HQCT Module (new thread following HU RDS/RDBS)

[BronxAtHome]

Hi Diogenes,

I can confirm that there is 5.1V on Pin 1 of the USB connector. I'm going to take it into work and try it on the pc there just to triple check before sending it off.

Thank you for the quick response. I'll let you know how it goes at work.

Regards,

Dion.

[BronxAtHome]

I tried the HQCT-i at work but still no go - it must be the module.
Have sent an email to info@datalex.be.

Cheers,

Dion.

[Glitchinthesyst]

Diogenes,

I'm testing out my recently purchased HQCT-eA using the CPCTuner Software by Luc Van Laer and I think (note "I think") I have discovered a error in your previously supplied drawing with regard to which speakers come out of which pin on the Molex connector.

That's of course if CPCTuner has not somehow managed to "cross" the outputs of the Amp.

It would appear that my HQCT-eA has the O/P's of the Front Right & Rear Left swapped.
So if we use your drawing as a reference, Pins 12 & 13 have the Front Right speaker O/P and pins 16 & 17 have the Rear Left speaker O/P.

Now is it even possible for Luc to have "labeled" the Speaker O/P's wrongly in his software or have I got a HQCT-eA that has been "cross" wired internally?

CPCTuner allows you to individually switch on & off the speaker O/P's so it is possible it's just a "cross" in his software and when I eventually use Centrafuse to control the HQCT-eA it will the "right" way around as per your drawing.

What software do you use to check the units prior to dispatch ?

Your comments would be appreciated.

Regards Glitch

[Diogenes]

Quote: Originally Posted by Glitchinthesyst

Diogenes,

I'm testing out my recently purchased HQCT-eA ...
Regards Glitch

Hi,

keep thinking, it keeps the brain fit...

I took the datasheets, a multimeter, a HQCT-eA pcb and the wiring diagram posted recently.

After testing i can confirm that the wiring diagram is correct.

Since Enable/Disable of each amplifier is controlled by setting or clearing a particular bit in a control word it is possible to get a 'bit' confused, or even a full byte...

So i guess it is the 'label' of the button that is wrong in Putputs software. We use our own RRHQCT software to do all testing. I will mail it to you (it is too big to attach it to a post on this forum), so you can compare.

Also i'll ask Luc which bits he uses for which speaker.

kind regards,

Diogenes.

[Glitchinthesyst]

Diogenes,

Once again many thanks for the prompt reply (I just wish all suppliers were this good), I thought it may have something to do with an error in the CPCTuner software.

If you could email me across the RRHQCT software it would be really appreciated.

I'm still waiting the response to a post I placed on the Flux forum, asking if Centrafuse actually supports the HQCT-eA, i.e. the Amplifer side? I'm running the trial edition of Centrafuse (v2)and it would appear not to as far as I can see, although I maybe wrong.

Again many thanks Glitch

[Diogenes]

Quote: Originally Posted by Glitchinthesyst

Diogenes,

...Centrafuse (v2)...

Glitch

Hi,

Luc reported on 14/7 that CF had the version supporting HQCT-eA working, so you should get a (trial) version of a later date.

Diogenes,

[Glitchinthesyst]

Quote: Originally Posted by Diogenes

Hi,

Luc reported on 14/7 that CF had the version supporting HQCT-eA working, so you should get a (trial) version of a later date.

Diogenes,

Sorry I should have stated that I am using the latest version of CF (2.0.806 - Final), however I have now received confirmation from Flux that CF DOES NOT fully support the HQCT-eA, in fact I would go as far to suggest that it makes the HQCT-eA obsolete, if you want to make use of the Amplifier part of the HQCT-eA.

CF does turn the HQCT-EA's Amp on and send the Tuners O/P out of the Speakers/Line Level O/P's when you select "Radio" as the source from within the main menu of CF, which is what I would expect.

However when you select any of the other sources (Media, DVD, Navigation & Phone) then it does NOT turn the Amp on or select the Aux 1 line level I/P (this is in the DLL), so therefor any sound that is coming from your motherboard/soundcard line level O/P via the Aux 1 I/P cannot be heard via the HQCT-eA's Amplifier and Speaker/Line Level O/P's !
Which makes it pretty much useless at the moment as an "all in one package" to replace a HU or Radio tuner and separate Amp combination, to the point that if you wnat to use the HQCT-eA with CF you can not!

Flux have said that they will "look into" it and hopefully issue a fix in the future( no time scale)

I have also pointed out to them that CF does not enable you to adjust the Sound stage of the HQCT-eA either i.e. the front and rear speaker fader and other options available under CPCTuner or RRHQCT, again they say they will look into this.

Considering I purchased the HQCT-eA based on the fact that Flux's hardware FAQ stated it was supported I am very disappointed that in fact it is not.

Thank god I have not parted with any cash yet for CF...now I wonder what Roadrunner is like ?

Yours much wiser Glitch

[Griff1]

Quote: Originally Posted by Glitchinthesyst

Sorry I should have stated that I am using the latest version of CF (2.0.806 - Final), however I have now received confirmation from Flux that CF DOES NOT fully support the HQCT-eA, in fact I would go as far to suggest that it makes the HQCT-eA obsolete, if you want to make use of the Amplifier part of the HQCT-eA.

CF does turn the HQCT-EA's Amp on and send the Tuners O/P out of the Speakers/Line Level O/P's when you select "Radio" as the source from within the main menu of CF, which is what I would expect.

However when you select any of the other sources (Media, DVD, Navigation & Phone) then it does NOT turn the Amp on or select the Aux 1 line level I/P (this is CD I believe in the DLL), so therefor any sound that is coming from your motherboard/soundcard line level O/P via the Aux 1 I/P cannot be heard via the HQCT-eA's Amplifier and Speaker/Line Level O/P's !
Which makes it pretty much useless at the moment as an "all in one package" to replace a HU or Radio tuner and separate Amp combination, to the point that if you wnat to use the HQCT-eA with CF you can not!

Flux have said that they will "look into" it and hopefully issue a fix in the future( no time scale)

I have also pointed out to them that CF does not enable you to adjust the Sound stage of the HQCT-eA either i.e. the front and rear speaker fader and other options available under CPCTuner or RRHQCT, again they say they will look into this.

Considering I purchased the HQCT-eA based on the fact that Flux's hardware FAQ stated it was supported I am very disappointed that in fact it is not.

Thank god I have not parted with any cash yet for CF...now I wonder what Roadrunner is like ?

Yours much wiser Glitch

Like CF,RR has a big following,in both cases "that many people can't be wrong" but if you've invested your hard earned in hardware and CF is holding it back so to speak then as a RR user i urge you to give RR a try.

The main thing to note is that as a commercial product CF does an awful lot of config on the end user's behalf during installation,RR does not!
Along with that you will also find a lot of RR's functionality isn't in fact RR's functionality,RR has many available plugins which you may choose to install that enable in some cases "Major funtions" such as database support which as a CF user i imagine you've grown quite accustomed to,now should i also mention you'll then need a skin that supports it,of which there are few.

Likewise some RR functions are skin specific due to custom scripts being used within the skin to do things that RR either can't do or just to keep it simple and keep RR light.

All these things aside RR is good stuff if your prepared to put in the config time.

[damienwright]

Since I aquired the HQCT-i a while ago I have been trying off and on to get it to work. It appears that the unit is recognized by the PC and the dem software and CPCTuner etc recognize it and attempt to scan / manually tune etc but I get no RDS and constant white noise throughout fm and am spectrum. I bought all the ancilliary cables with the unit so dont beleive it is a wiring / interface issue.

Is there a troubleshooting guide somewhere / is there something specific I might have done wrong / has anyone else experienced similar and if so did they manage to find a solution.

Best regards,

Damien.

[Diogenes]

Quote: Originally Posted by damienwright

Since I aquired the HQCT-i a while ago I have been trying off and on to get it to work. It appears that the unit is recognized by the PC and the dem software and CPCTuner etc recognize it and attempt to scan / manually tune etc but I get no RDS and constant white noise throughout fm and am spectrum. I bought all the ancilliary cables with the unit so dont beleive it is a wiring / interface issue.

Is there a troubleshooting guide somewhere / is there something specific I might have done wrong / has anyone else experienced similar and if so did they manage to find a solution.

Best regards,

Damien.

Hi,


seems you have no radio signal at all, check your antenna connection.
White noise throughout the spectrum indicates that receiver and media controller work but that there is no station detected. There could be ashort circuit of the antenna input to ground. Can you post a photo of your install?

regards,

Diogenes.

[kinnu]

I have similar issue, almost no radio signal. I have internal module, its 1.0 if im not mistaken, the reception is exteremely bad. I built a metal casing around it and grounded that also, but no success. Tried another car radio to my antenna and it was working perfect, so the problem must be the hqct module itself. It is powered from the pc's own power supply M2-ATX, voltage on 12v rail is not droping, nor is it on 5v rail. Tried to build an external psu for 5v and applied the filter, described few pages back here, it was even worse. No antenna amplifier helped. Any ideas what else to do, where to look?

Thank you!
Kinnu

[Diogenes]

Bad reception is related to the signal that gets to the unit trough the antenna connetion.
The SMB connector used on the HQCT is a high quality component but it must be used properly.
Fact is that when the connector is inserted correctly it is VERY difficult to pull it off. I always use pliers to do it, do NOT try to pull it out by pulling on the coax...

Have a good look at the attached pics. The connector on the module has a central pin, that is the actual antenna connection, the cable connector has a mating part.

First thing to check is that the pin is there AND right in the center.
Then plug the cable on and drive it FULLY home, the 'A' parts snap the two together.

Have a look at post 1101, 1110 and 1161 and probably some more in this thread...

regards,

Diogenes

[Kosti]

Quick Question - I want to take the output from the PC (stereo jack) and plug this into the HQCT aux via a jack to RCA cable and then use the F/R-L&R line out to feed into the AMP as my main audio output source.

Now will i get sound all the time when not using the radio via AUX and then when selecting RADIO, the AUX is off to hear radio, then when radio off, to hear AUX?

How can I select this option via RR/Skin as I've notice when radio launches, i see the HQCT app and I can choose CD which give me sound through AUX, but so far I have to make sure CD/AUX is selected.

Is this right or an I doing something wrong?

(This is the only way I can achieve sound at this stage - do to HW limitations)

I hope I made sense

[Diogenes]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kosti

Quick Question - I want to take the output from the PC (stereo jack) and plug this into the HQCT aux via a jack to RCA cable and then use the F/R-L&R line out to feed into the AMP as my main audio output source...
I hope I made sense

Hi,

it does make sense.We have expanded the functionality of our RRHQCT software to do just what you want, right now we test it with the HQCT-eA but it will work with any HQCT.

RR is starting the RRHQCT program when radio is selected and stopping it when another sound source is selected. We have modified our software to switch to AUX2 instead of stopping the program. When selecting Radio the program will adjust the volume setting to follow the selected volume slider in windows (i.e. follow the volume slider of RR). When switched to AUX2 the volume settings of the HQCT for this setting are fixed, ie can only be changed in the RRHQCT window, because RR is controlling the volume of the other sound sources (via soundcard or Winamp,...) the HQCT must NOT influence it. Basically, one must select Radio, tune to a station and adjust the RR slider to a certain level, then switch to another source, set the RR slider to the same position as for radio and then adjust the RRHQCT volume slider to get the same sound volume, after this, the RRHQCT program stores this setting and the volume from all sources wil be the same and controlled from the RR slider.
This is still the beta version, we did plan to switch to AUX1 after the program is running fine.
We will modify it right now and send you a copy of the program, do send us your mail address (mailto info@datalex.be), the program is too large to attach to this thread so i want to send it directly to you.

Since RR is using Windows messages we had to overcome the stop program command sent when selecting another sound source or when exiting RR. In order to stop our program you must click 1 first and then 2, otherwise RRHQCT stays ON and you cannot stop the PC...

Hope this made sense...

Diogenes.

[Kosti]

YES, perfect! this is what I need as basically I am wanting to use the HQCT-e as my line level output to my amps due to other limitations. Do you think I will inherit much engine noise this way?

So ideally the RRHQCT s/w will change outputs based on options selected in RR/Skin. Will this affect the phone and NAV when listening to music or radio?

I'll send your team an email now from my email addy kostiz@gmail.com,

thanks again champ!