I am about to solder up the serial connector on my docking cage 'cause a couple of the wires have pulled out of the docking connector, and wondered if I should actually swap out the serial cable itself as a few people have mentioned that the early Mk2s didn't have all the connections they should have in the serial connector. Is this worth doing? What connections should I add? (I think I read somewhere that the shell on the connector should have a ground added for use with laptops etc.)

I also noticed that the current cable isn't shielded, and was thinking perhaps a shielded replacement might be a good idea ....


(list 6284, Mk1 S/N 00299 4GB blue [for sale]. Mk2 S/N 080000094 6GB blue)

You could run an extra wire from the serial shield to the cage. Or use "my solution".
To prevent the wires to get pulled out of the docking connector add a tie-rap together with the serial cable to a steady part of your dashboard. I actually have all wires from the cage tie-rapped to the dashboard.

Edwin de Vaan
mk2 rev.7 Trillian # 080000263 6Gb blue/red

For anyone who is interested, there are some slight differences between the first Mk2 in-car docking cables and the current ones. The main difference is that the serial cable is now a 6 wire cable instead of a 4 wire cable - it now has +12V and GND connections. The extra 2 wires are simply tapped into the blue amp. remote line (for +12V when the empeg is switched on) and the black earth line (for GND). Also the ISO and radio cables are now the same length as the serial cable - longer than before.

(list 6284, Mk1 S/N 00299 4GB blue [for sale]. Mk2 S/N 080000094 6GB blue)