Information on premium cluster upgrade

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R.L.K.

R.L.K.

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This has been discussed here or on another thread , can't remember .

I love my premium cluster , but while using Navigation with my small original cluster it showed a big arrow for the next turn , showed distance and the road name .

On my premium cluster it only shows the road name and distance ??? No Giant arrow and not even telling if the turn is right or left ??
Not a big issue because all the info needed is still shown on my Upgraded 8.4" RA4 radio .
I've looked everywhere in the cluster & Radio settings in an attempt to turn this feature on but I can't find anything ?

FWIW My truck is a 2014 Ram 1500 4x4 QC original equipment was the small 3" cluster and the RA1 non touchscreen non nav radio .
My Radio is a 2015 RA4NA from a 3500 Ram , my cluster is a 2016 7" premium cluster from a 2500 Ram .

Thanks for your input [emoji1303]

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I have not tried that yet , I think I will next .
I may also try a battery disconnect [emoji1303]

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kad

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This has been discussed here or on another thread , can't remember .

I love my premium cluster , but while using Navigation with my small original cluster it showed a big arrow for the next turn , showed distance and the road name .

On my premium cluster it only shows the road name and distance ??? No Giant arrow and not even telling if the turn is right or left ??
Not a big issue because all the info needed is still shown on my Upgraded 8.4" RA4 radio .
I've looked everywhere in the cluster & Radio settings in an attempt to turn this feature on but I can't find anything ?

FWIW My truck is a 2014 Ram 1500 4x4 QC original equipment was the small 3" cluster and the RA1 non touchscreen non nav radio .
My Radio is a 2015 RA4NA from a 3500 Ram , my cluster is a 2016 7" premium cluster from a 2500 Ram .

Thanks for your input [emoji1303]

I upgraded my cluster before the radio, so I can't say what the 3" cluster would have done, but with the 7" cluster and an RA4 radio I get an 8x10 color glossy photo with circles, arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one... Wait, wrong item. I get an intersection/road type graphic with turn direction arrows and street names, which seems to be what is supposed to be there. I have a 2014 RAM 1500 that originaly had the 3.5" cluster and now has a 7" cluster out of another 2014 (no idea what model) and the 8.4" RA4NA radio out of a 2016 1500 Longhorn.

The only thing I did was to set the "Nav turn by turn customer settings menu:" to Yes in the BCM using AlphaOBD. I did this before I actually installed the upgraded radio.

-K
 

Paperboy4828

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I did the 3" to 7" cluster upgrade and it is all working perfectly! The only minor thing of note is the 3" speedometer and tachometer background had a blue-white illuminated background, and the new 7" cluster seems to have a more redish-white illuminated back ground. I'll post pictures shortly. Has anyone else seen this in the upgrade?
 

Paperboy4828

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Well, I guess the pictures don't do it justice, and it may be that the information screen is so bright and blue-white that it makes the gauge illuminated background look not so white... You be the judge...

Old.jpg

New.jpg

New.jpg

Old.jpg
 

Ramit2016

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Well, I guess the pictures don't do it justice, and it may be that the information screen is so bright and blue-white that it makes the gauge illuminated background look not so white... You be the judge...

View attachment 148925

View attachment 148926

View attachment 148927

View attachment 148928
My guess is you're used to staring at the old monochrome display and the new cluster has a color screen and more red with the gauges. It's a shame the basic cluster is so "basic". I don't really mind it but there should have been a better design on that one, especially on the diesels. I'm swapping mine out here soon and I'll let you know if I notice the same thing.
 

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Hi Everyone. New to the forum here. I have a 2016 Crew Cab Express.

I did the cluster upgrade today, that I bought of ebay. Its from a 2014 and everything seems to work.

Except the radio station doesn't show on the top or when I got to the "music" page on the cluster.

Any idea if I need to enable something with AlfaOBD?

I should also mention that I have an original RA2 radio, that came with the truck.

Thanks in advance!!!
 

kad

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Hi Everyone. New to the forum here. I have a 2016 Crew Cab Express.

I did the cluster upgrade today, that I bought of ebay. Its from a 2014 and everything seems to work.

Except the radio station doesn't show on the top or when I got to the "music" page on the cluster.

Any idea if I need to enable something with AlfaOBD?

I should also mention that I have an original RA2 radio, that came with the truck.

Thanks in advance!!!

Welcome!

You shouldn't need to set anything, I have a '14 that originally had the RA2 that I put the 7" cluster from a higher trim '14 in. I ran with the RA2 and the 7" cluster for several months before I upgraded the radio and the music page & header seemed to work ok, for the limited info they give in the first place. Did you let the truck sleep for a bit after the install before testing?

-K
 

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Did you let the truck sleep for a bit after the install before testing?

-K

No I didnt. I was so excited I plugged it in and tried it right away.

I didnt even take the battery off like I should have.
 

kad

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No I didnt. I was so excited I plugged it in and tried it right away.

I didnt even take the battery off like I should have.

LOL.. I didn't disconnect the battery on mine either, as I did it sitting in a parking lot when the mileage on the old one rolled to the exact match with the extra miles I ordered it with (my truck is my daily driver, couldn't take it off the road while waiting for the cluster to arrive). I did let it sleep though. Hopefully yours had had a chance to sleep by now, I'd test it again and see. If it's still not, give the battery disconnect a try.

-K
 
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You guys are braver than I am ...I disconnect the Negative terminal anytime I do anything to a vehicle more involved than changing a bulb [emoji16][emoji16][emoji16]

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kad

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You guys are braver than I am ...I disconnect the Negative terminal anytime I do anything to a vehicle more involved than changing a bulb [emoji16][emoji16][emoji16]

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I normally do as well, but between the "doing the swap in a parking lot" situation and the video from Infotainment showing them doing the swap without disconnecting the battery, I took the risk.

-K
 

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With the RA2 and the non premium cluster, does it show the station on any page? I cant remember if it ever did on mine, but I thought I seen something.

If someone can confirm it should on the old cluster, then I can install my old one again and see it if even was working on that.
 
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With the RA2 and the non premium cluster, does it show the station on any page? I cant remember if it ever did on mine, but I thought I seen something.

If someone can confirm it should on the old cluster, then I can install my old one again and see it if even was working on that.
My old cluster did not , if it did I never seen it ?

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JimGregory

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I did my cluster swap on the side of the road as well. No battery disconnect. I just waited till it shut itself off and didnt open a door till I was finished.
On mine with the base radio there is very little info on the music page. Like none really. If I recall. Very surprised at that.
But the new cluster is dramatically better overall.
Also there was no sleeping involved. This is the first I have heard about that.
Explain the sleeping thing?
 

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I did my cluster swap on the side of the road as well. No battery disconnect. I just waited till it shut itself off and didnt open a door till I was finished.
On mine with the base radio there is very little info on the music page. Like none really. If I recall. Very surprised at that.
But the new cluster is dramatically better overall.
Also there was no sleeping involved. This is the first I have heard about that.
Explain the sleeping thing?

Even with the premium cluster I get very little info on the music screen. If I'm on AM, FM or XM it shows the station/channel. If I'm on the USB port is just says "USB". I've never hooked anything to the Aux port, but I expect it would just say "AUX". Pretty much useless. :) Not sue what a truck that comes from the factory with the premium EVIC shows. The owners manual seems to indicate that what I'm seeing is all you get, even with it from the factory.

Sleeping - Allowing the truck to completely shut down for approximately 30 minutes so that the various components i.e. Radio, EVIC (aka Cluster), etc will request a fresh data load from the BCM when it's turned back on. Usually done when changing BCM options with a tool such as AlphaOBD or AutoEnginuity. It's not usually needed for a EVIC swap but given the issue that the OP was seeing, I thought it worth recommending.

Battery Trick - Disconnect both terminals from the battery, touch the two terminals (the wires, NOT the battery!) together for 10-15 seconds, leave them off for 10-15 minutes, then reconnect everything. Causes all the truck's computers (6 to 8 different ones depending on trim) to reset to defaults and re-initialize. Used for stubborn problems.

-K
 

JimGregory

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Even with the premium cluster I get very little info on the music screen. If I'm on AM, FM or XM it shows the station/channel. If I'm on the USB port is just says "USB". I've never hooked anything to the Aux port, but I expect it would just say "AUX". Pretty much useless. :) Not sue what a truck that comes from the factory with the premium EVIC shows. The owners manual seems to indicate that what I'm seeing is all you get, even with it from the factory.

Sleeping - Allowing the truck to completely shut down for approximately 30 minutes so that the various components i.e. Radio, EVIC (aka Cluster), etc will request a fresh data load from the BCM when it's turned back on. Usually done when changing BCM options with a tool such as AlphaOBD or AutoEnginuity. It's not usually needed for a EVIC swap but given the issue that the OP was seeing, I thought it worth recommending.

Battery Trick - Disconnect both terminals from the battery, touch the two terminals (the wires, NOT the battery!) together for 10-15 seconds, leave them off for 10-15 minutes, then reconnect everything. Causes all the truck's computers (6 to 8 different ones depending on trim) to reset to defaults and re-initialize. Used for stubborn problems.

-K
OIC. Thanks!
Ya I just plugged in the new cluster and finished my road trip. Something may have changed after it slept that night but I would likely not have noticed anyway.
 
OP
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Even with the premium cluster I get very little info on the music screen. If I'm on AM, FM or XM it shows the station/channel. If I'm on the USB port is just says "USB". I've never hooked anything to the Aux port, but I expect it would just say "AUX". Pretty much useless. :) Not sue what a truck that comes from the factory with the premium EVIC shows. The owners manual seems to indicate that what I'm seeing is all you get, even with it from the factory.

Sleeping - Allowing the truck to completely shut down for approximately 30 minutes so that the various components i.e. Radio, EVIC (aka Cluster), etc will request a fresh data load from the BCM when it's turned back on. Usually done when changing BCM options with a tool such as AlphaOBD or AutoEnginuity. It's not usually needed for a EVIC swap but given the issue that the OP was seeing, I thought it worth recommending.

Battery Trick - Disconnect both terminals from the battery, touch the two terminals (the wires, NOT the battery!) together for 10-15 seconds, leave them off for 10-15 minutes, then reconnect everything. Causes all the truck's computers (6 to 8 different ones depending on trim) to reset to defaults and re-initialize. Used for stubborn problems.

-K
Agreed on the battery trick , I've done this with success before , I left mine disconnected longer . It's a soft reboot of sorts to my knowledge [emoji1303]

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