Car Stuff - Infotainment Patches, Hardwiring Dashcam post
Car Stuff
I got a new car and just like anything I buy I'm obsessed for a while, so I've been looking at what I can do with it
MIB Patching - Feature Activation
I guess I'm super naive because I was very surprised to find that the car has buttons on it that do nothing - because they're paywalled.
Most offensive is the 'Voice' button which is on both the center console and the steering wheel, but can't be used unless you pay a couple hundred extra pounds...
Most importantly of all though, is Android Auto / CarPlay support. This option is buried away in the menu, but as soon as I saw it I knew I needed it.
So after some research I found MIBWiki which helped me identify my infotainment unit as an MST2 Delphi, which happens to support firmware updates via SD :). No point in repeating the wiki here, it really was pretty much as simple as sticking some files on an SD card and initiating an upgrade.
The activator seemed safe enough (but what do I know really?) and came with a PDF guide for idiots like me, as well as plenty of on screen feedback.
But still, even though my units train version (which is MST2_EU_VW_EO220D) matched the supported firmware mask of MST2_xx_xx_xxxxxD and is marked as 'Tested and Confirmed', I got a huge scary red error.
Although, after a couple minutes of fear and a forced reboot - everything came back up fine, and the patch had worked!
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Now Android Auto is working, and both my 'Voice' buttons are now also functional - although I don't really need it now I have Google Assistant :)
After this, I used the information on the Wiki to update the Radio Icons, Navigation Maps and Point of Interest markers to the latest available versions.
Extra: Wireless support
Now my only remaining issue was having to physically dis/connect my phone to the car every time I get in or out - feels very 90's.
It seems you can get replacement units with wireless capabilities, but they run around 320 euros, which is a bargain - but still out of my price range atm.
So as a workaround I ordered an AAWireless Android Auto wireless adapter for just under 50 GBP, which tucks away neatly inside the center console 'ashtray' compartment. It works great and autoconnects on startup within seconds. Out of sight, out of mind, perfect.
Links:
Dash Cam Hardwiring
New car means new dash cam, and a dash cam means cables.
I don't want ugly cables running all over my car, so I wanted to have a go at 'hardwiring' it to the fuse box.
Purchases
The dash cam I picked was the VIOFO A129 DUO, which is a front and rear cam with Sony sensors and supports parking mode when wired correctly. The wiring kit needed for this is the VIOFO HK3 ACC Hardwire Kit, which is sold seperately, so I picked one of those up too.
You also need some misc bits. Some are more obvious such as an SD card for the camera and some are less obvious, like low amp fuses and fuse taps for the wiring kit.
The fuses and taps you need will differ depending on your car which is why they're not part of the kit. For mine I needed standard sized so I picked up two fuse taps and two low amp (4amp, but 1amp would be better) fuses from a local shop.
Okay the retail therapy part is over and the parts are on their way, time to obsessively research
Research
As mentioned before the installation process will differ car to car. You need to know:
- Fuse box
- Where it is
- How to access it from inside the cab
- Position of ACC (switched-live) terminal
- Position of BAT (perma-live) terminal
- A grounding point
- Cabling
- A path from the front camera to the fuse box
- A path from the front camera to the rear cam
- Removable trim in those paths (to hide the cable)
Finding the fuse box was easy enough, I just had to unhook the glove box which was a bit fiddly but no major stress - from there I was lost though. I have no idea what any of the fuses are for, and my multimeter is/was dead.
After some forum spelunking I found what I needed - diagrams and tables explaining the pin layout and what each terminal is used (or not used) for.
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On my fuse box, F40 is switched-live (ACC) by default but can be made parma-live (BAT) by moving it up one slot so it's in line with F39 and F41. However this would result in your 12V Cigarette Lighter being on all the time - so I left it as is and used it for switched-live (ACC)
In the end I settled on these terminals
- F44 - 15A - Towing hitch (perma-live/BAT, unused in my car)
- F40 - 20A - 12V / Cigarette Lighter (switched-live/ACC)
As for the cable pathing and trim removal, it looked simple enough. Just tug in the right places and it comes loose...
Installation
Before doing anything too serious, I set up the dashcam with the standard cables just to validate it all works and I liked the placement. With that done I removed the cabling, turned off the car and passenger airbag (safety, eh).
With that done I removed the cables and got started pulling off the A-Pillar, which revealed the airbag and wiring harness. I disconnected the speaker cable and put the pillar to the side.
Next I popped open the side of the dashboard behind the airbag switch
And finally popped open the glove box to reveal the fuse box
Cool, with the relevant trim removed I grabbed the hardware cable.
I started lowering the cable alongside the A-pillar harnessing, while simultaneously feeling around behind the side panel for any glimpse of the cable coming through. Once I got a hold of it I pulled it through to the point the low voltage box was visible and then wired the ground cable to a nearby bolt I just so happened to have the right sized nut for.
I then pushed the ACC and BAT cables further down and reach up through the fuse box to grab them and pull them down to the appropriate length.
With all the cabling in the right place I just had to connect it up. I put a fuse tap and a 4amp fuse (again, 1amp would have been better) on both cables (BAT and ACC) and then crimped them with pliers.
I put the BAT (perma-live) in the empty socket F44 which I'd previously identified as an unused perma-live
For the ACC (switch-live), I took the existing 20amp fuse out of F40, and put it on the tap alongside the one I added, then put the tap into F40
Okay so confession time, you may notice the pictures here are all a bit off from how I'm describing this process. This is because it took me like three attempts to do this right.
- The first time, I didn't even know I needed to buy fuses, I assumed I could piggyback existing ones.
- The second time, I had it all working but it stopped working when I put it back together - turns out the fuse tap was snagged on the glove box and came loose, this is because I stupidly ran the cables through the glove box guides (which you can see in the picture).
So the third and final time, I went back in and tidied the cabling up a bit, rerouted the fuse taps so they weren't in the way of the glovebox, and it all works fine now.
There are many posts and videos out there of people doing this better, I tried not to look at them too much cos it feels like cheating - but I would be stupid not to use these resources at all. I have linked all the resourced I used below.
I have no idea what I'm doing here, but if I don't try I never will eh :)
Links
Categories: carstuff