After a long time of searching and wondering about a particular panel, I finally decided to buy a display for the Polo 6R. I chose the CANchecked Display MFD32 Gen2. The data on this panel is customisable and the angle of the panel is adjustable just like a normal air vent.
In my previous post about additional indicators for the Polo 6R, I briefly described the pros and cons of the popular options.
I ordered the display on turbozentrum.de, because there was no version for the Polo on bar-tek.com at the time I wanted to order it, and no other English or Polish language site hadn such things. Using the translator in my browser I managed to get through the checkout.
After a few days, the package was with me:
Unboxing
Inside, apart from the display box itself, I received stickers, a newspaper. a pen and a lanyard signed with the logo of the shop where I bought the panel. My cat liked the packaging, so the quality of the cardboard is cool:
And now the actual content, i.e. the box with the display:
Workmanship
And now a bit about the German 3D printing quality (or rather lack of it) – for the money, they could have at least tried a bit harder, most of the initial prototypes I saw were done more carefully….
Fortunately, when mounted to the grille, it doesn’t show so much, but in the future I’ll probably try to improve that unfortunate frame….
On the back of the panel you will see a number of inputs that are free by default, but can be used later. There are two digital inputs and four analogue inputs for 0-5 volt sensors (e.g. oil pressure, fuel pressure, exhaust gas temperature (with adapter), boost pressure etc. sensors – nice that they at least thought of this.
Contents of the package
In addition to the display in low-quality frame in the kit, we receive:
- micro SD card (Kingston 32GB) with adapter
- cable for OBD2 socket – from which it takes all data
- a cable with an angled micro USB → USB-A socket – to connect to the computer to adjust what we want to display (this is unfortunately another downside, I don’t know where they got such a socket from these times, instead of using the common USB-C, but the same budget solution was used by the manufacturer of the Dragy V2….
- adapter for fitting in the newer grille housing
MicroSD card 32 GB
Micro USB to USB A cable
The microUSB plug looks like it’s been cut with a knife – presumably so it can be inserted into the panel xD
Adapters for attachment to the ventilation grille
Ah this German precision…. ;x
On the other hand, it’s nice of them to have included that parts, so that the panel can be fitted to all available air vents. My newer centre grilles in piano black are from the 6R R-Line, but they have fixings like those from the 6C. The difference is mainly in the holes, I will try to illustrate this in the pictures below:
So, if someone were to decide on a similar panel for a ventilation grille from another company, it would be a good idea to make sure what kind of fixings it has first 😉
Connection to PC and initial configuration
To personalise the display, all you have to do is connect it to your computer with this unfortunate USB cable. From the manufacturer’s website, you download the CANchecked DSS (Display Setup Software) programme and use it to get to grips with everything – here the big plus is that it is configurable.
In addition, there are already various tutorials in English available on their youtube channel, so you can get a fairly easy overview of how to configure any indicators. When you connect the panel to your computer, the panel immediately starts up (no external power supply) so you can keep an eye on what you are setting up on your computer. It is also possible to upload your own images, logos, etc. Eventually, I will make an additional USB socket for the panel in my Polówka, so that I don’t have to take it out of the car 🙂
At first I tried swapping some logos and changing the colours, later I will play with more advanced configurations 😀
A couple of videos showing how it works
Summary
All in all the display is cool, the configuration options are great, it works with data over OBD2 while allowing external sensors to be connected, only the 3D printing quality itself is very poor, as is the smoothness/speed of page transitions. Typical cheap gadgets from aliexpress are more precisely made, so with a €500 accessory I would expect more care 🤷♂️.
