Having driven around for errands in the town, one thing evident was - android systems are dangerous if your car doesn't have steering mounted controls. In fact I have advised so earlier on other threads also. - These systems (that all have the same front fascia and layout) - have no physical buttons.
- While the capacitive screens are enough to put premium car head units to shame - they have all only capacitive touch point "buttons".
- For simple things like volume +/-, track seek, answering phone etc - you have to touch the small area that has the input point in the code.
- In a moving car - our left hand shakes, the dashboard also moves in a different frame of reference. It is pretty much impossible to rely on "muscle memory" in case of touch screens. (Which is easy with physical buttons!)
- So one has to take eyes off the road for more than 2 seconds to achieve the desired action. This is outright dangerous and a big no!
So within weeks from installation - I had already started looking for a good solution to add steering mounted tactile button kit.
And again - it was www.MotorBasket.com to the rescue. The same team from whom I had sourced the head unit, came up with a Bluetooth based universal remote control kit that can be installed on most regularly shaped steering wheels. Ordered it as soon as I saw it with them. For ~2500 INR. Was delivered in less than 3 days. - Kit is simple. It has a BT module that hooks up to the back of the head unit & a steering mounting button kit with an internal replaceable battery in it. The two are paired with each other.
- The BT module has just 4 wires -
- RED - Connect to +12V anywhere available. I connected it to the Amplifier signal wire. So the BT module works only when the car is in ACC mode & head unit is ON. Used a T-Tap connector for it.
- BLACK - for Ground. Connect it anywhere you find suitable for grounding. I grounded it together with the ground pin of the head unit.
- Orange - "Key 1". This to be connected / patched with the "Key 1" wire in the head unit's harness. In my case it was the "Orange-White" wire. 4th wire in top row from the 12V power pin.
- Grey - "Key 2". This to be connected / patched with the "Key 2" wire in the head unit's harness. In my case it was the "Brown-Black" wire. 3rd wire in the lower row from the GND pin in the head unit's harness.
- Except for the red wire - I simply piggy backed the rest of the 3 wires into the head unit's harness' pins. No splicing or anything at all.
- The button kit has no wiring at all. Just snap it over the steering wheel & secure it with provided screws OR good zip ties for extra steady fit.
End result after installation - Summary -- Installation takes about 30 minutes tops - DIY.
- Pairing with the head unit is also very easy. The head unit has "SWC Settings" menu (Steering Mounted Controls Settings) in the car settings section. You can select individual actions & then short / long press the button on the kit to pair it. Simple as it gets!
- Effectively same button can have 2 functions associated. One with a short press, other with a long press. Very good.
- Works fine even for BT stream music player for seek function also.
- The most required functions are covered. Vol+, Vol-, Seek>|, Seek|<, MUTE, Phone.
- Tactile feedback is good - and also makes a tiny "tack" sound on press. Not very premium - but nobody will notice it. Ergonomics are also simple. My muscle memory was trained in 5 minutes for positions. No need to look at the buttons to use.
- There is no illumination etc on the bottons, so in the dark - its purely on muscle memory. No issue really - like I said - the buttons are easy to operate without looking.
- At INR 2500 - the kit is a bit costly considering I procured the head unit itself at less than 8000. However, the moment I feel something is a safety concern, I remove cost as a factor. Have to pay what it takes for adding some safety. (You can use this moment for a laugh since I'm talking about an Alto and safety in the same post! ) There are other items to negotiate about.
P.S. - See that brown paper on the floor in the passenger footwell with MSIL branding? Maruti charges INR 5 per sheet as part of your service bill for it in Pune. Thankfully with warranty over - the Alto had its last routine annual service visit to MASS. Henceforth it will be FNG that I already know. Wiring Connection Detail -
And courtesy of MotorBasket - here is a video of how the wiring is to be paired. Sharing as received from them with credit to them. (The wire colours of the head unit harness are different in my car - but pin positions are the same. This is from some other car of course. I don't do this taped-wire-splicing. Ever.)
Last edited by Aditya : 28th November 2020 at 18:12.
Reason: Posts merged as requested
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