So, in the the vogue, there's all sorts of aftermarket stuff that would have been top dollar when installed. It's all a bit passed it's sell by date now.

The navigation system is by VDO Dayton. Seperate unit in the boot (vdo dayton pc5000) hooked up to a screen in the centre above the HEVAC. The screen is branded philips but is a VDO Daytom mm5000 (currently available on ebay for £19 so i've seen). Fits absolutely spot on where the factory sat nav screen would be.

The system all powers up but i don't have a sat nav disc and if i did, it would'nt be much cop as a sat nav. i prefer google maps. Anyway, i also have the external video box that plugs into the system for connecting external video sources (vdo dayton mi5000). This wasn't hooked up when i got the car but i've followed the wiring diagram but can't get it to work. perhaps the multimedia box is broke and thats why it wasn't connected. There's also been a bit of wire chopping gone on and it's a right old mess in there. Got screens in the back on a seperate system with switching relays for video source and all sorts.

I digress

My question is..........Can i rip out the sat nav module and hot wire the cable going to the monitor so i can directly hook up an external video feed. Lets say an android box or raspberry pi etc. No audio, i'll run that seperate into the radio. Literally just a video feed. I've found the wiring diagram for the 16pin connector that goes into the back of the screen and someones done the donkey work of identifying pins. Does anyone here have AV knowledge to confirm i can do what i'm on about?

The link is here. You'll have to get google to translate the page from polish. http://www.lightsound.com.pl/vdo-dayton-mm50005001-podlaczenie-sprawdzenie-opis-wtyczka/

Many thanks.

Have a look at this link. It's about using the sat nav head to display a reverse camera, but the conversion's the same

I'll have a look in a bit... I'm an AV technician by trade, so should e be able to make sense of the diagram

Have you got a picture of the installed nav screen, as it sounds different to the factory unit installed in later P38s... the layer ones have a LR part number on the screen rather than VDO Dayton.

Martyuk wrote:

I'll have a look in a bit... I'm an AV technician by trade, so should e be able to make sense of the diagram

Have you got a picture of the installed nav screen, as it sounds different to the factory unit installed in later P38s... the layer ones have a LR part number on the screen rather than VDO Dayton.

Just google vdo dayton mm5000 and thats the screen i have just with a philips badge on it instead.

Orangebean wrote:

Have a look at this link. It's about using the sat nav head to display a reverse camera, but the conversion's the same

Yeah i know that could work. However, im talking about getting rid of the unit that supplies the power and video to the screen in the first place, and using it as a standalone screen. Just want to confirm if it might work. I suspect it will but forewarned is forearmed.

I don't think the above linked converter would work anyway - it's proven to work the the later Land Rover fitted sat nav screen which uses SOG (sync on green) for the video signal.

Taking a quick look at the specs for your screen however, the navigation side of things uses a RGBS system, RGB with separate Sync wire) so you could either a) get a converter to RGBS - OR it looks like it already should have a 3.5mm jack connector for an external VCR (as it would have been in those days!) - but going by the signal format, it looks like a standard composite video feed.

To get it to work, you would need to get/make a cable to feed audio and video into a 3.5mm plug, from whatever your source is going to be, and then obviously get the power/ground pins connected up. It also looks like you need to connect Pin 12 to tell it to turn on in VCR mode - which is easy enough, the spec shows anything over 3.5V will do that - so hooking it up to an ignition switched supply will do it, and then turn the screen on/off when the key is turned on/off in the vehicle.

Martyuk wrote:

I don't think the above linked converter would work anyway - it's proven to work the the later Land Rover fitted sat nav screen which uses SOG (sync on green) for the video signal.

Taking a quick look at the specs for your screen however, the navigation side of things uses a RGBS system, RGB with separate Sync wire) so you could either a) get a converter to RGBS - OR it looks like it already should have a 3.5mm jack connector for an external VCR (as it would have been in those days!) - but going by the signal format, it looks like a standard composite video feed.

To get it to work, you would need to get/make a cable to feed audio and video into a 3.5mm plug, from whatever your source is going to be, and then obviously get the power/ground pins connected up. It also looks like you need to connect Pin 12 to tell it to turn on in VCR mode - which is easy enough, the spec shows anything over 3.5V will do that - so hooking it up to an ignition switched supply will do it, and then turn the screen on/off when the key is turned on/off in the vehicle.

Right. So am I on the wrong lines thinking that i could use a standard yellow rca jack, snip the jack from one end, wire the av signal wire into pin 10, put the av ground wire to ground and put 12v into pins 12,15 and 16? or is that right?

fingers crossed for a 3.5mm jack though. i have a user manual and it's listed in there but doesnt show a picture. Nor does any i've seen on google. I'll whip the dash out tomorrow and have a nosey.

I think i intend to run the audio feeds into the radio head unit as per my last car utilizing the cd changer lines.

I have one of these if there is indeed a 3.5mm jack

(https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=rca+video+jack&tbm=isch&imgil=ufGtmnW4tKPUcM%253A%253BtcNW-7WHYUA2_M%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.aliexpress.com%25252Fw%25252Fwholesale-3-rca-adapter.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=ufGtmnW4tKPUcM%253A%252CtcNW-7WHYUA2_M%252C_&usg=__lztkhoDNJHT__kB95Lthfr5WKD4%3D&biw=1366&bih=662&ved=0ahUKEwiHrMaVn9fTAhVhCcAKHfRSB_YQyjcInwE&ei=R6ULWcfsC-GSgAb0pZ2wDw#imgrc=ufGtmnW4tKPUcM:)

You can try those pins for sure.

I'm not sure if they are they input pins, or a further video output, say to rear screens.

But worth trying video signal to that pin, and video ground to pin 9.

I need to have a look on my laptop again and translate the page to make sure the selector pin is happy with 12v or whether you need to drop it to 5v max, but that's easy enough to do if needed.

Martyuk wrote:

You can try those pins for sure.

I'm not sure if they are they input pins, or a further video output, say to rear screens.

But worth trying video signal to that pin, and video ground to pin 9.

I need to have a look on my laptop again and translate the page to make sure the selector pin is happy with 12v or whether you need to drop it to 5v max, but that's easy enough to do if needed.

the diagram i'm looking at shows
Pins 3,7,9,13 = Ground
Pin 10 = vcr video input
Pins 15, 16 = Display + (i imagine it means 12v)
Pin 12 = Display on/off/video. (Says "open input display off", "0-2.5v display on/navigation/video mode" and ">3.5 display on/vcr video mode"

looks like a voltage regulator on pin 12 to keep it down to 5v. Will this work from maplins?? (http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/ts2940cz-co-5v-1a-low-dropout-fixed-positive-voltage-regulator-n67ca?cmpid=ppc%3Acomponents%3Apla%3Agoogle&gclid=CNXu-Ii_19MCFQ48Gwod2zEHhQ)

Martyuk wrote:

You can try those pins for sure.

I'm not sure if they are they input pins, or a further video output, say to rear screens.

But worth trying video signal to that pin, and video ground to pin 9.

I need to have a look on my laptop again and translate the page to make sure the selector pin is happy with 12v or whether you need to drop it to 5v max, but that's easy enough to do if needed.

the diagram i'm looking at shows
Pins 3,7,9,13 = Ground
Pin 10 = vcr video input
Pins 15, 16 = Display + (i imagine it means 12v)
Pin 12 = Display on/off/video. (Says "open input display off", "0-2.5v display on/navigation/video mode" and ">3.5 display on/vcr video mode"

looks like a voltage regulator on pin 12 to keep it down to 5v. Will this work from maplins?? (http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/ts2940cz-co-5v-1a-low-dropout-fixed-positive-voltage-regulator-n67ca?cmpid=ppc%3Acomponents%3Apla%3Agoogle&gclid=CNXu-Ii_19MCFQ48Gwod2zEHhQ)

Read the manual for the system and as you said, there is supposed to be a 3.5mm jack on the right hand side of the screen casing that auto switches to that input when you put the jack in and won't switch back until you remove the jack. If that's correct, that would appear to be the easiest way forward

Yes, the 12V regulator or something simple like that will work. You could also use a couple of resistors to make a voltage divider - but either way will give the required voltage.

If the device has the 3.5mm jack, then should be easy to connect - if not, then you'll have to try the pins on the rear connector - but either way, it's a standard composite video signal that it is expecting - so you should be able to get something out of it!

Martyuk wrote:

Yes, the 12V regulator or something simple like that will work. You could also use a couple of resistors to make a voltage divider - but either way will give the required voltage.

If the device has the 3.5mm jack, then should be easy to connect - if not, then you'll have to try the pins on the rear connector - but either way, it's a standard composite video signal that it is expecting - so you should be able to get something out of it!

so, stripped it out and it does indeed have a 3.5mm jack on the right side. Consulted the manual for the jack wiring and the tip is video. Usually tip is left audio on cables isn't it? i found a short stereo jack to rca cable and the white (left audio ususally) matches up to what would be the video at the jack end. Tip video, sleeve ground. Anyway, hooked it up and it works. Only prob is, it's black and white. Any reason why? In normal mode, the monitor displays colour. As soon as you put the jack in, the pic is B+W.

What are you using as a video source? US standard NTSC video will display in B&W on a PAL display (and I think the other way round too).

yeah I thought of that after i posted. it's the ps2 thats already in the boot. i used that as i know it works (not that ill be using it) I'll rig up something else as there's a possibility it's an imported ps2.

It could also be that the wires are back to front. As they are Chroma and Luma, from memory if they are back to front, then you get no colour information
EDIT - Forget that - I'm thinking of S-video, which is 2 wires... Composite runs it all down one wire with the other as signal ground.

As Gilbertd says it could be the wrong format.

Or the PS2 has been configured to output RGB and not composite....... You need a known working video source, do you have a camcorder?

Gilbertd wrote:

Or the PS2 has been configured to output RGB and not composite....... You need a known working video source, do you have a camcorder?

A camcorder? Yeah might do. I'll just need a time machine to go back to 1990 whatever to get it. lmao. Do people still use camcorders?

Been out with a reliable source and same thing. also only displays in 4:3. It's a bit like a parking camera feed although i don't see why it is because you have to manually plug the jack in to get a picture, and then pull it back out to return it to ordinary mode.

No probs. We'll go with plan B and solder the 16 pin cable and see what we get then.

blueplasticsoulman wrote:

Do people still use camcorders?

I do but I've got 4 of them. Sony semi-pro camcorders used for shooting video of meetings, interviews and stuff like that.

Soldered up the 16 pin cable today and did it with the 5v regulator. Still black and white. damn it! took ages to solder all them tiny wires to get the esame reult as yesterday where i literally just plugged the jack into the side. DOH!!! Any suggestions???? The screen definately has colour as when it's plugged into the head unit, you get blue menus. although, the feed from the head unit would go into the R,G,B pins.