Upgrading from RCD300 to RNS510

[badger3514]

HI guys, so i recently purchased an '06 golf gti, which i am very pleased with. its has, as standard the RCD300 stereo, ideally i would like to upgrade to an RNS510 but i understand there are issues with battery drain for certain cars and that i could possibly need a new canbus? how can i find out for sure and what costs are related to changing the can bus and re coding etc.

any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance

[Shoduchi]

This question has been replied lots of times on this forum and on the internet. Just do a bit of search. You'll need a newer Can-bus gateway.

[Aidi]

Being in the same position, new gti owner and upgrade to the 510... You might find if the 510 is the latest firmware, you won't need to be concerned with battery drain as the new firmware overcomes this and negates the need for a can gateway replacement.

I do stand to be corrected....I'm only a newbie myself!

Cheers
Aidi

[Degudodger]

If your car is pre 2008 - you will need
RCD510 (Get euro version not the cheaper Chinese one with arrow buttons)
Gateway to stop battery drain - @Eddie-NL can supply pre coded
aerial adapter to convert existing FM plug as it needs to be wider - ebay circa £8

[Rossimac]

Being in the same position, new gti owner and upgrade to the 510... You might find if the 510 is the latest firmware, you won't need to be concerned with battery drain as the new firmware overcomes this and negates the need for a can gateway replacement.

I do stand to be corrected....I'm only a newbie myself!

Cheers
Aidi

This is wrong - there are some versions of the RNS 510 (version A to B) which have a firmware which supports the earlier CAN Gateways (K and earlier).

To quote another member's post:

The unit is nothing to do with wether it drains the battery or not it's the firmware.

You can fit any version RNS but if it has 266X firmware or higher you need (to 100% guarantee no battery drain) an L revision or higher gateway. Some K revisions will also work but it is hit and miss. Mine works fine and i know other cars that do. I haven't been able to tie it down to a build date of car but my Car is a Mar 2007 with a K revison and it works. I don't know of a car newer than this that suffers with battery drain (that's not to say there isn't any)

Generally a "C" version will have 268X firmware or higher.

B Version will have anything from 110X and higher.

So in short:

C Revision - replace gateway as it will be 268X or higher

B Revison - replace only if it has 266X or higher firmware.

As your car is a 2007 56 plate you may be lucky and have a K Revison that works but not way of telling till you try.

[Shoduchi]

@Rossimac It's all true what you said, but why keep a RNS-510 with such an old firmware when you can upgrade a version A to 5238 modified and B to Q to 5274? The newer firmwares are better, IMO, as I've had a version A that I upgraded.

@Aidi Yes, modified firmware have included the battery drain fix, but that's not 100% bullet proof that you won't get battery drain still. Your odds are good but there are still some people that get the battery drain. I think it's safer to just upgrade the CAN, or at least it's better to be warned about the potential problem. Newer CAN are needed for other upgrades as well.

[Degudodger]

@Rossimac It's all true what you said, but why keep a RNS-510 with such an old firmware when you can upgrade a version A to 5238 modified and B to Q to 5274? The newer firmwares are better, IMO, as I've had a version A that I upgraded.

@Aidi Yes, modified firmware have included the battery drain fix, but that's not 100% bullet proof that you won't get battery drain still. Your odds are good but there are still some people that get the battery drain. I think it's safer to just upgrade the CAN, or at least it's better to be warned about the potential problem. Newer CAN are needed for other upgrades as well.

From personal experience don't trust older firmware versions. Let the moths out the wallet and buy a newer gateway as not only will you have piece of mind you're not going to encounter a dead battery but you have future proofed for future stereo upgrades.

[Rossimac]

@Rossimac It's all true what you said, but why keep a RNS-510 with such an old firmware when you can upgrade a version A to 5238 modified and B to Q to 5274? The newer firmwares are better, IMO, as I've had a version A that I upgraded.

Oh, for sure, I'm just correcting what was posted (to the best of my knowledge).

Definitely get a newer CAN Gateway to eliminate battery drain issues once and for all and have complete peace of mind that any and all RNS 510s will work regardless firmware/model versions.

[supatrig]

If you change the canbus is it plug & play or is there more to it?

[Rossimac]

If you change the canbus is it plug & play or is there more to it?

Using VCDS, take a copy of the coded features of your old Gateway (a screenshot is best).

Replace with new Gateway.

Tick all the boxes in the new Gateway that were ticked in the old one in VCDS.

[Lyons]

Eddie-NL added the coding to a gateway for me based on what spec I had. When I received it it was then plug and play for me with no coding needed at my end.