Dedicated Android SatNav from Icebox Audio

[strummagnet]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Which begs the question, actually, what would the RNS or Symphony sound like with decent aftermarket amp and speakers? An aftermarket dongle which can play FLAC through the cd changer port might actually yield decent results and look OE.

Hmm...

Additionally this chap has linked his Iphone (I guess Android would also work) and has access to all features, even satnav I would assume.
https://youtu.be/3d8uIueD1K0

[Ronin]

He is just projecting his phone onto the tiny grainy screen of the RNSD nothing special in my opinion. You can't control it with the physical buttons in the head unit. You can't even 'legally' answer a call as you have to touch the phone to do it.

[Ronin]

I have bought another sterego cage from prestige to create all the appropiate bracketry..

The pictures below will also show how ill-fitting this 'dedicated' radio is....

I wish i had a 3d printer.. but i can probably just about manage with bits of MDF

Currently the HU is sitting in the cage on layers upon layers of sound deadning mat - didn't have anything else to hand at the time...

[Ronin]

Managed to get the radio in perfectly.

To do this I removed the L shaped piece at the back (its rivetted so can be easily removed)



Removed the plastic insert/guide:



Screwed on a 17mm thick piece of skirting board in place where the L shape piece was:



Attached 2x 1mm thick shims with double sided sticky tape at either side of the radio to perfectly center it:




...and job done:

[Ronin]

Got the radio in....




Last thing for tomorrow is to fit the wireless android auto/car play adapter:


One thing that worries me about is that it has a microphone on the actual dongle, but the head unit already has one. The dongle will be hidden out of the way behind the dash hence of no use.. I guess we'll see how it goes.

[Conan_the_Librarian]

I'm liking this. Great work.

[Ronin]

Android Auto/Carplay module fitted.
It took all of 5 minutes and works wirelessly and through a cable for both phones.

BUT, there is a strange popping noise in speakers as soon as its plugged in...



Once I have the solution for this I'll post an update.

The dongle I bought Is a very popular universal model, and not the one sold by icebox audio.. I may buy their one to see if it fixes the issue but it looks to me like more of a usb grounding problem... who knows.

[Ronin]

The noise in the attached video above has been solved by putting a usb filter between the dongle and usb port coming out of the radio.

The noise is only filtered out if the filter is powered by an external source and not the radio (feeding separate 5v to filter from a 12 to 5v dash cam psu) leaving just the usb data line between HU and Dongle.

The result is crystal clear audio without funny noises.


This is the link to the filter:
https://doukaudio.com/products/adum4...tion-modul-101

Now I have to package all this stuff into a single box and package it neatly install it somehow behind the glovebox where I have my USB port fitted so that it looks as stealthy/oem as possible.

[Conan_the_Librarian]

[strummagnet]

Plug and play I think I can cope with. This level of work, not for me. Hats off to you Ronin...