I've got one of these Alps F9212B 1 din head units from AliExpress from the seller Carlaoer
Android 9.0 1din Quad-Core Car GPS Navigation Player 7'' Universa Car Radio WiFi Bluetooth MP5 1 DIN Multimedia Player NO DVD
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001147862560.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.1aff4c4dvndEM7
When it's in the car parked outside my house, the WiFi won't connect to my home WiFi, I've also tried tethering via WiFi to my mobile inside the car and that really struggles to connect too.
I took the unit inside the house where the WiFi is obviously stronger and the WiFi will work, but the transfer rate is really slow in comparison to my phone which is connected to the same router in the spot as the head unit.
I've taken the unit apart to have a look inside, there's two very short blue wires (about 1 inch in length) that are used for the bluetooth and wifi.
Some observations and thoughts....
I was going to try tracing the WiFi wire back to the chip on the board and soldering a proper shielded pigtail, but the traces are hidden behind some kind of mod board. I'll post a picture in a moment to see if anyone can tell me what the WiFi chip might be?
I've noticed that the WiFi wire is showing continuity with ground on the board (whereas the bluetooth one doesn't), was wondering if this could be the source of the problem possibly too?
After doing quite a bit of googling, the motherboard appears very similar to this one in this video
Any help much appreciated
Here's some photos I took.
There's the top and bottom of the board. (bottom board shows the mod board that has been attached to underside of the connectors)
Also a close-up of the blue BT and WiFi antennas, they are both 40mm in length from the top of the connector
There's also the pinout diagram shown in the manual and on the device itself.
And also a screenshot of the OS version that the device is using.
Some observations:
On the bottom side of the board under the silver shielding with the 13 sticker on there's MT6627N chip (which google says is an all in-one WIFI, BT and GPS chip. The silver cover just pops off with a screwdriver. Doesn't appear to be any solder points or connections to attach an antenna.
So both the paper manual and device manual confirm that the same pin is used for WiFi. However the device manual has 30mm marked next to it. I measured the wire and it's 40mm, will this extra 10mm make a difference I wonder?
Here's the datasheet for MT6627 - https://datasheetspdf.com/pdf-file/791003/MediaTek/MT6627/1
On page 16 it mentions the RF port and Antenna port can be connected directly with a trace of 50 ohms
Also found a diagram that shows single antenna implementation
I have pretty much the same unit. Been trying to improve the wifi myself. Checking around, I found two possible methods. One, is soldering a RP-SMA pigtail to the wire on the end of the connector, and then screwing an actual antenna onto it. I haven't tried it yet because I am still waiting on the part. The second was cutting the size of the wire to the designated size. The wire on my connector is nearly 3 times the length, but since I have so much extra wire, before I cut it, I want to test the antenna method.
Hope that helps.
DroidX2 said:
I have pretty much the same unit. Been trying to improve the wifi myself. Checking around, I found two possible methods. One, is soldering a RP-SMA pigtail to the wire on the end of the connector, and then screwing an actual antenna onto it. I haven't tried it yet because I am still waiting on the part. The second was cutting the size of the wire to the designated size. The wire on my connector is nearly 3 times the length, but since I have so much extra wire, before I cut it, I want to test the antenna method.
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have photos of your unit? Is it the same board layout as mine?
While I don't have pics of the board at the moment, here is a link to the Unit I have. https://www.amazon.com/Android-Navigation-Bluetooth-MirrorLink-Subwoofer/dp/B09135FMM1?dchild=1
Have you done any modifications that fixed things?
Related
Having a hard time getting a good wifi signal. Anyone have any tips, suggestions, or ways to extend the wifi antenna?
I know someone wired it to a SMA port on the back with a normally stubby wifi antenna back there.
I toyed with this idea and was tempted to solder in the BNC jack/antenna off the spare router that I keep around just in case but eventually had to scrap it due to the limited RE in the dashboard cavity behind the HU. I used a slightly different approach which has proven to be just as effective: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=67394021&postcount=2
I did it here on my old Android 4 unit:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/and...rk3188-rk3066-2-din-head-units-t3193170/page2
And i did the same thing on my Android 5.5.1 unit as well.
What I do is cut off the end of the cable they provide. All the provide is a simple antenna made from cutting the coax back a bit to expose some center conductor, and the put some heat shrink on it.
I cut that off, and actually crimp on a proper rp-sma jack and mount it to the case. It's not difficult, but I am a ham radio operator, and have the correct crimping tools and experience doing it.
I do it on mine because I actually have a wifi antenna externally mounted on my jeep, and I need the rp-sma jack to connect to the coax from that outside antenna.
On the new Android 5.5.1 unit, it has TWO wifi antennas, I guess for diversity reception which can sometimes help the signals. But what I did was leave with the short stock antenna, and only put the connector on the other which goes to the external antenna. So now I sort of have one internal antenna, and one external.
nixfu said:
I did it here on my old Android 4 unit:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/and...rk3188-rk3066-2-din-head-units-t3193170/page2
And i did the same thing on my Android 5.5.1 unit as well.
What I do is cut off the end of the cable they provide. All the provide is a simple antenna made from cutting the coax back a bit to expose some center conductor, and the put some heat shrink on it.
I cut that off, and actually crimp on a proper rp-sma jack and mount it to the case. It's not difficult, but I am a ham radio operator, and have the correct crimping tools and experience doing it.
I do it on mine because I actually have a wifi antenna externally mounted on my jeep, and I need the rp-sma jack to connect to the coax from that outside antenna.
On the new Android 5.5.1 unit, it has TWO wifi antennas, I guess for diversity reception which can sometimes help the signals. But what I did was leave with the short stock antenna, and only put the connector on the other which goes to the external antenna. So now I sort of have one internal antenna, and one external.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in that post, you linked to an external antenna on ebay. did you end up buying that and is it good? or were you just thinking about it? in this post you mention an external antenna mounted on your jeep. is that the ebay antenna you linked or a different one?
my unit has a weak antenna on its back side outside of the box. it's fine for picking up my phone when i make it a hotspot in the car but doesn't/can't pick up wifi from the house when i am parked in the garage. phone easily picks it up. i don't know if it's just a weak antenna or the fact that it's surrounded by the dashboard housing... or both. would like to change that if i can do it on the cheap.
Recently got an MCTD unit, has a v3 mainboard and I am suffering on poor FM reception and non existent AM (not bothered about AM though)
Have read that sometimes the aerials are not connected internally so had a look, one of the earth points was a bit suspect so re-soldered that, but no improvement. If I am stationary I can get 3 stations, however when I start to move I lose the signal. Interestingly it does seem to improve if I leave the radio out (I.e. Not fixed into position in the car).
I think the unit is an A Media (will have to check later) but it is a Huefei variant (running Android 5.1.1)
I have bought replacement internal aerial adaptors that are boosted to no real improvement (although after doing a bit more reading I need to check if the booster power source (from the ANT wire from the headunit) is actually giving 12V
Any ideas / mods to help improve it? Aerial works fine with standard headunit.
Thanks
anyone any ideas?
ok if anyone is interested, I bought a cheap window aerial that has a power booster, can now get channels but still not great. My next step is to either replace the roof aerial on my car (or certainly the wiring), of take of the power boosting element from the new aerial and incorporate that into the car roof mount
Buy this (don't look to the price) and you will say thanks to me for long time
http://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/Kinetic_DRA-6005_GPS_FM-AM_DAB_car_aerial.html
I am not interested in making publicity of this product but even I would have been you will be as happy as I am. BEST!!!
You will need extra wire extenders as the product has short cables fitted. It's on that page the link of what you will need.
similar issue
Hi are you still having this issue or did you manage to fix it? if so what did you do please?
i am having a similar issue with mine and found that iv improved things by putting a cable to earth my head unit (cable from screw on back to ground on loom) and also i have changed the cable coming from the Headunit with one from halfords (at first glance i thought it was part of the unit as it had the black sheath and blue cable but it just pulls out)
not fully, I am going to look at the antenna wire from the headunit as I dont have that connected and that may help (from reading the pumpkin website).
I have good earths which I have measured with a multimeter so I know thats good.
If I cant imrove then I will look at an aerial from the above place
htt p:// www .ha lfords .co m/ techno logy/ car-audio/ stereo-fitting-acce ssories /aut oleads-pc5-111-fakra-to-din-aerial-adaptor
i used that cable from halfords to replace the one that came with the headunit. For me it was problem solved. obviously the one that came with it wasnt making a good enough contact.
sorry had to put spaces as im not allowed to put links yet.
Thanks for the link but I have about 3 different ones and they all make good contact (have checked with the unit taken apart and everything makes contact where it should)
I am going to check my installed aerial to see if I can work out whats going on with that. I can ge radio 2 now fully on my way to work (50miles each way) but I dont want to listen to radio 2
It is antenna wiring issue, not antenna itself.
I had the same problem in US with my A-Media unit. Initially the seller sent me a power cable and I had poor radio reception, FM working but not great, no AM at all. When the seller figured out wrong cable for steering wheel issues he sent me the correct cable and everything works great including radio FM/AM. My antenna harness has two wires but the first cable connected only one. The 2nd cable has both antenna wires connected, one to antenna socket and the other goes to power cable connector.
Sorted it out, the existing aerial on my car was a dummy aerial (sharkfin), turns out the aerial itself is on the rear windscreen.
Anyway, I got an DAB aerial off ebay (bee sting type) fitted that in place of the sharkfin and re wired it. Result now have perfect reception on both FM and DAB with no loss of signal at all. Only cost £29.99 GBP as well with all wiring extensions etc
jaytc2003 said:
Sorted it out, the existing aerial on my car was a dummy aerial (sharkfin), turns out the aerial itself is on the rear windscreen.
Anyway, I got an DAB aerial off ebay (bee sting type) fitted that in place of the sharkfin and re wired it. Result now have perfect reception on both FM and DAB with no loss of signal at all. Only cost £29.99 GBP as well with all wiring extensions etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hello, i have the same problem with my unit.
i wanna buy that antenna also on ebay. but the (bee sting type) you told about have a din style connector.
the original one that was by the radio is a usb type. how did you fix that problem?
I was able to solve my unworking AM Radio here.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/an...questions-development/radio-fm-radio-t3895859
I have a Shadow GT-580W Dashcam that has a GPS port. The GPS antenna that is sold for the unit can be seen here: https://www.amazon.com/global-positioning-system-supports-camera/dp/B01M26K3WW
The port for the antenna seems to be configured like a standard audio input (i.e. a headphone port) and is powered with +3.29v on the tip and ground on ground.
I want to make my own GPS antenna for it. I purchased an active antenna off Ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 . I snipped the connector off, then soldered the center wire to the audio tip tab and the ground to the ground tab. I then plugged it into my dashcam and saw that it was getting the 3.29v to the antenna. My problem is the dashcam searches for the GPS signal but doesn't find it after about 10 minutes.
The antenna I bought runs on 2.7-5v and has a frequency of 1575.42MHZ.
Is there something I'm missing?
Should I reverse the + and ground?
Did I get the wrong antenna? etc...
Any ideas are welcome
Does anyone know what type of GPS antenna's these units use?
I have an Xtrons PX5 Oreo head unit, but I'm having difficulty positioning the GPS antenna in a good location, due to lack of space under the dashboard.
I'd like to buy another antenna, to take apart and get rid of the plastic cover, in the hope that it will be a bit smaller and I can squeeze it under the dash
However I'm not sure if all antennas that I can buy are the same.
The socket type on the back of the Xtrons unit appears to be a type called FAKRA, and the antenna that came with the unit has a right angle connector.
I can find loads of similar looking antennas on eBay and AliExpress etc, with FAKRA plugs, but most of them are straight (so I'll need to check if a longer plug would be a problem.)
But apart from that... Does anyone know if there is anything specific I need to look out for when buying another GPS antenna ?
Some antennas say they are "Active" and are powered by between 3 and 5V, but I presume they are all like this ?
Also, I've seen splitter cables, which would suggest that I could install more than one GPS antenna, but I'm not really sure if thats possible either ??
Thanks
RogerClark said:
Does anyone know what type of GPS antenna's these units use?
I have an Xtrons PX5 Oreo head unit, but I'm having difficulty positioning the GPS antenna in a good location, due to lack of space under the dashboard.
I'd like to buy another antenna, to take apart and get rid of the plastic cover, in the hope that it will be a bit smaller and I can squeeze it under the dash
However I'm not sure if all antennas that I can buy are the same.
The socket type on the back of the Xtrons unit appears to be a type called FAKRA, and the antenna that came with the unit has a right angle connector.
I can find loads of similar looking antennas on eBay and AliExpress etc, with FAKRA plugs, but most of them are straight (so I'll need to check if a longer plug would be a problem.)
But apart from that... Does anyone know if there is anything specific I need to look out for when buying another GPS antenna ?
Some antennas say they are "Active" and are powered by between 3 and 5V, but I presume they are all like this ?
Also, I've seen splitter cables, which would suggest that I could install more than one GPS antenna, but I'm not really sure if thats possible either ??
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What for a car do you have? (brand & model)
Xtrons TE706PL. It has a FAKRA connector on the back.
Since I posted, I've ordered a generic GPS antenna from AliExpress which has a FAKRA connector on it, (for less than $10)...
So I'll see if that works.
What I don't know however if these antennas are Passive or Active. I presume they are mostly Active, where between 3 and 5 volts is supplied to the antenna, via the same cable (coax) where the signals are sent into the unit (capacitive coupling)
As GPS signals are at 1500Mhz, the loss on thin coax is extreme, so I'd be surprised if any of these antennas, which come with several metres of coax, are passive.
(But I could be wrong.. In which case I'll probably also try to shorten the coax to just the length I need, as that will also improve GPS reception)
RogerClark said:
What I don't know however if these antennas are Passive or Active. I presume they are mostly Active, where between 3 and 5 volts is supplied to the antenna, via the same cable (coax) where the signals are sent into the unit (capacitive coupling)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What was your determination on this. Does the radio use an active antenna or passive?
btw, its an active antenna. I bought a replacement antenna from anywhere they sell active gps antennas.
SC9853 8-core Intel Airmont with 64GB / 4GB ram... bought it online... supposed to be suitable for my car model, but I'm a bit unsure, and the Chinese seller did not provide much help yet... no instructions nor manual nor wiring diagram...:
my original car: Nissan Teana 250XV from 2010 (model J32, matches the Maxima A35 dashboard/equipment)
So the top LCD display shows the CD number / Radio station / dual Aircon temperature setting.
The backside Radio/CD player:
(deducted the connections from a Google image from Nissan Frontier)
the dark gray is the Antenna radio, the small white should be the Steering controls, the bottom big connector should be for the AC (should not touch), and the remaining plug is the power/speakers wire.
The 2 connections that went into the top LCD display:
I'm assuming the black one goes into the black connector of the Android harness:
I found similar connections on another post, so I deducted:
It came with 2 USB cables, 1 is 4 pin, the other is 6 pin connector... 1st thought they go at bottom in middle, but from the other post it was for MIC-in ?
it should come with instructions and a wiring diagram?!
Can somebody help with explaining what's what?
it seems the harness has a male and female connector, so the female is to connect to the car cable, and the male goes back into the CD/Radio? so the CD player can still function, it's audio should go through an Aux cable?
The antenna cable has not suitable connection, so I suppose I can keep using the stock radio? there's a cut blue wire on the harness labeled Auto ANT, so I could connect this one to the car cable, though would need to figure out how, looks like it has 2 wires (below is for the newer version model L33, but Radio ANT connection looks identical):
Assuming only 1 of the 2 LCD connections need to be used, one of them is black, so I'm assuming this one goes on the black one of the harness...
Sure hope I can sort this out... biggest issue is the head unit seems to be too long to the back, so I have not been able to reinstall, it sticks out... if I install the GPS it sticks out even further, without the GPS this is how far I get....:
the seller claims it can be installed, they did it before with this kind of unit... so shall try again, but to me it looks like I'm hitting the back of the compartment...
Freaking out as have spent 380 USD on it and it took 2 months to deliver (due to Chinese new year / COVID-19)....
Any help much appreciated, thanks a lot in advance!
If the unit has been special been produced for your car, it should be plug´n play.
All connectors are coded. You are not able to misuse any of them.... So what is your problem now???
Well for one besides the unit turning on nothing works: no sound, also the old radio not working, only short beeps when pressing load/eject CD.
To the Head unit I only connected the main power cable, this one also holds the speakers? So should have sound?
Tried setting the steering wheel controls... Also no luck..
Will try to also connect the brown-blue/white cable which has pin count matching bottom left socket below the RCA socket.
Issue may be this Thailand Teana, steering wheel at right side, most units sold for left side...
You mean coded as in wire colors should match? (Only a few cables are labeled, the sockets are not)
Thanks
ok the seller now confirms these are the connections:
the not marked left bottom and right top supposedly have no function...
Only thing left to try is to disconnect the original car stereo plug, so the Android head unit is connected directly to the car cable without the car Radio connected... but that means the original car radio/cd player is not usable...
could also try to use the AUX cable from the Head Unit's RCA connections and connect it to the head jack of the Radio, suppose should get audio then?
will check the wire colors, suppose they should match the harness wire colors? if the unit would actually physically fit my car could correct the socket wiring so it may work for my car?
(I'm assuming a left hand drive car may have different wiring vs. right hand drive car? as nothing works, except for the screen getting power (no sound, no steering wheel control))
@GregToR
I wrote:
rigattoni said:
All connectors are coded. You are not able to misuse any of them....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That means that the connectors of the cable tree only match to one single hole in the unit.
That has nothing to do with colors of the cables itself. They most probably don´t match.
Just do it, or drive to someone who is able to help you.
rigattoni said:
@GregToR
I wrote:
That means that the connectors of the cable tree only match to one single hole in the unit.
That has nothing to do with colors of the cables itself. They most probably don´t match.
Just do it, or drive to someone who is able to help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, you are right, each cable has a different unique fit, not interchangeable, but for the AC cable there are 2 wires it both sockets going to 2 pins, but only one of them matches with the harness connector (so the other wire has no counterpart = dead end due to on different pins), so possible wrong wiring in the harness?
if it's truly plug and play, I should have at least sound, I have no sound... so something's wrong... or does the software need configuration to enable sound?
for the steering wheel controls there's a menu to configure the buttons, but nothing happens, there is however a setting to change the impedance, maybe should try that next.
what about the Canbox?
its purpose is normally for it to act like it would be the car, what's its role here? why is it needed if it's installed in the car? I read online normally it's used to diagnose without the need of the physical car to be present.
The CAN-Box is most necessary part in the set up.
It provides Ignition, power for the amp and the possibility to use the steering wheel buttons.
I would say that you should drive to a car repair shop to get it built in.
Do you have a link for the unit?
Seems seller may not know his own device:
Looks like mine, so the cable I didn't connect could be the CAN input.
Will try later on
Seller wants me to go to a shop where they'll cut out a part of my car to make it fit... Should I? Rather keep everything original....
Says this TS9 always is bigger size for heat disapation...
This is the link where I bought it:
ลองเข้ามาดูสินค้า เครื่องเสียงรถยนต์ MP5 Player 10.1 นิ้ว Android 9.0 รถยนต์ Nissan Teana 2008 2009 2011 2012 BT วิทยุ GPS DSP Carplay ลดราคา 10% เหลือ ฿3,645 เท่านั้น! ซื้อได้ในแอป Shopee ตอนนี้เลย! https://shopee.co.th/product/214907970/3213687141?v=6f0&smtt=0.0.5
There is too many of these units out there from sellers that don't give enough information with their products. It leaves the end user scratching their head all too often. I purchased a very similar unit to this. Same thing, no support, no instructions, no manual etc etc.
Did you get it to a shop and were they able to sort?
Noobtrube said:
There is too many of these units out there from sellers that don't give enough information with their products. It leaves the end user scratching their head all too often. I purchased a very similar unit to this. Same thing, no support, no instructions, no manual etc etc.
Did you get it to a shop and were they able to sort?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, I returned it, as I don't want to cut a piece out of my car, and other sellers say it should not be necessary if the correct unit is installed.
The seller thought me to go to the "Extra Settings" menu to select the right car under "Model", after which it updates the MCU accordingly. After this the only thing I got working was the AC temperature control on the screen, had to set the "left / right Peptide" differently to mirror temp setting so Dual setting matches (left and right is apparently the other way around in a left hand side driving car ("peptide" must be a bad translation as that's part of a protein...).
Is the RCA jack to AUX the only way to get sound through the car speakers? (didn't work either, never got sound... I believe the cable was jamming the original CD/Radio, which didn't function with the head unit in between)
glad I got my money back, and recently found a shop here in Bangkok that can sell and install a proper unit, pheww...