Retrofitting VW T5

[Canyon]

Hi All,

We are now the proud owners of a VW T5 SE2015 SE. We procrastinated a while about getting the T6 (which we had hired for a weekend) and the bank balance made the decision quite easy for us.

At this point I’d like to give a Big Thankyou to everyone on this forum who assured our hunt by answering my newbie questions. Massive .

We are now prioritising equipment/upgrades even potential retrofitting to personalise our van. As such I have a couple more newbie questions

- I have ordered a couple USB adapters for the 12v cig socket. However, I would like to know if anyone has retrofitted a stereo with integrated USB that also comes with apple carcplay etc and if so if you found it worth it. I appreciate the stereo and USB are not mutually exclusive but I’m considering both.
I have managed to connect my phone to Bluetooth but it was a wee bit laboured. Similarly as you have to be stopped to do this does anyone know a way to get around this if for instance a passenger wants to connect their phone... or once again is it worthwhile upgrading the stereo?.

Other than that we have orders hookup cable after reading many hookup cable-gate discussions and opted for the Brandrup darker seat covers which arrive today . Once again we thought about the leather option which some people have done, look amazing, but not for now.

If anyone has any thoughts on glaringly obvious necessities that we shouldn’t leave home without, all advice is greatly appreciated.

Otherwise, thanks so much again and looking forward to the beginning of an endless adventure!!.

Ps. This is our purchase.

Cheers All

 

[WelshGas]

Hi All,

We are now the proud owners of a VW T5 SE2015 SE. We procrastinated a while about getting the T6 (which we had hired for a weekend) and the bank balance made the decision quite easy for us.

At this point I’d like to give a Big Thankyou to everyone on this forum who assured our hunt by answering my newbie questions. Massive .

We are now prioritising equipment/upgrades even potential retrofitting to personalise our van. As such I have a couple more newbie questions

- I have ordered a couple USB adapters for the 12v cig socket. However, I would like to know if anyone has retrofitted a stereo with integrated USB that also comes with apple carcplay etc and if so if you found it worth it. I appreciate the stereo and USB are not mutually exclusive but I’m considering both.
I have managed to connect my phone to Bluetooth but it was a wee bit laboured. Similarly as you have to be stopped to do this does anyone know a way to get around this if for instance a passenger wants to connect their phone... or once again is it worthwhile upgrading the stereo?.

Other than that we have orders hookup cable after reading many hookup cable-gate discussions and opted for the Brandrup darker seat covers which arrive today . Once again we thought about the leather option which some people have done, look amazing, but not for now.

If anyone has any thoughts on glaringly obvious necessities that we shouldn’t leave home without, all advice is greatly appreciated.

Otherwise, thanks so much again and looking forward to the beginning of an endless adventure!!.

Ps. This is our purchase.

Cheers All


View attachment 46768View attachment 46769

Looks good.
Contact Absolut5, they are a Forum member and very helpful regarding T5 entertainment systems.

absolute new | VW T5/T6 Specialists

Absolut5&6 are VW T5 and T6 specialists. Approved VW and Pendle Performance Agents.

absolut5.co.uk

 

[Canyon]

Much appreciated

 

[2into1]

have managed to connect my phone to Bluetooth but it was a wee bit laboured. Similarly as you have to be stopped to do this does anyone know a way to get around this if for instance a passenger wants to connect their phone... or once again is it worthwhile upgrading the stereo?.

Not sure that is right (particularly the being stopped bit). Once registered together, they should connect automatically.

I lost much of my life trying to perfectly plan the ultimate upgrade from my old T5s stereo (310). Looking back i wouldn’t have bothered. A £1k investment would buy a lot of pub meals / campsite nights. Just sort your Bluetooth out, then get a simple vent mount for your phone and do everything (podcast, streamed / stored music / google maps) from there.
If you’ve a handy mate, a short phone charging lead popping out of the dash near the right hand vent makes the whole set up more pleasing to the eye.

 

[babble]

Not sure that is right (particularly the being stopped bit). Once registered together, they should connect automatically.

I lost much of my life trying to perfectly plan the ultimate upgrade from my old T5s stereo (310). Looking back i wouldn’t have bothered. A £1k investment would buy a lot of pub meals / campsite nights. Just sort your Bluetooth out, then get a simple vent mount for your phone and do everything (podcast, streamed / stored music / google maps) from there.
If you’ve a handy mate, a short phone charging lead popping out of the dash near the right hand vent makes the whole set up more pleasing to the eye.

this sounds very sensible. A brodit clip can make things very neat, and can be linked with an associated charging doc specific for your phone (or you could by a tablet with a second linked sim card and gps?)

https://www.brodit.co.uk/

 

[MattBW]

What stereo do you have in your SE? As above it should only need connecting once and from then on be automatic. It should try to connect to the previously connected phone first and then if not will try any others on the list.

Carplay is nice but not crucial and doesn't generally add much that you can't do with a normal bluetooth connection, it just makes it a little more slick.

 

[Canyon]

Thanks for feedback. As if to force my hand somewhat, I just went out to the Van just now to pop it on the driveway for a battery charge and the radio display didn't come on and in turn the parking sensors beeped, but no screen. The welcome flash screen just looped.

I have done some reading and it seems that this is a known issue with the RNS510 (which we have). The stereo has not experienced any issues until today and on the day of viewing absolutely no issues.

Im obviously a bit concerned, any ideas?

I have tried the following:
- soft reset
-when it did finally come on (randomly) after 8 or so cycles, I performed a factory reset etc.. but the problem is still there now

I understand you can get a firmware repair disk or take it to Hazywaz or something, but I would like to see if anyone on the forum has experienced this.

Thanks in advance

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks for feedback. As if to force my hand somewhat, I just went out to the Van just now to pop it on the driveway for a battery charge and the radio display didn't come on and in turn the parking sensors beeped, but no screen. The welcome flash screen just looped.

I have done some reading and it seems that this is a known issue with the RNS510 (which we have). The stereo has not experienced any issues until today and on the day of viewing absolutely no issues.

Im obviously a bit concerned, any ideas?

I have tried the following:
- soft reset
-when it did finally come on (randomly) after 8 or so cycles, I performed a factory reset etc.. but the problem is still there now

I understand you can get a firmware repair disk or take it to Hazywaz or something, but I would like to see if anyone on the forum has experienced this.

Thanks in advance

I was going to ignore this post because your vehicle details under your name show you have a T6 which doesn’t come with the RNS510.
I’ve never had this problem with my RNS510 which has been updated 3 times since 2014 and is now on the latest Firmware/Map Data.
Firstly, which Firmware / Maps are you on?
Hold Setup until new menu appears - Info should tell you.

 

[Canyon]

hmmm. I don't even remember putting those details in, but I assume it was pre owning one and I just added what I wanted

Unfortunately I cant get past the flash welcome screen to even see what firmware is installed. I remove the stereo and removed power etc to see if that would solve the issue, but sadly not.

I have spoken with Noel at Absolut5 and as far as he is concerned, it is an issue with the power inside the unit as soon as the Satnav tries to kick in it craps itself. The cost to fix would be similar to buying a new unit (just not the RNS510 which apparently is 2.5+k.)

So I am on the cusp of having to buy a unit from them, which tbh I don't mind as it comes with a number of whistles and bells which I was thinking of doing anyway, just not in the first week.

Still I did enjoy tinkering with the new van..... I don't think I could cut it as a car stereo thief though as I was pretty slow