[NipseyRussell]

new poster here....and let me start by pointing out that the person who runs this site seems to be a lunatic:bowdown with a lot of knowledge and free time! as i learn about my new car, i cant believe the wealth of meticulously detailed info at this site. and, yes, i have looked through the site for this info.... I think I am out of luck on questions 1-3 below, but would just like confirmation or advice.

I have a 2010 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI (auto) and an iPhone 3Gs.
If I understand correctly, and I probably do not, I may have an RCD 510 premium 8 radio (no navi) and 9w2 VW bluetooth.

Thanks for any help!

1. Can I get the phone book up on screen and/or use voice dial? Any way to make outbound call without dialing directly on the phone? (fyi, currently, pushing the "phone button" on the wheel does nothing, and when i cycle through the MFD screens i see no phone screen as promised by my owners manual - is this as it should be???)
   
2. Is there any way to stream Pandora from iphone to stereo aside from aux-in? Bluetooth? Wired through the MDI? (this has not worked for me)
   
3. Can a longer MDI cord be obtained for a reasonable price? (damn its a pain to try to look at mapquest when the screen is tethered to a one inch radius around my pelvis)
   
4. Anyone else have flakiness with iphone 3gs hooked up to cable where you sometimes have to unplug and replug to get sound (song info on screen, no sound)?
5. Anyone else have flakiness with SD cards where sometimes it is never recognized, have to reinsert card a several times or wait until next trip?

 

[golfTDI1]

Welcome! Your assumption that you have an RCD-510 radio head and 9w2 bluetooth should be correct for a 2010 JSW TDI.

Your questions 1 and 2 would be solved with the new 9w7 bluetooth unit. Otherwise these items are not available on a 9w2. (But understand that even with 9w7 the phonebook and dialing will be displayed on the MFD between your gauges and not on the radio unit. Only the nav units display the phone info.) With my 9w7 I regularly stream Pandora through bluetooth with no issue.

I don't know of a longer MDI cable except that in my case I have replaced the iPod MDI cable with a regular USB MDI cable and use a standard 3 foot USB extension cable to allow me to relocate the external hard drive I use as my music storage under the driver's seat.

Not sure abt item 4 as I do not have iPhone.

Never had problem with SD cards except when I had files that RCD-510 couldn't read. Try reformatting card and reload data. Try updating the RCD-510. I dont have the links handy, but there are firmware updates out that have addressed some of the bugs. Do a google search for updates to RCD-510, you'll find it.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

golfTDI1 is correct. As a side note, the European RCD510 is made by someone else and can display phone info on the touchscreen with high bluetooth.

Can't you stream bluetooth through a2dp?

Finally, lunatic yes, free time no Welcome!
welcometomyturbodies

 

[ADMission]

Nipsey,

I have a 3G I connect to my rcd510 with 9w7 bt. Phonebook and handsfree work great via mfd. YES the connection with iphone 3G is very unstable. Also, you have to make sure the iPod app setting is showing "DOCK CONNECTOR" and NOT 'VW phone'. I often have to unplug and reconnect to reinitialize. Which is why I now rely on a separate nano for music. But Bluetooth works great.

 

[golfTDI1]

the European RCD510 is made by someone else and can display phone info on the touchscreen with high bluetooth.

Wow...Interesting fact...

Also, I think I got my 9w2 and 9w3 stuff confused...he should be able to stream with A2DP with the 9w2, the 9w3 is the one without A2DP but with phonebook right?

 

[Aseras]

Wow...Interesting fact...

Also, I think I got my 9w2 and 9w3 stuff confused...he should be able to stream with A2DP with the 9w2, the 9w3 is the one without A2DP but with phonebook right?

right. however the 9w2 is mono a2dp while the 9w7 is stereo AFAIK.

 

[freeflyer]

I updated from 9w2 to 9w7 myself and now BT works great and I have all the nice features (iphone4). However I have massive problems using the MFD connection concurrently with BT. It Is horrible!!! Usually I loose the music connection every time I had a phone call or when I change to radio and back. And in order to reinitialize I have to reconnect the phone, which is not very practical with that tiny cable while doing 120 km/h on the highway. So I end up using BT to stream my music... Of course I told my mechanic but he had no clue. I hope there will be a SW update soon...

 

[golfTDI1]

9w2 is mono a2dp while the 9w7 is stereo AFAIK.

Yes it is...I am very impressed with the sound quality of the bluetooth with the 9w7 streaming Pandora through my Samsung Captivate Android phone. The is a little buzzing that goes on if you listen close but its definitely in stereo and cleaner and more defined than I expected (but I did have very low expectations lol).


my two cents

 

[NipseyRussell]

ok, thanks everyone for the feedback, but:

however the 9w2 is mono a2dp

so streaming my pandora app is MONO??? is this verifiable?

i appreciate all this, but not worth upgrading the system to get handsfree dialing - the occasional call to the wife coupled with frequent early morning telecons i can initiate from my driveway (although when AT&T drops my call halfway through the commute each time....)

thanks again

 

[golfTDI1]

I've seen references to the effect that the 9w2 is setup for mono only, but I don't know for sure (I had my stock 9w2 hooked up for such as short time that I never streamed through it)..."Aseras" may know the 9w2 facts better that I...but I do know that the 9w7 is set up for stereo and I know some older cars needed to add the two extra wires to take advantage of stereo, but im pretty confident that my streaming is in stereo. I'll have to verify if I have the extra pins in my harness though to know for sure. I'll check tomorrow.

 

[NipseyRussell]

after reading the below*, i am confused. with my car, are we saying that the cord does NOT charge the iphone 3Gs.....or it doesnt charge the old ipods?
Do i need to buy this stepdown thing???
thanks

*iPod 12V to 5V OEM VW voltage step down adapter Early iPod used 12V to charge their batteries. Newer iPod use 5V to charge. You won't damage your iPod if you plug one into a cable designed for the other, it just won't charge. VW sells one - the part number is 000 051 443 c (000051443c). The VW adapter will also work on any aftermarket adapters since it's just an adapter and not unique to VW radios. You can probably find an aftermarket equivalent.
4th gen Nano, 2g Touch, and 3g iPhone, or newer all use 5V. Classic iPod still use 12V.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

I don't have an iphone but I from what I've read it uses 5V charging. I think your quote came from this article, http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/multi/vw-ipod-cable-aux-in.htm and I'm not sure if you need the 12v adapter only for the older cables or if the newer cables (2010 and newer) can charge both 12v and 5v ipods/iphones since I only have a 5v ipod.

In either case, you don't need the adapter since the iphone should use 5v. When you plug in your iphone, it charges right? I'm assuming you are using the MDI ipod cable on your car?

 

[NipseyRussell]

thanks, yes, i confirmed that my battery was higher after my commute home than before!

 

[golfTDI1]

So just to update from my earlier post, I have verified that my 9w7 module and wiring harness are both equipped for stereo streaming...however, the Pandora application on my Samsung Captivate only streams in mono! If I use my Rhapsody To Go application (I pay monthly for that), its stereo streaming. I've also noticed that streaming in YouTube is mono as well, but I only watched a few videos so I'm not sure if it was just the way the sound was recorded in the video or if the app is mono as well. So the short story is 9w7 & MkVI car is good for stereo bluetooth streaming, but it'll depend on what app you use on your phone.

 

[Jawwal]

I have same year car and a iphone 3gs. I have the same problem with sound cutting out during playback. If bluetooth is activated on the phone, I have to replug the phone 1 - 3 times. It all works fine if you turn bluetooth off on the phone, including Pandora. It's frustrating to have these features and not be able to use them at the same time...so much for technology.It pretty much defeats the concept of "hands free". I have had the radio "expert" at my service dealership look at if a few times, he can't figure it out either.

 

[NipseyRussell]

in my case I have replaced the iPod MDI cable with a regular USB MDI cable and use a standard 3 foot USB extension cable to allow me to relocate the external hard drive

ok, here is an old thread i am reviving.....i do not think i noticed this before. How did you do this???? Does navigation through the stereo system act the same as when you used the VS MDI cord?

Also, i have just replaced the MDI cord (luckily no charge as "under warranty").....are other people having these cords die on them? The design of this set up is very poor:

• there is no way you can actually use the "ipod storage space" under the console: you would be pushing the cord down into the ipod and likely killing not only the cord but the iphone....i would not even think of doing this.....plus i need the phone out where i can access it
• the cord is so short that the iphone has to rest in some cockeyed position stressing the cord
• the cord is further stressed by the fact that there is no "space" created for the console lid to run the cord through. If you rest your arm on the console you are literally crushing the cord each time.

I have wrapped the entire new cord in electrical tape as one layer of protection, and am lookign for some kind of little adhesive "bumpers" that i can put to prop up the console lid about 1/8 inch and in between which i will put the cord. If i cant find that i'll use some thick two sided tape. (i am not sure if i described this in a fashion that will make sense to others.) In other words, i have to make crappy looking kluges to compensate for poor design that overstresses this cord. alternately, if they used a regular USB port, this would not be a big deal at all.

thoughts?

 

[chittychittybangbang]

The new ones are in the glovebox. If you really want you can run your own wiring to the glovebox and remove the console and put it in there.

 

[freeflyer]

ok, here is an old thread i am reviving.....i do not think i noticed this before. How did you do this???? Does navigation through the stereo system act the same as when you used the VS MDI cord?

Also, i have just replaced the MDI cord (luckily no charge as "under warranty").....are other people having these cords die on them? The design of this set up is very poor:

• there is no way you can actually use the "ipod storage space" under the console: you would be pushing the cord down into the ipod and likely killing not only the cord but the iphone....i would not even think of doing this.....plus i need the phone out where i can access it
• the cord is so short that the iphone has to rest in some cockeyed position stressing the cord
• the cord is further stressed by the fact that there is no "space" created for the console lid to run the cord through. If you rest your arm on the console you are literally crushing the cord each time.

I have wrapped the entire new cord in electrical tape as one layer of protection, and am lookign for some kind of little adhesive "bumpers" that i can put to prop up the console lid about 1/8 inch and in between which i will put the cord. If i cant find that i'll use some thick two sided tape. (i am not sure if i described this in a fashion that will make sense to others.) In other words, i have to make crappy looking kluges to compensate for poor design that overstresses this cord. alternately, if they used a regular USB port, this would not be a big deal at all.

thoughts?

I have the second MDI cord as well, the first one developed a broken contact for exact the reasons you stated. It is a poor design.