Passat B7 Navigator retrofit (RCD510 -> RNS510)

I have 2013 Volkswagen Passat (European version) with fairly good options, but I was missing RNS-510 navigation unit. I decided upgrade my RCD-510 to RNS-510 if I find reasonable priced unit.

Purchase  

Quite soon after I had the car I found one RNS unit for sale and price was only 295€. Before purchasing the unit I checked for local VW service that I would get the security PIN code from them for it as the seller did not have the code. That was confirmed and I bought the unit and we made the contract papers showing original Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), registration number and radio serial number. With that paper I can prove that the unit is not stolen.

RNS-510 was from 2009 Passat with part number 1T0 035 680 B. This will mean that I do not have the LED screen, but I hope it will be just fine.

GPS antenna

 I assumed that I did not have the GPS antenna in my car so I ordered one from ebay.de Lithuanian seller for less than 8€. Magic word for finding antenna was FAKRA. FAKRA is the type of the connector. I installed the antenna above center air vents, just behind the vent outlet. This can be done by removing the clove box.

Security PIN code

Called local VW dealer service and they promised the code for new RNS510 and for my current RCD510 for small fee. Codes were not given on phone as ID and car papers will be checked. I drowe there and small fee ended up to be 50€! And that was per code! So I was requested to pay 100€ for the codes that should have been given with the car. I refused their offer and walked away.

Next I contacted another VW dealer and their approach was more customer friendly. They would check the codes for free! So I drove to the second dealer with serial numbers and contract papers. They enter the VIN codes to the system but could not get codes for either of the units. The car where the RNS510 was from was imported from Germany and my Passat was imported from Sweden. Dealer assumed that they are not able to get codes from the database for the imported vehicles. Anyhow they said that I could come another day and they will plug-in the tester and fetch the codes that way.

Later I came again to the dealer service and they got the code for the original RCD510 and then I replaced the unit with new RNS510. The service tried to change the coding for the new unit, but that was not easy for them so I suggested that I will do the coding with VCDS :). That was done and the code for the RNS510 was acquired as well.

Firmware

 

Original firmware in the unit was 1100. According the information in gpsundergroumd.com latest suitable firmware would be 5274, but 5238 was mainly recommended. I burned the firmware to CD-R and restarted the unit with eject+info+Setup buttons. Then SWL disc was requested and update started. Update process took almost one hour. Firmware and map updates can be done without security PIN code. All was ok when I got the security code and I was able to check it.

Maps

I downloaded the latest maps V10 Eastern Europe from the gpsunderground.com links (with very slow download speed). I did read from that same forum that burning the maps to DVD can easily fail so I took the SD-Card update path. I downloaded the Maps-Tool application that will prepare the SD-card and boot-up DVD. Just restart the unit with eject+info+Setup and insert the SD card and boot-up DVD and the maps will be copied from SD-card to the HDD. 

Installation

 The installation is fairly easy. Just pull out the radio trim cover. I used trim removal tools that I ordered from Ebay for couple of euros. Photo below will show where the connecting parts are located in rest-of-the-world model Passat.

Then remove 4 screws and pull out. Connectors have locking latches that need to be pulled out before connectors can be removed.
 

VCDS coding

Navigator need to be configured for the car. This will require coding of the CAN-bus gateway. Gateway must know that new unit is present and old unit is removed. Help for these changes I found from wiki.ross-tech.com. As I have the Dynaudio audio system with amplifier the navigator unit output need to be coded for lower level. For this I found good instructions from my-gti.com. 

Custom start-up screen

Final touch was update of the custom start-up screen. There is a good web site www.netdata.be/iso/ where you can create your own logos or download logos that other users have made. I selected one from the downloads. Then the service create .ISO-file that can be burned to CD-R and then just insert the disc and restart the unit. Now my start-up screen will look like this:

Custom start-up screen for RNS510.