New MTCD unit, have some issues... - MTCD Android Head Units Q&A

So I just got an MTCD head unit (JY-UL-135). My first Android head unit and so far I'm massively underwhelmed and need guidance to fix a few potential issues. I try to keep my car as stock-looking as possible, so I REALLY don't want switches and knobs all over my interior to do things any other head unit would...
So, issue 1.) The power antenna on my car comes up whenever the head unit is on, even when I'm not using the radio. I almost never use the radio and I don't want my antenna up all the time. Any way to fix this without a switch or disconnecting it entirely?
2.) Bluetooth... I'm not heart broken about losing clear bluetooth audio streaming, (something my cheaper alpine unit had no problem with...) and i use a wired mic, but if this thing can't connect to basic blutooth tech, i may return it. 90% of the reason i got this thing was for a bluetooth garage remote, obd2 reader, bluetooth tire pressure sensors, and a bluetooth arduino board for another project. If this really can't do things even my phone can, it's junk. Those accessories will be delivered next week so i'll find out then but it seems like they shipped this unit with broken bluetooth and still haven't fixed it. Help?
3.) Steering wheel controls. So i understand that without xposed, android head units can only use steering wheel controls for the stock apps. And xposed doesn't work on MTCD units yet...
It's also the slowest android i've seen since my old, old. OLD droid x but that may not be that big a deal over time. So can anyone point me in the right direction for these issues? Also does anyone make a better unit than these?

I returned my mtcd unit because of wifi and bluetooth issues. The antenna issue you have is probably because you hooked up to remote blue line instead of antenna blue line.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930AZ using Tapatalk

supersilko said:
I returned my mtcd unit because of wifi and bluetooth issues. The antenna issue you have is probably because you hooked up to remote blue line instead of antenna blue line.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930AZ using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Hmm, i might have... but what did you replace the MTCD unit with, an MTCB?
EDIT: I have a crazy idea to keep my nice single din alpine unit connected to my sound system and mount it in my glove box, then connect the android unit to its aux in. Then put the steering wheel controls on a 3.5mm switch box between both units. I'd use the alpine for audio processing, bluetooth music, and hands free calls, then the android for android apps + backup camera and thumbstick music. Am I insane or would this be a good compromise? My phone would also control all the bluetooth peripherals I mentioned. I also plan on getting a dedicated second battery for the audio equipment (already have 2 amps plus a capacitor) so that might be more critical afterwards.

I'm back to stock stereo. Gonna look around for a good unit that is coming later.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930AZ using Tapatalk

I just got a Joying unit for a Jeep this weekend.
#1 - can't help, Jeep antenna stays up all the time
#2 - I only use Bluetooth for phone calls or playing audio, works fine in both scenarios. One odd caveat is that if I am on a phone call the audio seems only to come out of the front passenger speaker. I use the included external mic and people say I sound fine
#3 - My steering wheel controls half work. Volume and mute work all the time, same for Bluetooth phone. The controls to change the track only work on stock apps like Music, A2DP, DVD, etc, meaning it does not work on Google Play Music or Pandora. Volume steering wheel controls work fine with Pandora and Google Play Music

I have the Same Unit.. I have it on the bench as I was getting ready to installing in place of my Newsmy. I tested the remote lines tonight.
Power antenna, shows 12v once power is applied.. stays at 12v until Accessory power is removed.
Amp Remote works as it should, it I power off the radio from the knob. the 12v amp remote turns off.. Ant stays on.. ALL THE TIME. This unit is no better than my Newsmy. I have had it too long now to return it. Guess I will sell it for something simple. I am going to miss the back up camera, but I need something that fully works as I have full power mast antenna..

TallgeeseIV said:
So I just got an MTCD head unit (JY-UL-135). My first Android head unit and so far I'm massively underwhelmed and need guidance to fix a few potential issues. I try to keep my car as stock-looking as possible, so I REALLY don't want switches and knobs all over my interior to do things any other head unit would...
So, issue 1.) The power antenna on my car comes up whenever the head unit is on, even when I'm not using the radio. I almost never use the radio and I don't want my antenna up all the time. Any way to fix this without a switch or disconnecting it entirely?
2.) Bluetooth... I'm not heart broken about losing clear bluetooth audio streaming, (something my cheaper alpine unit had no problem with...) and i use a wired mic, but if this thing can't connect to basic blutooth tech, i may return it. 90% of the reason i got this thing was for a bluetooth garage remote, obd2 reader, bluetooth tire pressure sensors, and a bluetooth arduino board for another project. If this really can't do things even my phone can, it's junk. Those accessories will be delivered next week so i'll find out then but it seems like they shipped this unit with broken bluetooth and still haven't fixed it. Help?
3.) Steering wheel controls. So i understand that without xposed, android head units can only use steering wheel controls for the stock apps. And xposed doesn't work on MTCD units yet...
It's also the slowest android i've seen since my old, old. OLD droid x but that may not be that big a deal over time. So can anyone point me in the right direction for these issues? Also does anyone make a better unit than these?
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Click to collapse
JY-UL124 here
+1 to Bluetooth issues. SuperSU completely broke bluetooth forcing me to reflash to get any functionality back.
I'm really bummed they basically lock you into joining only a phone and an ODB device and that's it. Nothing else can be paired with the unit. This is a little hokey and really devalues the whole system in my opinion.
Bluetooth has pretty poor sound quality through the unit too but it may not be bluetooth specifically causing the issue. I drive an FJ cruiser so cabin sound proofing isn't great to begin with. To compete with road noise I have to blast the stereo and the highs come up fuzzy in the process. When I'm stopped or idleing it seems that most of my issue goes away and the sound isn't half bad provided I'm playing from a sound file physically on my phone and not streaming. I need to tear into it again later to install the front camera and fog lights so when I do that I'll add in some capacitors and a torrid to try to clean up power to the unit to see if that helps.
If I'm right, the bluetooth is functional so far as taking the signal and turning it into meaningful audio. It's a digital technology so either the data gets there or it doesn't. I haven't dug too much into the spec but I assume I should be hearing whatever I hear at idle at any speed. Anyhow, once that is turned into an analog signal for delivery to the speakers (and the functional parts in between) that's where you can introduce sound degradation. So this is a function of the amp, or the fact that my hookup wires or so long, or something. I have also noticed that shortly after "bluetoothing" a short sound like a delivery notice the amp stays on for a short second or so and you can hear the interference with some digital rf. (like the sound you get when you put a cell phone too close to computer speakers) It's faint but it is there along with some static. There is no way that bare speaker wire could pick up digital rf and make it sound that loud, so that means somehow rf is leaking into the circuitry before the amp.
I'm praying I'm right and it's leaking in through power somewhere cause that's an easy fix. If it's not then it's something with the board design and there's rf leaking from the circuitry and making it into the audio signal inside the unit. That has a low probability of being fixable.

Related

Car Dock disassembly - adding a LINE OUT

So I got my car dock, I knew it didn't come with a line out, but figured I could add one. You all know how aewsome it would be to have a line out jack on this thing rather than the stock "speakers". Well good news, I am going to make myself a line out and will post pictures about how I am doing it.
I have the thing taken apart right now, and just need to go buy a 3.5mm audio jack.
So, my plan will be to still use the cardock for phone and stereo profiles, just using my car stereo's aux in rather than the dock's weak speakers. I'll leave the microphones on the dock intact, just not the speakers. The good news is the speakers are removable, making room for a 3.5mm audio jack. the bad news? the jack will have to be on the dock body, not base. I'm sure if you try hard enough, one of yoiu will find a place in the base for a jack, but for now, I'm going to add one to the body, on the bottom (in portrait mode).
There you have it, I'll be able to make the dock a semi-permanent fixture in my car and never have to plug in an audio cable to get my music through my car speakers.
Pictures to follow soon, I just couldn't wait to start this project, and get some reactions / moral support.
Someone else looked at doing the same thing a while back. I seem to recall they came up against several hurdles. It is not as clear cut as it seems.
On the face of it- it would seem the approach you are taking will necessitate you having your car stereo ON and AUX selected any time you need to take a phone call. Might be a bit of a pain when you are for example, listening to the car radio and your phone rings. Or if the phone rings and your stereo happens to be turned off.
I find the inbuilt speakers totally adequate for Phone Audio. This arrangement has the benefit it being standalone and means N1 Phone Audio works regardless of current car stereo state. I send the Media Audio to my car stereo via BT though, as it sure benefits from the better speakers quality and auto pauses the Media when the phone is in use.
Good luck with it and do a search for the other thread as there is some good info info in there.
PS take a look through this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=6427057&postcount=39
Might save you some heart ache
I only found that thread, after i had my dock quite disassembled and did a google search for the chipset under the RF shield. :/
I don't use my car's head unit for anything but aux audio, radio is dead to me, so I shouldn't have any problems. The hurdle is the audio being fed to the speakers do NOT share a common ground. They utilize an active-balanced system. both leads are hot, common to themselves.
Now it seems as I will have to choose which channel gets full audio and just bum 'common' from the dominant channel. or i come up with some way to convert two independent balanced audio feeds to a common ground.
I have had no luck looking up the NF2301 daughter board. I was hoping to find a schematic detailing the line level outputs, but no go. I did think it was interesting that the car dock and desktop dock share the same PCB, too bad there is no detailed schematic yet...
FAILURE - giving up
So, after creatively placing some resistors and whatnot, I got a decent line level with common ground, that won't blow up the built-in amp. However, as pointed out in that other thread, there is some BS DSP that notches the lower frequencies out of the signal to the speakers. I got it all setup in my car, plugged in to my aux-out, and it sounded like i was using the voice profile. I took the aux cable and plugged into my headphone jack on the phone, and all the bass came through just fine.
So, for now? The audio out on the car dock is meant for the crappy on-board speakers. not real ones. Sad...
Now, it seems the only way to get an aux out of the cardock would be to swap the board with a desktop dock, and cut a hole for the aux jack, or just do some more soldering to not modify the casing of the cardock.
Too bad, I had it working, but the damn DSP chip/amp puts out ****ty audio quality
Alternatively, at the point you have a desktop dock.... Instead of butchering it for the board, Just install it somewhere out of site in your car and connect it to your cars Aux-in with a 3.5mm lead. Thats what I have done. Works well. Only downside is I still have to manually connect the desktop. It does not autoconnect to deskdock when N1 is placed in cardock obviously.
Too bad your set up did not work for now.
kajer said:
So, after creatively placing some resistors and whatnot, I got a decent line level with common ground, that won't blow up the built-in amp. However, as pointed out in that other thread, there is some BS DSP that notches the lower frequencies out of the signal to the speakers. I got it all setup in my car, plugged in to my aux-out, and it sounded like i was using the voice profile. I took the aux cable and plugged into my headphone jack on the phone, and all the bass came through just fine.
So, for now? The audio out on the car dock is meant for the crappy on-board speakers. not real ones. Sad...
Now, it seems the only way to get an aux out of the cardock would be to swap the board with a desktop dock, and cut a hole for the aux jack, or just do some more soldering to not modify the casing of the cardock.
Too bad, I had it working, but the damn DSP chip/amp puts out ****ty audio quality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe it's using a low bitrate A2DP bluetooth transfer. Either way, bluetooth will be lower quality than a direct plug.
khaytsus said:
Either way, bluetooth will be lower quality than a direct plug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe this is the likely reason why Google didn't include an audio out port on the dock. Yes, it's on the desktop dock, but that's really all the desktop dock handles, whereas the car dock has a mic as well, etc.
I would be interested in detailed disassembly instructions if you wouldn't mind.
wonkotron said:
I would be interested in detailed disassembly instructions if you wouldn't mind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
detail isn't really necessary, it's pretty straightforward.
-get a knife and use it to peel off the black rectangular sticker on the front of the dock. it's right where the battery on the phone is when it's docked.
-undo the 4 screws behind the sticker
-pop the two halves of the phone-holder part of the dock apart. if you can't get them apart with a bit of pulling get your thumb nail or a knife in between the two halves.
that's about as far as you need to go to get to the useful bits.
jamezracer said:
Stuff
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I'll see if I can figure anything out.
I had this same idea when I first got my car dock, but I couldn't convince myself to hack my new dock. Instead I hacked an old stereo Bluetooth headset with the same mod and it works perfectly.
Don't ignore this post...
Ok So I took a dive in to it. I disassembled my dock (yes even after reading all that I could find on the internet, including this thread), but in disbelief I wanted to find out for my self. I soldered a head phone jack to the speaker wires, and thought I had something good when connected to my computer speakers. (it worked and I was surprised). But after hooking it all up in the car and actually hearing the quality, I was sorrily disappointed.
Major failure, the sound is terrible. Not tolerable at all. Comparable to scratching fingernails across a chalk board and trying to listen to some good tunes at the same time from an FM radio with very poor reception.
Heed my warning, do not attempt to mod the dock for an FM out, it will not work.

[Q] Bluetooth-> Car Aux Device (A2DP)

I want to listen to music in my car via bluetooth A2DP. My car's stereo system only has AUX in. So, I am looking for a device to pair with my phone and plug into the aux port for my car's stereo. I don't really care about hands free calling. That'd be a plus, but not necessary.
I've been doing some research and found two that look reasonable.
BlackBerry Remote Stereo Bluetooth Gateway (would require yet another charger)
Kensington LiquidAUX Bluetooth Car Kit
Does anyone here have any experience with these or any recommendations?
If I were you, I would get something like this:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10551&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665801276
The reason being that it gets pretty good reviews and you would be able to also use it outside of the car if you wanted to.
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Ericsson...1DCM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288590977&sr=8-1
I am probably going to buy this thing soon, as I have been eying it for a few days now.
If you don't want to charge there are plenty of wire in kits. Check out parrot. They might have a kit that fit s what you want.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
I bought a LiquidAUX and would advise staying away from it unless you like sub par sound quality. The volume is about 75% compared to being plugged directly into my aux port and the quality is like streaming a low quality radio station. For calls I would say it gets the job done "acceptably" but music requires much better fidelity than you'll get from it.
I use the LiquidAUX. I use it to listen to podcasts and have no problem with the sound quality. I did have to buy a ground loop noise filter.
I have the blackberry stero gateway and I use it in my living room, it works fantastic for music.
Just as a follow-up to my original post, I ended up deciding on Satechi Bluetooth Hands-free Car Stereo Fm Transmitter for iPhone 4, 3Gs & 3G and Bluetooth Stereo A2DP supported Devices (available on amazon).
The Satechi device works great! It pairs with the phone quickly and the sound quality is great. This device is exactly what I was looking for. It plugs into the cigarette lighter and has AUX out which I plugged into the stereo in my car. I was a bit worried about noise from the car's engine, but that wasn't a problem. The volume is very slightly lower than plugging the phone directly into the AUX in on my car's stereo. Realistically, that may just be my ears playing tricks on me. It also has a USB port which puts out 5V @ 1000mA for charging USB devices (my Epic).
I didn't use the FM transmitter or the call feature since the only thing I really wanted was the A2DP to AUX.
davidb_ said:
I want to listen to music in my car via bluetooth A2DP. My car's stereo system only has AUX in. So, I am looking for a device to pair with my phone and plug into the aux port for my car's stereo. I don't really care about hands free calling. That'd be a plus, but not necessary.
I've been doing some research and found two that look reasonable.
BlackBerry Remote Stereo Bluetooth Gateway (would require yet another charger)
Kensington LiquidAUX Bluetooth Car Kit
Does anyone here have any experience with these or any recommendations?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What kind of car? I know GM and several others have aftermarket adapters that plug into the factory harness that allow the addition of A2DP in an almost factory style addon.
done12many2 said:
What kind of car? I know GM and several others have aftermarket adapters that plug into the factory harness that allow the addition of A2DP in an almost factory style addon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Subaru. I'm actually planning on switching out the factory stereo for a carputer-type thing in the spring. This is just hold me out until nicer weather.
davidb_, why are you opposed to using the Aux port? Seems like a simpler yet more robust solution.
http://www.scosche.com/products/productID/1919
I was just about to post something about that Scosche one. After doing a bit of searching, it seems to be rated fairly well. I'm considering buying one for my wife's car, so if anyone has any experience with it, I'm curious to hear about some more first hand experience.
I have now used both the Kensington LiquidAUX and the Scosche BTAXS motorMOUTH II and I am wishing there was something that had the best of both. Here are my thoughts on both:
Kensington LiquidAUX
I really like the overall feature set of this solution. The remote is handy to skip past ads in podcasts and to jump back a few seconds when the navigation interrupts what I'm listening to. I also like that it is powered.
What I didn't like is that I had to get a ground loop noise filter (although once I did, the sound was perfect.) Also, there were some connection issues if I was listening with the car off and then started the car due to the interruption of power to the device. The phone never seemed to reconnect in that situation. I would have to turn off the LiquidAUX and turn it back on and wait for it to reconnect. I liked that it has an extra USB port so I could charge the phone if it was low on juice without a separate power adapter but it only charges at 500 mA so really it just kept the phone from dying without really adding extra charge during the drive. The one huge drawback to the LiquidAUX was that people found it difficult to hear me during calls. I usually had to switch the call to speakerphone to have any success. I think the location of the microphone (due to the location of my power port) was the cause of this issue. This is what led me to purchase the Scosche BTAXS.​
Scosche BTAXS
There were several things that impressed me with the Scosche BTAXS. I loved the fact that there was no mess of cables. The position of the microphone was much better because it was up at the AUX port of the head unit so I never had any complaints on calls. The sound was great and since it wasn't drawing power from the car I no longer needed the noise filter. Also, Scosche provided many great accessories in the box that other companies might have sold separately.
What I don't like about the Scosche BTAXS is the terrible battery life. I drive about 40 min to work. I cannot use the Scosche BTAXS on both my drive to and from work and leave it in the car overnight and expect it to work the next day. If I drive around on my lunch break, it may not last all day, even when I turn it off when not in use. Scosche does provide a charging cable and car adapter so I can power it during use but that takes away the coolness of not having any cables. It also introduces a little bit of ground loop noise. If I was to run it through the filter I would not be able to position the microphone where I would get the best call quality.​
In conclusion, neither of these devices is perfect. The call quality issue of the LiquidAUX is a big drawback that I wish there was a way to overcome. Since there isn’t, I will most likely stick with the Scosche and just make sure I recharge it whenever I am not in the car.
I got this from Buy.com for $20 a few months back. Hopefully you'll find a good deal like that again.
http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Li..._1_1?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1293177894&sr=1-1
Any update on products for this. I am looking to do this in my 09 jetta through the Aux in, and none of the solutions seem that stellar. Just wanted to see if anyone had found something recently that works great.
I keep looking for a simple BT solution that can give me the best of both worlds. I'm surprised there is no simple BT receiver that can sit behind the dash plugged in to power and aux with a mic out and corded dual mic I can route myself. Liquidaux and motormouth II come close yet miss the mark. A quality mic on the kensington would make for a perfect setup. A remote mic on the motormouth II would be great. Makes zero sense at this stage of the game.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
nice thing
http://www.belkin.com/au/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=530115

[Q] in-dash android tablet?

What tablet do I get?
I was wondering if anyone had any good suggestions for a tablet to install into my dash. The Archos 5 IMT looks like it has almost everything I want, but I would really like a 7".
It needs:
Built-in GPS (or enough ports for a dongle, and support for a dongle. I don't want bluetooth, because I don't want to have to worry about it losing power)
FM receiver (I know there are internet radio apps, but I want to be able to use this offline.. if it's possible)
Capacitive screen (Cause I want it) with a wide viewing angle.
I don't care much about which version of Android it has, it will pretty much just be used for GPS and Music/video.
As a side note, I'm still doing research, but if anyone knows how to, or knows where there's a tutorial, I need to figure out how to hook the tablet to the speakers. I don't really want to have to use a head unit, though that would be the easy way. There must be some kind of small device I can use that has a volume knob and maybe fade/balance controls that I can install anywhere in the truck.
Thanks for reading!
I have installed the archos 5IT in my dash and love it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kUsui3-5Y0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nN-8Hrf0sM
Its not capacitive but it does not suffer from the glare that the glass screens have. As far as touch sensitivity its pretty acurate for a resistive device.
I dont have the gps signal issues most have as i have the flash version and not the hard drive based ones as most say the hdd must be blocking the gps. I paid for the one time map fee from Ndrive but also tether to my phone and use google maps as well.
I have over 100 youtube music video's in mp4 format ripped to the device and use those as my music and have it set to random play and it goes from one file to the next without having to select a new video once one is over.
Thanks!
Some good input there. I'll have to keep that in mind. I just really think a 7" would look a lot better. Especially in my F150 XLT. Seems like the 5" would look dinky, and I have room for a 7".
If archos put the 5's guts into the 7 form factor, I'd buy 2 right now. Rly.
Also, for anyone who stumbled on this, I think it won't be too hard to set this up without using a head unit. (I could be wrong on some of the technical info, but I think I have the right idea here.) Your amplifier has a 'plug' with like 20 wires attached coming out. Normally, your radio has a plug that fits this plug. You plug it in, and now the radio's attached to the amp, which is attached to the speakers. Good to go. So you buy a new plug (called a wire harness), one that fits your amplifier (assuming stock amplifier, I will just look up 2000 F150 wire harness on amazon, and that's it), and wire up your tablet to it instead of your radio.
The wire harness puts out a 12v (ignition on) wire. You can adapt this to a USB and use that to charge the device. Set it to display/wifi/gps/all other battery draining crap off while not charging. When you turn the car on, it's now "Charging" and everything will turn off. I think it should be able to 'sleep' for a few days, so it should be 'always on' as far as you can tell.
The harness also has a wire for each of the 4 speakers, maybe subwoofers too, I forget now. I'm sure someone makes a product that controls these easily, I'm going to have to go to a local car audio shop, and ask some questions. Hopefully I can put the audio out from the tablet into the audio in of this unknown device. Then I should be able to wire the unknown device to the wiring harness. If I can't find something, I think I'll just make my own circuit, 3 Pots for volume, fade and balance, some resistors or something.. we'll see if I can't just buy something. The rest of the EQ can be done on the tablet.
(If I do make my own, I want to use a slide-style pot for volume instead of a rotating one. I think that'd be the nuts.)
Wiring harness: Ignition on wire adapted to USB. Speaker wires wired to volume/fade/bal device.
Tablet: plug in USB, and connect audio out to volume/fade/bal device.
Easy cheesy.
I'll be updating.
This thing is starting to look like it'll be really easy to do.
I can't get started 'til I find my tablet though. I would love to hear some more ideas! THANKS!
they updated the 7" home with newer hardware but it does not have gps. I would look into the upcoming wifi only samsung galaxy tab and see if it will have gps.
your on the right track with the audio wiring however you would better off getting a cheap 4ch amp to do it as you need power to pump the speakers the way you are talking about wiring it up would basically have the android device trying to power door speakers from the headphone output amp. If you got a cheap 4 ch amp and wired it through the stock vehicle harness you would have all the hookups u need just get the headphone to rca cable and a set of splitters to power all 4 channels of the amp volume could be controlled from the android device. If the amp had external volume remote or if you wired one inline with the headphone output you could have better volume control however the turning on and off of the amp might send a pop to the speakers as the amp would always be turned up.
Hmm
I was under the impression that my vehicle came with a stock amp. Everything's stock (as far as I know, got it used and haven't tinkered with it yet.)
Just trying to understand better, as I have never dealt with car stereos before.
So my stereo was supplying power to the speakers before? There's not an amp in my truck right now between the stereo and the speakers?
EDIT:
I'm almost thinking of getting something really cheap, as I plan on permanently mounting it in the dash. Something Chinese maybe?
I'm sure the Galaxy Tab would work really well, but it's a bit expensive for a GPS/radio/computer.. now that I'm typing this out, that's a ****ing deal! Maybe I will get something nice to pop in there.
I found a tutorial online for making the 12v ignition into 2 USBs, so I am now considering a usb-powered bluetooth gps. Too bad it adds $50 to the cost.
Alright
Nope, no amp in the F-150 standard. It's in the head unit. So I will need to get an amp.
I figure I can move this whole system to my next car (Plan on getting a new truck in 3-4 years.. or sooner if this one decides to go on me), so the amp is an investment.
Truck has 4 speakers stock (no subwoofers)
I will hook those 4 speakers to the amp I buy. (I'll have to look up how to install an amp now.. geesh.)
I will put the audio out from my tablet into the amp.
Now I have to figure out how the 12v ignition on is gonna work, since I'm now going through a new amp. I found a tutorial on instructables titled "12v to USB adapter \ 12v to 5v transformer (great for cars)" I'm not allowed to post links yet, but I'm sure you can find it if you want it.
Yeah the amp any small 4ch or 2ch if you dont care about front rear fade will work..
As far as hooking up an amp they are pretty easy just need to run your own main power wire for the 12v constant for the amp. 8-10 gage should be fine for 400-600w 2 or 4 ch amp to power door speakers....
then use your red ignition wire from the harness u get to power the remote to the amp so its only on with the ignition. Extent the speaker wires to reach your amp you can mount under the passenger side dash or behind the center consol as trucks have plenty of room under there.
the wires from the harness you get to plug into your factory radio harness are easy to figure out as the colors have been standard for a while. Black is ground but you will need your own closest to the amp as possible any bare metal spot you can find that has a bolt to the frame or under dash should suffice. The black from the harness will power the usb fine. Yellow is constant + (always on) if you want the usb to always have power if not use the red as its only on with the ignition it will have enogh amps to power the remote for the amp and charge/power the tablet. green and purple are rear speakers, white/gray are front speakers. the remaining wire colors depend on the vehicle if they have them like blue is for power antenna or factory amp turn on. orange is to dim an after market head unit display when the head lights are on.
I was in best buy a few weeks ago and saw the archos 7 home tablet for $129 almost got one just because of the deal but dont need it as the 5it i have is fine and has the built in gps. but if using an external bluetooth gps is the route you go the 7 should be great. You will just need to find your own gps app or use google maps and have to terher to something like a smart phone for data.
http://www.archos.com/products/ta/archos_7/specs.html?country=us&lang=en
they show the gps icon on the home screen however it does not have built in gps. there are a ton of gps solutions you can side load or get from android market.
Damn...
Was just about to order the 7 home. Such a good deal.
No bluetooth...
The search continues.
i was searching ebay for something 7" that had gps or bluetooth and nothing cheap cought my eye so i took the 7" tag out and added 2.2 for froyo and gps...
I came up with this. http://goo.gl/hyNtC
All you would need to look like the soundman from youtube with his f150 ipad 2 install.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jr3_zLHTbY
May have found a contender.
a 10 inch would be nice, but I don't know how to do fiberglass, and for my first car mod, I'd prefer to keep it simple. a 7-inch should just fit in my double din.
Found this little gem.
http://www.dinodirect.com/tablet-pc...camera-android.html?ddse= gps&utm_source= gps
Gonna look at it more when I get home, will probably buy it. Only thing that's funky about it is that it charges with AC. We'll see...
A software to be written to tell it to go to sleep immediately when "ac" power is removed would be nice, also, that app to tell music/radio to resume on "wake" would be nice.
That way it plays the true car infotainment roll.
A device with USB host would almost be required before I dig into android platform for my infotainment system.
I have a custom built net-top based system built in my truck using a 7" touch screen, automatic power supply from mini-box.com, and a USB controller connected to my steering wheel control buttons. USB host is a must for me!
Sounds like a good setup. Honestly i'm fine with the stock radio in my truck, but I like to tinker.
Still haven't found the right device. I'm buying an Arnova 8 when they switch to the new model, and I'll give that a test fit.. see how it goes.
My plan is to set the device to have the display always on when plugged in. It's in settings or something. If it's wired to the ignition, should work right? We'll see.
I think if I get juice defender and set it to aggressive (no gps, no wifi, no bluetooth, no anything), it should stay on for a while in standby.
Well...
Seems like Android Tablets haven't matured enough for my project. I don't see a cheap 7" capacitive tablet with GPS coming out anytime soon. I'm going to go ahead and get a stereo with rear usb and aux ports, and make a mount for my phone. Should be fun. I'll make a new post with pictures and instructions, and link it here.
Oh well...
My 2 cents...
I've been looking to do the same thing. I've been digging around for a good table and this is the best I've got. Specs wise, it fits the bill. But I can't find any good reviews.
http://hotmid.com/wits-a81h-tablet-cortex-a8-7-capacitive-touchscreen-android-2-3-gps-wifi.html
Just in case that link doesn't work...
http://mp4nation.net/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68&products_id=483
The big thing I'm looking for is a parts list. Amp, harnesses, etc. And a how-to would be the coolest as far as basic wiring for power and sound.
The xoom
T-Mobile G2 1.42 GHZ
I recommend the Asus eee pad transformer. 98percent the same as motorola xoom and lighter
Sent from my U20i using XDA Premium App
concept after-market product
What appears to be lacking in the market currently is a ready-to-use 2DIN or double-din head unit that is basically a permanent in-dash universal docking system such that you can simply pop in a 5 or 7 inch tablet (or adaptable for say a minimum 4 inch or greater smartphone?) with the head unit's rear interface designed for plugging into the car's power, sound system, and steering wheel controls just like an aftermarket care stereo. Sorta like the currently available units that utilize removable electronic faceplates-- except here the tablet or smartphone itself is the "removable faceplate".
Spepper, I have seen one on Ebay. Looks a bit dodgy but might be good:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ES666MO-...153004?pt=Car_Audio_Video&hash=item336b841f6c
ES666MO Car DVD/GPS/ANDROIT TABLET
http://ca-fi.com/en/ it's not a removable tablet, but it's an all-in-one Android-powered double-din radio, looks awesome, but it comes at a price because it has all the hardware built-in
stevey500 said:
A software to be written to tell it to go to sleep immediately when "ac" power is removed would be nice, also, that app to tell music/radio to resume on "wake" would be nice.
That way it plays the true car infotainment roll.
A device with USB host would almost be required before I dig into android platform for my infotainment system.
I have a custom built net-top based system built in my truck using a 7" touch screen, automatic power supply from mini-box.com, and a USB controller connected to my steering wheel control buttons. USB host is a must for me!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The wake-up is covered using plug in launcher from the market.
I am checking if it can be used for the sleep portion.

Options for external warning chime speaker?

So I finally connected my new GM-specific Eonon-branded MTCE_WWW (GA9180A - made by Klyde, I believe) Android 8 unit in-car (was testing "on the bench") and oh my god - that little external warning chime speaker is absolutely horrible! I don't understand how they can spend so much time getting these things to work in car and then do such a piss-poor job on the little speaker that produces warning chimes and turn-signal sounds! Typically, these sounds come out of the cars speakers (with stock or higher-quality plug-and-play units).
Surely, there is some way to improve upon this?? Does anyone know if this little speaker is amplified or of it's just a simple speaker in a plastic case? I don't want to tear it apart just in case I decide to return the unit (I really don't want to, but this little speaker may be a deal-breaker). Not only does it sound absolutley horrible, but I'm also getting some sort of interference noice on it - even when the car isn't running. I think the interference noise is coming from the FM antenna adapter, the wifi antenna or CANBUS box - they are all in the same general area, so it's hard to tell which one is causing it.
Anyone have any info on these little speakers? I would love to use a higher-quality speaker if that would help (maybe even with a volume dial to control the volume of the chimes?). Only 2 wires going to the speaker, so I'm assuming it's just a regular un-amplified speaker. Will see if I can hook up another speaker to see what happens.
I did a few searches and didn't find much, but will keep searching - just figured I'd ask at the same time.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks for sharing.
Yes, the sound from chime speaker is horrible especially for turn-signal. But I don't think it is speaker fault and indeed it is caused by CanBox code. I used some good quality speaker to test chime sound and I got the same horrible sound.
And for noise, in my case it is from WIFI activity I believe and I will live with it because it is hard to notice when music is on.
Had the same experience with a unit I just installed in my girlfriend's mini cooper which is a shame because mini/bmw has some pretty cool and iconic door chimes, notifications, and blinker noises.
I ordered an Axcess branded wire harness adapter box that I will wire up just the can-bus and power leads to to retain the sounds from its little speaker but I had another idea. The dash has plenty of available space inside, I may install the factory head unit single-din component to the can-bus wires and power and then a decent PA loudspeaker under the dash to the unit's driver door output to make up for the lack of those tones.
I installed my unit but I did not install this speaker at first
I think I do not need it
Quick fix
The speaker seemed distorted in my (px6, android, dasaita, Chevy Cruze 2011). After some testing I landed on a 8ohm resistor on the positive speaker cable between the speaker and the connector to the head-unit. The resistor wil consume the power and transfer it into head. And the speaker sounds way better now. For obvious reasons the volume is also lower now. And so far I like it.
Has anyone figured how how to change the door chime / blinker signal/ warning sounds ?

Enabling RCA Audio outputs?

Hello everyone
I tried to use the RCA Line-Level audio outputs of my Dasaita MTCD-PX5 unit to connect an external amplifier, but discovered that there's no signal coming out of them.
Do I need to enable them somewhere on the SW?
Thanks in advance
Max
Hi Max,
I am having the same issue, with Seicane PX30. I have temporarily spliced into the speaker wires since my amp can take high voltage input, however I have static/ clipping noise with high volume.
Please let me know if you figure this out!
SoakedCardinal said:
Hi Max,
I am having the same issue, with Seicane PX30. I have temporarily spliced into the speaker wires since my amp can take high voltage input, however I have static/ clipping noise with high volume.
Please let me know if you figure this out!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What did the reseller suggest.
currently in communication with support, sent them this:
I have purchased 2014 2015 2016 Subaru WRX Forester 9 inch Android 10.0 Head Unit.
There is no signal coming from the following RCA jacks:
• SUBWOOFER
• FL OUT
• FR OUT
• RL OUT
• RR OUT
They all register 0 volts using 40hz 0db test tone ¾ volume from bluetooth or auxiliary input.
Connecting AUX IN L/R to FL/FR OUT makes the cars 3.5mm aux jack work but there is still no output from the RCA jacks.
My unit has the DSP Sound System. I have seated the connector properly. All other functions are working normally.
How can I make it work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
they completely misunderstood my issue first go round . . will report back
SoakedCardinal said:
currently in communication with support, sent them this:
they completely misunderstood my issue first go round . . will report back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On my side, I never found a solution. Played around with several settings, but nothing...
Could this be a ROM issue?
Let me know if they ever reply back
marchnz said:
What did the reseller suggest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maxiauer said:
On my side, I never found a solution. Played around with several settings, but nothing...
Could this be a ROM issue?
Let me know if they ever reply back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so . . they basically tried to bribe me $50 to stop bothering them.
I think I might be able to fix the crackliing by using my amp to sum the L + R speaker outputs instead of my homade y splitter from the stock speaker cables at the headunit . .
Sorry for the resurrection, but I just fixed this issue on my PX5 for anyone else running into this problem. TL;DR is that the harness does not have the RCA for Rear speaker outputs wired in but the PX5 DOES have the pins for it. The solution is to wire them into the harness.
SOLVED: Rear RCA Outputs for MTCE PX5
Edit: TL;DR The wiring harness does not have Rear RCA outputs (only front and subwoofer). I had to splice in the RCA for the rear because there are pins outputting signal. (See solution below for details) I'm running Hal9K Mod with Android 10...
forum.xda-developers.com
Hey guys!
I've just bought a PX5 Android head unit to Skoda Octavia 3, instead of MIB1 Bolero. Everything works fine, it's fast, but I have 2x2ch amps in car.
RCAs don't give any signal at all..... Nor rear or front, neither sub RCA-s. Wiring is perfect.
In Factory menu i could find a Power Amplifier Settings menu, but it's gray, can't be opened.
In the scroll down menu, no possibility to activate AMP.
Remote switches both amps, connecting a phone via 3,5mm jack to amplifiers, it works fine. When I connect back to the head unit, it stops working. I can only hear it working like 5% of the sound it should...
We measured if there is rupture with multimeter, we measured 0... no beep. Moreover we tried to measure the outcoming signal, but nothing. it's 0,00. On every RCA. Anyone any tips?
kukoladam said:
Hey guys!
I've just bought a PX5 Android head unit to Skoda Octavia 3, instead of MIB1 Bolero. Everything works fine, it's fast, but I have 2x2ch amps in car.
RCAs don't give any signal at all..... Nor rear or front, neither sub RCA-s. Wiring is perfect.
In Factory menu i could find a Power Amplifier Settings menu, but it's gray, can't be opened.
In the scroll down menu, no possibility to activate AMP.
Remote switches both amps, connecting a phone via 3,5mm jack to amplifiers, it works fine. When I connect back to the head unit, it stops working. I can only hear it working like 5% of the sound it should...
We measured if there is rupture with multimeter, we measured 0... no beep. Moreover we tried to measure the outcoming signal, but nothing. it's 0,00. On every RCA. Anyone any tips?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Send it back under warranty.
marchnz said:
Send it back under warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is, that is another week of waiting. I am in connection with the supplier, he asks the manufacturer about the problem. The way is good, since when I plug Front left to the Front left of the amplifier, I head very very weak sound from the front left speakers. But the outcoming signal is unmeasurable. In addition, in the Factory menu there is an option "Power Amplifier Settings", which is gray. Can't be reached..
Maybe somehow it is disabled in the menu, but I could not find in 3 hrs where.
kukoladam said:
Hey guys!
I've just bought a PX5 Android head unit to Skoda Octavia 3, instead of MIB1 Bolero. Everything works fine, it's fast, but I have 2x2ch amps in car.
RCAs don't give any signal at all..... Nor rear or front, neither sub RCA-s. Wiring is perfect.
In Factory menu i could find a Power Amplifier Settings menu, but it's gray, can't be opened.
In the scroll down menu, no possibility to activate AMP.
Remote switches both amps, connecting a phone via 3,5mm jack to amplifiers, it works fine. When I connect back to the head unit, it stops working. I can only hear it working like 5% of the sound it should...
We measured if there is rupture with multimeter, we measured 0... no beep. Moreover we tried to measure the outcoming signal, but nothing. it's 0,00. On every RCA. Anyone any tips?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As @marchnz .... send it back under warranty.
Every head unit I have ever had, there is no turn-on for the RCA's because they are already on. That includes my old px5 and new px6.... and I have been using RCA outs only for probably the last 40 years
What you could do is check the pins directly on the head unit plug to see if there is anything there. When you probe it with the multimeter try using a ground inside the machine instead of the ground on the plug.
Bob_Sanders said:
As @marchnz .... send it back under warranty.
Every head unit I have ever had, there is no turn-on for the RCA's because they are already on. That includes my old px5 and new px6.... and I have been using RCA outs only for probably the last 40 years
What you could do is check the pins directly on the head unit plug to see if there is anything there. When you probe it with the multimeter try using a ground inside the machine instead of the ground on the plug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Optical toslink between audio equipment is highly preferred.
Even with a common grounding point for -all- connected equipment the chance of an unsnubbed high frequency feedback loop is real.
If so it will likely blow all your twitters and possibly the power amp in seconds*.
If the amp's big enough you'll see smoke and fire
At the very least use a common grounding point for all pieces of equipment. Use heavy gauge wire and keep the wire length as short as possible.
*A high frequency typically 40hz or higher feedback loop when fed into and/or through a power amp will result in a huge wattage output at that frequency. It will cause the speaker bypass to shunt all of it through your tweeters and effectively short out the power amp
You probably know much more about this than I do, but a few things don't make sense to me. You said high frequency feedback loop, but then referenced 40hz. Did you mean 40khz? 40hz is a pretty low frequency and I would think would be cut out by both integrated HPFs and amp level HPFs. I am very familiar with toslink as I use them between my PC and home audio amplifier, but I've never heard of them used between a head unit and amp. Every head unit and amp I've ever owned have used RCA outputs. I'm not saying the risk isn't there but why would both head unit and amp manufacturers not use them if RCA is so dangerous? It really is an honest question, so please don't take offense.
blackhawk said:
Optical toslink between audio equipment is highly preferred.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... toslink is preferred in high end equipment (bandwidth suffers in the cheap stuff).... and I would not describe these head units as "high end"
blackhawk said:
Even with a common grounding point for -all- connected equipment the chance of an unsnubbed high frequency feedback loop is real.
If so it will likely blow all your twitters and possibly the power amp in seconds*.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you misunderstand. I'm asking OP to look for a common ground FOR TESTING with his multimeter. If all the rca's are not working then there is a chance that something common (like the ground on the rca jacks) is broken.
objecttothis said:
You probably know much more about this than I do, but a few things don't make sense to me. You said high frequency feedback loop, but then referenced 40hz. Did you mean 40khz? 40hz is a pretty low frequency and I would think would be cut out by both integrated HPFs and amp level HPFs. I am very familiar with toslink as I use them between my PC and home audio amplifier, but I've never heard of them used between a head unit and amp. Every head unit and amp I've ever owned have used RCA outputs. I'm not saying the risk isn't there but why would both head unit and amp manufacturers not use them if RCA is so dangerous? It really is an honest question, so please don't take offense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RCA's are mostly used on automotive head units. They have been around for decades. toslink is the new kid on the block and there are a lot of problems with it... frequency issues, sample matching issues, select few apps to use toslink with... yadda yadda. Personally speaking, I wouldn't use toslink instead of rca in a million years. Now it does have the advantage of less noise pickup on long runs of cable, but manucacturers like pioneer, alpine, kenwood... etc have combatted the noise issues with high voltage output from the rca's (pioneers are now 4 volts peak to peak on the rca's while android is still something like 1.4 volt PtoP). Then on the other hand with toslink you need HIGH QUALITY dac's to avoid sample and frequncy issues... and these android head units are NOT what I would describe as anywhere NEAR "high end"+
toslink.... not me thank you... not at this low price level anyway.
As for blowing tweets with stray "40hz" signals.... hasn't happened to me in 40 years of using rca's
Bob_Sanders said:
Well... toslink is preferred in high end equipment (bandwidth suffers in the cheap stuff).... and I would not describe these head units as "high end"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a friendly old school warning so peeps never learn what driver coils smell like...
Cheap stuff will likely have less design fedback safeguards than high end equipment.
Regardless of the amp's frequency response the fed back will be on the high end. 10khz would still behave like 60khz as far as the crossover is concerned.
Regardless its best to wire/ground it proper for best performance and minimal voltage drops... wire is cheap.
I have a friend that saw this happen on a high end system. All they heard was a static like noise and in less than a second the tweeters were smoking. A couple hundred down the drain. It can get real expensive fast and by the time you realize it's happening, it's already done.
Yeah, I don't think anyone sees these as high end in the audio production department. I think they have become somewhat popular because a lot of the main players in audio head units have been a little slow in the freedoms that Android provides in terms of apps, navigation, etc. They are too busy pushing their proprietary interface crap.
blackhawk said:
Just a friendly old school warning so peeps never learn what driver coils smell like...
Cheap stuff will likely have less design fedback safeguards than high end equipment.
Regardless of the amp's frequency response the fed back will be on the high end. 10khz would still behave like 60khz as far as the crossover is concerned.
Regardless its best to wire/ground it proper for best performance and minimal voltage drops... wire is cheap.
I have a friend that saw this happen on a high end system. All they heard was a static like noise and in less than a second the tweeters were smoking. A couple hundred down the drain. It can get real expensive fast and by the time you realize it's happening, it's already done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can blow a simple ic chip with static so we shouldn't use them? Freak things happen. That's life.
Bob_Sanders said:
You can blow a simple ic chip with static so we shouldn't use them? Freak things happen. That's life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No that's ignorance and ineptitude.
I handled thousands of IC's and flat packs without damaging them by heat or ESD.
On a high end system with 7 mains blowing them out alone would be over $2G in replacement parts.
Anything worth doing is worth doing right.
objecttothis said:
Yeah, I don't think anyone sees these as high end in the audio production department. I think they have become somewhat popular because a lot of the main players in audio head units have been a little slow in the freedoms that Android provides in terms of apps, navigation, etc. They are too busy pushing their proprietary interface crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... as far as I know the higher end units are still going RCA..... and if there is ever a change I suspect toslink will be passed over in favor of the MUCH BETTER hdmi standard anyway.

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