Fitting a CANbus suitable Android head unit in my 2012 Skoda Superb

This is a picture of the Pioneer 6650’s back ports from the internet (I forgot to click one) –

And this is its legend from the Quick Start Guide. The most important port being – Connector 4 (connected to CAN bus). It’s a 4 pin connector but only 2 wires are used.

And this is my car’s stock wiring harness that went into the stock stereo.

Some important things to note here are that the 2 x 12 pin connectors at the bottom (in green and blue colours) are NOT USED by aftermarket headunits (they are for the CD changer and Telephone/Mic ports), Pioneer included. The 8 PIN Brown section is for the 4 Speaker Circuits (front and back) and 8 PIN Black socket (out of which only 5 are used, as visible in the picture) is where all the magic/trouble happens. Now all Pioneer Stereos (and stereos in general) require a ACC Red Wire, which provides switched current from the Ignition Key’s ACC position (in Japanese and Korean cars). But there is no ACC position in any VAG car as all that is controlled by the CAN bus. So the wire was that was supposed to be going into the red wire of the Canbus wiring harness and then into the Pioneer Stereo, was a major issue –

Because the wires supplying Current to Yellow (always on 12V supply) wire and the Red (ACC Ignition switched 12V supply) were common in my car’s stock wiring harness (as is clearly visible in the picture) as they were both Red Wires (with a Yellow line) and both of them supplied Always ON 12V supply. This resulted in the stereo remaining ALWAYS ON even after switching the car off. This was supposedly a ‘Pioneer’ specific problem. As with most local Android stereos, their circuits were so designed, that the stereos turned off with ignition key THROUGH CANBUS, as was also the case with the stock Bolero stereo in my car.

My dealer also did not know how to solve this issue due to the very few VAG cars he had worked on. So after speaking with a Pioneer Technical person who directed me to a VAG specialist installer in Delhi, who was helpful enough to guide me to take a separate wire for the Red circuit going into the Pioneer Stereo harness. This wire needed to be taken from the car’s fuse box after searching (with a multimeter) for a spare circuit which would cut off power on turning the key to the OFF position. This wire can also be used to install any after-market Dash Cam products in VAG cars. Also, note that even the Cigarette Lighter port supply in my car was always ON.

Car’s Owner’s Manual and Fuse Wiring Diagram was referred to and after testing with a Multimeterthis Fuse No. 41 was shortlisted. It was a standard-size fuse and it cut off the 12V immediately on switching Ignition OFF. And it was marked as “Not Assigned” in the wiring diagram –

The Car’s Fuse Box is besides the Driver’s seat on the side of the dashboard. The cover was easily removed and the same fuse was again shortlisted –

Here is the Actual Inside Fuse Box and the required point to tap is marked in Red after due testing with the multimeter –

And here is the Wire actually Tapped with a proper connector of 5mm width (same as the standard fuse specs). May change it later to a Fuse Tap (already ordered), for absolute peace of mind from jerks and bumps.

The Canbus Wiring Harness was modified, with the new Red Wire going into the Pioneer Stereo harness modified with a socket, as is visible in the photo. I also added a separate 15A in-line fuse in between this circuit (not photographed) going into the Fuse 41 to the Car’s fuse box, for total protection of the car’s wiring. Also, notice that the Green Wire from the Parking Brake connector was given Earthing from the Black wire circuit. This is CRUCIAL to activate Steering Wheel Controls (they will remain greyed out, otherwise) and also to see any Videos on the move (not advisable and I never watch videos in the car on the move).

Rest of the wiring is very standard as on any other Android car stereo and it is just a matter of connecting all the connectors in their appropriate ports, as marked in the legend, I had posted earlier (like USB, Mic, Aux In, Reverse Camera and Front Camera Inputs, though not connected any for now as I am comfortable with the car’s stock front and rear parking sensors – this stereo supports dual cameras, Pre-out Supply, Aerial Jack, GPS Antenna Connector and Steering Wheel control wires).

Please note that NO steering wheel control wires are to be connected anywhere in these VAG cars (neither in Canbus wiring harness nor in the Pioneer wiring harness). They are all controlled by just the 2 wires coming from the stock connector’s wiring harness (shown in the earlier photo).

Rest of the job was easy and the stereo was fitted in the frame by the 4 supplied screws. They were in fact not needed because the stereo fitted very tightly into the frame, but I connected them anyway. And then just sliding the stereo into the stock stereo space and VOILA!! It was a Perfect FIT –

Wireless Android Auto, as visible, worked perfectly immediately after connecting it with Bluetooth on 1st go (WiFi connectivity happened automatically after that), with my Samsung S22 Ultra. And boy oh boy, the SOUND QUALITY was at least 20% better than stock (which I rated pretty highly to begin with).

Here’s a look at the Stock Pioneer Home Screen. Note the Album Art of the music playing on Spotify through Android Auto being displayed on the screen. And now the stereo turned off immediately with the key, preventing any battery drain possibilities –

The Steering Wheel Controls needed to be programmed.

Just remember, on 1st startup, after selecting the proper Can Bus manufacturer (HiWorld, in my case) and proper make (Skoda) and Model (Superb Mk2 2012), you need to select ‘With Adapter’ setting (never the ‘Without Adapter’ one, because that is for Japanese and Korean cars and that needs the steering wheel control wires to be connected appropriately) when the steering wheel menu pops up and give it a few seconds to detect the Canbus without touching the steering wheel controls. Once the below Steering Wheel Control menu pops up, you need to program the appropriate buttons by pressing them for 1 second.

In my case, these 6 buttons were programmed (highlighted in Blue) as there is no Mute Button on my car etc. And it’s working perfectly –

Here are some Canbus related controls now visible like this Vehicle Informationon the Pioneer Stereo screen, some of which were not even visible in the stock Bolero stereo, like the Battery Voltage that is being shown here along with which door is open. Fantastic –

Parking Assist working and displaying perfectly –

As is the Climate Control Screen –

All these Car Features can be viewed –

Alert Settings can be turned on or off in the settings –

Other Info that is also now visible (not visible in stock stereo screen) –

Driving Data shows the Odo reading –

Fuel Consumption screen –

And this ‘cool’ full screen Tachometer in the Gauges screen –

The GPS Antenna and External Mic were discreetly placed beside the Driver Side dashboard area near the windscreen –

The USB Cable and the Aux In cable was routed to the glove box –

A Frontal View. A fantastic upgrade I would say. All done in 2 hours at the comfort of my home. 9″ of real estate now really looks good compared to the stock 6.5″ and now with so many added features. Zero Errors on the dash and now an even better sound quality –

Cheers!

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