Replacement headunit options that suit the E30 interior

[Albie325]

Haven't soldered much, I've since watched a few youtube DIY's and it's definitely some intricate stuff. I'd really like to not ruin a brand new head unit, PM incoming.

[earthwormjim]

Damn that looks good. How did you go about switching the LED's? I'm a complete newb with electronics but would be willing to give it a shot if it could come out like this. The only thing holding me back (aside from ECS backorder) from ordering this head unit is the backlight color

Have you ever soldered? If not, I wouldn't attempt it.

If you have soldered, then at the very least the display backlight isn't very hard to change, it's just two T1 LEDs.

Have you ever done surface mount soldering? If not, definitely don't try to replace the button LEDs, which are quite small 0603 sized surface mount parts.

The radio uses lead free solder, so you need a high powered iron too, with a very fine tip.


I posted more info here in the other radio thread:

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showpost.php?p=4939063&postcount=21

If you're not comfortable with the work, PM me, I'm offering the mod as a service.

I bought my radio on ebay, I recall it being cheaper than ECS at the time.

[Albie325]

Damn that looks good. How did you go about switching the LED's? I'm a complete newb with electronics but would be willing to give it a shot if it could come out like this. The only thing holding me back (aside from ECS backorder) from ordering this head unit is the backlight color

[earthwormjim]

Hmm, yeah I suppose it depends on the HU and how the light is filtered through the buttons and stuff. I ran into the opposite problem with the RMT-200 and an old Pioneer HU...things were too bright and the Rohm ones seemed to be "dim enough" to match the rest of the HVAC panel.

The Continental was pretty easy to work on. Each LED set has a series resistor to set bias current, so you had a bit of wiggle room.

[bmwman91]

Hmm, yeah I suppose it depends on the HU and how the light is filtered through the buttons and stuff. I ran into the opposite problem with the RMT-200 and an old Pioneer HU...things were too bright and the Rohm ones seemed to be "dim enough" to match the rest of the HVAC panel.

[earthwormjim]

These are the LEDs I used for the Continental head unit:

LCD display:

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/sunled/XLM2MOK11W/1497-1262-ND/4901619

Buttons:

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/lite-on-inc/LTST-C194KFKT/160-1833-1-ND/2356228

I saw that a couple of people were wondering about swapping the faceplate illumination on some HU's to orange, since everything BUT the lighting matches the E30 interior. It is pretty straightforward to do the swap since the parts are usually all 0805 or 0603 size. You will want LEDs with a spectral output peak at 605nm since this is the same orange that the E30 interior light filters produce.

I have used these in the past with good success. You'll need to disassemble your faceplate to make sure that they will fit the pads where the original ones are.
General illumination on faceplate PCB: https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...94-1-ND/637107
LCD backlighting (some use right-angle LEDs, so these would not work there): https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...7-1-ND/2425034

I tried that Rohm series of LEDs originally (in 0603), but they weren't bright enough. To get them to match the original Continental LED's brightness, they needed a lot of current. Too much, almost 20mA for each LED.

[bmwman91]

I saw that a couple of people were wondering about swapping the faceplate illumination on some HU's to orange, since everything BUT the lighting matches the E30 interior. It is pretty straightforward to do the swap since the parts are usually all 0805 or 0603 size. You will want LEDs with a spectral output peak at 605nm since this is the same orange that the E30 interior light filters produce.

I have used these in the past with good success. You'll need to disassemble your faceplate to make sure that they will fit the pads where the original ones are.
General illumination on faceplate PCB: https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...94-1-ND/637107
LCD backlighting (some use right-angle LEDs, so these would not work there): https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...7-1-ND/2425034

[strickland]

Great thread for comparing options so I'm going to keep it going...

I'm looking specifically for an analog/physical EQ option (will settle for just bass & treble knobs).

Blaupunkt has them, some of the old Denon heads have them... I remember this Volvo head unit from the 90s but it won't fit too well in the E30. What else??

[jon volk]

https://www.ferdinandmagazine.com/updated-blaupunkt-bremen-sqr46-coming-2018

[dishwab]

Perfect, thank you. That's exactly what I was hoping for.

[tewhalen]

Interesting... Could you take some more photos? Does it have an RCA subwoofer hookup? How does it sound?

I'll try to take some more photos, maybe tomorrow when I'm working on my control arms. There are two RCA plugs on the back, maybe they're for a subwoofer? I dunno.

Here's the wiring diagram from the manual. Note that while this does not depict a "ILLUM" wire, the wiring harness that I received with mine did have one, see second pic. It seems to dim the display when the headlights are on. I have no idea whether the P.ANT wire would actually do anything to the power antenna, some previous owner of my car took ours out.




It sounds fine, I guess. I don't feel cheated out of my $40. I have a convertible, and we're going for an authentic '80s experience (no music before 1983 or after 1991).

[fresh_TD]

Interesting... Could you take some more photos? Does it have an RCA subwoofer hookup? How does it sound?

.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[dishwab]

If anyone is looking for something OEM looking and cheap that does USB + Bluetooth + Radio at a low price, I can recommend this as indeed, very inexpensive: $40. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016KOPV1M/

The LED color is slightly off, but who can complain, at this price. Tell people it looks like a "period appropriate aftermarket unit", if they give you any grief.

Interesting... Could you take some more photos? Does it have an RCA subwoofer hookup? How does it sound?

[fresh_TD]

If anyone is looking for something OEM looking and cheap that does USB + Bluetooth + Radio at a low price, I can recommend this as indeed, very inexpensive: $40. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016KOPV1M/

The LED color is slightly off, but who can complain, at this price. Tell people it looks like a "period appropriate aftermarket unit", if they give you any grief.

How do you like it? , Sound quality?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[tewhalen]

Bravo View IND-400BT

If anyone is looking for something OEM looking and cheap that does USB + Bluetooth + Radio at a low price, I can recommend this as indeed, very inexpensive: $40. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016KOPV1M/

The LED color is slightly off, but who can complain, at this price. Tell people it looks like a "period appropriate aftermarket unit", if they give you any grief.