My Tolly - 7" Tablet Install!
Well after watching an episode of Mighty Car Mods on Youtube where they install an iPad into a Legacy I thought I would give a tablet install a try so this weekend I set my self the challenge of installing a 7" 32GB Nexus 7 tablet in place of my old Sat Nav unit.
I managed to pick up an almost new 32GB Nexus 7 complete with box and 12 month warranty for only £5.90 from CEX (after trading in an old iPad 1 and a speaker dock). I also went to Halfrauds and picked up the cheapest single DIN headunit with Aux in. I ended up with the JVC KD-R431 for £59.99.
Heres some pics of my old install...
First step was to rip all of the old stuff out...
Then off with the glovebox and centre console...
Then out with the old cage...
Next I installed the JVC headunit in place of the CD changer, all be it crudely for now...
Then after cutting off the tabs on the left and right of the facia plate I test fitted the tablet...
Once I knew it fitted I cut away some of the left of the centre console so I could fit the 3.5mm jack and the USB power cable in....
Then I routed both the jack and the USB to the glove box and plugged them into the JVC headunit and put everything back in place....
Then came the software side of things, obviously a tablet stays on all the time and you turn the screen on and off using the unlock button, obviously as this was behind the dash this was not an option so I installed an app called Tasker (£3.99) which you can use to set up profiles depending on certain inputs/states, so I set up a profile called power on which when power was detected it would turn the screen on, turn WiFi and Bluetooth on and start playing music. Then I set a profile called power off which when power to the USB is lost (e.g the car is turned off) it turns the Bluetooth and WiFi off, pauses the music, sets the screen brightness to 10% and sets the screen time out to 7s so it turns off. Unfortunately as its running android 4.2 you cant just set it to turn on or off Airplane mode but this method still works just aswell.
Over all I am very very very impressed with it, I can plug my OBD2 bluetooth dongle in and get live data from the car including clearing fault codes using the Torque app, I have 18.5 GB of music on there already (i would dread to think the size of CD changer I would need to compete with that), when I'm in range of WiFi I can browse the internet, Facebook, YouTube and even watch Netflix. It also automatically syncs my emails etc when I pull up on my drive. I can also tether to my iPhone using Bluetooth to get the internet on the go e.g for using maps etc...
The install isn't finished yet, as you can see from the pics I need to fabricate a plate for the glove box to fit the HU properly, I have also had to order a 2.1A USB car charger as tablets don't charge from normal USB so atm it isn't charging but my plan is to put the 2.1A charger next to the HU in the plate and have it so I can easily unplug it to plug my laptop in or to use the USB to charge something else. I also need to purchase a Ground Loop Isolator to remove the clicking noise from the aux which is being created by the on board sound card in the Nexus, but these are only £9 on the bay. Also the bonus is that as the HU has a front Aux, a rear Aux and a front USB, I can still have another jack for someone to plug their phone in or to plug a memory stick in. Once I get and extension cable for the Ariel I will also have radio and CD as a normal car would.
All in all this is a brilliant and relatively easy mod, only took about 3 hours to do and once I have all of the additional cables and once it is finished I estimate the cost at aprox £100 including the Nexus.
If anyone wants any
help or advice feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer any questions. I will also keep updating this as I find more and more exciting things I can do with it
for now goodbye, hope you like the read and finally some pics of it finished...
Thankyoumuchlove
Josh