Team-BHP - DIY: Tablet as an In-Car-Entertainment Console

This is brilliant work! When I read the title on the homepage, I thought, this is cool, this is exactly what I would want too. But did I undermine the days of labour and patience that must have gone into it.

I have a Polo and a Caska unit, which I read about here and what the dealership back home also kept, seemed like the best I would get but this knocks that out of the park.

Do you think a similar setup can be done on a Polo as well? Would you be willing to share the cost of the project? Also, more pictures please!

Just saw this thread and could not leave without a comment. Some of us would have wondered atleast once like -

"Why cant we have a simple tab in that space of double din, filled edge to edge with the brilliant touch screen, which could handle almost all the jobs rather than having very expensive HUs which could handle half as much?" or "Wish there was in iPad (or your favorite tab) in that HU space."

While most of us leave it at that due to lack of options available in the market for easy integration, sara.ramli has gone ahead with a challenging DIY to make it become a reality. Always good to see people taking such initiative. Thanks for sharing. Great job! :thumbs up

Quote:

Originally Posted by naveenroy (Post 3562501)

I had to comment. I am not a car guy but stuff like this excites me. Good workmanship and patience - something in very short supply these days.

Do post up some pics of daily usage. Good thread! clap:

I second that I want a youtube link of you taking this thing through its paces. (Please be pulled over)

Quote:

Originally Posted by sara.ramli (Post 3539281)

Power supply regulator
The initial choice was to get one of those el-cheapo 12V to 5V DC-DC converters. However N7 was known to be very finicky about the input voltage and even a minor voltage drop would make it switch to trickle-charge mode. Decided to play it safe and went in for this DC-DC converter.

Nicely described, I have a similar setup, A Nexus 7 2012 in my car. I'm charging it using a belkin 2.1 amps car charger but my tablet seems to be charging very slowly and eventually is always discharging slowly.

Does yours always stay charged when in use?

Its connected to my kenwood headunit via aux-in ( I dont have a DAC yet) and sometimes I get noise that is in-sync with my engine speed. Do you have this problem too?

Superb DIY. Rated a well deserved 5 stars.
You have successfully done what most of us only imagine. As Ajay sir has said above, even I am one of those people who imagined a sleek tab in place of a boring HU in my car, but you have done it. Brilliant job :)

BTW are you having any rattling problem after this fitting because there are too many new components added at different places in the car?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whiplash7 (Post 3562645)

Does yours always stay charged when in use?

By default N7 cannot do that. Using Timur's ROM charging using the OTG port and use usb at the same time is supported. Moreover the imp thing is that the Timur Rom detects the OTG connection and allows the tablet to use upto 1.8A than the 500mA so that the tablet will be charged fast (the PS comes with the tablet is also 2A).

Quote:

Originally Posted by sara.ramli (Post 3538574)

Have been running a tab as a ICE console

Good to see another DIY ICE using android.

I would suggest a separate PS for tablet and USB devices (3A is enough).

For the OBD reader instead of a manual switch use a small relay triggered using the ACC so that it will automatically switch on with the ACC.

Also get the reverse camera support.

Also provide a passive / active cooling for the tablet esp for the battery.

Does the UCA222 support analog line in? If so, use a BT headset and get the ear piece out to line in and use it along with Tablet Talk connected to the phone thru WiFi / BT.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajaypjayaraj (Post 3562497)

"Why cant we have a simple tab in that space of double din, filled edge to edge with the brilliant touch screen, which could handle almost all the jobs rather than having very expensive HUs which could handle half as much?" or "Wish there was in iPad (or your favorite tab) in that HU space."

Even I had the same question and after using it for a while in my car I think I know why, I guess its because the user interface is not designed to be used in a car and that's why apple and google have developed a new interface for cars with bigger icons, easy access to information etc. But Off course there are lot of launcher to customize your user interface.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ::CMS:: (Post 3562875)

I'm supplying 5v via the docking pins located at the side of the N7 tablet and its non rooted. I also read that for the tablet to use 1.8A the data pins should be shorted in the USB port, this tells the tablet that it is connected to a wall charger and not a USB port on a computer and it draws 1.8A. It seems all android tablet chargers have the data pins shorted in the charger itself but apple car chargers don't have these Pins shorted. But what I don't understand is if it can draw 1.8A from the wall charger why isn't it drawing 1.8A from the car charger? How does the tablet know if its connected to the car charger or wall charger.