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This is a pretty cool case of a project evolving with technology.
two years ago, i did a pretty simple IS250 SQ build:
http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...le-sq-build-08-lexus-is250-mosconi-morel.html
as with any of the 2gen IS builds, this one utilized the stock HU and amp as a signal source.
fast forward to present, the customer contacted us with an idea he had, that is to integrate a nexus 7 tablet into the dash, along with a single din sony headunit (with its app remote feature) so he would have two much improved signal sources along with all the added benefits of having a tablet.
this design actually went through several phases, originally, the idea was to have the headunit behind the tablet, but then a discovery was made that for the android app remote to work, you may have to manually engage something on the sony headunit, at that point, the decision made to have the headunit visible and belowt he tablet, which made for some extra work. but in the end, the funny thing is the customer found some very cool ways to make the steering wheel controls to work with just the tablet, so there is a chance that down the road, the sony radio can be swapped out with something else.
it was a pretty fun project but involved a LOT of intricate electronic work...lets take a look at the final results first, as you can see its quite a tight fit, the nexus 7 sits snugly in the dash, held in place by an array of 6 magnets and is easily removable. the sony GS610 headunit is belowt he tablet and the entire bezel has been rebuilt and painted silver.
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here is a quick moving showing the tablet in action:
with the new signal sources, i rewired the amp rack and removed the stock amp sepaker wires, but other than that, the trunk and the rest of the install looks completely the same...lets focus on some of the build pics of the car.
here you see the stock dash taken fully apart. note that the HVAC display and the stock headunit display is on a common circuit board:
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then the main switch panel was cut in two, so only the HVAC switches remained, to make room for the tablet:
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note that the two displays are raised quite a bit off the board, so in order to gain enough room for the tablet mount, joey then ahead and removed the display for the now useless oem headunit:
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now you see how there is enough room infront of the circuit board to fit the tablet:
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next the switches on the bottom dash bezel was removed andt he two pieces fused together using CA glue reinforced with strips of ABS:
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here you see the new tablet holder with its 6 embedded neodymium magnets about to be bonded to the dash bezel. note little lip at the top that follows the contours of the stock dash bezel...and just how little room there is overall to fit everything
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next comes the REAL tricky part. the one thing that had to be retained somewhere in the car was the hazard switch and passenger air bag light. that panel was relocated into the glovebox but it had to be still connected to the main circuit board.
it its original format, the two are linked with a short ribbon cable, which now had to be somehow made to be about 3 ft long. so what joey did was to carefully scrape the ribbon cable to expose the traces:
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and then carefully soldered wires to each of those traces. note how the wires are soldered with the bare end facing each other. this allowed joey to carefully cut the ribbon cable in half and now he has an extension with two ribbon ends.
once he verified that all the leads are connected with no shorting, he poured ca glue over the connection to form solid protective layer:
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here you see the tablet mount being molded into the dash, which basically was a lot of sanding and filler work:
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one last thing that had to happen was that the main board of the stock headunit had to remain in the car to run the hvac functions, so the stock headunit was stripped bare down to only the main circuit board, and joey fabricate a mounting plate and adapted it to fit the oem plastic brackets. this relocated the circuit board vertically all the way in the back of the dash:
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and finally, the new dash bezel finished and painted and at htis point, everything was bolted back in the car
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so...phew, man i got a headache just looking at those pics, definitely one of the more interesting projects.
Cheers,
Bing
two years ago, i did a pretty simple IS250 SQ build:
http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...le-sq-build-08-lexus-is250-mosconi-morel.html
as with any of the 2gen IS builds, this one utilized the stock HU and amp as a signal source.
fast forward to present, the customer contacted us with an idea he had, that is to integrate a nexus 7 tablet into the dash, along with a single din sony headunit (with its app remote feature) so he would have two much improved signal sources along with all the added benefits of having a tablet.
this design actually went through several phases, originally, the idea was to have the headunit behind the tablet, but then a discovery was made that for the android app remote to work, you may have to manually engage something on the sony headunit, at that point, the decision made to have the headunit visible and belowt he tablet, which made for some extra work. but in the end, the funny thing is the customer found some very cool ways to make the steering wheel controls to work with just the tablet, so there is a chance that down the road, the sony radio can be swapped out with something else.
it was a pretty fun project but involved a LOT of intricate electronic work...lets take a look at the final results first, as you can see its quite a tight fit, the nexus 7 sits snugly in the dash, held in place by an array of 6 magnets and is easily removable. the sony GS610 headunit is belowt he tablet and the entire bezel has been rebuilt and painted silver.
here is a quick moving showing the tablet in action:
with the new signal sources, i rewired the amp rack and removed the stock amp sepaker wires, but other than that, the trunk and the rest of the install looks completely the same...lets focus on some of the build pics of the car.
here you see the stock dash taken fully apart. note that the HVAC display and the stock headunit display is on a common circuit board:
then the main switch panel was cut in two, so only the HVAC switches remained, to make room for the tablet:
note that the two displays are raised quite a bit off the board, so in order to gain enough room for the tablet mount, joey then ahead and removed the display for the now useless oem headunit:
now you see how there is enough room infront of the circuit board to fit the tablet:
next the switches on the bottom dash bezel was removed andt he two pieces fused together using CA glue reinforced with strips of ABS:
here you see the new tablet holder with its 6 embedded neodymium magnets about to be bonded to the dash bezel. note little lip at the top that follows the contours of the stock dash bezel...and just how little room there is overall to fit everything
next comes the REAL tricky part. the one thing that had to be retained somewhere in the car was the hazard switch and passenger air bag light. that panel was relocated into the glovebox but it had to be still connected to the main circuit board.
it its original format, the two are linked with a short ribbon cable, which now had to be somehow made to be about 3 ft long. so what joey did was to carefully scrape the ribbon cable to expose the traces:
and then carefully soldered wires to each of those traces. note how the wires are soldered with the bare end facing each other. this allowed joey to carefully cut the ribbon cable in half and now he has an extension with two ribbon ends.
once he verified that all the leads are connected with no shorting, he poured ca glue over the connection to form solid protective layer:
here you see the tablet mount being molded into the dash, which basically was a lot of sanding and filler work:
one last thing that had to happen was that the main board of the stock headunit had to remain in the car to run the hvac functions, so the stock headunit was stripped bare down to only the main circuit board, and joey fabricate a mounting plate and adapted it to fit the oem plastic brackets. this relocated the circuit board vertically all the way in the back of the dash:
and finally, the new dash bezel finished and painted and at htis point, everything was bolted back in the car
so...phew, man i got a headache just looking at those pics, definitely one of the more interesting projects.
Cheers,
Bing
