Cathargo wiring

[barsteward]

I have just pulled the old pioneer DD head unit out in order to fit a new Android unit (what a nightmare ?)

After I pulled the unit I noticed 3 extra video/audio plugs tucked in bellow the mass of wires does anybody know what they feed?

At the back of the TV which I have no instructions for a Cathargo Brand are six connections see pictures could it be that these feed the head when the tv is selected.

By the way I haven't got a clue what I'm doing, wires and harnesses for man and beast on this new unit!!

 

[Lenny HB]

One set is Audio/video to the TV from the head unit, the other set is audio/video from the head unit to the tv.
Yellow = Video
White = Left audio
Red = Right audio

P.S. Time you updated your Avatar still says Bolero

 

[barsteward]

Ha Ha yup the avatar deffo needs updating

Now call me thick (which I am) but after reading the two above options several times they seem to read one and the same just worded differently.

 

[Clarky]

I think (but don’t know for sure) that Lenny HB
meant to say that one set is audio back from tv to the head unit. The yellow video feed would be unused.
Our tv sound is fed to the head unit to play through the radio speakers rather than the puny tv ones.

Richard

 

[Lenny HB]

I think (but don’t know for sure) that @Lenny HB
meant to say that one set is audio back from tv to the head unit. The yellow video feed would be unused.

I don't know exactly how Carthago wire them I was just going by the photo and assuming the video out would allow you to view the output from the TV's DVD on the head unit.
Thinking about it if it's a Carthago fit TV it will be one of those awful Aphatronics all the German manufacturers fit that doesn't have a DVD. ?

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[Cavs]

Lenny HB is partly correct, and it’s a bizarre setup. There is a toggle switch on the Scart plug behind the tv that switches the connection from input to output. It is possible to play a dvd on the head unit with the picture appearing on the tv. OR the sound output from the television can be routed through the head unit and van speakers. However, the picture quality from the head unit to the tv is awful (at least in my experience). There is already an hdmi cable at the back of the cabinet above the tv so it’s easier and better to connect a 12v DVD player to that.

 

[Lenny HB]

Lenny HB is partly correct, and it’s a bizarre setup. There is a toggle switch on the Scart plug behind the tv that switches the connection from input to output. It is possible to play a dvd on the head unit with the picture appearing on the tv. OR the sound output from the television can be routed through the head unit and van speakers. However, the picture quality from the head unit to the tv is awful (at least in my experience). There is already an hdmi cable at the back of the cabinet above the tv so it’s easier and better to connect a 12v DVD player to that.

Are you getting a lot of lines across the (video reflections) when playing a dvd from the head unit.
If so my mates last van a C Tourer I was like that his current E line is fine.
Probably due to poor quality cables and poor earthing.

 

[Clarky]

One of the problems with Carthago wiring is that very few vans are the same spec.
There are so many different options, different models, different years that no two seem the same.
On ours the Alphatronic tv, labelled Carthago, has a pretty good picture, certainly good enough for our use in the van. The sound from the tv speakers is pretty poor and retuning for different areas/transmitters takes an age. The head unit/DVD works well and the sound is emitted from the high level speakers just behind our heads when we are sitting in the lounge area.
The tv only has one hdmi socket which on ours feeds the satellite signal into the tv.

I’ve often thought of replacing the Pioneer head unit with a decent double din unit with digital radio and Bluetooth.

Richard

 

[Ditcha]

DVD what is one of them? is it like a betamax video recorder?

 

[Cavs]

Are you getting a lot of lines across the (video reflections) when playing a dvd from the head unit.
If so my mates last van a C Tourer I was like that his current E line is fine.
Probably due to poor quality cables and poor earthing.

Yes, that’s exactly what we had, and I put it down to poor cabling, but I didn’t think about an earth problem.

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[Cavs]

One of the problems with Carthago wiring is that very few vans are the same spec.

Not only that! When I was enquiring about solar panel cabling (the van was “Pre-wired for solar”), I was told that the routing of the cabling depended on “who built it”.

 

[Lenny HB]

Not only that! When I was enquiring about solar panel cabling (the van was “Pre-wired for solar”), I was told that the routing of the cabling depended on “who built it”.

On an A Class the cables go from behind a roof locker down to the area behind the dash, another pair of cables run from behind the dash to under the floor near the battery box. On a factory install Carthago fit the solar regulator behind the dash.

How come I know this but the dealers don't I've never even owned a Carthago.

 

[barsteward]

Right thanks to everyone for their input.

Yesterday I managed to get almost everything working as I wanted, TV sending picture and audio to head unit and head unit sending audio and picture to TV. The mass of tangled wires in there is mind boggling. ?

I managed to get of my backside earlier and go back in the van to try and work out another couple of problems but don't want to permanently fit the head unit and try to untangle some of the wires until i've completed the job, so here's my next query.

Whist untangling some of the wires yesterday I found yet another what appears to be coax cable.
the one on the right appears to deffo be part of the Carthago loom and runs to the offside of the van, the one on the left appears to run to the nearside but also seems to be a Carthargo original

see picture below

Firstly the head unit doesn't have dab receiver but a separate dongle can be purchased. I have today been trying to research the difference between DAB and DVB T2 but being a bit thick can't find a definitive answer but it seems to me that if I can find which of the two coax cables goes to the DVB T2 (which I think is the standard used in my motorhome) then I could buy a dongle and plug it into the head unit.

Is it feasible and would DVB aerial work with the DAB +?

Thanks
Les

 

[Chipster]

Assuming your van is a A class , could one be the standard fm lead (now redundant) aerial and the other be a Carthago fit one?

 

[Cavs]

I can’t remember which of those two comes from the standard Carthago aerial, but neither of them is a DAB aerial. I fitted a windscreen mounted DAB aerial which has worked well.

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[barsteward]

To be honest I never thought of that, but the one on the left was the one I pulled out of the original Pioneer head unit but reception was and still is poor hence the question about the DAB/DVB.

Ooops !! done it again
this post was in reply to Chipster

 

[barsteward]

I can’t remember which of those two comes from the standard Carthago aerial, but neither of them is a DAB aerial. I fitted a windscreen mounted DAB aerial which has worked well.

Hi Steven,
This is doing my head in now ?

Where did you run the cable and what did you earth it to. I've spent most of the afternoon trying to find a suitable run but to be honest I'm frightened of pulling any of the trim about for fear of damaging it. I can't find any accessible screws on the near side to undo the trim apart from the top glove box and the footwell

I think I'm losing the will to live.

 

[Cavs]

Where did you run the cable and what did you earth it to

I used a windscreen mount aerial, which I mounted high on the left hand side front windscreen. It has two cables, one of which is a power cable to run the amplifier in the aerial. Both cables run back to the radio head unit and, depending on the make of radio, you would need to turn on the power for an aerial, probably in the settings menu.

The earth for the aerial power is done through the radio. The earth for the aerial ground plane is alway problematic. I used some conductive adhesive tape wrapped round the metal guide for the front blind, then taken out on to the windscreen where I attached it to aerial's ground connection, which is also self-adhesive. As I say, it's probably not great but it works well enough.

The cables run out of sight down alongside the screen guide, along the gap between the left hand window and the top of the dashboard, then under that top, behind or below the top glovebox then into the void behind the radio. Removing the top glovebox (four screws) made this easier, and I 'fished' under the dashboard top so I could pull the cables through without removing it.

In the picture below, the large horizontal rectangle is the conductive tape, the silver 'L' shaped lines are the antenna and the aerial box itself is the grey shape just above the foot of the 'L'. At the bottom of the picture you can see the cables running down from some black gaffer tape. (The smaller light rectangle is the remnant of some double sided sticky tape from when I had trouble with the aerial coming loose.)

Good luck!

 

[TinaLes]

I had the same problems when I fitted a new all singing & dancing top of the range Pioneer Avic double Din head unit, no DVD player as they are regarded as old hat and so it has a USB input to access music & video files stored on a separate hard drive/dongle/i phone.i pad etc.
But the 21 inch Avtex TV does have a DVD player, and the only audio out was via the 3.5mm headphone socket, so run an extended cable to the head unit and plugged it into the Aux input on the head unit.
Result is the sound is crap from the TV too much signal loss I reckon, so just put up with TV speakers which is OK as we are only sat 5 feet away.
The Carthago speakers were 5 inch coax dual cone in the front doors and above our heads sat in the lounge, they were crap also, so I replaced with larger 6.5 inch Focal speakers with separate component tweeters mounted at top of the dash either side, ran uprated speaker cables and hi/low pass filters, and the difference with a separate mid range Harmon Karden amp fed via separate Pre outs from head unit is amazing (had it spare in the loft at home)
We have given up on The Carthago roof DVT aeriel, it does not supply a decent DAB signal, has no separate amp as it relies on the TV & head unit to provide power.

We had to fit a windscreen mounted DAB aerial,to get any DAB signal, but its still not anywhere as good at the shark aerial fitted on our BMW car, which offers endless amounts of stations with great reception.
Like you barsteward (Les) I was pulling my hair out at first, still have problems with TV reception, but I can live with that as we dont watch much TV in the van, but might look at buying one of those Avtex stick on Ariels for £36 for use in UK over winter.

We do use the I Phone as a hotspot for TV news on I pad, and also use the phone to find radio stations and Deezer, strangely enough the sound via the apps on the phone through the head unit is great, twice as good at least on relying on any of the van aerials, whether on roof, wing mirror or DAB windscreen.
Luckily we have a large data package on the Vodafone I Phone.
Good luck
Les

 

[Cavs]

Hi barsteward how did you get on? Was my answer to your question any use?

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[barsteward]

Hi Stephen
Sorry for appearing ignorant, I did take note of all your comments but in the end I decided it wasn't worth all the hassle
I spent quite a lot of time trying to find a route through without the wires being exposed and eventually gave up
I'm one of those sort of people that. if something should work I want it to work regardless of whether I need it to work or not. (and that statement has confused me never mind you.)

I don't normally listen to the radio whilst driving much anyway and with the addition of mobile WI Fi I can listen on the internet . Sad I know, but as I say I just like things to work.

All is not lost though, I did find the pre - wiring for the television DVB T2 antenna and I'm confident that with a couple of adaptions the DAB will work through that until of coarse someone tells me I am a complete numpty. and it cant be done.
That however is a job for when I'm next feeling board

Thanks for all your time and effort

regards
Les

 

[TinaLes]

Hi Les
I connected the DVT roof mounted Ariel to the Pioneer head unit, signal was crap,(even with a bullet type in line amplifier) so went for windscreen stick on option, bit better but still crap, so we use the I phone now to connect to any radio station we like and play the Deezer Free edition also and it sounds great.
Funny thing is the DVT Roof Ariel picks up Freeview stations o the TV in some places, but with varying results.
Like you I spend many, many hours trying to find a route for cables that cannot be seen, but as I said at the Bath Show, the Carthago wiring is put in the van before the top floor section and side walls are put on.
I think the way your additional 240 volt socket up to your TV cupboard using a short piece of trunking hidden behind the curtain, is the only way to get from lower to top cupboards, so I have resigned myself to doing it that way also.
Good luck, keep us posted.
Les

 

[barsteward]

How's the lovely Tina Les ? is she keeping you in check

 

[TinaLes]

Yes when she not suppin wine
Les