Welcome to the easy guide to fitting a Dension ice-Link Plus to an Ibiza MkIII with standard Seat issue RDS radio. The purpose is to connect newly acquired iPod Photo 30Gb to the existing ICE and gain almost instant access to the entire CD collection. Why should I want to do this you ask? Because I'm a bike riding gadget mad long-haired bass player who desires lots of tunes with his torque!
Tools and bits you will need for this job:
The best bit of advice is this install is not rocket science but if rushed, it will rattle, may not work, and worse still crack your dash. So make sure you've got plenty of time on your hands and pace yourself. Read this guide before you start.
OK firstly, clear the front dash and foot wells and the glove box so there's access and plenty of space. We need to remove the two screws underneath the centre console with the short cross-head screwdriver. Get both the front seats nice and far back and stick the gearbox in forth (the car isn't started, is it?!
). Best accessed from kneeling outside the car, look underneath the air direction control and you'll see them just a cm or so inset from the edge. A good place to screws safe is the ash tray. Now very gently using your hands only, prise away the bottom of the plastic trim and gradually ease away closer to the top. The top will pivot slightly and should pop out with some gentle but firm force. Careful, that's an LCD panel and ribbon cable attached to that. Once removed, vertically remove the ribbon cable from the radio.
Get your cloth and cover the lower centre console to stop it getting scratched. Remove the four screws holding in the radio. Then the radio will simply pull out. Let it dangle in front of the dash. Open the glove box lid fully. On the right-hand side, decide where you want your hole. I would suggest the middle would be a good target. Get hammer and pin punch to start the hole (to prevent drill slip). Use very light pressure with a small bit to create the hole. This is thin plastic and so you don't want to go too mad behind there or it will crack! Then a slightly bigger bit and then to the 10mm. The best idea is to get the drill close and spin up before the bit's in the hole. That way you will be drilling instead of turning the bit into the hole. File down to remove plastic burs and vaccum the mess up.
Remove the screw at the back of the glove box and the 3 at the top. The whole box will come out leaving the lid in place. Take the uninsulated black earth wire of the Dension ice>Link Plus and feed it from behind the centre console to the passenger-side airbag. Using the 10mm socket and rachet, undo a nut slightly and loop the cable underneath, then retighten. From earth continuity tests I performed, this was the best earth in the vicinity. Useful info if you don't have a multimeter.
Feed the ice>Link dock cable through the hole in the glove box and then behind the centre console, remembering the dock connector is to lie in the glove box! Now the box can be refitted. Disconnect the top ISO plug from the radio (the largest one) and connect the Dension ISO connector. Connect the Dension ISO socket to the ISO plug you just removed. Now connect the ice>Link Plus module to the Dension loom. If it gets warm, this is perfectly normal. Wrap the foam around the ice>Link Plus and the ISO connection and secure with insulation tape; leave plenty of cable to allow travel up the left side of the radio.
On the left-hand side of the centre console, you will see a hole. Put the cable tie through it and loop round the foam to hold loosely in place on the left side, as you slide the radio back into place. If the radio resists to fit back properly, gently pull-out and resolve any wire trapping problems, then retry. Don't push the radio too hard as you may damage something. Once in place, the cable tie can be pulled out and the 4 screws put back in place. Reconnect the ribbon cable from the facia, then starting top first and working down, gently ease the facia in place. Once properly home, secure with the two screws you removed first of all.
Now for the technical bit. Go to the Dension install web page as documented and get the Seat .mp3. Using iTunes, sync it to the iPod. Navigate to the 'song' and press play prior to connecting the iPod to the ice>Link Plus. Switch on the radio and press CD. You should receive a message that the Audi config has been selected. Now switch the radio off. Disconnect the iPod and reconnect. You are now ready to use the first 5 playlists on your iPod as 'virtual audio CDs', and using the 6th CD button, access the Dension menu.
Notes:
I hope this guide is useful. Of course, feel free to ask away with any specific questions. More information on the Dension kit is available here and Apple iPods here.
Cheers
Tools and bits you will need for this job:
- Floor mat (saves your knees getting dirty or knackered)
- A piece of cloth (all will be revealed later, hu hum)
- Er, a screwdriver, cross-head infact. I like big long ones, but if you're like me, you'll need a short one too!
- A cordless* drill and bits (about 4/5mm, 7/8mm and a 10mm) *Optional
- Pin punch and hammer
- Round file
- 10mm socket and rachet
- A small piece of foam, say about 10/12cm wide
- Insulation tape
- Long cable tie
- Vaccum cleaner
The best bit of advice is this install is not rocket science but if rushed, it will rattle, may not work, and worse still crack your dash. So make sure you've got plenty of time on your hands and pace yourself. Read this guide before you start.
OK firstly, clear the front dash and foot wells and the glove box so there's access and plenty of space. We need to remove the two screws underneath the centre console with the short cross-head screwdriver. Get both the front seats nice and far back and stick the gearbox in forth (the car isn't started, is it?!
). Best accessed from kneeling outside the car, look underneath the air direction control and you'll see them just a cm or so inset from the edge. A good place to screws safe is the ash tray. Now very gently using your hands only, prise away the bottom of the plastic trim and gradually ease away closer to the top. The top will pivot slightly and should pop out with some gentle but firm force. Careful, that's an LCD panel and ribbon cable attached to that. Once removed, vertically remove the ribbon cable from the radio.
Get your cloth and cover the lower centre console to stop it getting scratched. Remove the four screws holding in the radio. Then the radio will simply pull out. Let it dangle in front of the dash. Open the glove box lid fully. On the right-hand side, decide where you want your hole. I would suggest the middle would be a good target. Get hammer and pin punch to start the hole (to prevent drill slip). Use very light pressure with a small bit to create the hole. This is thin plastic and so you don't want to go too mad behind there or it will crack! Then a slightly bigger bit and then to the 10mm. The best idea is to get the drill close and spin up before the bit's in the hole. That way you will be drilling instead of turning the bit into the hole. File down to remove plastic burs and vaccum the mess up.
Remove the screw at the back of the glove box and the 3 at the top. The whole box will come out leaving the lid in place. Take the uninsulated black earth wire of the Dension ice>Link Plus and feed it from behind the centre console to the passenger-side airbag. Using the 10mm socket and rachet, undo a nut slightly and loop the cable underneath, then retighten. From earth continuity tests I performed, this was the best earth in the vicinity. Useful info if you don't have a multimeter.
Feed the ice>Link dock cable through the hole in the glove box and then behind the centre console, remembering the dock connector is to lie in the glove box! Now the box can be refitted. Disconnect the top ISO plug from the radio (the largest one) and connect the Dension ISO connector. Connect the Dension ISO socket to the ISO plug you just removed. Now connect the ice>Link Plus module to the Dension loom. If it gets warm, this is perfectly normal. Wrap the foam around the ice>Link Plus and the ISO connection and secure with insulation tape; leave plenty of cable to allow travel up the left side of the radio.
On the left-hand side of the centre console, you will see a hole. Put the cable tie through it and loop round the foam to hold loosely in place on the left side, as you slide the radio back into place. If the radio resists to fit back properly, gently pull-out and resolve any wire trapping problems, then retry. Don't push the radio too hard as you may damage something. Once in place, the cable tie can be pulled out and the 4 screws put back in place. Reconnect the ribbon cable from the facia, then starting top first and working down, gently ease the facia in place. Once properly home, secure with the two screws you removed first of all.
Now for the technical bit. Go to the Dension install web page as documented and get the Seat .mp3. Using iTunes, sync it to the iPod. Navigate to the 'song' and press play prior to connecting the iPod to the ice>Link Plus. Switch on the radio and press CD. You should receive a message that the Audi config has been selected. Now switch the radio off. Disconnect the iPod and reconnect. You are now ready to use the first 5 playlists on your iPod as 'virtual audio CDs', and using the 6th CD button, access the Dension menu.
Notes:
- This installation was for a dock cable, not cradle. There are two reasons for this: a) I'm using a 30Gb iPod where Apple in their wisdom have relocated the dock socket on the iPod so Dension cradles, amongst others don't fit. b) You can't see the iPod in the glove box, handy for nipping out of the car for two minutes without having to remove the iPod (as they're theives' highest gadget target these days!).
- The Dension module takes a little time to react and it's easily confused. Give it a few seconds to respond before re-pressing a button.
- Playlists in iTunes can be renamed. Simply prefix 1-5 to the names of your preferred playlists.
- 2V is the best output voltage. 4V will distort with some music.
- The cable is quite thin. For the conscious among you, slit a 10mm grommet with a knife, pass over the cable and insert into the glove-box hole. This will limit snagging.
- Just in case you didn't know, it is not possible to use a CD autochanger in conjunction with this kit. It uses the ISO CD pins.
- The iPod's volume level does not influence the line level in the dock connector, but EQs from iTunes and the iPod still are active. Be careful with bass enhancement as there can be large amounts of db gain which when amplified can harm free-flow speakers. Always test at low volumes and turn up gradually.
I hope this guide is useful. Of course, feel free to ask away with any specific questions. More information on the Dension kit is available here and Apple iPods here.
Cheers
