Damo’s Carbon Edition

Damo H

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Damo what is the part number of your unit?
My Sat Nav?
1593779019567.png
 

Damo H

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Well after the disaster that was the rear panel being the wrong one. And then the rear window being the wrong one (still waiting on a reply to that :( ) I was looking forward to fitting something that would actually fit first time :)

So @Tony Thurston didn’t let me down and I’m really happy with the results :)

EC6906DE-5859-41C1-AE5E-2590AFDB34BF.jpeg 462C60D2-F7A8-4BAA-8B48-C28139BCEA22.jpeg C4C7A87B-8010-4289-9FAB-4CE10591AEB7.jpeg 59A95755-5345-41F8-9AD2-39539FF4C4E1.jpeg F76B0B21-299D-4EA2-9C02-D812F823A50D.jpeg F8AD2974-24CB-4042-B679-92722FA85BD1.jpeg
 

Damo H

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Not doing very well with car purchases at the moment.

So my new Solarplexius rear blind arrived today after being stuck in Birmingham for 2-3 days - It literally got made and shipped from the Netherlands via Germany and to the Midlands in just over a day, but couldn't get here in less than 3 lol.

Anyway that is not the issue. I cam to fit it this afternoon. Checked the part was correct, placed in against the window to make sure it looked the right size. And then came to fit it.

Won't fit. Lots of swearing watching you tube where some guy just pops it in. More swearing. Walked away had a drink calmed down watched video again. Still won't fit.

Not happy. Anyway a little closer inspection of the video showed the car was a facelift, so fine, but it didn't have these extra tabs shown on the general instructions and on the actual part supplied. Double checked the part number it was correct. Checked the website the part was correct.

So went and dug out the rear blinds buried in my attic. Spot the difference...

View attachment 16134

Here is hoping they can send me the right part, as it seemed really good quality. Sadly this has now got dimples where I've been trying to get it to fit...

View attachment 16135
Well one email, a phone call, no response to web chats and another email. So far I have got no response to this.

Next step will be to open a dispute with PayPal :(
 

Maypack

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Well one email, a phone call, no response to web chats and another email. So far I have got no response to this.

Next step will be to open a dispute with PayPal :(

Just had to do the same for some outdoor lights I bought online. It seems some people want your money, supply you with incorrect or wrong goods then expect you to just accept it.

PayPal sorted it for me, hope they do for you too.


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Damo H

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Just had to do the same for some outdoor lights I bought online. It seems some people want your money, supply you with incorrect or wrong goods then expect you to just accept it.

PayPal sorted it for me, hope they do for you too.


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Yeah I get things go wrong, I always say you don't know how good a company is until something goes wrong. So far they're not looking great. And although I want the right part, the lack of any acknowledgement is not looking good and making me think just to cut my losses.
 

Maypack

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Yeah I get things go wrong, I always say you don't know how good a company is until something goes wrong. So far they're not looking great. And although I want the right part, the lack of any acknowledgement is not looking good and making me think just to cut my losses.

When you can’t communicate with them by any means is a sure fire way that they are not interested.

Any company that goes above and beyond (or even does just what they should) is a company I’d use again.


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Damo H

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When you can’t communicate with them by any means is a sure fire way that they are not interested.

Any company that goes above and beyond (or even does just what they should) is a company I’d use again.


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Well they responded within 24 hours of me raising it with PayPal saying they would email/call by the end of the day. Just had a notification that I have another DHL Parcel coming from them, but still no other communication.

If the part is right, its a good product (based on the quality of the wrong part), but customer service hasn't been so good so far. Which is a shame really.

Just hope the part is right, as the plastic sheeting that is stuck to the part was labelled to fit my car. So hoping they've not just lifted another one off the shelf without checking its right.
 

Maypack

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Well they responded within 24 hours of me raising it with PayPal saying they would email/call by the end of the day. Just had a notification that I have another DHL Parcel coming from them, but still no other communication.

If the part is right, its a good product (based on the quality of the wrong part), but customer service hasn't been so good so far. Which is a shame really.

Just hope the part is right, as the plastic sheeting that is stuck to the part was labelled to fit my car. So hoping they've not just lifted another one off the shelf without checking its right.

Fingers crossed it’s all ok. PayPal definitely works


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Damo H

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Well the new screen arrived this morning, so less than 24 hours to get from Sweden to me.

Part fits perfectly. My rear facing camera can see through it fine (my only worry if it was too dark).

Does appear dark from the driver seat looking through the back, but I suspect that's where I 'm parked. I'll take it for a run on Saturday to find out.

But it does look good :) Not sure its worth the £83, by itself, but as a full rear set £120 I think would be worth it. I wouldn't get the £150 set that also covers the rear passenger windows, as unlike the blinds I have, you can't wind down the rear windows with them.

So product is good for sure :). The customer service however.

Still haven't any kind of reply beyond the PayPal resolution centre reply and then a new product being sent. I've asked if they want the old one back before I bin it.
 
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Damo H

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So after driving to get my new Virtual Cockpit (Rev A) and Seat Sound installed, I think that the rear Solarplexius rear screen is just too dark. Looks fine when turning round to reverse, however I knew I checked my rear mirrors a lot, and I'm always conscious of what is happening in it in the corner of my eye, but I just can't see enough. It takes a second to look in the mirror and readjust to how dark everything is. So its a bigger distraction than the split blinds ever were, as in the corner of my eye its just black. I could see more with the blinds.

Disappointing, especially after all the trouble getting it. It will be interesting to see what @paddy6789 as I've given him the wrong part that arrived to test fit to see what he thinks.

So going to have to get the rear window tinted. But as I want a sunscreen doing may as well get it done at the same time.

However the Virtual Cockpit update is awesome. Drove all the way home (still using Sat Nav) in this view (but with the directions on the sat nav on the right...

Virtual Cockpit Retrofit.jpg


Does appear my Cupra Flags have gone though, but hoping that can be rectified, so the fitter is checking ODIS having fitted the same unit to his car and also losing the flag. It appears even Rev B units have it, having seen a Cupra R ST showing it...

VC_Central_rev_With_Flag.jpg
 

Damo H

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So my latest project, retrofitting a wireless charger. I actually want wireless CarPlay too, but that is just a £100 dongle, so wanted to sort the wireless charging first.

Retrofitting is £265. I'm not tight, but that's just silly money. What I've spent so far will probably have other people saying, "why not just use a £5 wire from ebay", but for me its a reasonable amount of money to get rid of the phone mount and make it more OEM+.

I had it planned in my head at the start. Wireless charger to sit in the recess and a made to measure panel to sit on top. I didn't want to use a USB one as they don't have enough power behind them, so wanted it powered by the 12v socket instead. And I wanted it OEM looking.

As I progressed through this I realised there are easier and cheaper ways to do it compared to what I've ended up doing. But buying my wife a new smaller iPhone was too expensive haha, so my way had to be done..

So far I have spent £75, by the time I've finished it will be about £95, but that includes the cost of buying a set of precision tools £12) to be able to undo a T6 screw. But they'll come in handy :)

Biggest part of the cost is because I didn't want to have to wire it in to the fuse box as my dash cam is already wired in there. I wanted a cleaner 'plug and play' connection similar to the foot well lights wires I made. However I couldn't find the connections anywhere I'd seen. So instead I just bought the unit below for £75 (normally £100) and disassembled it:

1595842828259.png

So once it arrived, I dissembled the car to route the wire (well one panel trim) from the cigarette lighter to the recess.

That could of been the end of it.

There is more than enough room for the wireless charger to fit under the actual plastic recess and plenty of air space to keep it from getting too hot. The plastic is only 2mm thick, so unless you have a really thick case (like an Otterbox case) the charging works fine.

However, my wife has a bigger phone than me (iPhone XR) with a rubber edged case too, so it doesn't fit in the recess flat with its case. So I wasn't 100% convinced it would work very well, or even work at all. So, I needed to put the charger in the recess as originally planned.

I also wanted no wires to be visible, so rather than route the wire from the top where there are panel gaps, I drilled a small hole for the wire to fit through. You can't see if I go back to standard as it would be covered by the rubber mat:

1595842785018.png

Now again that could of been the end of it because the rubber mat looked barely any different sat on top (only photo I have):

1595842958297.png

But I'm a perfectionist, my wife's phone still didn't quite sit 100% flat, but it did charge fine, test drive proved it too, but I still wanted to perfect it.

First thing I wanted to do was to raise the charger up slightly to give it some air flow underneath, to match the original unit. So it's raised 3mm. However as expected, with the recess gets bigger the higher up, it meant the rubber was a little more obviously too small, only 2mm side to side, but now about 10mm at the back.

So that's when my wife's Cricut digital cutter came out (that I've used more than her since she bought it). I initially scanned the original rubber to get the original shape. and then enlarged the centre section and back. That was template 1...

1595843744321.png 1595843770779.png

Few tweaks and Template 2 was perfect (I really expected it to take longer!)

1595843669594.png

Now before you say, but there is a gap on the left. Well that is deliberate for 2 reasons. The car was 0.2-0.3mm thick, and that section tapers in. Plus, I want some air to get down there to help keep the charger cool.

I cut the template a few more times and created a 2mm thick template. It still leaves about a 2mm gap at the back for air to escape :)

1595844030795.png

So the template is finished and the digital version sent off to @Tony Thurston to make me a mock up before the final design I want putting into it is done. If its all done correctly, the LED's on the charging unit should be visible in the plate itself :) If the plan for the LED doesn't work as expected its not an issue as the charging unit gives audible beep when its charging or if there are any issues with the placement of the phone :)

Will update once done :) but I'll be making one for @paddy6789 that will be cheaper as we won't buy the Seat Leon unit, but the universal kit that is cheaper, just a more effort to wire in.:

1595844834220.png

So with the wireless carplay dongle, I'll have both wireless charging and CarPlay for considerably less than the retrofit OEM wireless charging :).

And yes I know I still need to fit my painted grills that are sat in a box, but taking the bumper off if a right royal PITA so still waiting till I do the intercooler.
 
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Damo H

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So finalised the design on my wireless charger. Now sent off to make in acrylic. Just a shame i didn't have any gloss black card as this is damn near perfect now!

1595976801111.png


Can't believe how good this looks in just card!! Real thing will be glos black and mirror/chrome.
 
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Jimbobcook

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I love little details that's just make things better lol to some it doesn't seem worth while but it just makes it yours. Looking good!
 

Damo H

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Well my 3 covers arrived from @Tony Thurston. I’d asked for 2, mirror and a concept one, but Tony being the gent that he is, also sent me a grey one as he wasn’t happy with how the mirror looked. I see what he means, the edge doesn’t look as nice when cut. You’d never know if it was flush, but as the mirror is thicker than the black it doesn’t sit flush so you do see it.

Sadly the concept one, a clear base and black on top doesn’t work. The front LED on the charging unit isn’t bright enough to allow it to be seen in daylight unless at the right angle.

So the winner Is grey (plus dust):

61342DC7-17DB-446D-ACC0-BE66FBA8983F.jpeg
D8FA4CBA-2F12-4CCA-9CFC-3F6782811D7A.jpeg
BA9A04BD-680E-4574-910A-EBA3872F39A8.jpeg


Pictures don’t do it justice.

Massive thanks to @Tony Thurston for putting up with me and helping me with the project.

Still some final testing to do, so there maybe a Mk 2 down the lines if I can get away with thicker material.
 
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