Basic DD unit with BT reversing camera please?

[coolcat]

Originally Posted by hogweed

Or am I missing the obvious... do you mean the 2nd wire from the steering wheel to be earthed ?

Yep.

The two wires on the connector in the car loom. Blue/orange and purple/blue if memory serves me.....It's been a while lol. Usually found in a three colour connector. Easiest way t do it is just splice into those wires and then one to the single SWC wire of the head unit loom and the other to the Head units earth or its metal body.

Hope that makes sense. It's been a good few years since I last fitted any head units or had one of our cars so forgive me if I have got the colours wrong on the wires

[hogweed]

Thanks again - hope you don't mind, but... does it look like I've bought the wrong kind of FAKRA adapter for the socket on the unit?


It doesn't want to go on, and I don't want to force it...


*Update* - so I couldn't resist pushing it a little harder, and it suddenly just slipped in - phew.

[hogweed]

This is priceless. So I eventually got an email from Erisin "Support" this morning. Apparently I just leave the 2nd wire dangling, and it will still work:


"That is ok to connect one brown wire to your steering wheel controls. It doesn't matter, when there are 2 steering wheel control cables then connect 2, when there is only 1 wire, then only connect 1. That is no problem, don't worry!"


So that's that sorted then



When the rain stops (predicted for some time in 2037), I'll try and connect everything up, finding an earth point for the 2nd wire as suggested

[hogweed]

OK hooked the unit up briefly - the fit in the hole is TERRIBLE, but again, this seems to be a feature of such units.


Unfortunately, can't make much sense of the wiring. At some stage, I fitted a more modern Sony head unit, and had to buy an adapter thingy for the steering wheel controls (SWC), pictured below, so I guess that complicates things





Sadly none of those wires are blue/orange and purple/blue... however, if I trace the main loom back into the car, I can spot such a pair:






So do I need to cut them, back there? Obviously the thought fills me with some trepidation... or does it look like I might be able to pick connections up from anywhere around that little adapter box...?


{edit} - OK, sorry for asking questions and then answering them myself - but if I can't find the answer, people like you who have lives might not be around for a while - I'll stick the question in, then answer it myself if I discover it before you come online.



Maybe the process will help some other poor sodd who tries all this


Anyway, I discovered that one of the output wires (KEY 1) from the little adapter responds to the SWC controls, so I'll try using that.

[hogweed]

Next problem - when I turn the ignition off, all my radio presets (and probably all other settings) are lost. And the thing goes through a 45-second initialisation when I turn the ignition on again...


I read somewhere - but God knows where - something about swapping Always-On and On-With-Ignition wires (red and yellow?)... is this what you have to do?


I'm a little nervous about getting it wrong with power wires... if this is correct, where do you swap them?


Thanks

[Popcorn]

Ignition live and permanent live are in the iso plug, can't remember what colour brown or grey, ones for the speakers other has the power cables

[hogweed]

Originally Posted by Popcorn

Ignition live and permanent live are in the iso plug, can't remember what colour brown or grey, ones for the speakers other has the power cables

OK... much searching here suggests that A4 (constant live) has to be swapped with A7 (switched live)...


But... why? I mean, I'm guessing nobody would want to lose all their settings etc every time they park the car, so why do you have to do this

[Popcorn]

Can't help you with that, when i installed my erisin all I had to do was get a 17 pin female BMW connector with Male iso connectors, a fakra aerial adapter then cut and splice the steering wheel controls and mine then worked

[hogweed]

Update... so I sat down last night with my best glasses and a tiny jeweller's screwdriver, to unpick the +12V and +12 Switched pins (red & yellow) from the connector block on my spare loom, and swap them.


Then this morning, I got an email from Erisin Support:


"Please enter: settings--car--factory settings with code 3368--Base settings--Power off memory--turn it on and then restart the stereo."


Now it retains the stations, with no rewiring


Why wouldn't you have it set that way as standard? Oh well, it works now, which is great. However, I'd like (a) the radio to come on when I start the car, rather than just the home screen; (b) when I do switch the radio on, for it to start at the last selected station, rather than 87.50... maybe that's hidden in the system settings somewhere too, will have a play.


Another annoying thing about the unit is that it takes about 40 seconds after switching the ignition on to boot to the home screen... are all such machines like this?

[hogweed]

OK, a month on… time for a summary I think. I know there’s at least one other poor sap reading these posts, wondering about going down the same road, so here’s how it’s gone so far.


There’s not nearly as much info out there on how to choose, then fit a DD Android unit as you might expect, so I’ve been on a fairly steep learning curve. My experience is with an ERISIN unit which, on the face of it, gives you a lot for your money, but beware…


If you’re an expert at these things, maybe you’d have an easier ride, but although I used to fix laptops for a living, I’ve found it all pretty challenging so far. The unit arrives with a joke instruction manual, of the “If want listen radio, turn radio on” variety. Technical support is very poor. They pretend they’re in the UK, but they’re in China.


First problem: take your old unit out (don’t drop the screws down inside the centre console), offer the DD up, and it won’t fit. Not even close – you may have to hack bits of your dash out to have a fighting chance, and you will DEFINITELY have to saw part of the DD off (lugs at the top). Even then, it's a bit of a struggle. The remaining lugs at the top won’t line up. Others have bent them over to fit – but, honestly, if I don't end up chucking the thing in the bin, it’s such a tight fit in the hole I’ll probably just rely on it being a good interference fit to stay in place.


After ordering the “Rover-compatible” version, you’ll be told you then need to buy a Rover-compatible cable, at extra cost. This will have to be shipped from China, taking 3-4 weeks. Your aerial cable will not fit – you need a FAKRA adapter (buy it on eBay – it’s cheaper).


Connect the adapter cable and the aerial, stick it ¾-way into the hole, and turn the ignition on. 45 seconds later, you’ll get the launcher screen, with various apps including navigation and radio. It looks really nice, but here’s where the fun stops. I don’t think I’m exaggerating too much when I say that pretty much nothing works – at least, not how you’d like.


Radio – good sound, nice display. Except that, each time you power it up, all you get is a hiss at 87.50 (bottom of the FM range). Scan for stations, and save your favourites – great. Till you turn it off, and they’re all lost. Eventually you’ll discover a secret menu in Factory Settings, accessed with a code (3368), and activate a Memory function, which will retain the stations on power down. However, every time you boot the head unit, you’re back to 87.50 again, and will have to select one of the favourites manually. Also, if you're planning on actually driving around anywhere, you’ll have to manually activate the RDS on each boot too, as it switches off every time.


If you spend enough time on YouTube, you may eventually discover one guy who reveals that there’s an even more secret menu, accessed with code 0000120/1/2, which allows you to select “Sleep Mode”. This is supposed to keep the unit alive when powered down, for a time you specify (a few minutes to a few hours). You can't keep it alive all the time, or it’ll flatten your battery eventually. So set it for a few hours, and it should come back to life immediately when you turn your ignition on, rather than that 45 boot, loss of station, RDS etc. Joy!


Except… remember what I said above about “nothing works”? So this doesn't. Enabling/disabling has no effect; it still loses everything and takes 45 seconds, every time. I checked permanent & switched +12V to the unit were both OK. So I have no idea where to go from here.


Next challenge was the satnav. The unit comes with a cut-down version of iGo, which is a bit basic, but kind of works. I tried a full version which somebody was kind enough to send me, but it couldn’t find any of its maps no matter what I did, so I gave up on that one. Google Maps seemed an obvious solution, so I tried that – but it was so slow as to be unusable, didn’t respond to commands etc etc. Some have suggested other apps, which I may try if I can get anything else to work properly.


So I thought I’d try and hook my phone up via USB. When I occasionally hire a modern car, it prompts me to do this, then seems to use Google Maps from the phone on the car’s screen.


When I get in the Rover, my phone starts “looking for Android Auto”, but never ever finds it. I assumed that using USB would cure this, but it makes no difference. Again, I’m in that kind of limbo where I have no instructions, and can't find anything much on the net to help, so add it to the list of things which don’t work.


Steering wheel controls – no chance, the wiring in the “special Rover cable” is different from what the Erisin technicians say it is, but pointing this out to them produces only the usual silence. Fortunately, with the help of Coolcat, I have figured out how to rewire what I’ve got – haven't done it yet, so for now, that doesn't work either.


I could go on at length about getting the video cable to the rear boot lid – that was a challenge in itself (at least to do it with no wires showing anywhere), but that would of course be the case with any DD unit. Haven't received the camera yet (hey, it’s only been a few weeks) so can't say if it will work or not.


To be continued… unless I lose the will to live…