mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

I've got my setup working well again. I had a few issues with my USB OTG Y-cable in the past, but that's all sorted out now.

Just making a thread to show how I have everything done, in case anyone else is interested in this setup. I've also created a block diagram to show how my tablet is wired in.

-- WARNING: If you disconnect the OEM headunit or anytime you're working with the HVAC/Radio display and those connectors make sure you remove the battery negative cable. Failure to do so has resulted in people blowing their MICU which is located in the passenger fuse box, this is an expensive repair if things go wrong with the install.

If you attempt this you do so at your own risk if anything goes wrong, in my setup the Li-Poly battery inside the N7 is still inside of the device.

A few key notes about my install are:

- Requires some soldering skills, splices should be protected by heat shrink and completed using the in-line splice method. A quick google search will help you find how to perform an in-line splice.

- Requires relocation of the HVAC/Radio display to center console storage area
-- This is a pretty involved task, with a lot of steps and things to pay
attention to

- Utilizes 20AWG wires in the USB On-the-Go Y-Cable

- Is going to require some creativity and a lot of time and patience.

I've also got torque working with this setup, I'll make a separate video later showing that it functions over bluetooth and I'm using the Scantool MX.

I chose the Scantool over the other ELM 32 bluetooth OBDII scanners because it has a feature that causes it to go to 'sleep'. If you're not running torque the Scantool will not continually draw power off of your OBDII port whereas the other adapters for this will.

The other options for the bluetooth OBDII scanner will also continue to draw power when the car is off, since there is always power on the OBDII port even when the key is removed and the car is locked.

Here's the block diagram of my setup:



I also have an in-line fuse on the input to the Autek 12/24V to 5V @ 5A power supply, I have a 5A fuse installed there, but it'd be ok to use a 2.5A or 3A fuse for the input to the power supply.

Doing some math, since P = IE

I have 25W on the output at max load (if I plug in a lot of devices), with 5V x 5A

The input must be higher than the output, due to power losses in the power supply and since the input is at 13-14V when the alternator is running (on mine its 14V) then..

25W = 14V x 1.785A .. so I have just over 1.785A on the input, we'll call it 2A.

Together with the anker power supply which is 3.6A @ 5V or 18W that means it's drawing

18W = 14x, x = 1.285A

This plus whatever the fan is drawing, means I have plenty of room on the accessory fuse, since my load is only about 3.07A @ 14V and that fuse is pretty big, don't remember how many amps it is.

And here are a few key features that helped me make this work:

Here I followed 00g's setup and routed the 3.5mm aux port and the USB Micro port out of the nexus 7 in order to fit the N7 inside of the bezel.

My USB OTG cable was simply too large to fit any other way and this worked out quite well. This required removal of the rear panel on the N7, it just clips off and on a google search will show you how to disassemble the N7 to accomplish this. It'll require you to disconnect the internal N7 battery and peel up a copper shield, be careful not to damage anything inside of the device.

I used an exacto knife to trim part of the rear panel away near the WiFi antenna ensuring that I left the clip that is right there completely in tact. The antennas on the Nexus 7 are located on the back panel, so you want to be certain it is clipped in good otherwise you could end up with a poor connection to one of them.



You can see I used a piece of plexi glass to mount my 12V computer fan and the micro USB BOB to ensure a secure connection. I went through a lot of trouble with the Micro USB connector and I think this is the best way to implement this. My HVAC switches also have no binds in them at all and it won't require much trimming of the inside of the bezel to accomplish this.

Here's the pin-out for the Micro-USB breakout board.



This is exactly the way that end of my cable is wired. The only place I was able to order the USB cable with 20AWG wire were from a robotics supply shop or from amazon. The amazon cable comes with gold plated connectors and is actually a 20' printer cable. But it has all the parts you need to ensure a 20AWG connection all of the way across your USB-OTG Y-cable if you want this setup.

Here's how it's soldered:







In the first photo you'll notice I soldered the 20AWG ground wire to both the ID pin and the GND pin. This wire needs to be connected to both pins in order to enable the tablet to use USB-ROM's OTG charging and sleep options that I'm using.

The wire on the bottom in the second photo is for the shielding, to ensure it's connected and grounded through the device on both ends I had to re-solder the shielding together at the Y junction and at the Micro-USB end.

The aluminum shielding you're not going to be able to solder, so the trick here is to use some copper hook-up wire, strip a long piece and then twist some of the strands on the end of it together. Cut this piece off, now you can intertwine the copper and aluminum together, then solder these together. The solder will adhere to the copper and make a connection between the solder, copper and aluminum effectively allowing you to splice together the shielding.

The other end of it is soldered to the bottom of the BOB, if you order one you'll notice on the bottom there are 4 pins around the connector that are not labeled. These are all connected to the outer portion of the Micro USB connector, so it's a good spot to solder the other end of your shielding to.

Here's a video showing some of the features and a few tricks to get the voice turn-by-turn to work:

VanyDotK

iTrader: (6)

Dude that's cool as shit, good job.

thoiboi

Looks good man! I'm wondering why Navigon doesn't do the audio ducking on its own. I've used both Google Maps Navigation and Waze with Pandora running and whenever there is a prompt/turn-by-turn, it will automatically duck Pandora/music.

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

It will do it on it's own, but the problem with it is that the audio is routed differently inside of the nexus 7.

For the system volume everything is played on all of the speakers, however for the alerts and media volume it's played only on the center speaker. As a result if you don't adjust the volume controls the audio fading that the tablet does on it's own isn't enough to make it effective.

There's also a lot of volume controls on my car now, I have 3 different ways to adjust settings and volume. The tablet can use DSP manager or something like that, then I think the FiiO DAC has some adjustments for them as well and the OEM headunit has even more adjustments.

If I turn the system volume on the tablet up, then I can turn the volume on the OEM headunit down, alternatively I can adjust the volume on the FiiO DAC as well.

The way I have things setup I try to just adjust the volume controls on the OEM headunit itself and leave the other parts alone for the most part.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Dude, well done! Good song to demo with too.

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

Thanks guys

I made another video to show off some more features of USB-ROM, in this one I show playing media from an external source through the USB hub and a little bit in torque.

Ran into a few bugs in the video. I also should've said torque can check the alternator voltage, not temp haha

I ordered a new hvac board on ebay as well to fix my mistakes when I chopped the bezel on this one, so I'll be repairing the damage you can see on it. I picked one up for like $50 shipped, I won't be using the HVAC switches or the display board from it just the bezel since it looked like it was in good condition.

Anyhow here's the video:

thoiboi

Awesome clarification OP! I'm definitely bookmarking this thread for when I do my tablet install. Be prepared for a barrage of PMs!

One question off the top of my head is how is that copper ribbon cable installed? Was that a part of the Nexus 7 that has been brought out from internally?

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

No problem, I can definitely provide some answers if you need some help when you go through your setup.

Before unscrewing stuff inside the nexus 7 I carefully disconnect the nexus 7 battery, you'll see a big connector with like 5 or 6 wires on it that runs to the battery.

The ribbon cable was internal to the nexus 7, so it's already inside of the tablet. Once the rear panel is popped off of the nexus 7 there are some screws holding the N7 speaker on that need to be removed, then you unscrew the micro USB connector and 3.5mm port since the ribbon cable is attached to both they both have to be routed outside of the nexus 7.

Once those screws are removed the battery has to be carefully removed, it has some adhesive holding it in and there's a thin square metallic thing on part of the copper where the ribbon cable runs through it that I removed, I left the adhesive on the battery though so it could stick back in when I reinstalled it.

Once the battery is out you can carefully peel up the copper shield and slip the ribbon cable out of the copper shield and route it out. Then you can stick the copper shield back down into its original shape, there's no need to tear or cut the copper shield at all you can slip the ribbon cable right out of it on one side. I took mine out of the bottom, where the WiFi antenna is attached to the back panel. I trimmed that part of the rear panel on the N7 like in the photo ensuring the clip was in tact to ensure I didn't pinch the ribbon cable when I put the rear panel back on and also to ensure all of the clips that hold the rear panel on were still in tact.

I taped the 3.5mm port to the plexi glass so it doesn't flop around and with the USB Micro breakout board I was able to secure it to the plexi glass by cutting a slot in it that I could slip it through like you can see in the photo.

I can also happily report that my new USB OTG Y-cable is a perfect solution to the battery discharging issues I was having. I can now run the tablet with torque running and my phone tethered with no battery drain on the tablet.

My tablet now stays at 100% in this situation and it also no longer shows 'Charging AC' when the battery is full. So the Nexus 7 is able to draw enough power off my cable to keep the battery at 100%.

The breakout boards are cheap too, only like $4.

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

Thought I'd add some tips to this thread for those that go through the trouble to try this.

To trim the bezel I did it in the following steps..

- Pop out the clear plastic piece by hand
- Dremel out the rest of the plastic with a cut-off wheel, then carefully trim it closer, I messed up 2 bezels like this so be careful
- Use an exacto knife to trim the edges closer sort of widdling the plastic down
- Use a flat file to get the final shape on the edges

I wear a respirator with OV/Particulate filters when cutting plastic, the chemicals and debris that comes off during the process isn't good for you.

Here's also a picture of what I did to fit the Nexus 7 into the bezel, no need to trim around the AC switches if you route the ribbon cable out like in the above photos.



That'll hold it square, you can actually pop the nexus 7 into the bezel before the plastic weld cures and then add more plastic weld to it to get a good fit or press the nexus 7 one way or the other to get it level and square.

Then pop it out and clean any of the plastic weld off the nexus 7 and can slightly reshape the plastic weld back into place if it moved while you removed the nexus 7.

Once it cures I did a test fit, and trimmed it a little as needed.


Also with the HVAC display board relocation note where I grounded it here:





I'm not sure if this wire is needed on this location but I have one there. When you disassemble the bezel and remove the board you should note a few things..

- From the factory there is a screw here, connecting it to the outer metal shell over the display bezel
- The outer shell of the display bezel is screwed into the bracket that the OEM headunit is screwed into
- That bracket is tied to the chassis, grounding it.

That's why I installed a wire there.

And here's how mine looks now, fixed with a new bezel



Picked it up on ebay and it came in quick, $50 mistake with a slip of the dremel though and it can be tough to find one on ebay with a good plastic piece without damage for a low price.

Lastly I don't know what it's worth but I used plexi glass like you can see above to secure the nexus 7 against the bezel.

If you use the metal case your antennas can have some blockage or reflect around and reduce their effective signal. This is one of the reasons I chose to go with plexi glass.

aztec209

can you talk about or give us more details about the volume and power button, how did you do it.

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

With USB-ROM I don't need access to any of the buttons on the tablet.

The volume controls can be accessed from inside the tablet's interface or from the '+' and '-' buttons on the tablet, a feature that was added in USB-ROM.

I trimmed the top of the bezel as you can see in the photos as sort of an 'oh crap' so I can access them if need be to turn off the tablet or enter recovery.

I can actually access recovery or reboot the tablet without accessing those buttons and with the way its setup in the block diagram with USB-ROM loaded onto it the deep sleep and power on is all automated by powereventmgr in USB-ROM itself.

In order to reboot the tablet I perform the following:

- Open a terminal editor
- type in 'su' and depress 'enter'
- grant root permissions if prompted
- type in 'reboot' and depress 'enter'

This will restart the tablet if something hung and it needs a reboot.

To access recovery without accessing the buttons I perform the following:

- Install ROM Manager app from the play store
- Open ROM manager
- Find the option for 'Reboot to recovery' in ROM manager and depress it

Tablet will reboot to recovery at that point.

I'm using CWM Touch recovery on the tablet at this point and also have my tablet rooted and bootloader unlocked.

I'm also still having a slight problem with torque and some battery drain, it's not much at all now though.

Torque forces all of the interfaces on, GPS, Bluetooth and Wifi and also forces the screen to its brightest display setting which causes more power drain than the charging circuit on the N7 can handle so it draws some energy from the battery as a result to power the tablet.

It's not that significant now and the tablet recharges a lot quicker now with the 20AWG power wires.


I've also adjusted my FiiO E17 a little bit, I have the gain on it set to it's max setting of 12db, the volume up to 60 and the volume memory set to on.

I left the treble, balance and other audio settings on it alone. Off the USB interface on the FiiO I can play 96khz 24bit audio files, which is about the max fidelity I'm going to get. So essentially I can play lossless HD music off my tablet now in FLAC format from Apollo.

I have to purchase some HD music though .. lol

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

^ Just thought I'd add I played around with some 96khz 24 bit audio files today and changed from apollo over to poweramp.

Android downconverts these files to 44.1khz 16 bit, android itself still can't process 96khz 24 bit audio files so it just gets converted. Poweramp can play them though, but DAC will never go to 96khz/24 bit because android doesn't support it and outputs at 44.1/16.

Kaiii

iTrader: (1)

Awesome job with everything! I'd never be able to tackle something like this..props to you!
Regarding the booting on/off, is the Nexus 7's boot up time too long? You have a Gen 1 right? I stumbled upon this, "Deep Sleep" feature, which appears to be between sleep (just screen off, etc) and shutting down that you might want to look into and could be potentially helpful: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=44653172#post44653172

I forgot that you were in HI until I heard the street names haha. Where u at on the island? I'm from Manoa

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

That's cool, it's really not all that difficult to do.

I'd have to say the hardest part is splicing all of the wiring and moving the HVAC display down, then trimming the bezel I jacked 2 of them up before I got the one I'm happy with now.

Other than that it's just time consuming.

The boot time also isn't bad, if I reboot the tablet it boots just like a normal tablet in regards to how long it takes.

It stays on all of the time in this setup though and when I turn off the car it goes to sleep (display off, interfaces off, etc) so when I turn the car back on the display turns back on and interfaces turn back on almost instantly.

If it had to boot every time I started the car it definitely wouldn't be as nice, it's a two step process now though since I have to turn the FiiO E17 on manually and start the car. The FiiO won't start on it's own when power is present, but it shuts off on it's own after a while when power is removed (car off).

I do have a gen 1 tablet, if I had the V2 I wouldn't be able to use the USB hub like I am, I need USB-ROM for those functions and the way the power management works with starting and turning off the car.

It can be done with a V2 as well, just not with the USB-Hub and external DAC off of the USB port, would have to use the 3.5mm port and tasker for the power management or something else off XDA.

I'm on Oahu, actually fairly close to Manoa

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

And just like that there's an alternative to USB-ROM now for the Nexus 7.

Setting it up looks a lot more involved, but should let me push past android 4.2.2 all of the way up to 4.4 or 4.3.

I'm going to give it a shot here maybe later in the week I need to do some reading up on it first, but here's the link for anyone interested:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2558717

Should be fairly simple, but really not for the faint of heart or those unfamiliar with flashing these mods to tablets/phones.

Looks like theres a few, I'm going to try this one first:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2546065

tjl_48

Please keep me posted on how this rom and kernel works for you. Would be interested in updating if it works well.

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

Changed my setup a little bit.

I picked up a 1' USB HDD cable for my FiiO DAC, I noticed it actually wasn't turning off at all if I leave it on. The battery in it was just dying and it'd turn off as a result.

I had a little trouble where it wouldn't pull enough energy to charge and play at the same time, so I upgraded the cable so it can pull power off two of my USB ports. I should've gotten a cable a little longer than 1' since 1' is barely long enough to route it to the top of the arm rest and have it connected.

Also updated showing the flash stick plugged into the USB Hub, I've got a 128GB stick in there plenty of room for music and no need to deal with the hassle of a USB HDD that may skip from the vibrations in the car or not draw enough power off the hub.

I still haven't messed around with a newer version of a USB capable ROM yet.

sreister

Awesome thread. I always thought of doing this to my 06 TL w/Navi but never thought I'd do it until I saw this. But a few questions.

How's the drain on your car battery? Is there any? Obviously I'm worried about this.

Also, would this work without buying an external dac? Could you use the N7's dac and get by? It's my understanding that dac's aren't all that bad anymore and there's not a sizable upgrade to getting seperate dacs. Thoughts?

Thanks for the awesome tread, I plan on doing this in the next month or so.

jhatter

I saw in a previous post where you were going to try and use the hfl microphone in to the usb dac input. Did you ever have any success? If not did you use a different method?

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

There's no drain on the car battery while the car is off from this. Because I wired everything into the Accessory power wires if the key is out of the car the tablet and everything in my circuit does not have power applied to it.

The 3.5mm port off the Nexus 7 could be utilized instead of using the USB connection like I am doing. It wouldn't have the USB hub in the setup that way though. Once I take the audio signal off of the USB connection like I am I need a DAC (digital audio converter) to convert the audio from the digital signal back to an analog signal to go into the OEM headunit.

I never did, I couldn't get the Nexus 7 to ever work with an external microphone input off of a DAC. The MIC inputs on my DAC previously were line-level inputs on the DAC so the microphone's audio output was way too low of a signal level in order for it to work. I haven't tried anything in that regard with the FiiO E17 that I'm using now, previously I had one of the Behringer DACs.

Everyone was having the same problems with trying to get an external mic to work and Timur never offered support for it.

That and I couldn't get the nexus 7 to use the external microphone as it's microphone and mute the internal one. So I never went about trying to pass the wires from the stock HFL mic down into the nexus 7.

If I could get any external mic to work that way I might be able to get the stock mic to work.

A bluetooth external microphone works, but only for voice commands. The receive off of a bluetooth headset when trying to use the N7 as a phone is just pure static on this version of android.

I think the bluetooth headset route may work in a newer version of android once I upgrade but won't know until I do and test it out.

Also trying to split the audio isn't really straightforward I think a dev would have to create something to get it to work the way I'd want it.

Ideally the bluetooth headset would just be the external microphone for audio input and the tablet would output audio though the DAC to the car speakers, but I have a feeling if I set it up with a bluetooth headset all the audio is going to make its way through the headset and I'm going to have nothing in the speakers (for phone calls). It does work that way for voice commands if I use soundabout with it and set the 'Use Bluetooth mono microphone' setting on. Then it'll mute the internal N7 microphone and use the bluetooth headset as a mic, but only for voice commands something weird happens in phone calls when I try it with grooveip or talkatone.

tjl_48

Have you thought of trying to use an easy cap to get a backup camera? I started goofing with the new kernal and rom that is 4.4.2. Think I have it working and as I was reading through those threads i happened to read more about the backup camera as well. I ordered an easycap and cheap backup camera off amazon for like 30 bucks total so I am going to at least bench test it and see how it goes. If all goes well I will pull out the factory camera and mount the aftermarket one in it's place.

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

The thought has crossed my mind, I've never gone about doing it though. I have the Joycon EXR board on my wish list on amazon it's only like $40 and you can use that with android to pick up a reverse trigger from your reversing lights and have the tablet automatically go to the camera when you put it in reverse.

I just really don't need a backup camera though, but I've definitely thought about it that and trying to get the steering wheel HFL buttons to work with my tablet.

I don't know how buggy it will be either, I know people were having trouble but I don't know the extent of it.

If I upgrade the android version on my tablet and I can get an external mic or bluetooth mic to work for phone calls the way I want then I'll seriously start looking at taking control of the HFL buttons and probably a backup cam later.

I've deleted my HFL completely, I refuse to pay another $200 to replace the unit so my HFL buttons do nothing.

Probably notice my diagram has a lot of empty white space on the right side lol .. that was so if I decided to add the JEXR, backup camera and take control of the HFL buttons and pass them to android using the JEXR I have room on it to update my diagram.

sreister

Thanks for answering all our questions, it's really appreciated. I bought a 1st gen N7 now and will go that route instead of the 2nd gen.

I plan on using the CM11 4.4.2 rom and kernel on this as opposed to the 4.2 OTG mod and kernel. Should work fine, plus ART will be nice as well.

Another question I had was what is your opinion on the fan you put in? Do you feel it's necessary or was it just a "sleep better at night" type of thing? I don't see it getting too hot, but if the cost of doing is pretty minimal/risk of overheat is high I would consider it.

Thanks again for all your help!

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

^^^ I installed the tablet in the dash as well...its not as extensive as mzilvars....

I have the factory radio deleted (gutted my car), so I just run the headphones to a processor to the factory amp and speakers...the power is run to the tablet by a 2.1 AMP car charger connected internally...

I just made some holes in the AC vents right behind the tablet. this way it will keep it cool (in the summer) and warm in the winter

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

I'm not sure if the fan was needed really, I doubt it. I'm not sure how much it's actually cooling the tablet either.

I could do some data logging and see what the CPU temps run at with the fan off on a long drive and then with the fan on over a long drive.

It was just more of a warm and fuzzy type of thing for me, since it is a Li-Poly battery that is buried in the dash. Obviously nothing cooling it when the car is just sitting around, I think if someone were someplace like Arizona in the dead heat of the summer they might have some problems just leaving the car parked outside for an extended period of time.

sreister

Thanks!

Another question, if you don't mind. I bought and was wondering if you bought the same exact one (I assume so) and whether or not you tried the USB input on it instead of going to a dac. To me, I want as few moving parts as I can and I the less touching my audio files the better (EQ and whatnot). Were you not able to get that to work or did you even try it? Thoughts? Thanks! Every day is a little closer to getting this done! I just want to be as prepared as possible for when I do this.

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

That's the one I have I didn't see a part number for the harness there I have the pgghd1 harness.

I don't think that's a USB input it looks like a connection to update or load firmware on the dualink box.

phongduong

iTrader: (1)

can u do a video step by step oon how to do it?

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

Nope, don't have the parts to do another one and for the amount of time it took to complete the entire install it'd be a pretty long video.

I can take some photos of some of the things I did, as an example I used the metal housing that was surrounding the HVAC display board once it was removed to make some small metal brackets to hold the display board in it's new location. I had to cut some of it into strips and then bend it into an almost Z shape to hold it in place properly. I also had to cut the rounded angle off of the trim where the storage cubbies were so it would sit in there flush.

Most of the metal was discarded, but I was able to bend some brackets out of the housing and screw it into the lower console area where the old covers were.

That and to fill the gap at the bottom of the display board I took some extra plexiglass that I had and made a small trim piece out of it, then I overlayed it in 3M CF Vinyl and hot-glued it in place.

The hot-glue lets go really easily though, I'm going to need to use something better to hold it in place. It stays there though but its loose, if you were to pull it up the little trim piece I made would come out.

I didn't want it to be a permanent fitting so I can overlay it again sometime in the future if need be.

triax37

iTrader: (1)

Thank you so much for including your diagram and the other tips. I'm going to tackle this project in the next few weeks, and while I didn't understand most of your post before digging into the details, now I realize how helpful your detailed tips are.

Questions:

1. The Autek 12/24 VDC power regulator isn't something I've seen in other installs. Did you include this just for protective reasons, to have a cleaner power delivery to the hub? Or is it because you're running multiple power hungry devices?
2. My read of the diagram is that the tablet is plugged directly into the 12V power accessory slot (using the Ankar cable) - is that correct? I was curious if this should also go through the Autek power regulator, or how you reasoned through this.
3. Computer fan - I haven't seen this used consistently. I was hoping you would share your thoughts.

Thanks so much!

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

The autek power supply I think was necessary, while the tablet using USB-ROM can power USB devices and the USB hub on it's own, I was having some problems with it where it would hang, reboot or have some power draw where the battery would go down.

Giving the hub it's own power supply and the tablet it's own power supply resolved the problem.

The anker is a separate power supply. It's one of the little 12V to 5V power supplies like you would use to charge your phone in your car.

This is the one I'm using:

http://www.ianker.com/product/71AN1852C-BA

The fan probably isn't necessary.

jphoenix

I did the same swap, but i cant fit the hvac display between the rear duct. what did you do to make it fit?

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

I used some of the metal from the cover for the HVAC display that I didn't need any longer.

I cut a few small strips and bent them in ways that I could screw them in as brackets to the plastic mounting locations where the storage cubbies were at.

I should have an update for this thread soon, I'm without my car right now for about another week.

I've changed the load on my tablet and now have my Nexus 7 on android 4.4.4 with another USB capable ROM and a custom USB capable kernel. I've also got a JEXR now so I'll be working the steering wheel controls.

Probably won't be done with it until sometime in August or September though, depending on how things go.

jphoenix

ok thank you, ive found some of your picture on another thread and it really helped me! im using the nexus 7 but with the grom usb, and i can change the song with the steering wheel, didnt had to do anything. really happy with it , but it only plays the music from its own app. unless you do an update which i did and that didnt change anything... so still trying to figure it out.

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

I've got the tablet back in my car now and thought I'd show a few updates.

Right now it's running Android 4.4.4 SlimKat with the Oxydo kernel v18.

These are available on XDA developers here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2789993

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2373410

Have to flash from recovery, easy to do once the tablet is unlocked and you're running custom recovery..

- Wipe Cache
- Wipe Dalvik
- Factory Data Reset
- Flash oxydo kernel
- Flash SlimKat ROM
- Flash Android 4.4.x GAPPS
- Reboot
- Install PowerEventMgr (link in one of those threads)

So far it's working great, the oxydo kernel has the USB Host-mode charging built-in, the SlimKat ROM supports it and PowerEventMgr allows you to configure the FI mode.

I think they're working on a taskbar, similar to what USB-ROM had for the volume controls, but given the integration on this I really don't need those since I'm using the factory headunit I can still utilize the steering wheel controls to adjust the volume or the PowerAmp widget to change songs.

I've managed to get a pretty cool task to work that I found some tutorials for online here:

http://tasker.wikidot.com/sunrise-and-sunset-times

There are two links on the bottom to the xml files you can save to your tablet and then import using tasker.

The sunshine check I modified a little, so it adjusts to my timezone automatically and utilizes GPS to fetch my location instead of using the internet.

What it's doing is getting the sunrise and sunset times for my location, based off GPS, and then writing those values to a Google calender called 'Tasker'. Then I'm using some other tasks to adjust the display brightness and display mode based off of the sunrise and sunset data.

So during the day it's forcing the brightness up high (manual setting) and at night it's lower and goes into night mode, also by a manual display setting.

Then I threw in some different backgrounds so the wallpaper changes, there is one for day and one for night that changes automatically at the Sunrise/Sunset times that were fetched and stored in the calendar.

Some things I have in store for later:
- JEXR integration for steering wheel controls
- Possible Hands-free calls utilizing tablet & steering wheel controls

The above two will be a work in progress, so will have to see how it goes but I have a JEXR now.

Here's a video showing the current setup.

triax37

iTrader: (1)

mzilvar - thanks for the update. Would you please share why you decided to move away from the USB-ROM?

tjl_48

I'm going to guess it's because he wanted to upgrade to 4.4 and timur is no longer updating USB rom for the 2012 version of the nexus 7.

mzilvar

iTrader: (3)

Exactly, I wanted to move up to a newer version of android since there is support for it now. Also going to re-visit the external microphone and see if I can figure something out to get it to work for calls through the tablet. I was at a stand-still on USB-ROM.

I switched to this kernel as well:

Kang-aroo v2

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2558717

I was having trouble with oxydo v18 where the USB host mode would come on charging it at the USB rate vice the AC rate while I had fast charging enabled after coming out of firm sleep and also with USB devices being available after firm sleep.

No trouble with the Kang-aroo kernel yet and it has the easycap modules built in as well.

aameghoo

I'm thinking of doing this in the next couple months with my 05 nav. Main thing I'm curious about is what are your thoughts on getting the track controls on the steering wheel to work with the nexus 7. I really value being able to change to track from the steering wheel without looking down or fiddling with the screen and that's my main roadblock I'm trying to figure out.

aameghoo

I'm thinking about just getting this http://www.isimplesolutions.com/talk...r-gateway.html for my Isimple gateway and calling it a day. This should give me steering wheel control of the nexus 7 as well as being able to switch between the nexus and my phone. I just hope there isn't a noticeable difference in sound quality between Bluetooth and a direct 3.5mm connection.

Also as a side note. Using an app like GMD GestureControl might make things more convenient. You can make custom gestures to do certain things. For example you could make a custom gesture that if you swipe to the right with 3 fingers at any time, on any screen, it switches to the next track. I think it's worth checking out since there are many possibilities, that's just one example.