RNS-E Bluetooth and Dension Gateway Pro

[Fouad1013]

Hi Everyone, I just picked up a RNS-E and multifunction steering wheel, now i want to get bluetooth. I want bluetooth audio and calls, and an AUX input. Ideally i can get song info on my cluster and on the RNS-E. I was looking at the Dension Gateway Pro BT, but I cant find any info on if it displays anything on the RNS-E. I feel like remember seeing a video of a bluetooth system that was fully integrated into the RNS-E, showing menus for bluetooth and song info and the such. I was wondering if anyone has experience of how the dension looks with the RNS-E and if anyone has any suggestions for other bluetooth modules that would give what i want.

Thanks in advanced

[Fouad1013]

So it seems like I should have done some more googling before posting this. From what I can tell, there is no interface that will show song info on the RNS-E MK1 because it doesnt have AMI capability. Is that correct, or did i miss something somewhere?

[Matt Devo]

The Dension Gateway Pro BT is the only solution I'm aware of for the 1st-gen RNS-E which will provide both phone and streaming media, with song info on the DIS. There's no option which will display song info on the 1st-gen RNS-E itself, since they all use the CD changer interface.

The 2nd-gen RNS-E supports AMI (Audi Music Interface) which when paired with a BT adapter, will provide song info on the RNS-E itself and the DIS, but only for Apple/iOS devices. As an Android user this leaves me with no option but to roll my own AMI/BT interface using an Arduino or RPI Zero, but that's a bit more work than I have free time ATM.

[Fouad1013]

Thanks Matt, Do you know if the Dension Gateway shows call info on the RNS-E? I want my setup to look as OEM and fully integrated as possible.

[Matt Devo]

Thanks Matt, Do you know if the Dension Gateway shows call info on the RNS-E? I want my setup to look as OEM and fully integrated as possible.

I don't recall offhand, but I don't believe so. It does show on the DIS, just not the RNS-E itself since everything is running through the CD changer interface. I believe enfigcarstereo has some videos on their site/Youtube which show it in operation on a B6/B7.

[Fouad1013]

I will give Enfig a call, the videos i saw only show what shows up on the DIS, not on the RNS-E. I figured since these had phone capability, that part would at least integrate fully.

[Fouad1013]

The Dension Gateway Pro BT is the only solution I'm aware of for the 1st-gen RNS-E which will provide both phone and streaming media, with song info on the DIS. There's no option which will display song info on the 1st-gen RNS-E itself, since they all use the CD changer interface.

The 2nd-gen RNS-E supports AMI (Audi Music Interface) which when paired with a BT adapter, will provide song info on the RNS-E itself and the DIS, but only for Apple/iOS devices. As an Android user this leaves me with no option but to roll my own AMI/BT interface using an Arduino or RPI Zero, but that's a bit more work than I have free time ATM.

I don't recall offhand, but I don't believe so. It does show on the DIS, just not the RNS-E itself since everything is running through the CD changer interface. I believe enfigcarstereo has some videos on their site/Youtube which show it in operation on a B6/B7.

So i called enfig today. The Dension model doesnt show anything on the radio cluster. But i did manage to find a walk through for getting android auto onto an RNS-E. It seemed like they were using a raspberry PI to decode the button clicks on the RNS-E and mapped them to commands for Android Auto. It got me thinking if there is a way to get a dension unit to interface with an RNS-E through the Sat Radio interface, instead of the CD changer interface. Then use a Raspberry PI to figure out the integration.

Thoughts? I dont necessarily know how to do any of the stuff i mentioned, but I like to consider myself tech savvy and I'm stubborn.

[Matt Devo]

So i called enfig today. The Dension model doesnt show anything on the radio cluster. But i did manage to find a walk through for getting android auto onto an RNS-E. It seemed like they were using a raspberry PI to decode the button clicks on the RNS-E and mapped them to commands for Android Auto. It got me thinking if there is a way to get a dension unit to interface with an RNS-E through the Sat Radio interface, instead of the CD changer interface. Then use a Raspberry PI to figure out the integration.

Thoughts? I dont necessarily know how to do any of the stuff i mentioned, but I like to consider myself tech savvy and I'm stubborn.

the SAT radio and CD changer interface are one in the same. I've seen various DIY installations using the RNS-E's video input to display Android Auto, Kodi, etc, and a RPI + Pi2CAN for the command/control. I don't want the expense/complexity of the video input (requires a separate interface box and either hacked firmware or yet another bit of hardware to use the video input while driving) just to have audio from my phone display track info.

If I were going to go down that route, I'd just do a custom touchscreen setup driven by a RPI running OpenAuto (open source Android Auto) and then interface with the DIS etc as needed. I just don't have the time ATM for that kind of project.

[Fouad1013]

the SAT radio and CD changer interface are one in the same. I've seen various DIY installations using the RNS-E's video input to display Android Auto, Kodi, etc, and a RPI + Pi2CAN for the command/control. I don't want the expense/complexity of the video input (requires a separate interface box and either hacked firmware or yet another bit of hardware to use the video input while driving) just to have audio from my phone display track info.

If I were going to go down that route, I'd just do a custom touchscreen setup driven by a RPI running OpenAuto (open source Android Auto) and then interface with the DIS etc as needed. I just don't have the time ATM for that kind of project.

I like the look of the RNS-E in the car, and I figured it would be cool to do this, if possible.

Wouldnt the SAT radio interface be more capable? You would need some sort of text display on SAT radio. I couldnt find a video of SAT radio on the RNS-E, but all the other systems I have used show song info and have genre selection. I figured the genre selection, favorites, and just general channel up and down could be used for A2DP audio control. I created a post to share my crazy ideas on the Car audio and OEM integration tech forum. https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...ia-Integration

[Matt Devo]

I like the look of the RNS-E in the car, and I figured it would be cool to do this, if possible.

Wouldnt the SAT radio interface be more capable? You would need some sort of text display on SAT radio. I couldnt find a video of SAT radio on the RNS-E, but all the other systems I have used show song info and have genre selection. I figured the genre selection, favorites, and just general channel up and down could be used for A2DP audio control. I created a post to share my crazy ideas on the Car audio and OEM integration tech forum. https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...ia-Integration

I haven't researched how the SAT module interfaces with the RNS-E, but suspect the interface to be fairly straightforward. One issue is that you'd likely need to emulate the SAT module itself, so RE the protocol/messaging etc. And the end result would likely look/act as a Sirius/XM tuner on the RNS-E, so a radio tuner vs a media input. Either way, I've subscribed to your other thread and will be interested to see what comes of it