XC90 DVD Console

[tobyedward]

Great detail again - will give this some time tomorrow and see if I can work my way through it all. My father-in-law is quite handy with such things so might to drag him over to assist.

As a small aside, but possibly connected - there is a cluster of cables under the passenger seat. I noticed that one of the connectors (similar to a phono lead) had come loose, but I reconnected and that made no difference. Am I right in thinking that these cables are part of the DVD setup?

[john langrick]

Hi Toby, more likely part of the satnav system and probably not connected with DVD problem, but if a poor connection it won't hurt to fix.

[tobyedward]

Hi John. Took the plunge and removed the panel and all is as you described. The transmitter stuck to this panel has a red 'power' LED and a green 'charge' LED. When I turn the ignition the power LED comes on, but the charge LED does not. I can just about see the LEDs on the transmitter behind the DVD unit itself and it appears that the power LED comes on briefly, but then goes off even when the DVD is switched on and playing. At a complete guess I wonder whether this transmitter might be faulty or have a loose connection, but it's fixed to a bracket which is bolted down and I can't see a way of removing it to check.

[tobyedward]

Update is that I've removed DVD player and both transmitters and the one behind the player definitely loses power. I plugged in a 12v adapter in the house and the same thing occurs - red power LED lights up for approx. 20 secs and then turns off.

Think it's time to head to a local car electronics company for full diagnosis. Hope you enjoyed the boat today.

Thanks for all of your advice - I definitely know a lot more than I did!

[tobyedward]

Another step forward, but maybe 2 back! I'm confident that both transmitters are working, but simply the one behind the DVD player is automatically turning off because it's not receiving an audio signal - I know this as I swapped the 'audio in' lead between the 2 transmitters and the power light stayed on in one, but not the other.

To fully understand what's going on can you explain what the 2 transmitters are doing? At a guess one of them seems to be getting audio directly from the DVD player (the one which stays on), but I can't see where the wires go on the other one - perhaps to the monitors? This is partly why I asked about the cluster below the passenger seat, as there was originally a loose connection, but that hasn't made any difference.

I wonder whether there are any settings on the monitors themselves which might need to be adjusted to send the signal out?

[john langrick]

Hi again, you are in the realms I have never been before! I know there is a relay next to the DVD adapter and not sure what this does, but it probably switched something important on, such as the wireless transmitters.

I doubt if the screens have any connection with audio other than they both have input that originate in the 10 DVD adapter. I believe the signal to operate the relay also comes from the adapter.

Do you get any wireless output (sound transmitted) from either transmitter?

Other than the assumption that both should have power and signal when operating, not sure where to go from here..

Have you checked that you get voltage i n the sockets that plug into the transmitter? I guess of the led comes on you do at least for part of the time.

You might try changing the relay talked about earlier. It simply unplugs. There is a part number on it and if you enter this on eBay you will see they are not expensive. I should try that next.

Cheers

[tobyedward]

With some help from my father-in-law I think we've now fully diagnosed that we do indeed have a faulty transmitter. We know this as we bypassed both and used the transmitter/charging station that came with the headphones (seems like an obvious thing to try now that I think about it). We took both 'audio out' lines from the adapter and connected them directly into the new transmitter and hey presto we have sound. We're now looking at fitting this into the boot cavity, although this is easier said than done as it runs on 8v and not 12v like the previous transmitters. Not sure how we'll overcome that yet.

The old transmitters will now effectively be redundant, but the thing that is still confusing me is why were there 2 transmitters in the first place? What are they doing that requires both of them to be working as the new transmitter works entirely on its own? Any ideas?

[john langrick]

Hi, good progress. I can only think two transmitters are better than one!

I still think you have a voltage problem that is supplying the current transmitters.

However you could mount the new transmitter in the centre console between seats. There is 12v there for the cigar lighter socket. You can buy an audio lead from any hi fi shop or electronics store.

I am also sure you can adapt 12v DC to 8v DC with resistors and a zener diode, but you will need to check this out st an electronics store.

But well done to date and please do check the current power supply to the current transmitters as this is most likely source of the problem.

Hope this helps

[john langrick]

Hi, this could be the job

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253005873235

I think this should convert 12v to 8v


But suggest a better option is that if you check eBay, there are about three 10dvd players for sale. Check 'volvo DVD'. Contact these suppliers as I believe they may be breakers and also have the rest of the car which will include the wireless transmitters. They may not have recognised them so ask if they are available. That's what I did when I thought my 10dvd adapter module had failed...which it hadn't! So now spare!


Cheers

[tobyedward]

Hi John. The final update and I'm pleased to say that we have success!!!

I bought some Konig earphones as the transmitter runs on a 12v supply, as opposed to the 8v on the Thomson ones - in fact it's very similar to the original silver Thomson transmitters. There was one final hurdle in that the 'audio in' into the transmitter is a hard wired cable with a 3.5mm headphone jack on the end, but I just bought an adapter with RCA phono to 3.5mm female and hey presto. Otherwise it was literally just a case of replacing like for like - I even mounted it on the silver bracket that used to hold the one behind the DVD player.

I still don't understand why 2 transmitters were installed, but I guess it doesn't really matter.

It all seems quite straight forward now and if I find time I might start a new thread describing the solution. Needless to say there's no way on earth I could have managed it without all of your advice and I would have probably ended up spending hundreds on a new system.

I really am incredibly grateful and just hope I get the chance to pass on the knowledge to someone else. And to think that when I started this thread I didn't even know that I had a DVD player in the car - and now I probably know more than I'd care to.

Thanks again John!