dmbymdt

So I decided to treat myself and I bought the NavTool (generation 3). It has done as advertised, but wanted to let people know the struggles with it and also what I have found to work. I will be interested to see if others have experimented with it.

This is the link if interested: ACURA TSX 2011-2014 NAVIGATION VIDEO INTERFACE with BUILT-IN HD SMARTPHONE MIRRORING via HDMI

- So the first challenge is with disassembling the center console. You have to be very gentle with these parts as there are clips that may break when removing the pieces if done incorrectly. There is a very good document on the internet which describes how to take apart the center console
- Once the center console is out the NavTool has to be added to the center console. There is not much space to work with and the wires are very snug within the center console compartment. I ended up placing the NavTool under the radio unit. The NavTool also has to tap into an accessory wire, ground wire (supposed to be the parking brake wire but can be any ground so as to allow the navtool to be activated without being parked). The NavTool is an additional video feed which enables the head unit to switch inputs. To switch inputs the NavTool can either use the cancel button or a push button that is used externally. Unfortunately the cancel button's JOB (needs to be a certain code) was not working with my car so I had to use an external push button. I bought a switch on amazon.
- The wiring for the push button switch is semi complicated unless you have worked with push buttons before. The last issue is enabling the smart mirroring for the NavTool. It took me some time to figure this out as the device is capable with HDMI, however the s6 does not have wired mirroring capabilities. I got pretty frustrated with NavTool as well as they are marketing a netgear device that is out of stock and over 5 year old technology at the time of writing this. The devices I tested were:
- Chromecast
- FireTV
- Microsoft display adapter
- Screenbeam Mini2

The only one of these adapters that work was the Chromecast. I guess the screen resolution of the TSX driving is too low for most of the screen adapters. It is around 232x320 and most of the adapters go down to 400x600 but that is it. This presented a challenge because the chromecast needs to have a wifi connection to connect the phone to the device. To get around this requirement you need to put the s6 into a mobile hotspot. This mobile hotspot is what the device will connect to (the first time connecting the hotspot you will have to have a 3rd device to pair the phone hotspot and the chromecast.). Once the chromecast is connected to network you can open the chromecast app on your mobile hotspot phone and cast the screen to your car! The audio uses the cars aux cable. Pretty complicated project, but rewarding in the end as I haven't seen any other devices that allow this mod.

Let me know what you think or if anyone has tried something similar.

Before disassembling the center console. Make sure the guard rails are taken apart first.

Many screws holding in the temperature controls

Inside the console

Under the radio console there are 2 screws. This is where I ultimately put the NavTool device

Very tight to fit all of the cords.



Completely disassembled. Starting to organize the wires.

Finished product! chromecasting the video from my screen

The customized push button.

Levonotar

Nice write up