T6 Aftermarket Digital Instrument Cluster

[sparkzer]

To add to the list of observations (that i assume are already being worked on, as they seem quite obvious and easy to occur)

I've had a few persistent (should be momentary, but wont clear until a ignition cycle) vehicle statuses..

For example:

'Depress Clutch' when starting (i expect i started cranking before i fully pressed the clutch)
'Start manually' when a stop/start stop has occurred, but for some reason it wants a manual crank (for example opened the drivers door)

I also think i had a 'engine starting' not go away after start....i think i rushed the display by unlocking, getting in and cranking before it had chance to wake up.

Nothing major and more of an annoyance than anything else, but a nice 'low hanging fruit' for a software engineer to rectify...im using the latest Jan release of firmware.

 

[catfood12]

Any news/firmware update to rectify the dropped character @antony.charnley ?

Rang
e

One of those little things that will end up driving me mad

I don't think this is fixable. The character string comes from the old dash; it's not generated by the new dash. The string was formatted to fit the old dash's MFD. The new dash has a different display format in terms of number of characters wide, and just displays what it is sent, and I guess the display driver does a character feed/new line when all the characters on a line are displayed.

The new dash just displays the string and doesn't reformat it. It would be a fair change in the code to recognise some messages and reformat or justify for the new dash display. Then there would doubtless be hidden service messages, odd control characters etc and differences between messages in old dash s/w & h/w versions etc..

You never know though, they might code a new routine to fix the for
mat issue.

 

[gilesjuk]

I don't think this is fixable. The character string comes from the old dash; it's not generated by the new dash. The string was formatted to fit the old dash's MFD. The new dash has a different display format in terms of number of characters wide, and just displays what it is sent, and I guess the display driver does a character feed/new line when all the characters on a line are displayed.

The new dash just displays the string and doesn't reformat it. It would be a fair change in the code to recognise some messages and reformat or justify for the new dash display. Then there would doubtless be hidden service messages, odd control characters etc and differences between messages in old dash s/w & h/w versions etc..

You never know though, they might code a new routine to fix the for
mat issue.

It's definitely fixable. They are responsible for the graphic routines that are rendering the text. They can either reduce the font size until it fits or they can abbreviate. Or they can wrap whole words, not wrap part of the way in a word. But it requires code to say "will this fit" and if not do something else. That code must be partly there as they are wrapping it.

 

[gilesjuk]

I'm reverting to stock this weekend as the complications of this dash aren't for me. So will probably stick my unit up for sale.

 

[MrG]

To add to the list of observations (that i assume are already being worked on, as they seem quite obvious and easy to occur)

I've had a few persistent (should be momentary, but wont clear until a ignition cycle) vehicle statuses..

For example:

'Depress Clutch' when starting (i expect i started cranking before i fully pressed the clutch)
'Start manually' when a stop/start stop has occurred, but for some reason it wants a manual crank (for example opened the drivers door)

I also think i had a 'engine starting' not go away after start....i think i rushed the display by unlocking, getting in and cranking before it had chance to wake up.

Nothing major and more of an annoyance than anything else, but a nice 'low hanging fruit' for a software engineer to rectify...im using the latest Jan release of firmware.

This you can actually clear, it actually displays these as an additional "page". I have had a couple of these and had a random one appear mid motorway a while ago, think it was "Engine Starting", (I have disabled start/stop) and was travelling at pace. Thought it was a little odd but I did notice the 2/2 in the corner.

Yesterday, I had one I was expecting (although there is a very minor bug, not enough for me to be bothered).
I was testing the fuel warning threshold (works fine BTW), and got a lovely little "Please refuel bong & animation" appear highlighting the fuel tank.

Note the page number in the bottom left

Where is the "bug" I here you say..... well.... the van is meant to be red. a quick scroll to page 1/2 and then back again, expecting the van to be white and... hey presto, its the same display, just the van is red again.

@antony.charnley , Did you get anywhere with keeping some form of testing, bug tracker with the devs? Appreciate these are made to be pretty universal across the VAG group by just changing the cowling / loom but our feedback should be gold to them?

Nothing like completing the Mfg BAT/UAT testing for them!

 

[Sasquatch]

As the owner of a white van this is quite reassuring.

 

[gilesjuk]

Reverted today, didn't take long. But you have to watch out for those white pegs that the needle motors are secured with, they will come out and get themselves lost, I found them but they're also fiddly to get back in. The mod makes total sense for people with startline clocks and non-stock headunits.

If the multifunction steering wheel connected to the new board only then it would be a better solution. The fact that behind the scenes the steering wheel is still controlling the old PCB annoys me. In fact, when I powered up the original cluster it was set to Arabic language, I now have to see what other settings it has changed

 

[gilesjuk]

Had to factory reset the MFD. Lost the digital speedo.

 

[sparkzer]

This you can actually clear, it actually displays these as an additional "page". I have had a couple of these and had a random one appear mid motorway a while ago, think it was "Engine Starting", (I have disabled start/stop) and was travelling at pace. Thought it was a little odd but I did notice the 2/2 in the corner.

I know you can 'scroll away' from the message back to the regular van image, however the 'engine starting/press clutch/other non persistent alarms as still present(at least on my van) just hidden as your looking at a different screen. Perhaps not quite so annoying for you with stop/start disabled but with it..for me every time the engine stop/start, it is brought to the front again. I've done enough product R&D and software debugging in my time to spot a bug, and a bug is what this is...seems an easy one to resolve too.

My method of preventing such issues is being more deliberate with the starting process....for example unlock van...get in, wait a few seconds for the dash to boot, make sure clutch is 100% pressed...crank etc. it seems to get in a flap when you rush it.

It does feel like your playing russian roulette when pressing the enter button, for fear the stock display is in the phone menu or speed alarm...that said, now the honeymoon period is over, I seldom do any button pressing and just enjoy its pleasing looks compared to stock.

 

[T6Norfolk]

So I finally started having a fiddle with mine and ended up keep phoning someone many times lol

Can I permantly disable stop start on my van. Sometimes the digital dash doesn't allow me to clear the stop start error

 

[Kind of Blue]

So I finally started having a fiddle with mine and ended up keep phoning someone many times lol

Can I permantly disable stop start on my van. Sometimes the digital dash doesn't allow me to clear the stop start error

It is a pain on roundabouts and off-road. It is easy enough to just reach over and turn it off after starting. There are those that have done something I recall but what is wrong with just using the provided switch?

 

[T6Norfolk]

It is a pain on roundabouts and off-road. It is easy enough to just reach over and turn it off after starting. There are those that have done something I recall but what is wrong with just using the provided switch?

I don't think I can just turn it off as it has an error with it. I have no desire to fix the stop start so would rather just disable it fully and stop the warning coming up everytime I start the vehicle

 

[sparkzer]

Can I permantly disable stop start on my van. Sometimes the digital dash doesn't allow me to clear the stop start error

This will solve that little problem - Stop Start Engine System Off Eliminator

I dont have one myself, stop/start doesn't bother me, but others have used that device with success.

 

[Kind of Blue]

I don't think I can just turn it off as it has an error with it. I have no desire to fix the stop start so would rather just disable it fully and stop the warning coming up everytime I start the vehicle

I can not claim to be an expert by any stretch of my imagination but does sound that you have a fault. I would suggest having it investigated for fault codes. Never know, it might be a simple fix but on he other hand it may be something else and i would have thought it better to know and then appropriate action can be directed then you could just switch it off after starting it becomes a habit.

 

[T6Norfolk]

This will solve that little problem - Stop Start Engine System Off Eliminator

I dont have one myself, stop/start doesn't bother me, but others have used that device with success.

Thanks for the link, I will take a look and probably order one

 

[T6Norfolk]

I can not claim to be an expert by any stretch of my imagination but does sound that you have a fault. I would suggest having it investigated for fault codes. Never know, it might be a simple fix but on he other hand it may be something else and i would have thought it better to know and then appropriate action can be directed then you could just switch it off after starting it becomes a habit.

Yeah it would be good to know why it doesn't work, even if I don't want to use it. Last owner said it never worked when they had it

 

[Kind of Blue]

Yeah it would be good to know why it doesn't work, even if I don't want to use it. Last owner said it never worked when they had it

Best of luck getting it sorted. I do not have a code reader I normally would take it to a VAG Specialist but if you do not have one get someone a specialist record the codes and you could post them up and someone would likely reply and if its your lucky day some of the real experts on here might make some good suggestions but they would need the codes I guess a bit like a Dr. taking tests.