in the Steering control).
- Very difficult to navigate and select songs in the USB through Steering control.
- No remote Control.

So I started do some research on various forums for the available options and alternatives. After lot of research I realised that changing of the HU is the best option, but by doing that I will lose the Blue and me and steering control for which I was not ready.

I found one more option of adding AUX input to the HU by which all the options remains untouched. I came to know that Delphi HU has the AUX-in option in the hardware, but it is occupied by the USB of the B&M.

I asked one of my friends who is basically an Electronics engineer to help me out.

We first removed the HU from the dashboard and checked the connections. After looking at it he told me that AUX-in is available, but it is currently used for the mass storage or USB. As per him another circuit board may be part of the Blue & me unit used to convert USB to AUX (Digital to analog) and this circuit may be controlling all the options related to USB.

Which must be the reason why a track change is not possible in the HU when the songs are played through USB because of the HU receives only analog signal.

Also as per him Software is written in such a way that songs can only be played through mass storage. After digging for more details we realised that tapping the USB wires in the HU with the AUX-in cable should work and started the DIY experiment.

Delphi HU Connection details and AUX-in option circled in red

View attachment 75202
Connector pins in the Head Unit

View attachment 75203

Cable harness connector and the USB input Cables (lot of unused ports in the connector)

View attachment 75204
View attachment 75205
Before doing anything we wanted to make sure that it is safer to connect the any AUX Device and it does not effect the Music system or the USB devices. So he did some voltage measurements and made sure nothing will blow off.

View attachment 75206

I bought a good quality AUX-in cable from a nearest auto shop and Stripped open all the three cables (Right, Left & Ground). Inserted all 3 stripped cables to the USB connector in HU to make sure that it works. After checking the Audio quality and the Voltage range it appeared to be safe to connect any AUX-in devices. We just used a multimeter and we didn't have an oscilloscope for more accurate measurements.

View attachment 75207
Stripped open the OEM USB cables and tapped the respective AUX-in cables, Please double check the cable colours and the connections. Cross checked once again after the tapping and made sure every things working as expected and covered using a electrical insulation tape.

View attachment 75208

View attachment 75209
I thought the insulation tape may come out in the summer because of the higher temperature, so reinforced with the cable ties.

View attachment 75210
Success!!! It worked perfectly fine. For the first time I was playing songs from my mobile using AUX input.
However it was only possible when I had selected USB media player option.

A funny thing is that both the songs in the mobile phone and USB played together. I felt like a DJ

So get over this issue, I created a few silent tracks and copied them on to a pen drive in a separate folder and selected that folder in the steering control. I did this using a free ware called audacity, each silent track was around 60 mins in length and around 50 MB in size.

After this, once I connected my mobile to AUX input, only the Mobile song is heard. I had expected some FM like disturbance because of the silent track but there is no disturbance at all.

View attachment 75211

View attachment 75212

A big thanks to my friend Mr. Marywin for all the help regarding all the electronics (an alien subject to me). Without him I wouldn't even have attempted this DIY.

So finally, I'm successful in adding AUX-in to my head unit
Click to expand...

Is there any possibility to add AUX / USB in linea classic. It has neither USB nor AUX :-(

Sanjeev Ashok, Dec 31, 2014

#11
mnvvishwa Novizio

Messages:

45

Location:

Bangalore

Sanjeev Ashok said: ↑

Is there any possibility to add AUX / USB in linea classic. It has neither USB nor AUX :-(
Click to expand...

I don't think you can add AUX / USB to your OEM HU. Open the HU and send some snaps of the connections, so that we can cross the possibility if any.

mnvvishwa, Jan 2, 2015

#12

Sanjeev Ashok likes this.
uday Timido

Messages:

4

Location:

Pune

I'm new to this forum and wondering if the below device is known to all people. As I would definitely avoid tampering with OEM hardware for AUX/USB option.

I'm using this simple device which fits in cigarette lighter holder & allows me to use a pendrive, a Micro sd card, connect mobile to listen to songs & dial or receive calls from mobile. Cheap option (Approx Rs 400 with remote), good sound quality (no hissing noise) and minimal deterioration in sound quality.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 8, 2015 ---

(Picture is just for illustration. My device is not of the make "Pyle"as in picture but same control as in picture device)
Once you put this device in cigarette lighter holder, you need to opt for FM radio, search the frequency of the device & set the frequency in FM. That's it

uday, Jan 8, 2015

#13
mnvvishwa Novizio

Messages:

45

Location:

Bangalore

Hello Uday,

I know this product and seen lots of reviews also experienced the same in my friend's Punto. Audio quality is not good and for me it's not in acceptable range. As mentioned in my DIY I needed the stereo effect, but you will get only mono output in any FM transmitters.
You are right messing with the OEM cable harness is not good, but if you really need the good audio output then you have to do it or adjust the FM transmitter quality. It's totally a individual choice.

mnvvishwa, Jan 8, 2015

#14

uday likes this.
thefiatguy Novizio

Messages:

41

Location:

pune

Anyone has done this in PUNE?

thefiatguy, Jan 13, 2015

#15
thefiatguy Novizio

Messages:

41

Location:

pune

I am planning to do this I don't even know how to remove the HUD

thefiatguy, Jan 13, 2015

#16

mnvvishwa likes this.
mnvvishwa Novizio

Messages:

45

Location:

Bangalore

thefiatguy said: ↑

I am planning to do this I don't even know how to remove the HUD
Click to expand...

You will get lots of useful videos in youtube.

mnvvishwa, Jan 13, 2015

#17
karthicks2000 Timido

Messages:

4

Location:

India

hi mnvishwa,
my linea emotion model 2013 whether aux can be connected

karthicks2000, Feb 14, 2015

#18
mnvvishwa Novizio

Messages:

45

Location:

Bangalore

Hello Karthicks2000,

Yes, it's possible to connect AUX to your car.
As I know Fiat cars (Punto & Linea) from 2010 in India comes with the Delphi HU.

Regards,
Vishwa

mnvvishwa, Feb 16, 2015

#19
karthicks2000 Timido

Messages:

4

Location:

India

hi mnvishwa

please help me out in this issue
tell me in which shop or person who will do this
thank you

regards
karthick

karthicks2000, Feb 16, 2015

#20

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