A friend borrowed me a Euro cradle with tmc antenna cable for my US F500BT for a few days. Of course, on his unit TMC works. I read somewhere, that using the Euro cradle, a US F500BT is able to receive TMC information. Can anybody tell me, how that works? Can I damage the US unit by using the Euro cradle?

Any help appreciated.

There's nothing to worry about damage, only question whether it will work or not. I'm trying to get a cradle myself but unsuccessful as they're yet to have them in stock.

Try to use the 749EW sys.txt and let us know if it works, I think it will solve the mystery for some..

Well,I tested around a bit, but I cannot say, that it is working.

I changed in sys.txt uc to ew. It still tries to establish a connection to MSN direct.

I must admit, I did not hardwire the device. Just the cradle and the 5V + tmc cable attached to it.

Did I miss a step?

Just to double check. The US cradle's number ends with a 3 right?

Well,I tested around a bit, but I cannot say, that it is working.

I changed in sys.txt uc to ew. It still tries to establish a connection to MSN direct.

I must admit, I did not hardwire the device. Just the cradle and the 5V + tmc cable attached to it.

Did I miss a step?

Just to double check. The US cradle's number ends with a 3 right?

US (MSND) - 541316670004

EU (TMC) - 541316670003

Sorry for the confusion I caused. I meant the number on the back of the cradle.

CZX5423 is the US one, right?

EDIT: Should IGO8 in Leetlauncher show TMC availability?

EDIT #2: I just "destroyed" an old PSU for my pc to setup a test environment.

I conneceted all relevant cables (12V 5V and parking brake to ground). Still no TMC information, in fact, it says MSNDirect on the button, so I doubt, even if the cradle works correctly, that TMC will work without any further modifications.

Sorry for the confusion I caused. I meant the number on the back of the cradle.

CZX5423 is the US one, right?

 

EDIT: Should IGO8 in Leetlauncher show TMC availability?

EDIT #2: I just "destroyed" an old PSU for my pc to setup a test environment.

I conneceted all relevant cables (12V 5V and parking brake to ground). Still no TMC information, in fact, it says MSNDirect on the button, so I doubt, even if the cradle works correctly, that TMC will work without any further modifications.

The one bundled with my US unit is CZX5422.

You're right in powering it up with both voltages, it is required for the cradle to work - thats what I did when testing the MSND at home anyway. One way to approach it is in testmode, running igo8 which can search for the serial port/protocol. The other way would be to try adding the following to sys.txt:

[tmc]

source="gns"

port="COM,4"

This is taken from the original data.zip, the setting for PIONEER749EW, in case its still being detected as UC.

Good news, but first

shame on me....

I got the right cradle here, but used the wrong one.Confused em both as they are still brand new... LMAO right now.

And yes, it works. I am getting a traffic information. I added your last info, don't know if that was neccessary.

But launching IGO8 in testmode doesn't show tmc. I guess I will have to enable TMC in a configuration file.

In ezrider, all looks the same, but when you tap msndirect and then traffic, traffic information is listed.

All the other buttons say, that there is no info.

Now, all we have to do, is to get a EW cradle.

Good news, but first

shame on me....

I got the right cradle here, but used the wrong one.Confused em both as they are still brand new... LMAO right now.

And yes, it works. I am getting a traffic information. I added your last info, don't know if that was neccessary.

But launching IGO8 in testmode doesn't show tmc. I guess I will have to enable TMC in a configuration file.

In ezrider, all looks the same, but when you tap msndirect and then traffic, traffic information is listed.

All the other buttons say, that there is no info.

Now, all we have to do, is to get a EW cradle.

Never mind, its good news as long as it works. We would also need to try get the msndirect buttons to disappear and be replaced with tmc.

In which country do you get the TMC info?

I use it in Germany.

Now, I got it working in Testmode aswell. Had to add the same info to sys.txt.

In IGO you can even see, how tmc scans radio stations.