mrphilipanderson

So I just got my updated version of the Navtool Unit (its a video interface thats plug and play to your specific vehicle.
So its working, all functions are good, but im getting some video noise...and depending on revs and such i get very faint scrolling vertical lines.
Any ideas on why this is happening? I used positaps to tap into the ACC and GROUND on back fof the Stereo console. A few people says it sounds like a power or ground issue,, partiscularly with the add on unit...because when I witch to factory screen, theres no noise and its crystal clear. Any ideas may help. I was thinking...

• Are there ANY other locations in the 4g TL 3.7 that I can tap into an Acc power source and a ground? Cause the wires in back of the stereo are so freakin tiny, like 26AWG....And im not sure the positap is making a robust enough connection?

Blaze9

For power you can easily tap into the accessory/cigarette lighter next to the shift lever, that's exactly where I tapped mine. Ground you can tap literally anywhere you see a non-painted metal-metal bolt/screw..

mrphilipanderson

im gonna try that. Another question for you, where did you store the unit? i have mine above the glovebox...I have fear that if the heat is on it will get too hot. Thoughts? I wish you were my neighbor. I would pay you to help me LOL.

mrphilipanderson

Where did you ground yours?

csmeance

easiest way to see if it's a power or ground issue is to ground it outside the car and power it directly from the battery.

It could also be that the HDMI or cords that are sending the signal to the navtool are not shielded and letting interference in. Cables with ferrite cores should help but def look into shielded cables.

Also it's not advisable to tap any wires for power behind the stereo since a short with the tap can short some expensive electronics! Tap the cig. outlet for power or use a mini-add-a-fuse to the driver or passenger footwell fusebox. I have it on my passenger side for a dashcam with stuff bought from amazon.

mrphilipanderson

I've gone through all the Cables. All Premium Cables, All Shielded Cables and wires.
The last thing is Power and ground. I just have no clue where to power and ground it if not tapping into the Purple Acc wwire and black ground wire found on back of stereo.

mrphilipanderson

There are two wire (red which is Acc wire and Black which is ground on the navtool unit. I assume red on the Batter is power and BLack is ground? I juyst want to know what wires to test to which battery part.

Blaze9

I 100% advise against tapping the nav unit's power/ground. For ground I don't actually remember where I tapped it, but it was somewhere near the cig lighter. I store it right under where it says "Not an ash tray". I took out the center console area with the shift lever, and heavy-duty velcro'd it to the wall there.

mrphilipanderson

Im so confused how you were able to fit that thinbg there. There NO Room. maybe we have differnet models of the TL? Does your have navigation already? Cause the one with Nav has TONS os crap packed behind the scenes. On mine there is not enough room to fit the navtool unit there. Did you happen to takea pic?

Blaze9

I haven't taken a picture. Mine is the 2012 with Nav. It is totally empty there.... There's plenty of space. I'm talking about the space inbetween the floor of the car and the "Not an ash tray" holder... Dunno what it's called but you have to take out the cup holders/shift lever cover area. Lemme see if I can find a pic in the repair manual later tonight.

mrphilipanderson

I knwo exactly where you are talking about. We have the exact same car....but the gear shift lever mechanics are there. When all that stuff is out there has to be room for the gear shift thing that moves when you change gears...An image of HOW you mounted it and WHERE would be awesome. I couldnt get back there. Ive taken the car apart so many times I can do it with my eyes closed. So im aware of the exact location of which you speak. but i feel it would be in the way of teh shift box that moves. Also, Everyone is saying not to wire tap, where else am I suppposed to get power and ground. And when they say bolt it to the fram of the car,,,,that just sounds far too industrial...And google doesnt have ANY how to on how to ground a stereo wire in a car...SMH. Im really not trying to pay to have this installed if i can do it myself.

mrphilipanderson

And how did you ground yours?

Blaze9

Everyone is saying the same exact thing. Tap the power of the cigaret lighter. ground to any screw/bolt that you see which is exposed bare metal. take the ground terminal and splice on a ring terminal to the end of that. Feed it to the bolt/screw.

We have the same car, so I know there's space... so you're looking at the wrong area.. https://i.imgur.com/n2CfsXY.png right on the other side of that is where I have mine mounted. Inside face of that area is where it's velcro'd. Yes that pic is of a manual, but I have an auto.

mrphilipanderson

mine is currently above the glove box. once i take the car apart this weekend (if t heres no rain) i'll take pics and show you.

PT_TL

Just installed Navtool this past weekend on my 09 TL tech and I’m having similar issues as mrphillipanderson.

Navtool and CarPlay works fine. I can control CarPlay using the factory jog wheel and the factory info button for Siri. However when I place the car in reverse I see the factory backup cam image fine but the factory parking guide lines roll horizontally across the display

I contacted Navtool about the issue who had me confirm settings then asked me to connect orange wire from 16P t-harness to orange wire on Navtool interface main harness. This did not resolve my issue. Next Navtool now want me to check 12v on orange wire. They said orange wire should turn off Navtool interface when in reverse.

mrphilipanderson

hey I have a few questions for you:
• In your Navtool Settings, what setting are selected in regard to factory camera, etc...
• When i connect the orange wires, they only scroll for .5 seconds then it goes to factory look with correct still guidelines
• Totally unrelated to the Reverse scroll issue, where were you able to install yours? Lots of people are saying behind coin pocket... My issue with this is, the harness wont reach...So I installed mine just above the glove box. There is tons of room there.
• Also, does your picture (on the navtool unit) or video feed have fuzz? Or Any sort of noise that happens when you go in reverse? or use any function? Mine has fuzz...and if I accelerate it gets slightly worse, then it goes away.

SMH, so many issues....Im still hopeful. Ive contacted Navtool and they have authorized a return. Im happy and upset about this because While they are allowing me to return it, this would be my second return...and it takes them almost a month to do anything.

Navtool 5.0 (Joystick controllable) Unit and the 3 Harnesses.

Does yours look like mine?

PT_TL

I connected the Navtool device back to my computer and discovered aftermarket Reverse Camera was enabled. Now I know I selected Factory Camera at setup but for some reason aftermarket was selected. I changed settings back to Factory Reverse cam and now the rolling guide lines are sort of fixed. I say sort of since connecting the orange wire seems to be a patch more than a "ready for prime time" fix. I can live with the .5 seconds of rolling lines until the factory reverse display kicks in.

I installed the device above the glove box where there is a void between the top of the glove box and the plastic air duct to the passenger side air vent. I was planning to put the navtool device down in the space under the "This is not an ash tray" compartment but I did not feel comfortable with the Navtool that close to a crucial moving part. Up here in the northeast we have a lot of potholes and I can see myself hitting a pothole and the navtool becomes dislodged from the velcro and get jammed up in the gear shift area.

My display does have visual interference when using Navtool. If I switch back to factory display the image is fine. I emailed Navtool about the interference. I believe something within the Navtool is causing the EMI. It probably does not help that the Navtool 16P t-harness provided does not have any shielded wires. On the factory 16P harness, wire terminals 5,6,7,15, and 16 are shielded by terminal 8. This may provide an important clue to the EMI (video fuzz) issue we have since the shielded terminals are: 5- Blue Signal , 6- Green Signal, 7- Red Signal, 8 -Shield signal(for 5,6,7,15,16), 15- Overlay control signal(reverse guide line), 16- Composite signal (vertical/horizontal sync).

With the Navtool setup, the Navtool 16P t-harness is used to intercept the factory video display signals. The factory 16P harness is disconnected from the factory radio and plugged into one end of the 16P Navtool t-harness. The other end of the Navtool 16P t-harness plugs into the factory radio. Navtool is intercepting the 16P factory terminal wires 5,6,7,15,16.

In turn, terminals 5,6,7,15,16 feed into the Navtool device main harness via the small black connector plug. Then there is some type of relay within the Navtool that toggles between the factory display video signal and the Navtool device video signal based off of signal input from the factory "Cancel" button on the radio.

Navtool should have maintain the integrity of the shielding of the factory signal wires by shielding the corresponding terminals on the Navtool 16P t-harness, and the wires breaking off from the Navtool 16P t-harness to the Navtool device main harness. Since Navtool is interrupting the factory shielded wires between the factory radio and factory display, the small area of Navtool unshielded wiring could be the reason EMI is entering into the video signal to the factory display.

Now what's odd about this theory is the fact that once the video display is switched back to factory video, the EMI is eliminated even though the factory video signals are routed thru the Navtool unshielded wires and Navtool device then on to the factory video display. This leads me to believe, if not almost confirm, that the Navtool device is the cause of the EMI and not some outside source like a fan motor or engine noise. In fact the EMI is visible while using Navtool even when the engine is off and all accessories are off except the radio.

It's sad that such a great concept and product seems to have so many quality control issues. Hopefully the developer will acknowledge the issues and work on resolving them. I know it must be hard to apply a concept like Navtool to multiple vehicles and not have some isolated technical issues here and there. However the developer need to be ready to account for the variances that may cause issues and design their product for the worse case scenario.

mrphilipanderson

[QUOTE=PT_TL;16407810]I OMG, its like i wrote that myself. During install, i did some testing. When the 16pin harness is NOT plugged there is no fuzz to the navtool. I am thinking maybe its the orange wire being connected. Im gonna see if DISCONNECTING the orange wire marked any difference. And communicating with their tech support you have to keep it to one sentence only. They wont respond to multiple questions. Like, at all.

mrphilipanderson

Also...in regards to the shielded wires etc...thats WAAAAAAAY over my head. What can we do about that? Im glad to know someone else is having the same issues. Ive installed it like 6 times already in different placed and went back my original location of where yours is now above glove box.
I thought maybe it was the location that was causing the EMI, but in all locations it did it. I am interested to know what their response to the EMI will be. They asked me to send in video of it, it doesnt show up on a video camera but can be clearly seen with the naked eye. They have asked me to send in the unit....

PT_TL

[QUOTE=mrphilipanderson;16407829]So you are saying you unplugged the 16p harness during testing. I'm assuming you unplugged the 16p navtool t-harness from the radio but kept the16p navtool t-harness connected to the 16p factory harness right? This means that nothing was plugged in the 16p port on the back of the radio, correct? So in this scenario the factory video signal would never make it to the factory display, only the navtool video signal would travel to the factory display.

And if the fuzzy video go away in this scenario, this indicates that the factory radio and the Navtool device are creating a ground loop at the 16p Navtool t-harness before entering the Navtool device.

Terminals 5,6,7,15,16 from the radio are diverted (unshielded) into the Navtool device then routed to the factory display via the shielded factory wiring harness terminals 5,6,7,15,16.

[Radio]<---16p Navtool T harness (un-shielded terminals 5,6,7,8,15,16) --->[Navtool device]<---factory 16p harness (shielded terminals 5,6,7,8*,15,16)----->[Factory display]
[Radio]<---16p Navtool T harness (un-shielded terminals 1,2,4,9) ------->wires bypasses Navtool<----factory 16p harness (shielded terminals 1,2,4,9*)--------->[Factory display]

terminal 8* = SH SIG(Shield signal) Shield for terminals 5,6,7,15,16
terminal 9* = RG L SH(Route guidance shield) Shield for terminals 1,2

terminal 1 = Route guidance ground
terminal 2 = Route guidance voice left positive
terminal 4 = Back LT- (Back light or reverse signal) Reverse signal of select lever from reverse relay. In reverse, battery voltage: Otherwise 0v

Note that terminal 4 is the only unshielded wire on the factory 16p harness

I still believe that the lack of shielding on the Navtool 16p T harness is the cause of the image issue. Also do you hear a popping/thumping noise in your speakers when you turn the car off while still in Navtool mode? I've noticed a sound of a pop or thump in my speakers if I turn the car completely off while on the Navtool/Carplay screen.

Oh by the way what I received from Navtool looks like your picture aboove except I received my device in a FedEx box.

PT_TL

So basically the group of like video wires need to be grouped together inside of a Faraday cage. The Faraday cage is then grounded to the equipment, in our case wires 8 and 9 are the Faraday cage (metal mesh shield around a grouping of wires.

I would go as far as to say even the audio lines 1 and 2 need a Faraday cage around them since the factory harness is wired in this manner.

mrphilipanderson

how challenging would it be to test this theory of Faraday cage...(no clue what that is)

PT_TL

If you can find shielded guitar wire with the same number of wires as the grouping of video wires in our setup, you could cut the terminals in question and replace them with the shielded guitar wire, then solder the shield mesh to terminal wire 8 on both ends and this should replicate the factory shielding for those wires. You can also make your own Faraday cage by purchasing conductive wire mesh, 18 to 24 guage wires, and some heat shrink tubing to fit on the outside of the mesh shielding.

groups wires are fed into the wire mesh, the shrink tube goes on the outside of the mesh, the metal mesh must be bonded to the designated ground circuit (terminal 8 on both ends)

mrphilipanderson

Ive neen considering accepting the EMI LOL
I mean...its just mostly visual noise (it actually goes away completely)...usually the static on my car happens at the start up but once I start driving it seems to clear up. Which makes me think it varies on how much charge the batter has it in at any given time. Why do I think that? Because When the battery was weak after being disconnected for the day I installed it, it was the most EMI. When I drive it the follwing day all day it went away.

Also I hear a buzz when I go to reverse....

PT_TL

I am going to re-create the wires with shielding and see if it helps. Just ordered the parts and should get them tomorrow.

mrphilipanderson

We both have our in the glove box....others seem to install theirs near gear shift but I didnt hear them complain about visual. noise. hopefully blaze9 will chime in...

mrphilipanderson

• Are you experiencing any Reverse camera issues?
• Any issued with Electromagnetic Fuzz in the image quality of your Navtool?
Me and one other guy here have our installed above the Glove box, and both have static...yet yours is near the gearbox and no static?

PT_TL

I have an 09 TL auto and if I recall from the service manual, 09-11 and 12-14 have a different radio setup. To be more specific, I know the 12-14 have a backlit LED display, while the 09-11 have LCD displays When it's cold outside, the 09-11 displays will be a dimmish purple tint until the car warms up. 12-14 do not have the cold weather dim display issue. 12-14s video displays are brighter and more vivid than a 09-11 display. Also the harness connection between the 09-11 and 12-14 displays are slightly different. Not sure about the wiring schematics for a 12-14 but from looking at images online, Acura moved a few grooves on the wiring harness connector to keep us from being able to plug an 09-11 adapter into a 12-14 LED display. I'm sure someone could or has already reverse engineer it and hack a 12-14 connector harness onto a 09-11 wiring harness since the only real difference is the display technology. The video RBG feeds should be the same but maybe at different pin inputs on the harness connector. Besides the brighter LED display, the image resolution would be the same, but to some it may be worth it to hack in a LED display over the 09-11 LCD just to get a brighter display with deeper colors.

Blaze9

If you guys want detailed wire harness/screen specouts please refer to my thread: https://acurazine.com/forums/fourth-...tl-fwd-977843/

I can generate one for the original 09-11 version as well if you want

mrphilipanderson

okay so Navtool responded and sent me all new harnesses and tehy forgot to send my mic back, so they are sending that in separate package.
The new one they sent back now has 5 harnesses. And where before I have to splice into the cars power and ground, this one seems to be plug and play. The harnesses power themselves through their connection to the car. Now i wish there was a way to use the cars bluetooth mic instead of theirs.
Then it would be perfect product. I cant install it yet cause Acura is doing the High Oil Consumption Warranty work on my TL. This car keeps me in unrest. When its with me Im obsessing over upgrades and detailing and when its away from me, I think about it like its another person
lLOL My life is sad

Derekw_FL

I have a 2012 6MT and am thinking of adding Navtools. For the folks that have it since earlier 2019, have you been able all the reported noise issues with the new plug and play hardness?

mrphilipanderson

There is a noise issue. but its SUPER easy to fix I hear. they have a jack available on amazon (noise isolator) that im installing. Its like a mini headphone jack it goes between the car aux and the aux from navtool. Pure silence im told.
Im also adding a signal booster but its so cool! The noise isnt that noticeable for me to begin with. And with the New iOS upgrade. carplay looks Sweet. Response is instant. I also have Amazon firestick installed and Verizon hum with iun car wifi... I am in love with the car now.

Side note, Im looking for a dongle that will make carplay wireless. Ive reach out to navtool and they say NEVER. they wont do it because of how quickly it drains the battery. I also bought one of the Carlink brand kits from Amazon, supposedly it makde Factory Carplay wireless without the necessity to insall any APK, and no need for the car to be an android os. Needless to say It didnt work. Im staying hopeful though.,.

i will keep you posted on whether or not the noise goes away. in a nutshell, is it worth? Hell. F-ing Yes. it has made me feel more up to date in my car. I think our cars styling was ahead of its time because now EVERYONE loves how they look now.
And having the updated tech makes it all the more fun to drive. Amazon Fire stick als is freakin Awesome. I can finally do my Acura Wallapaer slideshow in the background While bluetooth music plays.... I can watch movies on road trips.
I particularly love how the cars Handfreelink bluetooth superceeds Carplays (which is crappy compared to the factory mic). So even if Im in Carplay, Acura Answers the calls but with the Carplay Screen. Dude its freakin awesome.

Blaze9

I've been out of touch on the forums for a while.

I do have reverse camera issues, it causes the rolling lines to scan through. TBH I don't really care about that since I only use this when I'm driving and it's never in reverse while navtool is active, and it doesn't bother me much.

I don't have any other issues at all. I have version 3.0, and it's been amazing with me for the past 3ish years that I've had it. Overall I'd 100000% recommend it paired with a Microsoft Display Adaptor if you have a "Smart view" capable android phone (all Galaxy lines) to mirror phone screen. I use it w/ Waze on the left side of the display and Spotify on the right side in splitscreen. You can play anything over bluetooth for music/podcasts, and for videos I recommend the AUX functionality since the acura bluetooth is VERY old and is very very out of sync.

KNYC144

Hey fellas after reading this and other threads im gonna for sure get it very very soon. Just wanted to know if anyone has any install recommendations or recommendations at all.

slayer2333

Hey guys, reviving this thread as i am experiencing the exact same issue on my Acura RDX 2014 (faint vertical lines on the navtool interface and the factory backup camera). Did you make any progress into fixing this problem ?

mrphilipanderson

When i connect the orange wires, they only scroll for .5 seconds then it goes to factory look with correct still guidelines

slayer2333

Thanks for the response ! I actually followed your post and used the same thing to fix my back camera lines. However i still could not fix the vertical lines elsewhere in the android auto interface (tried several ground points like the car frame ,etc) but it remained exactly the same. Did you figure out how to fix that ?

slayer2333

Quick bump regarding the fuzzy display and scrolling vertical lines on the Navtool menu (not the backup camera which i fixed by plugging the orange wires). Any fix for this? Did shielding the wires or taping power somewhere else address those scrolling lines ?
Here is a video i recorded with the scrolling vertical lines :https://mega.nz/file/JwZniYpR#wd64m3...Xtcdm6JgrYO8SQ
For the last few days i've been discussing this issue with Navtool but they've been telling me that it is normal, but i believe this is not true and it doesn't show in any other of their 'demo' videos or other users videos. Now trying to get a refund on the product is no solution is available.

Please let me know folks, getting desperate with this.

Joel De La Rosa

Hi I have a 2014 Acura TL Manual , I want to know where you guys ran the wires around to install NavTool , I am trying to install mines with out drilling any holes , but it seems behind the Radio there is no where I can run the wires behind or under …. So I want to know how everybody did it …..

mrphilipanderson

I put my unit on top of the glove box attached with Velcro.