Aftermarket Radio C5, Aerial Questions

[reblack68]

With advice from here I have successfully installed my own stereo into the C5. I used the existing earth wire (green/yellow) and deduced that the one next to it must be the +12V. There were two others that gave just under 12V with the ignition off but their voltages changed with the ignition on. For the ignition feed I piggy-backed onto the cigarette lighter feed. I just used the existing speaker plug as is.

It all works just as it should- except the DAB barely works at all. On previous Citroens I have dealt with this by using the longer version of the standard French aerial. It's not quite as simple as that on the C5...

There are three extra connections to the aerial (in the picture, I've not looked in real life yet). I'm guessing that one might be for the Trafficmaster, which I vanquished last weekend, and one might be for Satellite Navigation. Is the third the power for an aerial amplifier?

If it is an amplified aerial (DAB doesn't like amplified aerials) could I turn it into a non-amplified aerial simply by cutting the power or does it not work like that? Failing that I would like to remove the whole assembly and fit the old-style base, would it upset the car's electronics if I did that?

I realise I'll probably just have to have a go and see what happens, but I thought I'd ask first .

[Peter.N.]

If you cut the power to the amp it will almost certainly isolate the aerial so I wouldn't do it. The problem with having an amp in circuit is that it was designed for the FM band which is on a different frequency to DAB, I believe this is on around 150 Mhz so the FM aerial is to to long, it would probably be about right if it was solid and not wound.

Peter

[DickieG]

If you're going to get the best from DAb surely you'll be better off installing a DAB aerial? The DAB radio I installed in my wife's previous BMW came with a magnetic mount one which worked a treat, no messing about and no complications.

[dnsey]

Did the original radio work OK?
The C5 aerial amp is a definite weak spot - I suspect that there are as many faulty as there are working ones.

[waynedance]

Interesting reading regarding the amp in the ariel. My aftermarket radio sometimes struggles with signal on radio 2, how do you check the ariel works ok?

[Peter.N.]

The problem is very often with the connections at the base of the aerial, on the 406 water gets into it, mine was very poor until I took it out, cleaned all the connections and reassembled it with a little waxoil between the base and body to stop the water getting in again. I don't know about the C5 one as the radio doesn't work.

Peter

[reblack68]

I've heard before that the tuned length for DAB is quite short, but the best results I've had were with a long FM aerial. I have a proper DAB magnetic aerial on the van and it works ok but not as well as the "temporary" lash-up I've been using in cars since I got the radio in 2005. I got good results by cable tying a longer mast to the existing aerial, and it didn't seem to matter whether I had a wire connected to it, but it's too floppy to use on the move like that.

I didn't really want to use a magnetic aerial, the car looks minicab-like enough as it is, but I think it'll probably come to that. I've had a look now and it will be quite difficult to do it any other way, although it might seem easier once I've practised on a scrap car.

Reception on FM and with the standard unit is better than average as far as 21st century kit goes, which still puts it well behind mid-1990s kit.

[Peter.N.]

You can use a longer aerial if it equates to an odd quarter wavelength, to be efficient it has to resonate at about the frequency of the signal and the ideal length is one quarter wavelength which is what the manufacturers FM aerials are. You should be able to find the optimum length by trial and error.

The wavelength at 150Mhz is about 2 metres so idealy the aerial should be half a meter long but one and a half meters would also resonate

Peter

[reblack68]

I think I've solved it by wrapping some extra wire around the mast. I'm getting the three ensembles I got in the last car so it should work tolerably well on the move.

[cachaciero]

With advice from here I have successfully installed my own stereo into the C5. I used the existing earth wire (green/yellow) and deduced that the one next to it must be the +12V. There were two others that gave just under 12V with the ignition off but their voltages changed with the ignition on. For the ignition feed I piggy-backed onto the cigarette lighter feed. I just used the existing speaker plug as is.

It all works just as it should- except the DAB barely works at all. On previous Citroëns I have dealt with this by using the longer version of the standard French aerial. It's not quite as simple as that on the C5...

There are three extra connections to the aerial (in the picture, I've not looked in real life yet). I'm guessing that one might be for the Trafficmaster, which I vanquished last weekend, and one might be for Satellite Navigation. Is the third the power for an aerial amplifier?

If it is an amplified aerial (DAB doesn't like amplified aerials) could I turn it into a non-amplified aerial simply by cutting the power or does it not work like that? Failing that I would like to remove the whole assembly and fit the old-style base, would it upset the car's electronics if I did that?

I realise I'll probably just have to have a go and see what happens, but I thought I'd ask first .

Yes it is an amplified aerial, they come in various versions, some with matching for mobile phones built in, some not, some with a separate GPS aerial some not depending on the trim level. It wouldn't be a big problem to remove the amplifier card and connect the antenae directly to the coax. Doing it that way shouldn't affect the electronics assuming that you are not using the mobile phone bits, Lexia reports it as a problem even when it's good

cachaciero

[dnsey]

There are also a couple of variations in how the amp is powered - some have a separate feed, while others want 12V on the downlead inner conductor. Fitting an aftermarket radio will normally remove this phantom supply, but it's easily restored using a cheap adapter (or a small capacitor and RF choke, if you know about such things).

@ Waynedance - easiest way is to see if you get better reception with a bit of wet string (i.e. a length of plain wire trailed from the antenna socket to the outside of the car).

[reblack68]

This was my solution.

I've taken it through the street near me where the signal always drops out in the van and it didn't miss a beat so I think it should be fine. The amp either doesn't work or doesn't matter as much as I thought. It's killed the FM reception, but I don't mind that- I'm not sure I've ever used FM in the seven years I've had the head unit.

The head unit fits really well into the dash too, I've seen OEM installs that look less "meant".

[WOODIESGBAND]

I have just bought a 2005 C5 exclusive. The sat nav was working great until the garage repaired hand brake switch and since then the sat nav is seeing no satallites. Is there a reset as the diagram shows only two connections, one "near" the roof top aerial and another behind the unit. Sorry if I'm posting in the wrong place

[Monkeyfeet]

Hanen't come across a reset for the sat nav, but I've got the original handbook so I'll take a look later.
Anyone confirm that the aerial loom runs down the middle of the interior near the handbrake switch? (or is it a fluke that it went at the same time?)

[GiveMeABreak]

@Woodiesgband - I had the Navidrive on my 2005 Exclusive and at some point suddenly got the no satellites issue. I can say that resetting had no effect, I bought a new aerial (there are at least 2 types and you do need the specific one for the telematics / Navidrive models) - but no joy after having this replaced.

There was no water / corrosion evidence when replacing the aerial - so that led me to believe the problem wasn't in the cables. Eventually, I got in touch with the people that do the repairs for the Magneti Marelli Navidrive units and described the issue. They said it is highly likely that one of the 2 tuners in the system has given out causing this issue and was a common repair. They provide a standard repair service and will refurbish your unit for a fixed charge. If I remember it's Clarion that undertake the repairs and the link is: http://www.clarion-service.co.uk/cs/Mag ... relli.html if this helps. I can't say I got round to using them as I upgraded (?!) to an X7 shortly afterwards.

Apparently these older Navidrive units are very sensitive to any electrical interference / jolts / shorts - so it could be possible that if one of the tuners was already on the way out that any upset from the electrical system could of had an effect on the unit. Good Luck!