Modern After Market Stereos and accessories.

[Lazybones]

This is more of a project to see how it goes but we recently had our car in the shop and had a rental with full backup camera and apple car play.. It made us really interested in getting some of these new features both for convenience and for safety.

I hadn't even considered a retro fit since most of them look super tacky for the backup cams and as for the deck, I didn't think it was possible..

Turns out there are companies cranking out Android based decks that match the dash of specific models of cars, have full compatible wiring harnesses and EVEN hook to the CAN bus to use the steering wheel buttons.

Simmarly the backup cams come with options to clip into the licecnceplate light locations instead of on top of the plate, making them look a bit more like factory.

I will let you know how it goes but I am somewhat excited to give this a shot.

This is the deck I am going to try to install in my Mazda 5
https://www.seicane.com/2009-2012-mazda-5-android-gps-navigation-system-with-dvd-player-radio-mirror-link-multi-touch-screen-obd-dvr-rear-view-camera-tv-3g-wifi-usb-sd-bluetooth-s168005

[Melbosa]

I've done a few of these, including some backup cameras in review mirrors with LCDs built in as well as deck installs.

Somethings I've learned over the 30+ installs I've done of Radios, Car Starters, Alarms, Backup Cameras, HUDs, Review Mirrors over the years (and you may know this already):

• Wiring Harness Kits - This will save you so much time, hunting and such when installing after market - especially with Radios
• Loom/Wire Shrink Wrap - This will make your installs clean, help with organization, and with connections
• Soldering + Optionally Paste - Always do this over a T-Clip/Tap/Splice device as you ALWAYS pay for it later
• Investigate thoroughly your cars Anti-Theft features - you'd be surprised what is already there, and what you may need to by-pass for after market - usually only applies to Car Starter/Alarms but I've dealt with Anti-Theft sensors on built in Radios in the last few years
• Always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS! - disconnect your battery when dealing with Any of these devices installs.  Especially now-a-days with the magnitude of Sensors and Airbags, you want to make sure you never have your battery attached until you are ready to test.  You only want power when you are hunting for wires or when you have everything ready to test final install
• Airbags - Speaking of such, if you have to remove them for what ever reason to get at something, always have your vehicle sit for about an hour without power, and then you should be good to remove as their capacitors should be dissipated by then
• Speaker/Video vs Power Wire - If you can, always run these opposite sides of the car if you are running them for any lengths.  This is usually the case with any electronics, but in a car this can be even more challenging in tight spaces
• Test Light - SO SO SO handy when trying to figure out what wire does what.  Usually not to hard if you have a Wiring Harness Kit for the job you are doing but I usually find there is a need for it once or twice during all my installs
• Mic - I'm assuming most people that install after market Radios now include ones with Hands free.  If so, they usually have a Mic that plugs in with a lot of wire.  Unless stated, these can be by default directional.  People usually take the easy route and install this on the driver's door windshield panel at the top - which if you want anyone else in the car to talk through the mic you might want to consider running this to where your review view mirror is
• Power for Rear View Cameras - Lots of installs will mention use the tail light power, reverse light power, brake power, or license plate power to run these.  Some modern cars though don't run constant power to these any more, because of capacitors and leds allow for less power or fluctuating power.  What this usually translates to is a "snowy" or "wobble" effect in your picture when using it.  If that happens you may need to find a more constant power or run your own
• Running your own power - if for what ever reason you have to run your own power, make sure to use the right gauge and fuse for the power you are running - even sometimes the one that comes with the wiring harness or device isn't the best one to use - check your power requirements of the device you are buying, especially if you aren't buying a well known brand - so many options out there from companies I've never heard of now-a-days

Well that's my brain dump.  I have way more info for specific scenarios, so let me know if you have any questions.

Good luck, this is something I like to do on the side cause I enjoy it, but I know for a few people around me that have tried to do this in the past, it can be frustrating as well.

[Lazybones]

Well all the power tapping is relevant for the backup camera install for sure, I have been going over model specific teardown videos for my car and also purchased a panel popping kit. The videos I have found for my car seem to indicate the power is there and I shouldn't need to hut for it.. YouTube is great for this as long as your car is common.

Thanks for the full list, a lot of that I knew and is a reason I haven't tried in the past. Always good to go over everything.

I went with Seicane specifically because they include model specific wiring harnesses for install, the deck it self should be plug and play in my car. I found the deck being sold in a few places, but seicane was about the only one that had it updated and had the extra parts / support.

Not touching the airbag, I did contemplate swapping out the controls on the wheel for the set that has extra buttons but I don't really want to deal with that. My car does not have the bluetooth option but it was available for the higher trims, so I could in theory just add it to my steering wheel.

The full set of features I am putting in include:

- built in hands free.. The deck has both a built in mic and a remote mic.. A number of reviews say the built in works, but I really want to be sure it works well as my current setup is not clear enough for siri to work most of the time.
- Android 7.1 deck capable of running a number of apps (plex / google maps / playstore) May not even use that with Carplay however.
- Apple Carplay adapter (with the install of a driver/app enables Carplay support)
- Bluetooth ODBII, there are a number of apps that should let me put fuel consumption on the screen etc.
- Backup Cam

I was really tempted to also add the Tire Pressure monitor kit as there wasn't really much effort to install, but really not a huge plus in my mind. Also easy to add later.

[Thorin]

This all sounds pretty cool to me.  How much was the deck and wiring kit?

[Lazybones]

This all sounds pretty cool to me.  How much was the deck and wiring kit?

$852 for all the options I listed.


I linked to the deck, the wiring kit is included.

They charge in USD and use PayPal as their credit card processing, don?t trust the CAD conversion setting on the site.

[Lazybones]

[Tom]

Nice! I saw your picture on FB last night. I'm impressed (but not surprised) you got it all back together so well and quickly!

[Lazybones]

I will have to take it back apart to finish installing the backup camera so not done yet.

Fortunately it does mostly just snap back together with only a few screws to deal with.

[Thorin]

Man, that is a nice custom fit.  Now your car's all new and ready to drive another 100,000km, right?

[Lazybones]

Man, that is a nice custom fit.  Now your car's all new and ready to drive another 100,000km, right?

I hope so.. I also have the OBD2 module so if something is wrong, I should know what it is.

Not ready to do a review on the deck yet but here are some first impressions.

Hardware / install was very good.. Everything just plugged in and worked.

Software is a mixed bag, it is running a nice clean android install however it looks like a number of the supporting apps are side loaded and pirated LOL.

[Tom]

Actually pirated, or just sideloaded cause geting google play certification is actually kinda hard?

[Lazybones]

Looks like I killed the car when tapping power for the camera.

Hope it is just a fuse.

[Thorin]

Yeah, it'll be a fuse somewhere, although it could be a fusible link in which case it's harder to fix and more expensive.

Is there just absolutely no power to anything in the car?  Or it won't start?  Or there's just no power to whatever device is attached to the line you tapped for power?

[Lazybones]

Found two fuses I killed.

Turns out the car will not start without the. ?Meter? fuse which apparently is connected to both the backup lights and the instrument panel .

Fixed. Now back to troubleshooting the stupid backup camera 

[Mr. Analog]

Good luck man!