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[chrisgixer]

Personally I don't trust front wheel drive autos. If I had fwd it would have to be manual. So the rest of the car would need to be pretty good to suffer a manual round these parts. Even if it was a good manual box.
Interesting post though Phil

[Andy B]

....

Later ones have AFL and after mid 2004 are full CAN so have the 'CD' prefix stereos but alot of the bits found in mine became optional extras. ....

In simple terms .....  does this mean that an aftermarket single DIN radio will NOT just work if you connect it up to the original loom via a conversion loom? 

Asking on behalf of a lad at work that's recently bought an 04 Signum 

[05omegav6]

Aftermarket will work just fine, but don't expect the trip computer to work

[Andy H]

Aftermarket will work just fine, but don't expect the trip computer to work

A big selling point of CANbus to car manufacturers was that they could lose half the wires in the wiring loom. Just take a permanent feed and a CANbus to everything. If you want sidelights then send a command for 'sidelights on' for example. No need for a separate wire for every function.

Without separate switched feed, aerial amplifier feed, speed signal, dashboard illumination etc the in car entertainment goes back to being a dumb wireless receiver. The question is whether VX left the old fashioned wiring in place for old fashioned radios. You can get CANbus emulators that connect to the CANbus and then provide switched feed, illumination and speed signal but it all adds to the hassle & expense.

[Andy B]

Aftermarket will work just fine, but don't expect the trip computer to work

that's the problem ........ a known to work head unit doesn't work in the car. At some time before h bought it, the original loom to the head unit had been butchered - a plug was missing (guessing it'd gone to the TID/GID/whatever it is in a Signum). He sourced another car, cut out a section of radio loom, grafted it to his car & the after market radio still doesn't work. I'm only taking his word for it because I've not seen his repairs ..... but he's no numpty.

[Andy B]

Aftermarket will work just fine, but don't expect the trip computer to work

A big selling point of CANbus to car manufacturers was that they could lose half the wires in the wiring loom. Just take a permanent feed and a CANbus to everything. If you want sidelights then send a command for 'sidelights on' for example. No need for a separate wire for every function.

Without separate switched feed, aerial amplifier feed, speed signal, dashboard illumination etc the in car entertainment goes back to being a dumb wireless receiver. The question is whether VX left the old fashioned wiring in place for old fashioned radios. You can get CANbus emulators that connect to the CANbus and then provide switched feed, illumination and speed signal but it all adds to the hassle & expense.

All that says that the answer to my question is ..... no 

[05omegav6]

Earlier cars are only part Canbus if the loom was from a later car that might explain that

Buttons on the steering wheel, 3 each side iirc, is not full Canbus, if the controls are anything else the it's full Canbus, late '04 onwards iirc

Best bet might be to source the complete audio loom for that exact age/model and fit it in one piece... those Vectra C dashes come apart fairly readily

[Andy B]

Earlier cars are only part Canbus if the loom was from a later car that might explain that

Buttons on the steering wheel, 3 each side iirc, is not full Canbus, if the controls are anything else the it's full Canbus, late '04 onwards iirc

Best bet might be to source the complete audio loom for that exact age/model and fit it in one piece... those Vectra C dashes come apart fairly readily

I've only have a brief look at the car s no idea re the radio controls

As far as I know, that's what he's done with the radio loom ..... 

[05omegav6]

Dave DND mightbe able to shed some light on it

[Andy B]

Dave DND mightbe able to shed some light on it

Maybe 

[Phil]

Buttons on the steering wheel, 3 each side iirc, is not full Canbus, if the controls are anything else the it's full Canbus, late '04 onwards iirc

Basically correct, buttons for half CAN, scroll wheels for full CAN.

All facelift Signums are full CAN, some prefacelift ones are full CAN as well, thats where the confusion starts

Just check its not a prefacelift with a facelift front end as this is a very easy and often carried out 'modification' - the wheel controls will be the first and possibly the only visual giveaway.

You can put an aftermarket stereo into a full CAN car with just the autoleads adaptor and an aerial adaptor, but if the looms been chopped then good luck!

However an NCDC head unit form an Omega will plug straight in and work (if coded) in a half CAN Signum (and Vectra C for that matter!) so that could be a basis for sorting the wires if it is half CAN

One thing is for sure the displays are not interchangabe, apart from no adjustment buttons for time etc on the Signum display, they are also slightly bigger so dont fit the dashboard

[05omegav6]

Facelifts are late '05 onwards have seen a few '54 cars with the scroll wheels, started with the Astra H iirc

[Andy B]

Buttons on the steering wheel, 3 each side iirc, is not full Canbus, if the controls are anything else the it's full Canbus, late '04 onwards iirc

Basically correct, buttons for half CAN, scroll wheels for full CAN.

All facelift Signums are full CAN, some prefacelift ones are full CAN as well, thats where the confusion starts

Just check its not a prefacelift with a facelift front end as this is a very easy and often carried out 'modification' - the wheel controls will be the first and possibly the only visual giveaway.

You can put an aftermarket stereo into a full CAN car with just the autoleads adaptor and an aerial adaptor, but if the looms been chopped then good luck!

However an NCDC head unit form an Omega will plug straight in and work (if coded) in a half CAN Signum (and Vectra C for that matter!) so that could be a basis for sorting the wires if it is half CAN

One thing is for sure the displays are not interchangabe, apart from no adjustment buttons for time etc on the Signum display, they are also slightly bigger so dont fit the dashboard

Thanks Phil ...... I'll let him know 

[omega3000]

Tail light warning on display , got soaked fixing it 

[Phil]

Tail light warning on display , got soaked fixing it 

Thats one bonus of the Vectra C/ Signum, it has one bulb each side for brake lights, one each side for tail lights, BUT if one stops working the other does both jobs so you can wait until its stopped raining to change it 

Facelifts are late '05 onwards have seen a few '54 cars with the scroll wheels, started with the Astra H iirc

A lot of 04 plate prefcelift Signums are full CAN