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So, after spending the last week of research here on the forum and on the interwebs, and considering all the various options that exist (including NaviTool), I believe I have found what appears to be the best balance of cost, ease and functionality to get Carplay going.:
* Display: Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet ($49)
* Interface: Carlinkit Wireless Carplay Dongle USB Adapter ($80)
* Power/Connectivity: MicroUSB OTG USB Host Cable ($5)
* Audio: USA SPEC Bluetooth Integration ($173)
Total: $307
Yes, there is more to it, in terms of where to mount the table, cable placement, etc. But it works, and gives you a true native experience (touchscreen) vs having to use a cheap 3rd party controller. Here's a quick video showing a great example:
So far so good. Initial functionality testing is a success. Ive made a couple changes to the original equipment lineup:
* Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1" (gorgeous screen)
* Apple USB-C dongle
While the Samsung 10.1 tablet ($179) was bit more expensive than the Fire 8 HD ($49), it was totally worth it. Not only a slimmer design, the larger screen and resolution is gorgeous and totally worth it. $179 is still crazy cheap for a high end tablet (IMO).
I was able to connect the Carlinkit Carplay dongle AND provide power to it simultaneously by just using a regular Apple USB-C dongle. Contrary to lots of chatter on the internet about other OTG style adapters, dongles, etc not allowing you to do this, it works great on my setup. I think the big difference is this Samsung tablet uses a USB-C port instead of the PITA micro-USB style port. Another aspect worth the additional cost
Overall performance and responsiveness of the UI is super smooth, fluid and seamless as you would expect coming from an actual Android powered car system with Carplay. Ive found no issues yet.
Next up is testing bluetooth pairing to the USA-SPEC bluetooth kit for the RDX. After that its on to the actual wiring and physical install.
It arrives tomorrow, so I'll post some pics once I get it installed. While the advertisement pics show it mounted on the top of the dashboard, I plan to mount it directly on the bottom "shelf" (flat horizontal area) section of the existing NAV screen. Basically the Samsung tablet will cover the old NAV screen. While I'll no longer be able to see the backup camera, I honestly don't need it and worth losing for what I'm gaining. I spent a good bit of time researching all the various types of tablet car mounts out there and this one seemed to fit the measurements with the right amount of movement options.
Last edited by holografique; 12-23-2019 at 12:58 AM.
Initial tablet mounting and placement a success. This is looking super hot! Really pleased with the aesthetic and usability.
The mount is rock solid and stable (no rattling, wobbling, shifting). With the tablet mounted it feels like a nice quality computer LED screen, fully adjustable in every direction. I'll upload a functional video later.
In the pics below you're just seeing the regular Android OS desktop, cleaned up with only the widgets and icons I need quick access to. Carplay photos up next...
Initial tablet mounting and placement a success. This is looking super hot! Really pleased with the aesthetic and usability.
The mount is rock solid and stable (no rattling, wobbling, shifting). With the tablet mounted it feels like a nice quality computer LED screen, fully adjustable in every direction. I'll upload a functional video later.
In the pics below you're just seeing the regular Android OS desktop, cleaned up with only the widgets and icons I need quick access to. Carplay photos up next...
Looking good, can't wait to see the finished build.
Took the setup for it's first test drive. Great success. Here's the rundown:
* physical installation is SOLID. The magnets on the mounts are extremely strong and provides a very confident and secure mounting. As is the base mount to the dashboard (uses a combo suction with adhesive, reusable and washable). No rattles or other unwanted noises generated and no chance of the tablet falling off the mount even on bumpy roads.
* Fully integrates with the USA-SPEC Bluetooth kit for the 07-09 RDX. The trick is to pair the tablet to it instead of your phone! Once Carplay fires up, it passes all the controls, via bluetooth, to the tablet and into Carplay.
* Full integration with steering wheel controls. Yup, the combo of the USA-Spec Bluetooth kit paired to the tablet running Carplay lets you use the steering wheel controls to control volume and track ffwd/rwd
* Full integrated Carplay phone call. No more handsfree link BS or other dodgy setups with mics plugged into aux ports, etc. All phone calls to/from your iPhone are managed natively via Carplay. The audio is played via the car stereo, and it uses the mic on the tablet for recording! All test calls resulted in superb sound quality and noise cancellation on the receiving party using the built in mic on this particular Samsung tablet.
* Entering and exiting the vehicle is 95% flawless in terms of plug-n-play. On occasion the timing of the tablet firing up and your phone connecting to the wifi signal of the Carplay adapter falls out of sync and takes an extra 15-30 sec for it to kick in. But otherwise it fires up, and starts music playback from where you left off.
* There is one annoying thing, and that is when entering the car at home, where you have your home wifi networks and your iPhone connected to them. The iPhone will NOT switch over to the Carplay adapter wifi network automatically. You have to switch over to it manually. But once you leave the vicinity of your home, its no longer an issue (until you return home again). This is more of an issue of how the iPhone handles prioritization of wifi networks
Here's a pic of me waiting in drive-thru giving it a test run in the wild. More updates to come.
Mainly working on automating the startup / shutdown process of the tablet during vehicle on/off to make it as "plug-n-play" as possible to feel like a true integrated OEM unit.
This is all done using macro automation tools for the Android OS on the tablet. So far so good, just working out some kinks before I post an example.
In the meantime, here's the custom splashscreen I created that will come up whenever you turn the vehicle on/off...
I actually love this idea, the aesthetics, and the fact that its 100% reversible. I hope you keep this thread updated and maybe a DIY for the software and complete parts list. Thanks for the inspiration.
I actually love this idea, the aesthetics, and the fact that its 100% reversible. I hope you keep this thread updated and maybe a DIY for the software and complete parts list. Thanks for the inspiration.
I definitely plan on updating this thread with all the final results, parts, software/hardware list, splashscreen, etc. once Im done. Just been busy with holidays and also working on some other items on the car. Including new exterior and interior LED lighting. I plan to post an update on that on a separate thread. The lighting DIY post in the DIY section is great, but very outdated considering LED lighting technology has advanced dramatically since the original post (10 years ago!). Especially all the commentary on LED lighting not having enough lumens compared to halogen / incandescents. Definitely not the case now as some of the new LED lights can output 1000+ lumens at various colors, etc. Super bright!! There are also new options now that have integrated resistors/anti-hyperflashing tech built into them so you don't have to dork around with the added parts. More to come.
I can’t wait to see the final bugs worked out of it!!!
I always like to see new ingenuity on our platform!!!
I have had led everything interior and exterior on my RDX since I got it in 2009 constantly updating the led technology. Trust me back in 09’ when I use to hit the brakes it would blow a fuse. Then it went to burnt out bulbs. No then it when to brake lights stay on. Then I have no brake lights. Then dim brake lights. Now everything like you said is pretty caught up with the hyper flash and not enough light output. My leds have way more light output than halogen lights ever could. The only problem I had was with our headlights not being able to be changed because of the hids build in ballast igniter and bulb. What a nightmare when those went out I had to drop the whole front bumper to take out the headlights out and swap out the whole system. Then the armrest light thing popped into the hole now I can’t retrieve it I don’t feel like taking the whole center console apart to fix it.
@holografique Your setup looks very nice. I like the fact that it has the OEM look to it. Question: how do you think the magnet holder will hold up in a crash? Do you think the tablet would be flying into your face? Also, do you think it would be in the path of the passenger airbag?
@holografique Your setup looks very nice. I like the fact that it has the OEM look to it. Question: how do you think the magnet holder will hold up in a crash? Do you think the tablet would be flying into your face? Also, do you think it would be in the path of the passenger airbag?
Great question, safety is not something I had taken into consideration yet.
My initial answer is: I'm not sure as it would all depend on the type of accident and the force of impact. Something you simply cant predict as there are soo many ways a vehicle could be involved in an impact accident, including the varying degrees of speed and direction involved during the impact.
While the magnet is very strong, I would imagine with enough forward impact force it could be shaken loose. That said, it is in the middle of the center console, it doesnt face either the driver or the passenger. If it were to fall it will most likely fall down into the center console area, or fly somewhat in the direction towards the rear via the center armrest area (that would take a tremendous amount of impact force).
Overall Im not too concerned, but it is definitely something to consider for anyone who wants to implement this.
I have some more good news and updates to share on resolving some of the power management issues and automation Ive been working through. I'll have some time to post this weekend.
Great question, safety is not something I had taken into consideration yet.
My initial answer is: I'm not sure as it would all depend on the type of accident and the force of impact. Something you simply cant predict as there are soo many ways a vehicle could be involved in an impact accident, including the varying degrees of speed and direction involved during the impact.
While the magnet is very strong, I would imagine with enough forward impact force it could be shaken loose. That said, it is in the middle of the center console, it doesnt face either the driver or the passenger. If it were to fall it will most likely fall down into the center console area, or fly somewhat in the direction towards the rear via the center armrest area (that would take a tremendous amount of impact force).
Overall Im not too concerned, but it is definitely something to consider for anyone who wants to implement this.
I have some more good news and updates to share on resolving some of the power management issues and automation Ive been working through. I'll have some time to post this weekend.
I agree, any concern about the magnet flying loose would probably only be for a major crash.
I also went ahead and did an initial install of a tablet in my 2008 RDX Tech. For me it was a dealbreaker not having a backup camera working and covering the factory one, so I seem to have everything working that I intended other than maybe a couple of small software/Android tweaks to still make.
If anyone is interested in any details let me know.
Please tell how you got the backup camera to work on this tablet? You can’t leave us in suspense here.
Sorry for the late reply. Here is my current part list, tablet is the same as OP except I think he did not go with the LTE/4G version:
Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 LTE (I also have a SIM card installed on this because I am not using Carplay or Android Auto or anything so using apps directly on tablet)
Link:
USA SPEC Bluetooth Integration (right now I am just using aux input from USB C hub, but this definitely seems worth it to get)
Notes:
I came to the conclusion that in order to have a good tablet experience as possible that I didn't want to have the tablet fully power off when turning the car off. I currently have an app called Tasker that puts the tablet in Airplane Mode and turns off the screen when the car is turned off, and turns on the screen and turns off Airplane Mode when the car turns off. This avoids having to wait for a relatively lengthy boot process of this tablet. There may be some additional things to configure to even further preserve battery while the car is turned off like an optimal battery mode setting (just haven't dug around too much on this yet).
Using the current tablet where the USB C hub is plugged into the tablet and then another USB C cable goes from one of the car's DC power ports into a DC in port on the USB C hub. Technically this all works fine and charges the tablet, but right now the tablet does report the device is charging slowly. I'm honestly not sure if there's any other USB C hub that would be able to provide the normal amps to not report charging slowly, this might basically just be a limitation of the tablet when using a USB hub and charging at the same time, but during normal driving the tablet does not seem to lose any additional battery, it usually seems to sustain the current percentage or bump up slightly.
Right now the backup camera works for all intents and purposes, but I do notice that it seems like the framerate on the video is a little less than fluid. I'm currently not sure if this is because of the hardware (USB video capture device), software (USB Web Camera Pro app), or the actual backup camera itself.
As mentioned above, would definitely recommend getting the USA SPEC bluetooth integration to avoid any audio issues using auxiliary.
The USB C hub (and all associated stuff for backup camera) is all just sitting inside of my center console out of view. It could probably all go inside of a little mount or netted holder.
Abbreviated writeup for installation (ignoring tablet mounting):
It's been a while since I did this, but the black plastic trim piece that houses the factory backup camera is held in really tight by some clips. Being careful and using some pry tools, I finally got this plastic trim piece off, unscrewed the screws and wires holding in the factory backup camera, and then drilled a hole in the opposite side on the left similarly to where the factory is positioned on the right.
I took the new aftermarket backup camera and mounted this through the factory black trim piece and routed the wire through an opening above the black trim piece towards the rear right access panel. I believe I remember fitting it through a gap that also housed the license plate light.
Open up rear access panel on rear right side of hatch to gain access to harness that carries reverse light power. I was able to do everything only by having this small rear access panel off, but others might suggest taking off more of the plastic on the back side of the hatch. I wanted to avoid this.
Find power/ground of reverse lights inside of tubing/harness, and I just used the quick splice connectors that came with the backup camera. There is a very tight space here so it took a lot of patience to do this without damaging the reverse light wires or any surrounding wires.
After the backup camera wire is routed to the rear access panel, I ran the video/power wire straight through the rear right seat along the right side of the car on the floor. Once again, this could be a time where someone who wanted a cleaner installation might tear up the carpets and plastic trim to have the wire hidden from plain view.
The yellow wire on the camera connects into the yellow port of the USB video capture device (which is plugged into the USB C hub).
You could probably do a test at this point by opening up USB Web Camera Pro on the tablet, then going into reverse. The video should appear when the power from the reverse lights is also power the backup camera and sending video.
In order to make the backup camera really work as a backup camera, this is where the 4-pin relay comes into play. I took an extension cable that came with the USB video capture device and opened up the extension cable tubing (very carefully) to expose 4 individual wires for power, ground, data positive, and data negative. I (very carefully) used wire cutters/strippers to cut the red/orange power cable and then strip both ends.
The wire running from the backup camera to the front also has a small gauge wire to carry power, this is normally used as a trigger wire for traditional head units in a car so it also knows when to switch the video to backup camera.
Using the 4-pin relay, I connected the 12v trigger/power wire from the backup camera to pin 86 of the relay. Pins 30 and 87 are the two ends of the cut power wire in the USB extension cable. Pin 85 is ground.
Configuring some settings in the USB Web Camera Pro app, anytime the car is put into reverse and the backup gets power, the USB video capture device is also powered which activates the USB Web Camera Pro app and instantly starts showing video. When the car is taken out of reverse, the backup camera and USB video capture device no longer have power, so the device disconnects, the USB Web Camera Pro app stops receiving video and closes.
Warning: I am not an electrician in any way so please take any of the above advice with caution and let me know if anyone needs any more details (or please consult with an actual electrician).
So far so good. Initial functionality testing is a success. Ive made a couple changes to the original equipment lineup:
* Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1" (gorgeous screen)
* Apple USB-C dongle
While the Samsung 10.1 tablet ($179) was bit more expensive than the Fire 8 HD ($49), it was totally worth it. Not only a slimmer design, the larger screen and resolution is gorgeous and totally worth it. $179 is still crazy cheap for a high end tablet (IMO).
I was able to connect the Carlinkit Carplay dongle AND provide power to it simultaneously by just using a regular Apple USB-C dongle. Contrary to lots of chatter on the internet about other OTG style adapters, dongles, etc not allowing you to do this, it works great on my setup. I think the big difference is this Samsung tablet uses a USB-C port instead of the PITA micro-USB style port. Another aspect worth the additional cost
Overall performance and responsiveness of the UI is super smooth, fluid and seamless as you would expect coming from an actual Android powered car system with Carplay. Ive found no issues yet.
Next up is testing bluetooth pairing to the USA-SPEC bluetooth kit for the RDX. After that its on to the actual wiring and physical install.
More to come...👍🏼
Older thread but I'm just setting up this exact same config for my vehicle. Have you been happy with the Apple USB-C dongle and the charging rate for the Samsung 10.1 tablet?
Thanks for posting this. I was just looking for a carplay Android auto solution for my 2010 rdx non-tech.
I ended up using the carlinkit dongle with my old LG Gpad 8.0 LTE. The awesome thing about this tablet is that is has a built in full size USB port!
So all I needed was just an extension female to male USB extension for a dongle and a USB to micro USB cord to charge. Also grabbed the magnetic mount.
The tablet fits perfectly into the screen cubby.
I definitely plan on updating this thread with all the final results, parts, software/hardware list, splashscreen, etc. once Im done. Just been busy with holidays and also working on some other items on the car. Including new exterior and interior LED lighting. I plan to post an update on that on a separate thread. The lighting DIY post in the DIY section is great, but very outdated considering LED lighting technology has advanced dramatically since the original post (10 years ago!). Especially all the commentary on LED lighting not having enough lumens compared to halogen / incandescents. Definitely not the case now as some of the new LED lights can output 1000+ lumens at various colors, etc. Super bright!! There are also new options now that have integrated resistors/anti-hyperflashing tech built into them so you don't have to dork around with the added parts. More to come.
Do you have any update on this build? I'm about to dive in, and would really like to know if it is still working for you!
12-15-2019 | 09:28 PM
