I have a Seicane (Chinese-made) head unit with no hardware buttons. It has 2 USB ports that I can use to connect hardware to it. I'm looking for a keyboard/keypad that I can either attach through USB, or connect through Bluetooth to the phone. They already sell round "media" remote controls that connect to the phone through bluetooth. I don't need that because I get media controls already using the steering wheel controls.
I want to be able to navigate android auto without having to touch the screen, so ideally I would like a "d-pad" (up, down, left, right) that connects through USB.
I've looked, and the closest thing I find is a numeric keyboard, it's full size, so fixing it somewhere in the car could be difficult.
Any suggestions? Thanks.
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My nexus 7 install is showing it's age so I'm looking into the newer 4gb units that are starting to show up. I used a joycon to connect my steering wheel controls to my tablet via usb and was able to use a keyboard remapper and tasker to get some really custom buttons. The newer joycon (http://www.rcjoycon.com/cpjexc/)also has Can-bus and rotary encoder support so I could potentially add a physical volume knob or fit my car with an idrive knob for even more control.
The Joycon registers as a keyboard but I was able to keep the on screen keyboard too in android 6. Does anyone know if a joycon works with most android headunits?
Thanks!
"Joycon" didn't turn up anything in search and the next closest thread was this: https://forum.xda-developers.com/an...idrive-style-controller-android-head-t3697530
I'm looking to purchase an android head unit. I've been focusing my attention on the PX5's from joying but open to other options. I've been trying to figure out what issues these units may have and what they are capable of. I've tried to read as much as I could but not I'm not 100% on a few things.
Can an arduino programed as a HID be plugged into them to pass keyboard presses to android? The point of this would be to have external buttons sent to the arduino which would pass those to android as keyboard keys, in the hopes to map them (with tasker?) to move around the interface, skip songs, shortcuts etc. With this plugged in, will this cause any issues with the on screen keyboard.
Can a bluetooth OBD2 adapter and a phone be connected over bluetooth at the same time?
I also have a usb OBD adapter, any reason that wouldn't work?
Any issues with "ok google" working?
Hello, I'm new to the forum and new to missing Android products in general. I have searched and seen that people have had issues attempting using external USB Volume knobs, but have also seen that there may be workarounds.
I am currently waiting on my unit to arrive, and before installing in my 93 F150 I plan to crack it open to install 2 30mm fans and a heatsink (I live in the Southeastern US and do not have working a/c in the truck at this time so I need as much cooling as I can get) I would like to add a volume knob, seeing as with how old the truck is, it obviously does not have steering wheel controls, and I don't want to have to fumble around with the touchscreen while driving. I know that they have a Bluetooth remote that wraps aroubd the steering wheel, but I do not like the design of it and that its battery powered.
I have no issues rotting the device in order to use a USB knob (after I check to make sure it is able to be rooted) as I planned to root it anyways, but I just wanted to see if there has been success with the USB knob with this particular unit
Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance
Most units support steering wheel controls, and you can get remote devices that connect to those. That would be the way I would go if I had a unit without a volume knob. Just search aliexpress for "steering wheel control" and you'll see what I mean
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velocity4 said:
Most units support steering wheel controls, and you can get remote devices that connect to those. That would be the way I would go if I had a unit without a volume knob. Just search aliexpress for "steering wheel control" and you'll see what I mean
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The problem with thosw is that they are either OE replacements for vehicles (my truck didn't come with these back in 1993 lol) or are wireless bluetooth. Problem with Bluetooth is that I have to worry about battery life (or wire up a circuit to power them) and have to worry about lag. Not to mention that they look funny unless you use a steering wheel cover. At that point, I'd probably swap a steering wheel with factory controls from another model and attempt to get the joying unit to recognize it as such through their factory steering wheel control integration, but this, again, would require making custom circuits and hoping it all integrates properly, as well as not looking too out of place.
With a USB knob, I could drill a hole and mount it behind the gauge surround and have it right within reach while driving.
I gueas I'm just odd and super picky about my stuff lol
Did you manage to get the USB volume knob to work with HU? Thinking about doing the same.
Hi guys
I just bought a Android HU (PX6, Pie, for BMW E90 with 1280x480 display). I'm pretty impressed with the out-of-box functionality and possibilities you gain with this, but there are some little culprits.
I noticed that steering wheel controls (prev/next track) only work in MTC/builtin apps, but I wanted to have them control other media apps like Spotify. Since every attempt I tried through software didn't work (changing MCU settings, key remap apps, mymtcservice, mtce-utils, modify key config files), I was left with waiting till the software solutions get updated for PX6/Pie, or making an own CanBus to USB-HID-converter with an Arduino and others. While i may go that route someday (would love to use the iDrive controller in Android Auto), I found an alternative way/workaround to achieve what I want in the meantime.
What you need is a Creative BT-W2 adapter. It's a standalone bluetooth adapter which gets recognized as a USB audio card and also a HID device, since it supports AVRCP. I'm basically using this device as a AVRCP to USB-HID converter.
First you need to disable USB audio routing in Android developer settings. Then I connected this thing to an USB port of HU, and connected it also through bluetooth with HU. I did need several tries to pair them, since the device somehow doesn't show up in HU bluetooth settings, and it also states "not connected" while it is. After that SWC buttons already started working.
How does it work? SWC next track button pressed -> recognized by MTC bluetooth/music app -> sent through AVRCP to BT-W2 -> emulates USB-HID media key press -> gets recognized by Android system -> gets sent to the media app.
It may be a bit overkill ond also not that cheap, but if you only want working SWC in media apps without fiddling and stuff, this may be a useful way. Probably there are similar devices on Ali which do the same and are cheaper. Together with Automate to autoplay Spotify on boot and Android Auto in standalone mode I finally have a nice integrated Spotify setup in my car, without having to connect my phone.
Hope this helps anyone.
Hy
That sounds very interessting, i`m looking for a working "open" BT since long time.
what i don`t understand is, what do you mean by SWC ?
And with what do you control the spotify app then ? you have connected an external hardware ?
Chri
Hi all,
I have an old school CarPC that I'm looking to refresh with Android Auto. The system in my car has a head unit and a somewhat unintegrated GPS system (separate screen from the headunit, which has no screen at all, only dumb controls). The way it works presently is my CarPC video is tied into the GPS screen and the audio is tied into the headunit Aux input.
You can see some of the details here if itnerested:
CarPC with stock Nav - RX8Club.com
Series I Interior, Audio, and Electronics - CarPC with stock Nav - hey gang.. just picked up an 05 ti grey rx-8 a few weeks ago, came with the full GT package, MS front and rear spoiler. still have the rear and side skirts to go. in the meantime, i decided to get going on the interior, adding a...
www.rx8club.com
What I'm looking for really is any hardware device that:
1) can run Android Auto
2) outputs video to VGA
2) accepts a USB controller for capacitive touch screen
3) accepts a USB controller for Car2PC/Aux input -- devices like these allow a standard audio jack plug into the Aux port, and then ALSO enables steering controls to work (volume, next/previous track, voice control prompt)
4) accepts a standard jack microphone
5) not critical but ideally accepts a radio antenna to integrate OTA radio signal into Android Auto
I *think* raspberry PI is my best option at this point, but it seems like it doesn't have all of the kinks worked out as of yet. If there is something I could install on the bare metal of my car PC, I think that'd be most ideal.
I'll appreciate any expertise on this!