Advice on best re-rad areal please??

nicgrant

Has anyone fitted a re-rad areal - I have a Vauxhall Zaphira and am looking for one that fits. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
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Nick

GuyC

I have the GPS-RRAD-45 as reviewed on http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/reradiating.asp and am very pleased with it. My Volvo 960 does not have a coated screen but I found that the roof resticted the number of sats tracked. I have installed the rrad aeriel just in front of the sunroof and routed the cable through the closed sunroof. I leave it permanently attached and now usually track 8-11 instead of the 2-4 sats I got before.

nicgrant

Guy,Thanks - I'll check it out
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Nick

DavidW

I'm a little surprised that Nick is after a re-rad for a Zafira, as I didn't think any of them had coated windscreens.

Certainly my setup (2000MY Zafira 2.0Di Elegance, Haicom HI-303MMF being used in CompactFlash mode that sits pretty much under the middle of the windscreen) seems to work pretty well without a re-rad, sometimes managing to pick up 7 satellites plus the AOR-E satellite's ESTB differential corrections).

The proviso is that my Zafira has tinted glass (as do all Elegances), but doesn't have the Solarprotect glass option (many of the windows are pretty much blacked out if you have it). However, even if you have Solarprotect, I'm pretty sure you finish up with the same windscreen.

It is, of course, possible that later Zafiras have different windscreens, at least as an option (probably heat reflecting, as I don't believe there's a heated windscreen option).

Nick - if you come up with a good spot to mount the external part of your re-rad and route the cable, I'm interested. I'm thinking (purely on the grounds of getting the best signal possible - I'm that sort of way inclined, tending to use all in-car gadgets on external antennas) to fit an external antenna for my Haicom.

I can think of various possibilities, though none seem that easy to mount nicely.

Through the sunroof seems impossible - as it's a powered sunroof, I wouldn't be surprised if the mechanism chops the cable apart. Routing cables under the headlining is near impossible (I can't even work out how to get the headlining down). Most Zafiras don't have a sunroof anyway - as air conditioning is standard across the range and that has been the case for most of the model's life.

I'm dismissing trying to get through the hole for the radio antenna because of the headlining problems. You'd have to take so much headlining down that you'd never get things back properly. I don't know how or where the antenna for the integrated sat-nav is mounted if it's fitted, but I very much doubt there's an antenna cable fitted ready to use on vehicles that didn't have factory sat-nav.

Behind the dashboard to the pillar next to the windscreen, up that pillar and through the front passenger door seems a possibility - though I'm a little worried about a cable going across the door seal in an upwards direction. Is there not a risk of moisture getting through?

The final possibility seems to be running all the way under the trim (probably at door sill level) to the tailgate, then up through the trim there and through a top corner of the tailgate seal onto the roof.

A cable going upwards through the tailgate seal would seem more protected (by the overhang of the top of the tailgate - as opposed to going through the top of a front door seal), though that's an awful lot of trim to remove, and you'd also have to be very careful to secure the cable out of the way of the seat belt for the rear seats. I could see the attraction of fitting a re-rad in those cases, as you could use the rear cigarette lighter to power the re-rad and not run the cable from the external antenna right the way back to the dash.

You would, of course, have to check that opening the tailgate wasn't going to chop the antenna cable!

David

Dave

Some Zafira's do have windscreen problems, I've had several people contact me and since using a Re-Rad get much better signal. I'm not sure if it's the newer Zafira's or older ones though.

nicgrant

David/ Dave,

Thanks for your replies - much appreciated. I think I have to get a re-rad as it's taking 10 mins or so to get a signal. I think the rear door is the best solution - I'll let you know how I get on.
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Nick

GuyC

The cable which came with the GPS-RRAD-45 was not long enough for me to install it through the tailgate, although I think the Zafira is a bit shorter I think you would struggle as well unless you could put the amplifier/cigar lighter plug in the rear of the car. It would be relatively easy to extend the coax cable if you have the necessary equipment. I initially installed it through the drivers door seal, this worked ok but was not very elegant.

joncot

http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/search.php?search=re-radiating+antanae&x=41&y=7

I have the 2-3 metre transmit and it works excellent everytime

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Jonathan Cottrell

nicgrant

Thanks, Jonathan - I'll check them out.
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Nick

Dave

Nick what receiver do you have ? Do you wait to receive a fix before starting off ?

nicgrant

Dave, I have the receiver bundled with TomTom - yes, I do wait for a signal - still takes 10 mins or so. If I do move off it takes ages to get a fix.
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Nick

Dave

Before purchasing I would do the simple test to make sure it is a Re-Rad you need and that you don't have a faulty GPS Receiver. The easiest way is to run up TomTom Navigator and goto the GPS Status screen, if after 3 mins you haven't got a 3D fix (4+ red bars), then exit TomTom Navigator completely, relocate the GPS Mouse outside of the car (either by holding it or just put it on the roof of the car or bonet. Now run up TomTom Navigator again and go into the GPS Status screen, see how long it takes for you to get a fix. If you get one within around 50 seconds then you definately need a Re-Rad antenna.

This might sound silly, but I've been driving a lot of hire cars lately, and some of the accessory sockets are to put it bluntly AWEFUL! Sometimes you can see a light on the accessory plug, all you need to do is pull the cable slightly and the plug loses contact with the socket. This effectively creates a short and powers the unit off and then on again. Make sure you're not also getting this too as I've been experiencing this a lot lately.

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