Nocturnal'14

I decided to remove the old tablet I had in the car and have upgraded to the Galaxy Tablet 7.0 Plus.
It is running the 3.2 Honeycomb system and is a bit thinner which helps with install.

NOTE: I will be replacing the CF Trim piece soon to a better looking smoother piece. so don't say how bad that piece looks as it will be getting changed!

This was a different (Cheaper) option than some of the other DVD/NAV setups or the Otto Navi system. This only cost me $205!!

Here is the Completed video in action:

PICS:

Nocturnal'14

Function:
YOU MUST HAVE SYNC & Steering wheel controls! WIL NOT work on BASE type radio!
The Steering Wheel Controls are used to change Source (Line In, FM, AM, SAT etc)
The Steering wheel control are also able to be used for OK, Voice, Volume and search.

You still have the ability to listen to FM & AM Radio...but your presets will have to be set BEFORE you remove the buttons.

Bluetooth audio is used to access the sound from the Tablet to include NAV voice prompts. Everything from the tablet will play through the stereo speakers at this point.

Tasker: ($5)

When the car starts the tasker turns OFF Airport mode, turns on display, turns on Bluetooth, and goes to home page
When the key is turned off tasker turns ON Airport mode, turns display off w/in 7 sec.
This is done by telling Tasker to do these when ANY power source is used.
This works only because I have wired the USB port to be switched power!

NAV:

CoPilot Live is used for the Nav function ($15)
This program allows North America Maps to be downloaded to the tablet memory so you are NOT accessing the Internet for mapping.
The Tablet uses GPS to find your location and tracks it on the map.

Equalizer/Music Player:
There are a bunch to chose from...take your pick.

Nocturnal'14

Step One:
Remove Center Console and radio bezel from the car (there are a ton of how to on this part on youtube)

Step Two:

Place bezel and Radio face on a soft workbench face down and remove 15 Torx-10 screws form the back of the radio along with all the tiny philips head screws.


Step Three:
Separate the metal piece form the cicuit board by pry CAREFULLY the tabs like shown below:


Step Four:
Separate the circuit board from the radio face *****...BE careful not to lose any of teh clear plastic pieces or rip the black rubber panels.
Using a pick pry the ***** off carefully. They are held on with plastic tabs that are attached to the bottom sides of the ****.


Step Five:
You will no longer be using your Vol and tune ***** so here we will remove them by using a sodering gun to melt teh solder holding them on. Do this by flipping the circuit board on its side holding the **** with one hand and using the gun with the other. CAREFUL, the **** gets hot!


Step Six:
Mark off where you will be cutting the bezel NOTE: DO NOT cut the bezel to the size of the tablet...the hole should be smaller than the tablet so it has something to press against to hold it in place!


Step Seven:
Slowly cut the bezel using a Dremel cutting wheel Like shown below:


Step Eight:
Be sure to trim the access plastic off the back of the bezel so the Tablet will sit flush:



Test fit the tablet at this time: NOTE: Reference Step Six...Cut bezel to the size of the actual screen only as shown below!


Step Nine:
Cut the Radio **** plastic piece in half being sure to retain the center most screw hole with the LOWER half of the piece. YOu will not be using the top portion anymore...just eh bottom (HVAC Controls)

This is what you will be using and should be left with:


Re attach this piece to the metal backing and the circuit board use electrical tape around the top portion of the circuit board over the LED lights. Sandwich the Tablet in place between the bezel and the circuit board. Use a piece of Cardboard over the CD Player that is still left in the car and leave it there.

Now place teh piece back in teh car.

Wiring USB Port to switch power:
<Update coming soon>

Ninjak

Thats not bad. I guess you had a spare bezel...can you still use Sat radio ?

Nocturnal'14

No spare bezel...I did the first time I tried this mod. This time I knew what I was getting into and figured over the next few weeks I will look for a spare keep around.
Yes you can use SAT, as well as every other Source option other than CDs.

Nocturnal'14

Report:
..I think this new version is phenomenal and is really working well! I re-did the CF trim piece with a new thicker material underneath and it looks really good (No bubbling) I also added an Anti-Glar screen protector and it made the screen look really nice!

Went to Cars n Coffee this last weekend and had a bunch of people asking about it. I uploaded a bunch of music videos to it and had them on repeat. The Cable is hooked up so it charges anytime the car is on too. super easy to setup as well!

Rating:
9 outta 10 mod

It woudl be 10/10 if I could get Tasker to automatically connect to the tablet on startup vs speaking "Bluetooth Audio" which really is not all that hard!

dmhines

I had this same setup in my 2010 ... I don't recall having to connect to BlueTooth every time I started the car .. Not sure how you have Tasker setup.

You need to setup Tasker to disable Bluetooth and GPS when car powers off but after SYNC bluetooth disables. Then on Power on wait 30 seconds before enabling GPS and Bluetooth. this allows Sync Bluetooth to disable and renabled prior to the Tablet Bluetooth disabling and reenabling. If Sync Bluetooth is enable the Tablet will automatically connect.

At least that is how I think I had it setup.

Nocturnal'14

Dmhines: You were the one who taught me how to install my first tablet originally over a year ago..>THANKS! Still suprised not more people have done it, its fantastic!

The softweare on the new tablet is different and for some reason will nto automatically connect when a bluetooth paired devicew is present. Happens on the samsung/android phones too for some reason.

Although, Tasker recently updated and can now have more bluetooth functionality. I have to play with it a little though to figure out the new features. Quite possibly might have something that will allow it to control the connectivity to bluetooth as well.

Rando

So what happens if you want a new preset? Also, does the OEM radio display work still?

I want to do something similar but I want to be able to remove the tablet on the go

Nocturnal'14

Its very easy to removce teh tablet if need be....I did this last weekend when we took my F150 to the Smokey Mtns for vaca.

Teh Radio presets on teh other hand are a little bit of a pain....although you do have FM 1 & FM 2, so you can preset a bunch of different ones in for each band and be somewhat ok.

Teh radio display does work for everything it used to work for! To be honest I have not tried teh CD feature in regards to puting in 6 CD's and being able to use the steering wheel controls of SYNC to change disks...not sure how that woudl work.

Rando

Ok two more questions...

I tried yesterday but my Select Source button on the steering wheel completely skips AUX/USB. How do you handle that?

Also, I'm assuming you can't scan for radio stations either?

I know I know, the tablet should handle all that stuff but I do enjoy listening to random radio stations on road trips.

Nocturnal'14

If you long press the >>| button on teh steering wheel it should scan/search for the next random station.

As for teh USB/AUX part....talk to your car it will listen! LOL if you hit the speak button and say "USB" or "Bluetooth Audio" it will selsect that option.

The tablet mod can be SAMPLED by puting your tablet in the car and connecting to it and forcing yourself to ONLY use the Steering wheel buttons to do efverything you want to do. If you find that there are things you want to do that the steering wheel does nto do then you know the tablet mod is not for you.

dmhines

FYI .. I kept my original FacePlate and hacked up a spare I got from eBay so I had access to all the original buttons if needed. Keep in mind if you disconnect your battery I'm pretty sure you lose the correct time, you lose all your settings (base, treble, fade ) ... and possibly lose the presets too .. don't remember. You will need a way to reset all of that ..

Matt's 95 Stang

THanks Stanglife for the write up. I am currently torn between doing this mod or the OEM nav. Few questions for you.
1.What exactly did you use Tasker for? Sorry but I am not familiar with this app
2. This looks like you wont be able to load/use the CD player correct? Not really worried as I havent even used it in the year Ive had the car
3. You said you wired the tablet to charge when the car is on. Did you use a USB cable to did you tap into a power supply
4. Is there an app that can be used in a radio function? Like to listen/scan different channels or would you just be stuck using the steering wheel?
5. Can you add an extra hard drive onto the tablet to expand on the music selection ( I dont know what the hard drive space is on that tablet).

Thanks guys!
Matthew

Nocturnal'14

1. Tasker runs the whole on/off mechanics of it. Turn on the car and it turns on the Screen and takes it out of airplane mode. Turns on BlueTooth etc. Turn the car off it shuts down the screen and places tablet in Airplane mode to save power.

2. No loading/unloading of CDs. Although you may be able to load the 6cd changer and access the CDs via speach command Im not sure. havent tried it.

3. USB Cable that comes with the tablet was used as well as a cheap 2.1amp usb plug. The USB plugin was wired to be switched power.

4. No FM App...there is not a place to connect an FM antenna into the tablet. YOu can pre program multiple stations and access them form the steering wheel controls.

5. Sorta via a Micro SD card. There is about 16GB of **** eon the harddrive that I only use for Apps & system functions. All my music is on an 8GB SD Card that goes into the tablet.

Matt's 95 Stang

Thanks. I am currently bidding on a Galaxy plus and going to see how much I like using it with BT before hacking up my radio. My wife and I are planning on a 1000 mile road trip later this month so it will give me a good chance to see how well the Nav works and how well it interacts with the SYNC system. If you know of a cheap place to get the radio bezel let me know. The cheapest Ive seen is $150 on ebay.

I do have one more question - which CoPilot Live Nav app did you buy? I was looking them up and I see 3 or 4 different ones. Do you live it? Love it? Hate it?

Thanks,
Matthew

Nocturnal'14

I bought the Co-Pilot Live Premium USA. I have no need for Canada maps.
I love it..the nav operating system is great and works flawlessly.

I did not buy any of the "add ons" (Traffic/Fuel prices etc)

Matt's 95 Stang

Thanks. My Galaxy Plus should be here Friday. Now I need to find another radio bezel.

Matthew

Matt's 95 Stang

Well my Galaxy got here yesterday. Going to try it out and see how well it works before cutting up my one and only radio bezel.

Matthew

Nocturnal'14

Kewl, keep me updated on your progress!