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SMEG+ upgrade to Satnav

44K views 38 replies 16 participants last post by  C4cactus2016 
#1 ·
I thought I will add my notes and tips how to upgrade the SMEG+ telematics unit on the Cactus.
If your car does not have satnav or DAB options from factory there is a way to upgrade the SMEG+ unit.

First new SMEG+ unit is needed. Be aware that some of the units sold on Ebay have despite the description no Satnav or DAB option. One way to identify the satnav unit is to look which connectors it has. Satnav units have always blue antenna connector in the back and DAB units have brown one. White and gray connectors are standard FM1/AM and FM2. Here is the full option Cactus SMEG+:
Circuit component Hardware programmer Passive circuit component Font Electronic instrument

If there is no picture from the back but is a picture from the label it is also possible to identify the unit. The important numbers are level number and software number:
Font Ticket Label Gas Temperature

You are on the safe side if the new unit is H1 or H2, the latter has in addition to satnav also DAB. The software number has to begin with 5. Other softwares are 3.XX.X which is older firmware and 6.XX.X which is SMEG+IV2. I think it is possible to install a unit with older SW but who wants older units, the SMEG+IV2 can not be installed as far as I know. The reason is that all the cars that were originally equipped with it have separate climate control buttons so it lacks a possibility of touch screen climate control configuration. This is the unit which also has Apple Carplay unfortunately.
The equipment levels are described in this document: https://fccid.io/ANATEL/00719-14-05386/MANUAL/DADF0ABD-43AA-405C-8165-C6B5BEC8D0EC/PDF I have seen levels not described there so it is not a complete list but as far as I know Cactus was equipped with units B1, B2, H1 and H2. My original unit was B1.
If the unit is bought the installation itself is a piece of cake. Remove the passenger side lower trim, unscrew the two torx T20 screws, disconnect the connectors, connect new unit and put the screws back.
Motor vehicle Bumper Automotive design Trunk Automotive exterior

Next it has to be coded to the car so the VIN stored in the unit matches with the one stored in BSI (Built in Systems Interface). Until then it works but makes a beeping sound even when the radio is switched off. Also the navigation menu button has to be configured to be present on the touch screen. This all has to be done by the dealer (around 50 euros) since there is no option to configure SMEG+ nor touch screen with unofficial Diagbox and clone interface. I think it is possible to install a unit from Peugeot also but then there is in addition to VIN configuration the need to download the appropriate Citroen profile from PSA servers.

Then the only thing is the antenna. It is reported that the simplest GPS antenna for a ten or so euros/pounds from Ebay works perfectly fine placed under the dashboard. The original antenna base and cables do not cost a fortune also (about 100 euros in all) and there are these antennas on Amazon: https://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=kombiflex+antenne The problem is however that it is very difficult/impossible to install a new antenna base without removing the roof liner. I therefore went a different route and bought this kind of antenna (there are black ones also): http://www.scan-antenna.com/product/satfix-1-gps-white It has to be active with 5V phantom supply because SMEG+ applies 5V to the antenna.
Liquid Automotive lighting Tap Plumbing fixture Lamp

It has an FME-male connector so I ordered 5m RG174 cable from the local radio shop with FME-female connector in one end and Fakra blue connector in the other. RG174 coaxial cable is used originally also. I routed the cable under the right edge (my unit is in the right side) of the roof liner and installed the antenna into the rear spoiler:
Sky Vehicle Hood Automotive lighting Automotive tire

The spoiler is attached with six 10 mm bolts and with some clips. Unscrew the bolts and pull the spoiler off:
Car Vehicle Hood Motor vehicle Automotive lighting

Small section of the inner part of the spoiler has to be cut off in order to make a hole for the antenna mounting. It is the only center point.
Yellow Electrical wiring Line Wood Gas

The FME-female connector is thin enough to go through the rubber boot of the trunk hatch. Then route the cable through the existing rubber boot on the spoiler or make a new hole (the hole has to be sealed) for it.
Automotive exterior Bumper Rectangle Gas Technology

Since the spoiler is not completely waterproof from underneath I put some silicone into the hole of the antenna mounting where the cable comes out.
In order to get better access under the roof liner the c-pillar trim has to be removed. To do that the black pieces have to be removed first then it is possible to remove one screw from the white trim pieces. The roof liner has two plastic clips in the back also which are easy to remove. Then you can pull the liner downwards a little.
So all done and 12 satellites visible :D
Black Plant Font Map Auto part

Total cost: SMEG+ - 275 euros (with shipping), antenna 25 euros, cable with connectors - 10 euros, configuration by the dealer - 48 euros = 358 euros
 

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#5 ·
Yes, it has. It has DAB also, the brown plastic part of the antenna plug is broken off but the connection is there. It has only one USB connection though and the level (H4) which is not described in the manual I found but as I said earlier it may not matter. The unit seems to be newer than the ones described in my graphics. So, if your car originally has two USB-s you just loose one, if the unit is from Peugeot you just download Citroen profile. And so on.
 
#7 ·
Hi. The fitting is not difficult at all. Only two screws and the plugs and antenna wire. It will work even without the coding only makes a beeping sound. That is how you can check the functions. You can not check satnav though because the screen does not have satnav button activated.
The coding might be the real obsticle. It has to be done by official dealer because the official Diagbox software must be used. There is a way with clone Actia interface and online pin calculator but it costs at least 65 euros (citroen token and pin calculator tokens) and the official software must be used anyway. I managed to get the coding done by official dealer for 48 euros. The problem might be though that the dealers are unwilling to do such coding or they will code the new SMEG unit but only with automatic coding. Additional manual coding may be needed though to code the options that your car does not have originally (satnav option and the button on the screen).
But.... I am sure that you will find a dealer that will do what you want. Just ask around and if that part is sorted out, the rest is easy.
 
#8 ·
Great poost Vaho!

More like this. I was also thinking about retro fitting the Grip Control - traction control found in the RipCurl models, and Climate Control.

Researching both.

Questions for your sat nav installation:
1. Would it not be possible to glue the GPS antenna to the underside of the plastic rear wing, instead of drilling a whole in it? Or will in not fit depth wise?

2. I also thought of installing the GPS antenna in the side mirrors instead. Should have space enough.

3. My current car does not have DAB. Does you know if the car still have a DAB radio connector present even if the car's unit is without? If not how did you solve the DAB antenna?

Best regards Thor
 
#9 ·
Hi,

1. I guess it is possible, there should be enough room inside.
2. If you do not want to drill holes then I would suggest to buy the rectangular indoor antenna from e-bay and install it to the back of the screen under the plastic cover. The antenna is small enough to fit under the cover, direct view upwards is guaranteed and the antenna and wires are hidden.
3. No, there is no DAB antenna nor wires and connectors. You have to buy the new antenna, install wires and connector.

I did not install DAB antenna because we don´t have DAB-radio in Estonia and it is therefore no use to me. If I would wanted to install it though I think the most reasonable thing is to buy one of these kombi antennas that I have linked. That way you get rooftop GPS also, which is always better. Only problem may be installing it into the roof to replace the original antenna base because the roof liner is in the way.
 
#10 ·
Vaho,
A much better fix would be a way to fix an iPad or android tablet with Google maps to the dashboard and get rid of SMEG altogether! I have just spent half an hour sitting in the car trying to find places I have to go tomorrow on the satnav, and have given up. My car is 2016, and the satnav could do with a serious User Interface upgrade. For tomorrow, I will be fixing the phone to the windscreen and using Google. For me SMEG is a total failure.
 
#11 ·
Pvanv said:
Vaho,
A much better fix would be a way to fix an iPad or android tablet with Google maps to the dashboard and get rid of SMEG altogether! I have just spent half an hour sitting in the car trying to find places I have to go tomorrow on the satnav, and have given up. My car is 2016, and the satnav could do with a serious User Interface upgrade. For tomorrow, I will be fixing the phone to the windscreen and using Google. For me SMEG is a total failure.
I agree SMEG is not as convenient to use as a handheld TomTom, but are you following the suggested method in the handbook?
The following post shows the relevant handbook page explanation of how to entering a number of destinations into the "Contacts" list for easy access later...
https://www.cactusforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1195&p=13379#p9704
 
#12 ·
Davew,
An example of my issues with SMEG: I had to go to a small town in the west of Ireland called Westport (pop. about 6,000). I admit it is not a city, but the entry fields are restricted to Cities.
When I type W-E-S-T into the "City" field, and it jumps to "Westtown. Co. Waterford" and does not allow the entry of any more letters. It effectively gives a choice of one, but Westtown is a small village (much smaller than Westport) some 315 km from Westport (according to Google Maps). Not much use to me.
 
#13 ·
Pvanv said:
Davew,
An example of my issues with SMEG: I had to go to a small town in the west of Ireland called Westport (pop. about 6,000). I admit it is not a city, but the entry fields are restricted to Cities.
When I type W-E-S-T into the "City" field, and it jumps to "Westtown. Co. Waterford" and does not allow the entry of any more letters. It effectively gives a choice of one, but Westtown is a small village (much smaller than Westport) some 315 km from Westport (according to Google Maps). Not much use to me.
If you could give a couple of locations - preferably hotels or building addresses, that you have problems with, I'd like to try them on my satnavs ...
 
#14 ·
Davew,
It is quite random, I was looking to get to Kerry Regional Airport, but the satnav will not permit the entry of Farrenfore, the town where the airport is located . I was then surprised that is accepted Tourmakeady, which was unexpected. It does not accept the Irish postcodes(Eircodes), although it does accept those of other countries( UK and Netherlands at least).
 
#15 ·
Pvanv said:
Davew,
It is quite random, I was looking to get to Kerry Regional Airport, but the satnav will not permit the entry of Farrenfore, the town where the airport is located . I was then surprised that is accepted Tourmakeady, which was unexpected. It does not accept the Irish postcodes(Eircodes), although it does accept those of other countries( UK and Netherlands at least).
My understanding is that all satnavs actually perform their guidance/ route directions by the sole use of the latitude and longitude of the start and finish points. If a location identifier in the form of a post code or address is entered into the satnav, these location identifiers have to be first converted in the satnav unit by a look up table, or an algorithm, into the corresponding lat and long values before the route can be planned and subsequently used for guidance.

Consequently, although it may be convenient to enter a post code or an address into the satnav, it is not the only method and the same route planning and guidance is available by entering the latitude and longitude values corresponding to the destination.

For the area that you mention - Westport, Mayo, I see various hotels etc that have an internet presence - these often give the latitude and longitude in addition to the address and Eircode...Presumably this is to assistance users of Satnavs which cannot cope with Eircodes.

In any event the latitude and longitude can be looked up at this web site which seems to cope with locations worldwide:
http://www.get-direction.com/address-to-lat-long.html

So using this web site for your example of one of your problem locations - Kerry Airport - the lat and long value can be found just be entering Kerry Airport, Ireland into the address box and the full address is returned as "Kerry Airport, Farranfore, Kerry, Ireland", together with the latitude in "Degrees - Minute - Seconds" format, given as 52 - 10 - 53 N, and the longitude given as 9 - 32 - 14 W

The actual effort then required for setting the destination into the Cactus Satnav is to enter the six digits for longitude and the five for longitude into the specific lat and long boxes on the screen, so this is not greatly different from entering an address, letter by letter, or an Eircode .

The User manual explains the Navigation menu sequence to reach the latitude and longitude entry screen. I tried the method and it seems straightforward.
 
#16 ·
I nearly always look at online maps when I am going somewhere new, or somewhere I'm not sur about. It's easy to pinpoint the spot you want, rather than use a postcode which gives a general area. Only downside is, the online map shows in decimal, which I then have to convert to degrees minutes and seconds. But that's easy using one of several free apps available.

Also, regarding satnav, a Citroen service advisor told me last week, that any cactus built after a certain date in 2015 (can't remember the exact date) gets 5 years free updates. But you have to ask when you go for service, it's not an automatic part of the service. And it can take 4/5 hours.
 
#17 ·
The2ems said:
Also, regarding satnav, a Citroen service advisor told me last week, that any cactus built after a certain date in 2015 (can't remember the exact date) gets 5 years free updates. But you have to ask when you go for service, it's not an automatic part of the service. And it can take 4/5 hours.
Mine is April 2016, and I have 5 years of map updates included - I download them and update them myself, it takes just over 50 minutes to do the whole of Europe including GB/Ireland...
 
#18 ·
srperry said:
The2ems said:
Also, regarding satnav, a Citroen service advisor told me last week, that any cactus built after a certain date in 2015 (can't remember the exact date) gets 5 years free updates. But you have to ask when you go for service, it's not an automatic part of the service. And it can take 4/5 hours.
Mine is April 2016, and I have 5 years of map updates included - I download them and update them myself, it takes just over 50 minutes to do the whole of Europe including GB/Ireland...
Is the latest update compatible with the Republic of Ireland Eircode system?
For example V93 KHF7 is the 7 character Eircode for Kerry Airport...
 
#19 ·
[/quote]

Is the latest update compatible with the Republic of Ireland Eircode system?
For example V93 KHF7 is the 7 character Eircode for Kerry Airport...
[/quote]

No, I tried it and the Eircodes still won't work - and they don't in Sygic either...
 
#20 ·
Is the latest update compatible with the Republic of Ireland Eircode system?
For example V93 KHF7 is the 7 character Eircode for Kerry Airport...
[/quote]

No, I tried it and the Eircodes still won't work - and they don't in Sygic either...
[/quote]

Thanks for your report - it seems to confirm that the only viable way, even with the latest updates, for many destinations in the Republic of Ireland is to find their lat and long coordinates before setting off and enter those into the sat nav...
 
#21 ·
As I have to use another internet connected device to find the lat/long coordinates of my destination, and convert them to deg/mins/secs to suit the SMEG entry format, it is simply much more convenient, and less error prone, to search for the destination on Google Maps on the phone, and when it is found, click "directions" and "drive" and clip the phone to the windscreen. It is just a pity the car can't mirror the phone's screen. Google actually issues it's verbal instructions through the Bluetooth connection to the cars sound system.
 
#22 ·
srperry said:
The2ems said:
Also, regarding satnav, a Citroen service advisor told me last week, that any cactus built after a certain date in 2015 (can't remember the exact date) gets 5 years free updates. But you have to ask when you go for service, it's not an automatic part of the service. And it can take 4/5 hours.
Mine is April 2016, and I have 5 years of map updates included - I download them and update them myself, it takes just over 50 minutes to do the whole of Europe including GB/Ireland...
Do you use a 16gb usb stick?
 
#23 ·
Pvanv said:
As I have to use another internet connected device to find the lat/long coordinates of my destination, and convert them to deg/mons/secs to suit the SMEG entry format, it is simply much more convenient, and less error prone, to search for the destination on Google Maps on the phone, and when it is found, click "directions" and "drive" and clip the phone to the windscreen. It is just a pity the car can't mirror the phone's screen. Google actually issues it's verbal instructions through the Bluetooth connection to the cars sound system.
What I find puzzling is that you have told us repeatedly for almost two years now, that you have great difficulty with the Cactus satnav, and have totally given up on it - at least five times in the past 13 months - and yet you return to the topic over and over again...
 
#24 ·
Davew,
Thank you for your research, and apologies if I seem short. I do not really want to be considered some sort of satnav troll. As you've noticed, my posts started some two years ago when I got my Cactus. It is my first car with an integral satnav. The feature has been quite a disappointment to me, but, as it's button constantly glows at the bottom left of the touchscreen whenever I drive somewhere, I do occasionally put it on to use as a moving map for information, or to give it another try.

The car itself is fine, and the satnav is probably fine if your in a country where addresses are standardised and the postcodes are accepted by it, but I have found it very disappointing. If it were a stand alone consumer product, I would probably have returned it to the retailer about two years ago.

Still puzzled?
 
#25 ·
To be fair it is an onboard aid to driving.None of them are as good, or as comprehensive as a stand alone. In case you`re thinking its cheapo Citroen, it isnt...A friend has an XC60 Volvo..all singing and dancing. He was using the onboard system when he got stuck in a long tailback south on the M5. The system offered a detour and he accepted it. It simply took him back, via a circuitous route to the M5, only 2 junctions back from where he came off!!..

They are only so good, I was using mine this weekend in unfamilar area and it froze on me twice causing Nav problems..But that`s what an onboard system is. I never regard any onboard system as the full package. If you want the lot, use a stand alone
 
#26 ·
The2ems said:
srperry said:
The2ems said:
Also, regarding satnav, a Citroen service advisor told me last week, that any cactus built after a certain date in 2015 (can't remember the exact date) gets 5 years free updates. But you have to ask when you go for service, it's not an automatic part of the service. And it can take 4/5 hours.
Mine is April 2016, and I have 5 years of map updates included - I download them and update them myself, it takes just over 50 minutes to do the whole of Europe including GB/Ireland...
Do you use a 16gb usb stick?
I use a 32Gb MicroSD card formatted to FAT32 in a USB adaptor...
 
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