My goal is to create a useful guide for all Infotainment systems Renault has used over the years that use some kind of data communication between components.

Components that i own will be reverse engineered and documented. If you have any new informations that need to be added please feel free to leave a comment and i will see how we can do that.

To be fair all this is pretty complicated and i will do my best to give it some kind of structure... Links will bring you to more information i have written.

This Page will evolve over time. Its not the final form yet! 

Lets get a small overview of general systems they used:

- Radio + Display

- Radio with integrated Navigation system + Display (earlyer models)

- Radio + Display with integrated Navigation system (later models)

At this point in time i know that external Amplifiers, CD Changers and maybe external Navigation computers that use data communication exist in Renaults universe but my main priority is the communication to the Displays and the protocols they used. I can not gurantee to cover each and every component they ever used.... but i will try ;)

Small rant on complexity:

Lets first talk a little bit about the weirdness that comes with making tech for cars. A specific car model normally is made for a long period of time. Even if the chassis of a car is sellable in 10 years the tech inside often is not. So traditional car manufacturers invented Facelifts / Phases . This is a point in time where new Tech or Parts are introduced into an existing model together with some fresh looking new outside parts. Now there is a weird combination... A new Model of car is introduced with new tech, and all other cars will get the tech but without a Facelift on the outside. Ok, thats a Facelift too... but just a technical Facelift. This will result in car models that have several different generations of Central electronics, Engines, Infotainment, and exterieur Parts all mixed in the wildest combinations over the years. At Renault there was a point in time where the oldish base cars could not natively talk to all the new tech they have thrown at them so they needed a "translator". A so called Multimedia Interface Unit wich was a can bus transceiver that rewrote all the can messages to make all of that compatible. 

Sometimes i have the feeling that some decisions in the car tech sector are made to keep jobs relevant. Not that this is a bad thing to keep Jobs, but it adds to the uneccesary complexity to the systems used in cars that we all pay for (if we drive cars). Of course it is better to have more seperate parts in case something breaks. BUT just take the money you saved on the complexity and put it towards better quality in the one part... Ok enough of my foolish rant.

What i wanted to say was : 

Sometimes you can find several versions of Radios and Displays in one car model that are not compatible to each other.

My idea was to take each car and list the Radios / Displays they used for it. But after i found out nealry all cars went through several different general systems that used different Radios / Displays and sometimes different remote controls i decided to not sort by car but instead sort by system. I had to come up with names for the systems. If i can find names used by Renault in its documentation or on the Parts i will use those.

Radio + Display (with integrated Navigation System)

2008 - 2016

This Generation consists of 2 different Radios, R1 and R2. R1 is a basic CD Player and AM/FM Radio. R2 is a little bit better equipped with Bluetooth

Display A2 and A3 are also the MIU! If Display A2 or Display A3 are replaced by TomTom a MIU is mounted (except for Scenic 3 where the Cluster is the MIU). 

Radio R1 + Display A2 (Protocol R1):

Radio R1 + TomTom (Protocol R1):

Radio R2 + Display A3 (Protocol R2):

Radio R2 + TomTom (Protocol R2):

In 2011 TomTom Display got an update and now has 4 antenna connectors instead of 3 (now uses mobile data for live traffic updates).

from 2012:

Radio R1 and Display A2 are discontinued. (replaced by Radios with integrated Displays). Scenic 3 drops R1 support on cluster.

Radio R2 gets a new Version and now has front USB (still uses Protocol R2) 

Radio R2 Facelift (R-Plug & Radio) + Display A3 (Protocol R2):

Radio R2 Facelift + TomTom (Protocol R2):

Freshly added to the reversing collection: Radio R2 Facelift out of a Renault Master (R-Plug & Radio): Notice its a different shape but the buttons and connector placement (and inner workings) is the same on all versions.

I now have all parts ( Display A3 and Radio R2) to start reverse engineering Protocol R2. Protocol R1 is fully documented now and i am working on a "library like" arduino solution to make it easy to control Display A2 (Protocol R1).

From 2012 Radio RLink + Display (Protocol RLink):

RLink Radio is just compatible to the RLink Display (Touchscreen and no SD slot on the display).

Depending on the car RLink was equipped to, the controls are different. On Megane 3, Laguna , Fluence it uses a "Radio Style" control with an seperate remote control near the arm rest. On Clio 4, Twingo 3, Zoe and Captur it uses a reduced control element rignt next to the display and have no CD Player. The Maps are now located in an external SD card reader/USB socket housing. RLink will not output to old TomTom or Scenic 3 cluster.

"Radio Style" controls on for example Megane Scenic 3:

"Reduced" controls on for example Zoe:

I own 2 R-Link Displays (one out of Clio 4 and one out of a Smart) and a R-Link Radio (out of a Laguna). It works on the bench and waits to be reversed further.

On cars with reduced controls the "Radio part" is just a metal box hidden behind the dashboard.