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So I'm having a fairly odd issue.
Sometimes my GPS will work flawlessly. Other times, it is very glitchy and spotty, for example it will only update my location after 15ish seconds instead of continously updating and showing my drive. This is happening in ALL GPS Naviation Apps. I installed my antenna in the same location my old antenna was installed which worked flawlessly. Im unsure why this is having problems. Also my new antenna is not Magnetic. It does not stick to metal.
Any tips? information?
Does anyone know? This issue is getting progressively worse and I have to completely reboot the unit for it to work again and unfortunately the unit goes on standby instead of rebooting meaning I usually have to wait at least an hour before I have GPS again...
Need4Camaro said:
Does anyone know? This issue is getting progressively worse and I have to completely reboot the unit for it to work again and unfortunately the unit goes on standby instead of rebooting meaning I usually have to wait at least an hour before I have GPS again...
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I tried one of these, the GPS had problems, sometimes it's 100 yards off when at home, and sometimes it thinks I'm home when I'm 100 miles away. I tried things like clearing the cache in Google Maps and switching location services off and back on again. I wonder if Location Services has a cache that can be cleared. I thought it might be confused by my mobile hotspot, but when I set the GPS for "device only" it switched itself back to "high accuracy". I don't know if "high accuracy" means AGPS or it thinks it's near the location of the wifi hotspot.
xdamember2 said:
I tried one of these, the GPS had problems, sometimes it's 100 yards off when at home, and sometimes it thinks I'm home when I'm 100 miles away. I tried things like clearing the cache in Google Maps and switching location services off and back on again. I wonder if Location Services has a cache that can be cleared. I thought it might be confused by my mobile hotspot, but when I set the GPS for "device only" it switched itself back to "high accuracy". I don't know if "high accuracy" means AGPS or it thinks it's near the location of the wifi hotspot.
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So I'm not the only one who has experienced this issue... What can be done about it though?
Need4Camaro said:
So I'm not the only one who has experienced this issue... What can be done about it though?
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I popped the lid and found the shield of the GPS cable was soldered not only to ground, but also to the signal pad for 3G (which I do not have on mine). After reheating the solder and correcting this (by bending the cable away from the 3G signal pad), I am seeing noticeably better results in the GPS Info app. I have not yet reinstalled it in the car.
xdamember2 said:
I popped the lid and found the shield of the GPS cable was soldered not only to ground, but also to the signal pad for 3G (which I do not have on mine). After reheating the solder and correcting this (by bending the cable away from the 3G signal pad), I am seeing noticeably better results in the GPS Info app. I have not yet reinstalled it in the car.
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So I have two questions in this case:
#1 Can we use an External USB GPS Antenna and bypass this issue altogether?
#2 If it was a bad solder, why did my unit start acting right again after I press the reset button?
Need4Camaro said:
So I have two questions in this case:
#1 Can we use an External USB GPS Antenna and bypass this issue altogether?
#2 If it was a bad solder, why did my unit start acting right again after I press the reset button?
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Sorry but I don't have the answers. Another avenue to consider is replace the new GPS jack with one that accepts the magnetic antenna, the specs printed on the antennae look the same and DigiKey sells the jack with a cable. Currently I have an In-Dash Octacore installed in my car, the GPS goes out every couple of days but it recovers if Location Services are turned off for a few seconds.
xdamember2 said:
Sorry but I don't have the answers. Another avenue to consider is replace the new GPS jack with one that accepts the magnetic antenna, the specs printed on the antennae look the same and DigiKey sells the jack with a cable. Currently I have an In-Dash Octacore installed in my car, the GPS goes out every couple of days but it recovers if Location Services are turned off for a few seconds.
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Is this what you're talking about?
http://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/m/molex-connector/mmcx-microminiature-rf-connectors
Also what advantage does a magnetic receiver have over the receiver that comes with the unit?
Need4Camaro said:
Is this what you're talking about?
http://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/m/molex-connector/mmcx-microminiature-rf-connectors
Also what advantage does a magnetic receiver have over the receiver that comes with the unit?
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I tried the magnetic variety gps antenna, with the corresponding cable. Sometimes it works well, other times not. I'm out of ideas for this model. A USB GPS antenna may be worth trying.
GPS is weird on the new Intel units.
Need4Camaro said:
So I have two questions in this case:
#1 Can we use an External USB GPS Antenna and bypass this issue altogether?
#2 If it was a bad solder, why did my unit start acting right again after I press the reset button?
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Click to collapse
I know that this is a bit late, since you have apparently bricked your unit since this, HOWEVER, it probably isn't a bad idea to discuss this here in case somebody else shows up looking for something like this....
Best/easiest option for external GPS is probably going to be a BLUETOOTH GPS receiver. For example, something like a Holux M-1200. Combine that with some software that can feed the data from the bluetooth gps into Android like this; https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.mobilej.btgps and you may end up with working external GPS.
A step beyond that would be to integrate it into the system frameworks, but that would be part of a bigger job to bring up AOSP on these things... although, it may also be possible to add this feature using xposed.
Some off topic posts removed. Thanks!
CadillacMike said:
GPS is weird on the new Intel units.
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Can you explain this a little more?
dcman008 said:
Can you explain this a little more?
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When the unit first starts, it takes a bit to find the GPS. It will find it eventually and then work fine.
Not sure why it takes it some time
CadillacMike said:
GPS is weird on the new Intel units.
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I've taken another look at this. I think the magnetic antenna works better than the variety supplied with the MTCD x86 units. With the one supplied I'm seeing GPS accuracy of 50-60 feet, with the magnetic about 20 after a few minutes. The thing about the Intel HUs is once it acquires GPS lock, it looks like it remembers the parameters and is much quicker next time. My unit has basically two modes, on and sleep. In sleep mode it takes about 4 milliamps. Yours may be different if it has a standby mode. Mine comes out of sleep instantly, but takes several seconds for apps to restart. As for the GPS cable, I'm using one with a pigtail termination that solders to the board:
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/rf-solutions/CBA-SMAF-OP/CBA-SMAF-OP-ND/5845760
If your board is like mine, it looks like it's designed for a board edge connector, but I haven't figured out which one that would be.
I like the app "GPS Test" from Chartcross. When I'm doing well it sees 10 satellites and uses at least half of them, with an accuracy under 30 feet.
Mirrored from my Amazon review on this unit:
Here are all of the pieces we purchased with the A62721PB 2G/32G, in order to install in our 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 truck. Install is still not complete, but I'll get to that in a bit.
(associate links removed for spam filter)
As you can see, its an ordeal to install this unit. Even the manufacturer doesn't seem to understand the vehicles it will be installed in, in our case, a 06 Ram 1500. Standard Chrysler wiring (would be the same for almost any 06 Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep... etc) telling me to tap into the -5v canbus wiring as the accessory switch. To properly install this in those vehicles, you need a CanBus adapter, which will give you the ability to turn to ACC and run the unit, and allow it to dim with the interior lighting. Neither of those are done in a 12v switched wire in these vehicles. Oh, and you will need an antenna adapter too... both of these I have yet to buy . If you have more than basic radio functions in your vehicle, you need a better install kit. Basic wiring wont cut it to do the job right.
As it is, I used a tap to the ignition switch (+12v) to turn the unit on until I have a few bucks to pick up a proper install. So think of all of that when buying. To get all the functions, you need more parts, so a $300 radio turns into a $500 radio quick.
OK.. Use. Most of my use is with Google Maps, Amazon Music (offline) or the backup cam. Getting those or any software setup with large downloads was a pain, as this unit shuts off the wifi with the key, so no updates while you sleep, and no way to turn that functionality on. Unless you leave your keys in the vehicle (not the best choice). And with the sub-par performance of the wifi in this unit, its going to take a while. I can see my home wifi all over my property with our phones. The truck only seems to see my neighbor's connection. The antenna is mounted under the black part of the windshield trim, just out of view. In fact, the only good reception I've gotten is with a portable hotspot in the truck. The A6 also cannot seem to see our 5gHz channels. These seem to be built to the same standards as generic 2010 tablets.
The built in pairing is useless. It just shares the screen image with the head unit. No controls, no passthrough... just video. If I wanted to use my phone I would have stuck to the ram mount. PDA-Net is the only way I've been able to connect, as my phone plan doesn't include wifi hotspot.
Speaking of phone hookup and this unity, you can share data (like PDA. net) or use fast charge. not both? And those USB leads really should come with some sort of bracket and template for in-dash installation. We plan on making these, but really, it would be a lot nicer to have it come with. Right now, they just fall out of the bottom of the dash like an afterthought.
Additionally, we negated to install the microphone. Most times people can hear you fine. If not, you have to re-boot the system. You also have to reboot when it wont pause music when a call comes in, or lower sound when the rear camera activates.
-Side note about that pause... most sub $30 bluetooth adapters resume your media when you start the vehicle back up. not this one.. you got to hush the FM software, navigate back to your music (Amazon music in our case) and then hit play. Since there is no play button on the factory remote, its a real pain in the backside. Not well thought out Atoto. -
Reverse cam is basic, we bought the matching ATOTO one and the quality is garbage. Looking for a better unit now. Nice that it just lowers the music while backing up, and doesn't cut out though.
I haven't tried to install a better home screen or layout in this unit. It would help to have a bit more open framework. The colors and designs are bland and garish at the same time (congrats on that hot mess Atoto) with no support for changing them.
The best looking interface and use so far has been Torque, which we have the pro version of, and has been useful to see a few tuning parameters as well as info for towing. We bought a generic ODB2 dongle and it works fine. The downside is the built in browser for looking up a trouble code that came from blowing out our dash lighting during install (dumb grounding mistake, should have known better and pulled the battery leads. ) No support for acceleration sensors though, seems the A6 does not have them. So if you want this for your autocross car, maybe skip it and just use a used Samsung Tab or something.
Im going to look into re-flashing the headunit after we button up the install with a better ROM, better apps, and hope I can find a good dashcam utility that works for this. CarWebGuru works at first, but then on re-boot will disable all sound, cameras, and the remote if left as the launcher. If not, it still works, but is kindof redundant.
overall, its a project. Take a full day to get it all installed, maybe longer to dial it in right.
Overall, so far, we spent a total of $368.17, and will be spending at least another $80 on this unit. I guess that is the name of the game when you want to do things right, and not spend $800+ on a turnkey system.
I also discovered that Prey security will install, but not open on this unit. Thought it would be nice to have a bit of additional theft protection int eh truck and the ability to track it if it did get stolen.
. I recently bought the a6 and had to learn the hard way also. I'm installing in a 13 Dodge Durango.
Majority of the extra cost would come with any new aftermarket unit since newer vehicles need to communicate with the can us system. I went in also thinking I could buy the cheap harness and be good to go. Majority of the Chinese headunits are made for international vehicles. . Most are plug and play.
I got on lightning deal for $200 and so far about $100 in parts. But I expect this with any aftermarket radio I install. Days of cheap harness and dash kit are over.
But anything is worth the cost vs my stock radio.
Just like any Chinese product(coming from Android TV boxes) they take a lot of tinkering but that comes with the cheap price. I plan on 8nstalling one of the car launchers and replacing every non essetnial app.
Power amp or gmmp for music. So with my limited testing, I've had a good experience. I'm within 20ft of my router at home so speeds been great. Bluetooth has been Rock solid also with media.
Will post more on Sunday when I complete the install.
Right on. I didnt have the cash to buy one from some place thats worked out more bugs. I have industry friends that sell a unit that retails at $800, adn I could get it wholesale, but thats still a chunk more cash than I had.
Got my wifi a bit better sorted this afternoon by putting a repeater out in my little tool shed, and finally have 75% of the tomtomgo USA map downloaded. This unit nor that app are good at downloading. I also noticed something about Car Web Guru on startup... if the factory launcher does not have default access, not only will certain things stop working (cameras, sound, USB), but it screws with the clock, which then throws off other apps that use the clock as part of any sort of key. Amazon does this with offline music, which I have a lot of on here.
TeamADW said:
Right on. I didnt have the cash to buy one from some place thats worked out more bugs. I have industry friends that sell a unit that retails at $800, adn I could get it wholesale, but thats still a chunk more cash than I had.
Got my wifi a bit better sorted this afternoon by putting a repeater out in my little tool shed, and finally have 75% of the tomtomgo USA map downloaded. This unit nor that app are good at downloading. I also noticed something about Car Web Guru on startup... if the factory launcher does not have default access, not only will certain things stop working (cameras, sound, USB), but it screws with the clock, which then throws off other apps that use the clock as part of any sort of key. Amazon does this with offline music, which I have a lot of on here.
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I don't believe these stereos are any different from one another. I've read about changing launchers breaking things. Luckily I believe there is a fix out there.
Probably try emailing them for possible fix..
I still need the steering wheel module but thats something I'll do in future upgrade
intruda119 said:
I don't believe these stereos are any different from one another. I've read about changing launchers breaking things. Luckily I believe there is a fix out there.
Probably try emailing them for possible fix..
I still need the steering wheel module but thats something I'll do in future upgrade
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I have emailed them, but the language barrier is strong here. Talked about changing the launcher, and they told me it is not possible, but I am willing to try more now that I have a few more tools at hand.
Just curious, if your vehicle doesn't have a 12v acc, is there a 12v power outlet /cig lighter (or anything else) that is controlled by the key. You could use any 12v that is controlled by the key and tie it the unit acc.
stabone00 said:
Just curious, if your vehicle doesn't have a 12v acc, is there a 12v power outlet /cig lighter (or anything else) that is controlled by the key. You could use any 12v that is controlled by the key and tie it the unit acc.
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What vehicle do you have?
If nothing is there under the radio dash, you can tap into the fuse box.
Wont work. 12v+ ACC is controlled by the bus. With the key off, the cigar lighter ports are still charged with 8-10v, which the unit sees as an on trigger.
In order to get around this, you need a canbus controller, which is available from a few companies.
intruda119 said:
What vehicle do you have?
If nothing is there under the radio dash, you can tap into the fuse box.
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Click to collapse
I agree, fuse box would be your best bet. Aside from just the key switch, you could probably find a delayed off or open door off. If not, you just need to find a circuit activated by the key, could be any voltage made or ground made. Relays are cheap.
stabone00 said:
I agree, fuse box would be your best bet. Aside from just the key switch, you could probably find a delayed off or open door off. If not, you just need to find a circuit activated by the key, could be any voltage made or ground made. Relays are cheap.
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Yeah need to know what type of vehicle it is.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Any body get Waze working?
Unit can't find position/gps
Why would I do that in this truck with a relay and aux fuse panel, when I can control th dimming and ACC on via the canbus and an appropriate interface? Ive dealt with a lot of vehicle electronics (its part of my job) and going around a proven modern system with a bunch of jankey wiring just looks bad, especially in this case where it isnt needed.
In our Jeep Cherokee, maybe, but that also has things liek additional trailer wiring and radio equipment going in, as well as separate harnesses for the lighting to overcome stock deficiencies, but the Ram is pretty solid. Atoto says they have a built in canbus interface coming, just not there yet.
TeamADW said:
Why would I do that in this truck with a relay and aux fuse panel, when I can control th dimming and ACC on via the canbus and an appropriate interface? Ive dealt with a lot of vehicle electronics (its part of my job) and going around a proven modern system with a bunch of jankey wiring just looks bad, especially in this case where it isnt needed.
In our Jeep Cherokee, maybe, but that also has things liek additional trailer wiring and radio equipment going in, as well as separate harnesses for the lighting to overcome stock deficiencies, but the Ram is pretty solid. Atoto says they have a built in canbus interface coming, just not there yet.
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Yeah why would you do that?
Our last few post was towards the guy asking about it. We can only assume he has an older vehicle.
intruda119 said:
Yeah why would you do that?
Our last few post was towards the guy asking about it. We can only assume he has an older vehicle.
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Ah, my bad. Yeah, if you have an older vehicle, you could do a relay setup for ACC, but normally thats just a stop on the key, at least back to the 70s.
My thoughts.
Built in amp is 10x better than the stock one.
Very little lag when operating the unit. Lags a bit when streaming and downloading at same time.
Plays all types of media.
Screen is great. Easily used with sunlight shining through(sun roof)
Dims at night time correctly.
2sec boot is amazing.
Presistent app permissions notification drives me nuts.
App installs take forever(download is fast as the connection)
3ven thought 99% of time I'm listening to Google play or off HDD would be nice to limit volume when turning on car when fm radio auto starts.
Everything outside of my noobnesw and lots of user error has been plug and play. What's taking me 2 weeks so far would probably take experienced person 1hr or less.
I took apart the unit and can't understand why these units are bigger than name brand headunits. There is nothing in them but space.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
The screen is very nice. Boot time is more like time to pop the screen on, like when you hit the power button on your phone after its been in your pocket on standy. The real boot time takes forever (why is this microwave so slow!!!!1)
Mine keeps having issues with SD cards. have had it randomly say its corrupted, pull it out, reinsert, and all good. Just odd I think . And I finally found a good GPS app for this one, since it has enough space, the TomTom app is perfect. At least for my uses, even with having to pay for a month when using it for longer distances.
My biggest issue other than the few mentioned already in this thread, is the lack of speaker settings. There isn't enough options for speaker fine tuning, and as a result I can't get my speakers to sound good at all without massive distortion and clipping. Anyone know if there's a solution for this?
XDApurp said:
My biggest issue other than the few mentioned already in this thread, is the lack of speaker settings. There isn't enough options for speaker fine tuning, and as a result I can't get my speakers to sound good at all without massive distortion and clipping. Anyone know if there's a solution for this?
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Best I can think of would be through a different amplifier than the built in one. Best luck I have had is with the "natural" setting. Its all software based, I found that it stops working and needs rebooted to get the profile back. Im betting thats a driver issue, and one we wont see updated in the A6.
You guys do know the trick about hitting BACK when the FM tuner comes up, then selecting the Atoto AUX and hitting HOME (leaving it in memory) to prevent the auto-start of FM and getting blasted out of the cab, right?
With the AUX trick, CarWebGuru (or other launchers) will autostart just fine. Every now and then (especially after a long power-off, like a day or two) you might have to repeat the trick, and more often, you'll need to manually start AUX if things like steering wheel controls or the Atoto equalizer isn't working after a restart (Aux or FM will force a restart of the MCU hardware).
Hi boaters,
I would like to install a chinese android headunit in a boat.
The preinstalled OS is trimmed to work with cars right? I wonder how much work it is to customize it to work neatly with marine applications instead:
The rear camera view must not show the distance lines and the GPS buttons should launch OpenCPN (or another Chart/GPS app).
And how is it possible to connect several cameras?
Do these head units have a serial connection for NMEA-network monitoring?
Since it is a linux system, how can one amplify the recieved radio signals?
Does anybody know of a custom OS for marine applications?
thanks
I was thinking the same one year ago.
But in fact there is to much things to develop or adapt, and I don't have enough time.
The biggest problem will be the sonar, there are few for android. But not a good one for my application.
Also, waterproofing is far from easy because those hu are cooled down by air and tend to heat a lot.
cooling is one issue. but should be ok, because the space inside a car is more confined and hotter, than on a boat. there should be a sufficiant cool air on a boat.
sonar is another topic, I asked in the first place, if its possible to get rid of the distance bars in the camera view and to link the navigation to another applikation than the default.
I want to use this in first place to have multimedia on the boat. if you search "boat head unit" in amazon, you understand why
can the OS of this head units be customized?
Hello,
Not sure how common this unit is, but I'm just trying to gain some details about it. I bought it at the weekend, it arrived yesterday and I am keen to work out what is going on. Hopefully some of you experts can help.
1. The instruction manual states that I must connect the long yellow wire to the battery, which will preserve the memory for the clock and radio settings. However, I've seen this on XDA for a similar Eonon:
Settings
scroll down to factory settings
password:126
default power status; memory of last status
apply
exit
yes to reboot
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Click to collapse
Which essentially means all radio settings are written directly to the NAND. Why wouldn't this be enabled by default as surely it would remove all requirement for that power cable from the battery, unless that power cable is simply powering the clock? I'm wondering if using GPS time might be better for me, rather than spending an age finding a place for this cable to go. Thoughts? I will continue experimenting tonight.
2. So far, the unit has absolutely no problem connecting to my home Wi-Fi but simply won't connect to my S7 Edge Wi-Fi hotspot. Are there any tips to make this work? Perhaps it's something to do with 5GHz or something? I just need it to work with my phone otherwise it's kinda useless
3. This is probably specific to BMW E90 owners, where are you guys hiding your GPS antenna? Nobody really wants it on the dash do they as it looks nasty. I've been reading about places to hide it but some are ridiculous, like running new lines via the roof lining. Surely there's somewhere within the dash that has limited visibility of the sky, but just enough?
4. Steering controls work out of the box, but I am unable to actually set manual ones? Is there any trick to this?
Thanks in advance.
Looks like I'm going to be the crash test dummy for this unit then. So I'll give my thoughts so far:
Audio Quality - Good. Very good actually considering it's a cheap aftermarket jobby. I've not had one that wasn't a Kenwood or Pioneer sound this good. My Erisin was okay, but nothing on this. The Amplifier app (which is a really a glorified Equalizer) allows a fair amount of twiddling, and I used the optimum settings that I was given by a BMW expert and my word, it blows the OEM radio out the water. Great start.
Screen Quality - It is what it is. Its clearly not high def but then they don't claim to be. It's clear enough though and when navigating earlier I had no problem.
Touch Screen - Jury is still out. I've had a few occasions where taps wouldn't register, but you can never tell if its the CPU lagging or not. Other than that, it seems fine.
Wi-Fi - I was sceptical of how this would perform, as it's one of the biggest complaints on these forums. No problems so far though. Connected perfectly to my phone hotspot and I listened with pleasure to Spotify for a good half an hour.
Installation - Easy enough. There is a surprising amount of wiring though so you need to get a bit inventive to get it fully recessed into the dash.
Does it need the yellow wire to the battery or fuse box? Well, I'm not sure. I found the setting I spoke about above, and so far it does appear to be preserving settings correctly. The only thing that is lost is the clock so far, but the clock is automatically picked up from GPS, so it's possibly a none issue.
Bluetooth A2DP - Jury's out. I tried it with YouTube on my phone and felt it sounded a bit thin, but then music on YouTube always sounds a bit dull and lifeless I find. I really need to use Spotify, but then Spotify works well on the unit, so there's no point.............
Bluetooth Calls - Only made one. Positive feedback though. The person on the other end said it was clear and that's always good. My end, well it wasn't as good as my previous Kenwood, but it was clear enough.
Reversing Sensor Integration - Game changer. It's brilliant. I don't have the camera, and I really can't be arsed to fit one. It's a shame I can't disable the stupid triangle that appears informing you that no camera is present, because the unit displays a car with coloured sensors on the back and that's top draw. Very impressed.
I skipped out on the tyre pressure monitoring, but I've got the DAB antenna and hopefully a piece of kit that will make DAB work with my OEM aerial, coming all the way from Germany.
I now need to resolve a few issues with installation. I wanted to route the USB cables and what not to the glovebox, but how the hell I'm supposed to do that I am not sure. I will get onto a BM forum and find out. I will post some photos up when I'm finished. Also, you do have to file a bit of the climate control part, so it fits smooth. Currently, I've wedged it in without the surround but it looks a bit cruddy, so I will do that probably at the weekend.
Current unit issues I am trying to resolve:
- Cannot get the steering wheel app to work at all. The steering buttons work, perfectly fine, but the actual app itself does nothing, so I cannot configure the voice setting for example, to open OK Google.
- FM Radio is dreadful. It was never good to begin with, but it's horrific now.
- Making the previous audio source come back after a cold boot.
ok, so almost had my first snafu tonight. CANBUS integration was 90% broken. no reversing sensor functionality, other than the original beeps, and steering controls not working. I was all but ready to send a snotty e-mail to Xtrons, when I tried booting up the hardware, turning on the ignition, disconnecting the CANBUS box, and then reconnecting it. I think perhaps the car has a fail safe if it thinks something is not right with the CANBUS and just disables it. Disconnecting the CANBUS caused the unit to switch off, I then reconnected it and the unit instantly returned and importantly the clocks sync'd up.
I've noticed if the CANBUS isn't working, temperature and clocks are lost. Hopefully this won't be a recurring theme. I was messing about in factory settings earlier, so I don't want to throw any blame at Xtrons just yet.
OK, so it seems CANBUS Integration is broken when you switch the car off and then return to it after a few seconds/minutes. I am guessing this is because the unit immediately goes into sleep mode when you shutdown the car and the car doesn't like this. I can't be sure until I return to the car in a few hours as not all the subsystems power down immediately. I am going to experiment with setting the unit to power down after 10 minutes. I suppose it's about finding a happy balance. You don't want to drain your battery excessively, but you need to be able to pop into the shops without losing almost 100% of the canbus functionality.
The games continue. I will do some more research.
Right, another update. Returned to the car after an hour. Canbus working fine. Switched it off and on repeatedly and for some reason I couldn't break it. Was solid as a rock. God knows why it failed this morning then. Perhaps it's the unit rather than the car then I will keep an eye and nagg Xtrons if it's problematic going forward.
I've set the ACC delay to 10 minutes but it doesn't seem to make a difference. It still powers off :| I don't think it does it any favours it powering off though.
Another update. So, if you leave your car for a few minutes, the canbus goes dead and is nonoperational until the next time you leave it for a while . I've not timed it specifically, but it's definitely happening. Wonder if it's the car or the radio causing these problems?
I will eventually merge this all into a single reply which can form the basis of the thread for this device. I'm guessing the price is somewhat blocking it's widespread popularity. I must admit, it's not easy throwing 300+ quid at a Chinese head unit.
Anyway, another update on this Canbus issue. I think the problem is both the car and the head unit. The head unit is 'half' going into Deep Sleep when I switch the car off. It's not fully entering deep sleep. Hence when I get back in the car within a few minutes, the device is still 'powering down'. It then immediately wakes up and usually, canbus functionality is lost. I wonder if there's a command that's not being sent or something and the canbus then falls into a bad state. Once in this state, it's nearly impossible to get out of it. You just have to wait until the car is fully powered down (about 30-60 mins).
The only thing this could be, other than a software bug, is because I've not wired that yellow wire in. Now the guys at Xtrons said it's just for the memory and clock, but I've proven that you don't need that wire to store the memory and the clock can be updated via GPS. So, could it be that the yellow wire also acts as a secondary 'accessory' line? God knows. Before I start tearing my car apart to run wires or trying to access the fuse box to tap them, I will run it through the cabin and to the battery which sits in the boot. Sounds lethal and very dirty, but this to me is the simplest way of finding out what the crack is.
Bingo. I've potentially found the fix/hack for CANBUS bugs and it might not require the yellow wire to be connected. I think the issues are probably caused by not connecting up that wire, but doing so is a bit of a pain. I'll need to route it to the fusebox or battery etc. blah blah. I'll maybe try for academic reasons at the weekend.
It definitely is the unit rather than the car I think. It appears to trigger some kind of 'bad state' when you switch off the ignition. What I have observed is that the unit never quite reaches deep sleep, you then enter the car a few minutes later and the unit is essentially half powered down, at which point it continues into deep sleep then immediately 'unsleeps'. At this point, all canbus integration has been lost, SWC, PDC, all dead. I think perhaps because it's continuing to enter deep sleep when you re-trigger the ignition, it is effectively powering down the canbus subsystem. This is then dead for the next hour unless the unit will power it back on, which is surprisingly awkward.
So...... the fix/hack, at least, so far, is to set Shutdown Delay when ACC OFF to 30 seconds, rather than Auto Sleep. The auto sleep mode never fully powers down the unit and that is the whole point I guess. If you set it to 30 seconds, the unit continues to power down after you've left the vehicle and perhaps it continues the correct shutdown of the canbus system. When you re-enter and trigger the ignition, it then powers it up again properly, or so it would seem anyway. One thing I will say, in auto sleep, if you don't fully engage the ignition, this also caused issues. With it powered down, I think the unit will not come back on until ignition is at least in accessory mode, so hopefully that problem is also gone.
The ONLY negative of this fix, is the fact that the unit boots from cold every time you start the car. Booting takes, I don't know 20-30 seconds ish? Not ideal, I'll admit, but it's definitely better than losing all CANBUS integration and not being able to operate steering controls and having your parking sensors work correctly. They're important after all.
I will test, as I say, for academic reasons at the weekend and if it does work, maybe the ends justify the means, but only if I can get the wire into the bloody fusebox
Skeeza,
Thanks for posting and tracking all of your work. I have the PE9890BPL (9in screen, no cd/dvd) and have been encountering some of the same issues as you. I do believe there are issues with the CANBUS integration as I have multiple issues associated with this harness. More than 75% (installed 2 days ago so 3/4 trips) of the time I have no steering wheel controls and the unit does not link (time and temp) to the center console. I do have the yellow wire connected in my fuse box but I just discovered that the fuse I tapped into may not be always on. I found a fuse that is reportedly always on listed on XDA so I swapped it and I will report if that does/does not correct my issue.
My time also does not display correctly. I do not have it connected to 4G/LTE and I would prefer not to if I do not have to, but I will. I manually set the time and it still loses it. The radio presets have also disappeared once. Perhaps swapping the yellow wire will correct this as well.
Finally I agree that music via bluetooth is "thin." Volume is very different than the FM radio and there is no base.
FYI I just received an email back from Xtrons about my intermittent CANBUS. They didn't ask any questions about installation or suggest any firmware changes, just said they would send me a new one.
jerkeife said:
Skeeza,
Thanks for posting and tracking all of your work. I have the PE9890BPL (9in screen, no cd/dvd) and have been encountering some of the same issues as you. I do believe there are issues with the CANBUS integration as I have multiple issues associated with this harness. More than 75% (installed 2 days ago so 3/4 trips) of the time I have no steering wheel controls and the unit does not link (time and temp) to the center console. I do have the yellow wire connected in my fuse box but I just discovered that the fuse I tapped into may not be always on. I found a fuse that is reportedly always on listed on XDA so I swapped it and I will report if that does/does not correct my issue.
My time also does not display correctly. I do not have it connected to 4G/LTE and I would prefer not to if I do not have to, but I will. I manually set the time and it still loses it. The radio presets have also disappeared once. Perhaps swapping the yellow wire will correct this as well.
Finally I agree that music via bluetooth is "thin." Volume is very different than the FM radio and there is no base.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Finally, nice to have a friend on this forum with the same unit I was starting to think I was the only person who had ordered it. Essentially we have the same unit, mine has the smaller screen + drive, yours has the bigger screen and no drive, like you said. Internally, they're essentially identical. Interesting you mention about the yellow wire perhaps not being connected. I think this is what we both need to resolve, and how important it is.
Let me know how you get on. I plan on running it through the cabin direct to the battery today as an experiment, but this isn't anything long term, merely an experiment. Realistically, I'll need to do this properly or not at all. I notice all of the same problems as you though. Temperature invisible, clock wrong, steering wheel controls, broken park distance controls too (you've maybe not spotted that). I installed mine Monday, so I'm equally a novice. Which fuse are you planning on using? I've been on the BMW forum, and it seems that finding one that is constantly live is a bit of a minefield. I figured the most obvious one is central locking, or maybe ECU ? Central locking would be preferred. It's a non critical system after all.
http://fusesdiagram.com/bmw/fuse-box-diagram-bmw-3-e90.html
Potentially this shines some light on it. Is yours an E90? Mines an 2007 E90. Fuse 56 and 57 are central locking, 15amps. I will check if they correspond to that tonight and if so, they will be the ones I use for my tap.
Good to hear I'm not the only one with the CANBUS issue. I am hoping we both resolve it by connecting up that yellow wire. Like I said, only one way to find out I did have a micro fuse tap somewhere for my previous motor, but I can't find it now, so I'll order another.
The immediate hack/fix for CANBUS is to set Shutdown Delay when ACC OFF to 30 seconds, rather than Auto Sleep. Trust me, it'll work 100% of the time after, but it will also boot from cold after. I think that's the problem. It's not shutting down correctly, quite possibly because of that yellow wire.
What do you think so far? I'm pretty impressed with everything else. Did you have to file down the climate control to fit it in?
skezza said:
Finally, nice to have a friend on this forum with the same unit I was starting to think I was the only person who had ordered it. Essentially we have the same unit, mine has the smaller screen + drive, yours has the bigger screen and no drive, like you said. Internally, they're essentially identical. Interesting you mention about the yellow wire perhaps not being connected. I think this is what we both need to resolve, and how important it is.
Let me know how you get on. I plan on running it through the cabin direct to the battery today as an experiment, but this isn't anything long term, merely an experiment. Realistically, I'll need to do this properly or not at all. I notice all of the same problems as you though. Temperature invisible, clock wrong, steering wheel controls, broken park distance controls too (you've maybe not spotted that). I installed mine Monday, so I'm equally a novice. Which fuse are you planning on using? I've been on the BMW forum, and it seems that finding one that is constantly live is a bit of a minefield. I figured the most obvious one is central locking, or maybe ECU ? Central locking would be preferred. It's a non critical system after all.
http://fusesdiagram.com/bmw/fuse-box-diagram-bmw-3-e90.html
Potentially this shines some light on it. Is yours an E90? Mines an 2007 E90. Fuse 56 and 57 are central locking, 15amps. I will check if they correspond to that tonight and if so, they will be the ones I use for my tap.
Good to hear I'm not the only one with the CANBUS issue. I am hoping we both resolve it by connecting up that yellow wire. Like I said, only one way to find out I did have a micro fuse tap somewhere for my previous motor, but I can't find it now, so I'll order another.
The immediate hack/fix for CANBUS is to set Shutdown Delay when ACC OFF to 30 seconds, rather than Auto Sleep. Trust me, it'll work 100% of the time after, but it will also boot from cold after. I think that's the problem. It's not shutting down correctly, quite possibly because of that yellow wire.
What do you think so far? I'm pretty impressed with everything else. Did you have to file down the climate control to fit it in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an 08 e90. I was initially tapped into fuse 57 as specified on what you posted (56 and 57 are central locking fuses on my car's fuse diagram) but found that the radio would intermittently start up for a few seconds when I would unlock the doors. When I got to work this morning I switched to fuse 47 as shown on what you posted (fuse 2 on my car's diagram) based on a post I found on Bimmerpost but I did not get a chance to test that fuse location. I could go hook up my DMM to it and check after work to see if it is still powered. Both drives I took at lunch today the radio presets and clock have not been stored but my CANBUS seemed to be functioning properly. I think the yellow wire is used for more than just retaining presets and time. Where is the Shutdown Delay? I keep seeing a mention of a Factory Settings menu but I have been unable to find it.
I do like the radio and as long as we can iron out these few issues I will be happy. The previous Xtrons I owned had a horrible bluetooth echo for anyone who was talking to me while I used the radios function. So bad that my wife would not even talk to me unless I disconnected, which made it a show stopper for me and I returned the unit. I did have to file down the climate control to get it installed but the bottom sticking down farther bothers me less than I thought it would.
Shutdown delay is under Extra settings. It'll be set to Auto sleep by default, which essentially prevents the unit from shutting down. Set it to 30 seconds and you'll be laughing, except you'll be a tad annoyed because everytime you start the car, your head unit will reboot, but canbus will work 100% of the time. I believe the auto sleep could be one of the reasons we're having issues. I think the unit isn't powering itself down properly and then perhaps the canbus integration app is crashing? Would need to debug, but really, this is what they should be doing, not us.
Early signs are not positive with the yellow wire. I went out and ran the yellow accessory wire all the way to the battery. No idea if anything has changed functionally on the unit, but after re-enabling auto sleep, I was able to get the canbus to fail again fairly quickly. They've offered me a new canbus box as well, so I might take them up on that. I'm leaving the car for an hour or so now. I've disabled writing presets to memory so I can be sure the permanent live is working. It should be, I've run it direct to the battery, but there's a join in the middle and perhaps I accidentally disconnected it, we'll see..... in an hour Did you lose your FM Presets then? That's the first place I'll go then to be sure.
Frustrating.
How much did you file off? I'm looking at my climate control and I'm working out where to start. There's a plastic clip which goes into the metal bracket included with the unit. I assume we leave that but you file all the obscured plastic that surrounds it?
Bad news, wired in the yellow wire and disabled the writing the memory to NAND storage. Tested it by removing the wire, all presets lost, reconnected it and they were stored. Left for an hour, canbus working fine. 5 minutes? No, the canbus is completely broken..... the issue is definitely related to the headset powering down when you open the door and I think it's triggering the canbus on the car to deactivate. I've recorded the symptoms and will forward it to Xtrons. It's a combination of the two. Once the canbus is powered down, even having the 30 second ACC fix won't bring it back. You must wait for an hour until the car shuts down all the other subsystems. I think the reason it works with the 30 second ACC fix is because it's like a sequence, off, on, off, on etc.
In the meantime, I will request the new canbus box as they've offered. Did they ask you to return yours? They've not said to me yet, better not be back to China though. More frustratingly, this unit doesn't even work without the canbus box..... I don't think anyway.
Ultimately, if this doesn't work, you have to ask yourself what's more important...... the functionality this unit brings (which is plentiful) or the ability to boot it in 1 second. Personally, the functionality outweighs being able to boot in 1 second. It's just a shame we can't figure out what the **** is going wrong with it. Can I live with 20 second boots? Probably to be fair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etgYOHwAe04
Video of the canbus failing.
I just got this unit and installed today. I also have canbus issues. I am going to try a second canbus unit from my old android head unit I have to see if it helps at all. I think most of this is software though, as my previous android 6.0 unit px5 had none of these issues. Didn't connect the yellow wire and it never lost memory.
Ill keep you updated on my findings as well.
erronr said:
I just got this unit and installed today. I also have canbus issues. I am going to try a second canbus unit from my old android head unit I have to see if it helps at all. I think most of this is software though, as my previous android 6.0 unit px5 had none of these issues. Didn't connect the yellow wire and it never lost memory.
Ill keep you updated on my findings as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it is software too. I think the car is reacting to something that the unit is doing. Like I said, with it on 30 second shutdown, CANBUS works everytime. I've been sent a return address and will return the canbus box tomorrow. It has to be worth a punt, but I'm pretty sure without it, the unit won't function at all, which isn't ideal, although perhaps if I go into factory settings and disable canbus it will? If not, it becomes a £300 paperweight for a few days, but there we go. Need to at least give it a try, don't I?
I wonder if it's a problem with the MCU, perhaps it's shutting down a critical piece of software? Ultimately, the MCU is what handles canbus right?
Do you experience the symptoms in the video above?
skezza said:
Shutdown delay is under Extra settings. It'll be set to Auto sleep by default, which essentially prevents the unit from shutting down. Set it to 30 seconds and you'll be laughing, except you'll be a tad annoyed because everytime you start the car, your head unit will reboot, but canbus will work 100% of the time. I believe the auto sleep could be one of the reasons we're having issues. I think the unit isn't powering itself down properly and then perhaps the canbus integration app is crashing? Would need to debug, but really, this is what they should be doing, not us.
Early signs are not positive with the yellow wire. I went out and ran the yellow accessory wire all the way to the battery. No idea if anything has changed functionally on the unit, but after re-enabling auto sleep, I was able to get the canbus to fail again fairly quickly. They've offered me a new canbus box as well, so I might take them up on that. I'm leaving the car for an hour or so now. I've disabled writing presets to memory so I can be sure the permanent live is working. It should be, I've run it direct to the battery, but there's a join in the middle and perhaps I accidentally disconnected it, we'll see..... in an hour Did you lose your FM Presets then? That's the first place I'll go then to be sure.
Frustrating.
How much did you file off? I'm looking at my climate control and I'm working out where to start. There's a plastic clip which goes into the metal bracket included with the unit. I assume we leave that but you file all the obscured plastic that surrounds it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try and take a picture of it tonight showing how much of the tabs I filed off. I did not want to completely remove them in case things didn't work out again.
skezza said:
Bad news, wired in the yellow wire and disabled the writing the memory to NAND storage. Tested it by removing the wire, all presets lost, reconnected it and they were stored. Left for an hour, canbus working fine. 5 minutes? No, the canbus is completely broken..... the issue is definitely related to the headset powering down when you open the door and I think it's triggering the canbus on the car to deactivate. I've recorded the symptoms and will forward it to Xtrons. It's a combination of the two. Once the canbus is powered down, even having the 30 second ACC fix won't bring it back. You must wait for an hour until the car shuts down all the other subsystems. I think the reason it works with the 30 second ACC fix is because it's like a sequence, off, on, off, on etc.
In the meantime, I will request the new canbus box as they've offered. Did they ask you to return yours? They've not said to me yet, better not be back to China though. More frustratingly, this unit doesn't even work without the canbus box..... I don't think anyway.
Ultimately, if this doesn't work, you have to ask yourself what's more important...... the functionality this unit brings (which is plentiful) or the ability to boot it in 1 second. Personally, the functionality outweighs being able to boot in 1 second. It's just a shame we can't figure out what the **** is going wrong with it. Can I live with 20 second boots? Probably to be fair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They sent me an RMA to return my old canbus. I've requested they send me the new one first so I can still use the radio; no response yet. I attempted the off after 30 seconds but it did not work for me. If what you've worked out is correct, whatever is causing my unit to briefly power up and then shut down when I open the door is killing my steering wheel controls. I left the off after 30 seconds on but I need the radio to not turn on when I unlock/open the door for me to test it. Or I supposed I could just sit in the car for a minute. I don't know what I didn't just try that...
Edit: Tried it twice...so far it worked both times.
erronr said:
I just got this unit and installed today. I also have canbus issues. I am going to try a second canbus unit from my old android head unit I have to see if it helps at all. I think most of this is software though, as my previous android 6.0 unit px5 had none of these issues. Didn't connect the yellow wire and it never lost memory.
Ill keep you updated on my findings as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a post here that mentions changing which car is specified for the canbus integration. I found that setting when I finally found the factor settings/car settings. I may try all that say BMW on them (which is 24, 89, and 99) just for ***** and giggles.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/an...d-units/canbus-decoders-manufacturer-t3670266
jerkeife said:
I'll try and take a picture of it tonight showing how much of the...................
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm happy to file down the tabs, but yeah, like you said, the unit really needs to be working before I start making wholesale irreversible changes. At least a new climate control unit is only £49 off eBay. Could be worse.
They've sent me an RMA too and offered to pay for postage; like you though, I'll end up potentially having no radio while they fiddle and piss around for a few days. I don't think the radio works properly (or even at all) without the canbus box either. If it works partially, I can live without it, but I really don't want to be driving around for a week while they fanny about sourcing a new canbus decoder for me. I'd need to look though which I'll do tonight or early tomorrow morning. I'll update once I know. If it does work, I will get it posted tomorrow so I can get a new one back next week. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't fix it though.
The other option is I could rip it out completely and put the OEM one in loose or partially re-fit it, but hardly ideal is it? I never had these problems with Erisin Mind you, that had no canbus at all
Did you watch the video I recorded? The fact, your description sounds exactly the same as mine, means I'm pretty sure our problems are the same. Are you a UK customer as well? Be interesting to see how quickly they operate.
The 30 second ACC fix should work, assuming your canbus hasn't bugged out already!! It's really really important to note that. Once you've bugged your CANBUS, it's done. Dead..... and it'll be dead for half an hour to an hour or so regardless of this setting. I'm not uber clued up on the car, but I found an article discussing BMW canbus and aftermarket radios and essentially, there's some kind of lockdown system. If any kind of discrepancy is detected, the canbus circuitry for the radio is shutdown. So with that in mind, I think the car detects the unit powering down, but the unit should be powering up as the door has just been opened. This then puts the car into a fail-safe and canbus into a shutdown mode. You could disconnect the battery for a quick answer, I suppose, but no point. Just wait an hour or so. Then you'll have working canbus everytime you enter the vehicle, assuming you have that 30 second mode activated.
This isn't a fix though is it? This is simply booting the radio from cold everytime you enter the car and that really shouldn't be necessary. It was one of the selling points of this particular piece of equipment.
I will try those settings tonight/tomorrow before sending it back. Has to be worth a try.
skezza said:
I believe it is software too. I think the car is reacting to something that the unit is doing. Like I said, with it on 30 second shutdown, CANBUS works everytime. I've been sent a return address and will return the canbus box tomorrow. It has to be worth a punt, but I'm pretty sure without it, the unit won't function at all, which isn't ideal, although perhaps if I go into factory settings and disable canbus it will? If not, it becomes a £300 paperweight for a few days, but there we go. Need to at least give it a try, don't I?
I wonder if it's a problem with the MCU, perhaps it's shutting down a critical piece of software? Ultimately, the MCU is what handles canbus right?
Do you experience the symptoms in the video above?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used the unit with the canbus disabled. The radio worked, that is all I tested. I was trying to figure out why my canbus stopped before reading this post.
As of now, I don't have the 30 second thing selected and since swapping my canbus to my old one ive kept canbus working. That being said, I havent done a quick turn off/turn on. I will try that shortly.
I installed my GPS antenna just sitting on top of the PX5 HU , hidden in dash. I have had intermittent performance and I'm trying to figure out the issue. Historically until today I have been using the HAL9 k Android 8 ROM. I have upgraded to the HAL9k Android 9 ROM but not tested enough to comment on performance.
Historically it would work one day, then struggle to keep a lock the next.
I am wondering if I should change the GPS antenna location? Perhaps move it behind rear view mirror. The GPS test shows 20+ satellites with a 15-20 meter accuracy when checked.
Does anyone suggest anything to improve reliability ?
I put my GPS antenna under the roof liner on passenger side.
Modern cars have laminated, coated windscreens that attenuate radio signals.
Having pretty steady reception.
Sent from my Nokia 7 plus using Tapatalk
90Ninety9 said:
I installed my GPS antenna just sitting on top of the PX5 HU , hidden in dash. I have had intermittent performance and I'm trying to figure out the issue. Historically until today I have been using the HAL9 k Android 8 ROM. I have upgraded to the HAL9k Android 9 ROM but not tested enough to comment on performance.
Historically it would work one day, then struggle to keep a lock the next.
I am wondering if I should change the GPS antenna location? Perhaps move it behind rear view mirror. The GPS test shows 20+ satellites with a 15-20 meter accuracy when checked.
Does anyone suggest anything to improve reliability ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have mine inside one of the clearance lights on my truck. Not sure what you drive but maybe there is a creative option. I would think in the dash, up against the HU, would be about the worst reception so anything will be an improvement.
I have mine behind the cover for the a pillar to the left of the windscreen, I just popped the pillar cover off and stuck some double sided tape on the antenna and then job done when I popped the pillar cover back on. Gets full signal all the time.
If you’ve got it on the headunit there will be too many obstructions/Interference.
Behind the rear view mirror would be ideal to be fair.
You should just put it on top of your dash for a day or two to try it and if it works fine then you know the problem is because of where you’ve currently got it.
90Ninety9 said:
I installed my GPS antenna just sitting on top of the PX5 HU , hidden in dash. I have had intermittent performance and I'm trying to figure out the issue. Historically until today I have been using the HAL9 k Android 8 ROM. I have upgraded to the HAL9k Android 9 ROM but not tested enough to comment on performance.
Historically it would work one day, then struggle to keep a lock the next.
I am wondering if I should change the GPS antenna location? Perhaps move it behind rear view mirror. The GPS test shows 20+ satellites with a 15-20 meter accuracy when checked.
Does anyone suggest anything to improve reliability ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The gps signal is quite a complicated one which is subject to among other things; multipathing (signals bouncing off other things and confusing the situation) For that reason your antenna should be mounted as high as possible with as few obstructions as possible with the widest angle towards the sky. In other words outside and center on the roof would be the best place. Now understandably people don't want to drill holes through their roofs or even have the antennas visible.... but the closer you get to that point, the less error you will have.
Inside the dash on top of the radio has to be about the WORST place you can think of.
mines just jammed behind my head unit and works fine.
I have mine also behind the HU hidden in the dash. Work's great. The only issue i have is, when i didn't use the GPS for some hour's. It is like the GPS Antenna would be in deep sleep mode. It takes some minutes until i have a 3D Fix, it shows satellites, but won't connect. After 2-5 minutes it works fine.
Do you have also this kind of issue at cold start?
tomygunner said:
I have mine also behind the HU hidden in the dash. Work's great. The only issue i have is, when i didn't use the GPS for some hour's. It is like the GPS Antenna would be in deep sleep mode. It takes some minutes until i have a 3D Fix, it shows satellites, but won't connect. After 2-5 minutes it works fine.
Do you have also this kind of issue at cold start?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds similar to the issue historically . Would work when I was testing , though the unit would be on for several minuites ( updates patches ect)
Cant believe that some are suggesting its the worse place , considering this is where many installer pros will put it . Makes sense its has direct line of sight under window .
Cant see how A pillar or Rear view mirror would make much difference , since its doing the same ( going though a window)
90Ninety9 said:
Cant believe that some are suggesting its the worse place , considering this is where many installer pros will put it . Makes sense its has direct line of sight under window .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but just because that's where installers put it doesn't mean it isn't the worst* place. It is the easiest place that requires no fishing and is invisible to the user. I don't believe anyone is saying it won't work there - just that it will work better in a less obstructed location and that if you are having signal issues the first thing to test is moving it to an open location and comparing. It's an easy and informative test. When hidden inside the dash, the performance can vary by make/model.
*"Worst" being within reason. Arguably inside the oil pan could be considered the worst or possibly at home on your desk...
90Ninety9 said:
It sounds similar to the issue historically . Would work when I was testing , though the unit would be on for several minuites ( updates patches ect)
Cant believe that some are suggesting its the worse place , considering this is where many installer pros will put it . Makes sense its has direct line of sight under window .
Cant see how A pillar or Rear view mirror would make much difference , since its doing the same ( going though a window)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Direct line of sight from the front, not the back.
8 times out of 10 there are lots of satellites in the (clear) sky in your area to get a good lock, all works fine and the installers get away with being lazy. That however doesn't mean the install was proper. Look at it this way... there is a reason why they supply these antennas with long cords, and I assure you that reason has little to do with bundling up the cord so the antenna sits a foot away from the radio.
I put mine on top of the A/C vent tube above the head unit. I also added a flat piece of sheet metal under the antenna and on top of the vent tube for a ground plane. So the antenna is directly under the center of the dash and there is no metal in the dash above it. The sheet metal under the antenna makes a big difference. Try just setting your antenna on top of your dash and test the signal strength. Then put a metal plate under it and try again. For me I saw a difference with the metal plate.