goodhed

This looks so tempting. There are a couple of units available on Amazon for as low as $250 so definitely worth it. The only thing that I personally see having issues with is obtaining the nav-screen frame for a reasonable price. Has anyone had any luck with the chinese fabricators/suppliers to sell us just the frame?

ArtJ, I am sure a lot of us here are waiting on the video of this unit. Kudos to you in taking the plunge to try it out. If I can get a reasonably priced frame, I am definitely pulling the trigger on this one.

ArtJ

You're right goodhed.....it's a challenge to find the Nav shroud at a decent price....I got really lucky and snagged one for $120 on Ebay a few minutes after one was listed....hopefully the Ebay auto dismantlers aren't seeing this thread
I was going to wait until I installed the backup camera to do the video but I can post one before hand if that's helpful. I owe my success on the project to Firebrand13....she's the one who got the ball rolling.
Got some better photos I'll post now.

ArtJ

.....a side note about installation and testing.......as I was doing some tests on the backup camera yesterday I killed the TSX battery in about 45 minutes.
This is the second time I've been able to kill the battery either running the audio system for 30 minutes with the car shut down or doing tests....the first time I just swapped out the battery since it had already gone through 2 winters but this latest incident occurred with a 2 month old battery. The TSX battery is more like a lawn mower battery...it's really unfit for a vehicle with seat heaters and tons of electronics....so the moral of the story is watch your current consumption when you're doing stuff with the motor off. You can find as many complaints as you want about this problem on acurazine or tsxclub....it's a well known shameful deficiency.

ArtJ

...another observation.....I purchased a cheap 2.4GHz video link to wirelessly connect my backup cam to the P81...the link works great until the vehicle's bluetooth module kicks in.....then it's another story.......looking for alternatives but ripping out a dozen panels to run a video cable ain't one of 'em

goodhed

I had an after-market HU and backup camera installed on one of my previous cars. The video cable was routed under plastic cladding over the door sills. It was an easy setup and the installer did a very well good job. The only parts he took off at that point was the boot carpet to conceal the wire. Not sure if the same would apply to the TSX.

I took an inspiration from you and ended up ordering the unit from Amazon. I will be attempting to fabricate my own bezel using fiberglass-resin-bondo combo. Let's see how it goes. I am also excited about installing a ChromeCast/NetGear PTV 3000 adapter with this unit for screen mirroring with my Nexus 5. How's the stock Navigation software? I think I read on some of the other forums that this unit has not been unlocked yet and therefore you cannot upgrade the maps or use other Nav softwares like iGo, Sygic, etc. Is that true? What year are your maps?

goodhed

My bad, I forgot you had a wagon. Wiring the camera in it will be a PITA.

ArtJ

The wagon presents the challenge of routing cables into the roof first then down to the floor....there's an existing cable chase already installed but I don't know how difficult it would be to snake through....I'll pop the rear door liner off when it warms up again ....who knows, maybe the video cable is already there...gotta have a dream

BlackNsexy2010

Our battery sucks.. Do you have acura replace it? Get a optima yellow top.. I believe the 51r fits our car.. Super easy to install .. Get it off amazon..

BlackNsexy2010

Does the passenger airbag light still work? And good progress man.. I've been working on my door speakers..happy to say I'm half way there lol.. Probably get to this in May.

ArtJ

I've heard good things about the optima battery....my Acura battery was under warranty when my car died at work.....problem is the dealer isnt close to me so I just had my regular local mechanic do the swap....I guess I can send the paperwork to Acura for a refund...I'll put that on the pile of to do's. The size and current capacity of the oem battery are nothing more than an embarrassment....you almost don't want to lift the hood for your buddies to see
Speaking of work things have gotten pretty busy lately so I'm going to have a guy run the backup camera cable for me on Friday for a few bucks...right now I'm probably looking at 3 weeks out to do it myself so I'll just have a pro knock it out in an hour.....that'll wrap the project up.

Oh glad you mentioned the airbag light....yes, make sure you plug that back into the back of the shroud....it'll work fine....if you fail to plug back in you'll get a warning below the Speedo that your airbag system is failing diagnostics or something like that.

goodhed

ArtJ, can you confirm the wiring scheme for the unit. My unit got delivered from Amazon but does not seems to boot up so I will be sending it back for another one. From the supplied cables, it appears that there is only set of wires that needs to be connected to new screen from the OEM system. Is there a cable to trigger the backup cam?

ArtJ

Goodhed.....just checking the basics here....did you hook up the main black cable to the small remote box with the power switch? It's the same box that holds the sd card.....have a look at post #35 in this thread.....your issue might have been the same as mine ��

ArtJ

Found this cool jpeg to use as the "screen saver."
It's not really a screen saver in the classic computer-sense but really just a background you can turn on if you get tired of looking at the trip screen

firebrand13

yes! I am down to my final install as well, but life has been too busy. Tsx has been parked and her console in pieces for a few weeks now... I am so stoked you finished (almost) the install! I'm thinking I won't install the DVD player, but I purchased it already so I am on the fence. There really is a shortage of room for wires back there.

the unit is a sweet upgrade and I am so stoked it all works in the tsx.

ArtJ

Hey Firebrand.....great to see you're back! Also good to hear that your install is nearing completion....life got in my way as well so I had a dude run the backup cable for me....otherwise I was looking at another month of delay.....he ripped off all the panels and ran the cable in 60 minutes.....it would have taken me that long just to think about how to do it One cool thing I discovered about having the backup video come on instantly is that it preempts the annoying boot sound (noise, disturbance, distraction) so I can back out of the driveway in the morning without having to hear it.....kinda gives me an idea how to permanently short circuit the bootup interval.
I agree that the space situation in the dash is critical so you really have to pare it down to essentials and/or have a ton of patience fitting everything back there.....I think if the female connector was removed from the trip box and just placed on the end of a cable it would go a long way towards relieving some of the space issues back there.....that trip box is a pain.
If anyone is interested I've included a link to the camera I wound up getting from Amazon....15 bucks and the video quality is better than just about any oem cam I've seen on any vehicle...works well at night although not technically an IR camera...talk soon.

goodhed

I figured out the issue. The unit that arrived from Amazon had a software issue which made the unit fail to boot after several attempts on the Activating Ingenix screen. I was a little confused about the wiring diagram since Amazon sent me an unrelated harness with the unit and this kept me wondering where it would go. Thanks to ArtJ for helping me figure this out. I am now waiting on Amazon to ship out a replacement and my PTV3000 for screen mirroring.

BlackNsexy2010

"Goodhed" clever name lol.. Art.. Next step.. A hack to get rid of the skulls ..and looks good man.. Nice to see how far you've come and thanks for showing us.. Goodhed hope you post too

BlackNsexy2010

O and get the optima.. I was running just one amp.. And even before I had that the car used to die in the winters.. I've had the optima for a year and change and no issues so far.. If it dies I would def get another one.. Get it off amazon

ArtJ

If I can figure out how to fit a physically larger battery in there that would be ideal..for the time being I threw a generic Interstate replacement in there and submitted my receipt to Acura warranty claims this week...let's see how long it takes them to lose my paperwork
Do you have skulls on your startup screen or just the odometer screen saver?
There are two hacks I'd like to see personally....first would be to get rid of the obnoxious boot sound and second would be to gain more control over the screen saver....I'm a techie by trade but software isn't my area of expertise...Need help on that for sure but I'll bet there are folks in the Honda threads hard at work on the hacks.....we should stay close to those threads as well.

matin_sb

Hey guys,

i found this website that seems to be selling the case around the display unit (shroud) and hopefully it can be used along with P-81acrd. that way we dont have to buy the nav whole display unit.
right????

http://www.parkacuraoemparts.com/par...agramCallOut=6

ArtJ

hi martin_sb......I think you'd need to purchase assembly #3 to get everything you need but they want $479 for the assembly...so, you're correct that you can get the "plastics" without the electronics but you may do better getting the whole shebang from a dismantler.

matin_sb

it's Matin not Martin

looking at the diagrams...number 3 is for non-nav version whereas number 6 is just the case for nav version (number 4 is the whole nav with everything...)

lookin

ArtJ

Number 3 is absolutely the nav version.....the description says "without navigation" but that means without electronics....#6 is non-nav.....you can tell by the large border around the screen edge....the low price also tells you it's non-nav.

TxCv12

Hey Art, how much did the whole conversion cost you? And any reason for opting for this conversion rather than going the aftermarket route? Is it to keep it more OEM looking?

ArtJ

Txcv12.....here's a breakdown of the costs:

P81ACRD................................$300.00
TSX Nav Shroud......................$120.00
Backup Camera.......................$ 14.00
1 Hr. Pro Labor for camera line..$100.00
Total......................................$534.00

I got some cash back on ebay from selling unused parts so my total fell a bit below $500. I see that the P81 is now available on Amazon for around $250 so I'm wondering if they have a new version coming out soon.

I went with this option to preserve the OEM look of the vehicle and a 2-DIN solution runs around $1,000 just for a decent unit with nav, sirius/xm, etc. I really like the oem radio and bluetooth system so there was no motivation for me to swap out the system....I guess the bottom line for me is a better display and a backup camera...the P81 Nav is very nice as well and has tons of POI's. This is also a very unique installation so you have that customized cache about it

JayMizy

What functionality do you use with this unit. Steering Wheel, AC display, Bluetooth?

Also do you notice any lag with the system ?

ArtJ

All oem functions.....HVAC, radio, bluetooth, ipod, etc....all steering wheel functions are preserved. The only lag I can see is that from time to time it takes a few seconds to scan the communication bus for the current time when you first start the vehicle...other than that there's no lag in switching between functions or radio stations or sound tracks, etc......it appears to be quite optimized.

bagwell

iTrader: (1)

great info ArtJ !!!! I really need to do this since I'm gonna be stuck with the TSX for a loooooong time (not a bad thing)

ArtJ

Yeah bagwell.....same here....we could be stuck with a lot worse.....you can with this or you can go with that

bagwell

iTrader: (1)

dayammmm.......

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-10-ACURA-TSX-OEM-NAVIGATION-GPS-NAVI-DISPLAY-SCREEN-/370811975706?pt=GPS_Devices&hash=item56561db81a&vxp=mtr

ArtJ

Just found this one....much cheaper..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-Acura-TSX-Navigation-Display-Unit-OEM-LKQ-/191117357721?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c7f7b7299&vxp=mtr

BlackNsexy2010

but this is where its at

BlackNsexy2010

art..since your a pro and seem to be able to find the shrouds for cheap..have you considered making another one and letting us pay you for your time?

ArtJ

Never crossed my mind Justin
But thanks for the vote of confidence!

devitocoke

ArtJ, you never told us how easy this was? Tonight I decided to just go for it with my plastic knife. I pulled out the display and connected the P81. The unit works flawless, I love it already but I do not have the shroud as yet.
BTW, the A/C on mine starts at the degrees I left it, not at 72. I may have an updated version.

ArtJ

Awesome devitocoke....keep the momentum going
Yeah it's not so bad.....the project is more procedure than anything else but requires a bit of patience.
Since the software appears to have been modified does your boot screen come up with that goofy sound like mine does?
Man I wish someone would hack this unit so we can modify the functions.

ArtJ

Couple more on Ebay today for somewhat reasonable cost:



http://www.ebay.com/itm/2009-2010-2011-ACURA-TSX-INFO-GPS-TV-DISPLAY-SCREEN-W-NAVIGATION-39810-TP1-A010-/131120126084?pt=Car_Audio_Video&hash=item1e875e5884&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2009-Acura-T...b73e20&vxp=mtr

iCrap

Where did you guys order your p81? just off amazon?

ArtJ

That's where I got mine...I think the price is $50 lower now

iCrap

Yeah i saw it's slightly lower now. Also one more question... Can you still stream music over bluetooth like with the factory system?