[Moved as i previously put the post in the wrong place]
I am working through the various steps of replacing the head unit in my Z4M. I have AM/FM and GPS working and am now working on DAB. I have a stand alone DAB dongle. Which it looks like the new head unit recognises when plugged into one of its USB slots. Now I need to get the dongle connected to an antenna. It comes with a windscreen mounted antenna with no external power cable.
As an experiment I have purchased an antenna splitter. My intention was to connect the internal car antenna fakra connector to the splitter fakra, the DIN connector to the new head unit and the SMB connector via a converter to the DAB USB dongle. I wanted to give it a try to avoid an antenna on the windscreen.
Has anyone tried using an antenna splitter to connect the car antenna to both a head unit and a DAB receiver?
When I spoke to someone at Connects2 they said the splitter would not work if the antenna being fed into it was already a powered antenna (I said I would experiment anyway). I also checked with him that it wouldnt do any damage to try and he said all that would happen was no signal, it wouldnt damage the car.
Does anyone know if the in-built car antenna is a powered antenna?
The splitter cable takes 12v via the blue wire to amplify the DAB. The head unit has 2 power outs for the front and rear camera, I suspect the rear camera power would only power on when in reverse so I cant use that and I dont know about the front camera power. So rather than using the head unit to provide 12v could anyone suggest anywhere else that could provide 12v? Maybe I could piggyback off a fuse in the glovebox fusebox?
If this doesnt work then I will just fall back to using the antenna cable provided with the DAB dongle. Guidance just seems to be, keep it away from the black stuff around the edge of the window, make sure it is grounded to bare metal and get it as vertically upright as possible. (to this end I am thinking of running the wire under the panelling and sticking it to the passenger side rear window...if it fits)
Any advice at all greatly appreciated.
I am working through the various steps of replacing the head unit in my Z4M. I have AM/FM and GPS working and am now working on DAB. I have a stand alone DAB dongle. Which it looks like the new head unit recognises when plugged into one of its USB slots. Now I need to get the dongle connected to an antenna. It comes with a windscreen mounted antenna with no external power cable.
As an experiment I have purchased an antenna splitter. My intention was to connect the internal car antenna fakra connector to the splitter fakra, the DIN connector to the new head unit and the SMB connector via a converter to the DAB USB dongle. I wanted to give it a try to avoid an antenna on the windscreen.
Has anyone tried using an antenna splitter to connect the car antenna to both a head unit and a DAB receiver?
When I spoke to someone at Connects2 they said the splitter would not work if the antenna being fed into it was already a powered antenna (I said I would experiment anyway). I also checked with him that it wouldnt do any damage to try and he said all that would happen was no signal, it wouldnt damage the car.
Does anyone know if the in-built car antenna is a powered antenna?
The splitter cable takes 12v via the blue wire to amplify the DAB. The head unit has 2 power outs for the front and rear camera, I suspect the rear camera power would only power on when in reverse so I cant use that and I dont know about the front camera power. So rather than using the head unit to provide 12v could anyone suggest anywhere else that could provide 12v? Maybe I could piggyback off a fuse in the glovebox fusebox?
If this doesnt work then I will just fall back to using the antenna cable provided with the DAB dongle. Guidance just seems to be, keep it away from the black stuff around the edge of the window, make sure it is grounded to bare metal and get it as vertically upright as possible. (to this end I am thinking of running the wire under the panelling and sticking it to the passenger side rear window...if it fits)
Any advice at all greatly appreciated.