Satnav Installation Help

[CammyGrieve]

Alryt guys, my dad has just purchased a Lexus to run back and forth to work in, is an X reg, clean little car. It comes with the built in satnav :) I have managed to convince him he doesnt need satnav and i do ... ( I dont i just want it ) Is it an easy transfer? Presume its just take off the centre console and put the wires where they are on his? And swap the housings at the top?

Anyone done this before?

[IHgs300]

Its far from easy to do, You have to remove basically the whole loom from car, which involves removing all interior including boot trim.

take a look on this thread for rays pics as to what needs removing, he removed all that from a car i broke for spares.look at post *6

http://www.lexusowne...topic=80100&hl=

[normski2]

I don't think its quite as simple as you might hope. You may have much wiring and looms not present. The Disc holder/player is situated in the boot under the carpet. This is connected via a loom threaded right thru to the front of the car.

Given that the car is X reg your disc will be way out of date and will likely be a CD not even a DVD. It will do to an extent but will be found wanting or lost on a few occasions. You can not get updated CD's for this system.

Also, if you have a different stereo unit the wiring will be different and you will likely have an external amp to deal with too. The navigation voice cuts the volume of the music being played at the time and emits mainly from the drivers side if I remember correctly.

In all honesty you would be better off getting a Tom Tom or similar for £120 or so. It will be of more use to you.

[CammyGrieve]

Ah, cheers for the help guys, that looks far too complicated for me, think i will just leave it

[Raymond.]

As said above, it's not a two minute job. I'm doing this during the summer and hopefully cramp it all in in one day. I'll probably never use it. It's more because it looks better than a plain tray.....

[normski2]

Ah, cheers for the help guys, that looks far too complicated for me, think i will just leave it

Wise decision Sir

[matt-c]

Buy a motorised unit off eBay, rip out the screen, fit an after market satnav in it's place, do a little wiring and use the ignition live from the stereo wiring to power it.

[Raymond.]

As Matt said if you're looking for an easier option.

Three wires to have the open/close and tilt function to work. Four if you want both buttons illuminated

[matt-c]

I think it's still only three wires, you just bridge a pin for the illumination. Could be wrong though - I know feck all about wiring

[normski2]

Someone on here has done exactly this. I remember reading quite a detailed post as to how it was all achieved, and it all looked very impressive at the end.

[Raymond.]

I think it's still only three wires, you just bridge a pin for the illumination. Could be wrong though - I know feck all about wiring

It'll be illuminated all the time (IGN ON) then. Better take a positive feed from the radio or seat buttons or anything that lights up with the headlight switch.

There's a full set minus the wiring looms on eBay Matt in case you want a mint one. Then just sell the remote, remote holder and NAV ECU off afterwards. It's not BIN so might go cheap.

[matt-c]

I've already got a 7" housing, just not sure if I can be arsed to fit another nav into it

[Raymond.]

Is there no tablet you can squeeze into that? There's quite a bit of room behind the climate panel/radio for wiring and that

[matt-c]

I've got one of these;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200841809155?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

The plan was to install TomTom Navigator on it to run as an app, and plug a reverse cam into it. But me being a plum bought one without an AV-In port! And I haven't managed to get TomTom working on it either (need to buy a micro card thingy to expand the storage on it before I can copy the maps to it)

[Raymond.]

Ah yeah, I read that actually. I can't get along with the forum software on there and can't find my own posts back half the time.

[petayV8]

I don't think its quite as simple as you might hope. You may have much wiring and looms not present. The Disc holder/player is situated in the boot under the carpet. This is connected via a loom threaded right thru to the front of the car.

Given that the car is X reg your disc will be way out of date and will likely be a CD not even a DVD. It will do to an extent but will be found wanting or lost on a few occasions. You can not get updated CD's for this system.

Also, if you have a different stereo unit the wiring will be different and you will likely have an external amp to deal with too. The navigation voice cuts the volume of the music being played at the time and emits mainly from the drivers side if I remember correctly.

In all honesty you would be better off getting a Tom Tom or similar for £120 or so. It will be of more use to you.

i thought you could get a update for the cd based system up to 2007?

[Pete Shawn]

I've got one of these;

http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1497.l2649

The plan was to install TomTom Navigator on it to run as an app, and plug a reverse cam into it. But me being a plum bought one without an AV-In port! And I haven't managed to get TomTom working on it either (need to buy a micro card thingy to expand the storage on it before I can copy the maps to it)

Matt, do you really have full working tomtom software that works on your win ce unit? most forum on the tomtom emulator have been block by FBI pop-up warning illegal download :nuke:

[matt-c]

I've got some TT software, but haven't got it to work on the nav unit yet. Mainly because I don't have a micro-card to use as storage (not enough room on the GPS with the software already on it, and I don't want to remove any of that till I've sussed TT out and got it working) and also because I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to WinCE, emulators, etc etc. I'm a Mac man, and don't even have a Windoze machine to try anything with, apart from a VM version of XP Pro I have on my MacBook for those rare Windoze-only software apps

[carlb]

hi guys,

i too have purchased just the sat nav motorised unit so as i can use it to house a touchscreen sat nav. i really want it just for the look. so i have read a few posts saying its just 3 wires but cannot find a post with any diagrams or how to guides on this as am not too bad with wiring but i really dont wanna mess up my car electrics.

can anyone show me a link or explain best way to wire up the unit so as it opens and closes etc. i dont have original stereo i have replaced it with an aftermarket one. secondly does it matter which sat nav i buy so long s it fits in i see alot of old sony ones being mentioned? i would also need to wire the power to the sat nav up so as it gets power once ignition is turned on right?

thanks,

[matt-c]

The Sony units are popular because they power up and down using ignition/12v feeds, and so do Garmin's (as I found out the other day when working on a customers car)

The problem is finding one of the above in 7" size. Personally, I can't see the point of using a smaller one in the housing, as apart from having it integrated and looking OEM, the whole reason I was going to do it is to have a large touchscreen nav. I can buy any number of smaller stand alone nav's and position them pretty much anywhere I want in the car, the point, at least to me, of doing it in the OEM motorised housing was to make use of the full space available. Second to that, I'd really love a reverse cam in there - which is something I'd use massively more than a nav anyway (I only use nav for longer journeys and places I haven't been before, obviously. For those simple, short journey's to places I haven't been I just use google or apple maps on my Iphone.

As for wiring, I'm not your man. I can barely wire a plug! But my understanding is you need an ignition live to provide power to the buttons to open and close it, and to obviously provide power to the unit. What you can do, is take a spur from the cigarette lighter and wire in another 12v socket from that behind the dash. That way you just plug in the 12v adapter that comes with the nav unit, rather than have to cut and hardwire it in. The stereo shouldn't matter if it's stock or aftermarket, as the reason people tap into it's wiring is just because it's easily accessible in the same are you're installing into. All the wires you're looking for are there; ignition live for power and the illumination live for the buttons on the motorised unit.

What I was going to do, after I'd worked out/been shown which wires I need to tap into is simply wire in a computer molex connector (which holds upto 4 wires; tapping into the 3 or 4 I need for power, illumination etc, then wiring the other half of the plug to the nav unit. That way it's fully unpluggable if needed to remove for whatever reason (such as needing to connect to a computer to upgrade software, maps etc, or reset etc)

[matt-c]

For units that don't auto power on and off, the only options I can see, after asking around on other forums, is to wire the power switch of the unit to the open/close button of the motorised housing, so that it turns on and off with that.

Have a look at this thread; this was the inspiration for making me want to do it;

http://www

[IHgs300]

I have one of these in mine,

http://www.trustedreviews.com/mio-navman-spirit-v735-tv-sat-nav_GPS---Sat-Nav_review

Took a bit of doing but it does work, i had to modify it by making on-off button into a slide switch to power on-off.

[carlb]

I bought the sony model off eBay cheap it fits perfect and does turn on and off with ignition but its crap. I cant even update it it or even connect it to my laptop as it doesnt even work with windows 7 or anything after xp. So it looks like i need to buy something else newer and up to date that does the power on/off with ignition or modify the power button. No point in buying the motorised unit and wiring it all up to stick this prehistoric sat nav in.

[carlb]

I also have the original screen that i will not need if anyone wants it the guy i bought the unit off said it definately works but i obv couldnt test as dont have lexus sat nav built in car

[Pete Shawn]

I bought the sony model off ebay cheap it fits perfect and does turn on and off with ignition but its crap. I cant even update it it or even connect it to my laptop as it doesnt even work with windows 7 or anything after xp. So it looks like i need to buy something else newer and up to date that does the power on/off with ignition or modify the power button. No point in buying the motorised unit and wiring it all up to stick this prehistoric sat nav in.

need to ask yourself what requirement spec you after and budget you willing to spend on this mod.

from a Win ce satnav (extra av input) to a Nexus android/ mini Ipad (gadget) entirely up to you.