Nexus 7 clean car install with backup cam

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Kuchar09

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2012
287
158
Just wanted to show my car install that I've been messing with for some time now. My car install includes a USB DAC, flash drive, webcam, DVB-T for FM stations and a Joycon for steering wheel controls. All of these are connected to 2 USB Hubs that are externally powered.

I have the webcam mounted for my backup cam but am having some problems with it in the daylight so I might ditch it if I can't figure out a solution.

As far as reliability I drove 9 hours back to college with no freezes or hiccups. Since I made my hub externally powered the tablet get enough power to stay fully charged over long trips while using gps and screen brightness on full, but I should not have any problems with it staying charged with Timurs new USBROM that can enable fast charging.

I also have a few hidden buttons in my center console for the 3 tablet buttons and also a charge button to charge the tablet even when the car is off if the battery get low, for example its been below zero for the past week so my battery is probably extremely due to the extreme temperatures. I normally only lose 1-2% over night but since I haven't been driving my car these past couple of days I have lost ~20% in a 24hr period from the -10 degree temperatures we have had, which is when im glad i added a charge button so it can charge while i'm in the store or class or something.

Oh and for GPS and wifi antenna I ended up mounting above the headliner on the passenger side and ran wires to the connectors.

I'm currently using
-Timurs USBROM with kernel built in Link
-Power Amp
-mediaU to stream local radio stations
-Copilot
-Apex Launcher
-GMD Gesture Control
-Tasker
-Tablet Talk
-SDR Touch
-Probably others that I am forgetting

Videos at the bottom of this post.

If you have any questions feel free to ask!!!
What do you guys think?

Parts List
-$39.00 Joycon EX Steering Wheel Control PC Interface

-$55.00 FiiO E10 USB DAC Headphone Amplifier

-$180.00 A new Amp and Speakers to replace my factory bose

-$37.00 64GB Flash Drive for all my music

-$10.00 OTG Y Charge Cable

-$7.50 One of my USB HUBs

-$27.00 Amp wiring kit

-$10.00 Speaker wire

-$24.00 Digital to Analog Audio Converter

-$10.00 2 DC USB chargers for the HUBs

-$72.00 Trailblazer head unit wiring harness to keep onstar and door chimes

-$34.00 Mini Bluetooth keyboard

-$33.00 DVB-T Tuner

-$10.00 DVB-T Antenna

-$7.50 Another USB HUB

-$15.00 4 USB extensions to make USB HUB externally powered

-$21.00 3 10FT USB extensions

-$13.00 Wire to extend GPS and WIFI antennas

-$5.00 DC 2.1A USB charger

Total = $610

Of course you can do this for much cheaper, since a nice chunk of that went into audio equipment and extra accessories.



4 channel amp


Bracket I made to mount the tablet to. I added a fan to help keep the tablet cool along with some velcro to mount the tablet to my bracket.




Had to add some wires for the power, volume up and down buttons that I ran to the center console in case the tablet freezes or something. Also had to run wires to the back cover since the wifi and gps are basically stickers on the back cover which I just velcroed to the top of the stereo opening.




Mounted


RCA digital to analog converter


USB hub with my flash drive, steering wheel controls, backup cam (still working on) and also my usb DAC which is also in the pic


Poweramp


Movies


Installed




Wire diagram


All of this is mounted in my Trailblazer









 
Last edited:

Kuchar09

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2012
287
158

Already have a PLX kiwi OBD adapter connected to my old original droid one that is permanently mounted on the top of my windshield. Rather have torque up 24/7 instead of flipping through screens on the tablet.
Thanks for the suggestion tho ;)
Now I have a pillar pod don't really even need the torque app either, but I'll prolly just put different gauges on the phone
 

eddie3130

Senior Member
Sep 12, 2009
111
10
Clean ass install man much props.. What kinda amp is that? Thats just hooked up to the car speakers or a sub too?

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

---------- Post added at 10:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:46 PM ----------

sorry didnt see the link up top.. but do you have it to all four speakers or set up as 3 channel with one to the sub?

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
 

Kuchar09

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2012
287
158
Clean ass install man much props.. What kinda amp is that? Thats just hooked up to the car speakers or a sub too?

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

---------- Post added at 10:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:46 PM ----------

sorry didnt see the link up top.. but do you have it to all four speakers or set up as 3 channel with one to the sub?

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

Had issues with the amp so ended up splitting my rca cables and having 4 inputs and had to set the amp to 4 channel.
Then ran new wires to each door.

The amp have pre-amp out plugs that I then ran to 2 separate amps for each of my subs.

Still need to fine tune all my amps but it sounds much better than before!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
 

Kuchar09

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2012
287
158
Well went and cleaned a foot or two of snow off my truck today and apparently the tablet battery doesn't like temperatures below zero, well at least for a long period of time. My tablet battery was dead along with my trucks battery.
When I tried charging the tablet it showed it was charging with it off but once I turned it on it immediately shut down and said battery zero. So I let my car warm up for about 40 minutes then let it just sit for another 40 minutes and then tried charging it. It then finally took the charge and turned on.
For the past 3 days I haven't touched my car since its been below zero every day. I believe the coldest it got was -14 with a wind chill of -44 so I'm not surprised my tablet was dead, I was just surprised that it wouldn't take a charge. Not really sure what happened but I think the battery froze which is why it wouldn't take a charge. I think this because if you look at the graph it had about a 40% charge left before it just dropped right off to 0. Here is a screen shot I took of the battery graph once I got it turned on and charging for 2 hours.
Tomorrow has a high of 7 so hopefully it will stay decently charged.

 

keiththevp

New member
Jan 11, 2013
2
1
Battery Problems

You could warm up the car and get the battery charged up normal. Then remove the battery and test the voltage output. Then just get a dc to dc converter that applies that exact voltage and connect the power supply to ignition. Then the output of the power supply into the connector on the tablet that used to connect to the battery. This would eliminate your battery problems, unless of coarse your vehicle battery was dead but in that case you probably aren't going anywhere anyway!! :p
 
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Ryan_Mc

Member
Dec 12, 2012
18
0
Sweet install!

I'll be doing the same thing as soon as I get my tools back in a few months - I'm in the middle relocate so my tools are in storage... somewhere.

I'm wondering about the backup camera. I've seen a thread or two about getting a webcam to work but it appeared that the app had to be launched manually. Did you find a way to get the app to start automatically when the reverse lights come on?
 

Kuchar09

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2012
287
158
Sweet install!

I'll be doing the same thing as soon as I get my tools back in a few months - I'm in the middle relocate so my tools are in storage... somewhere.

I'm wondering about the backup camera. I've seen a thread or two about getting a webcam to work but it appeared that the app had to be launched manually. Did you find a way to get the app to start automatically when the reverse lights come on?

Yeah I'm using my steering wheel controller to launch the app when it senses my reverse lights on and then set it to manually close after 30 seconds. I want to mess with this in the future to get it to close as soon as I take it out of reverse but haven't had any reason to mess with it yet till I get the cam mounted.

I'll try to get a video tomorrow just to show all that I have going on with my setup.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
 

Ryan_Mc

Member
Dec 12, 2012
18
0
Yeah I'm using my steering wheel controller to launch the app when it senses my reverse lights on and then set it to manually close after 30 seconds. I want to mess with this in the future to get it to close as soon as I take it out of reverse but haven't had any reason to mess with it yet till I get the cam mounted.

I'll try to get a video tomorrow just to show all that I have going on with my setup.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Thanks for the reply. Complete or not can you expand on what you've done there?

At this point in my plan I don't need to add steering wheel controls but the price of that board is quite reasonable and it accepts(senses?) resistance to determine what buttons are pressed - sorry just skimmed the pdf manual. If that is true, at least a crude way to get it to go automatically is have the reverse backup lights close a small relay with whatever inline resistance is required to qualify as a button press/release. Still need to find some better documentation to determine what resistances are required etc. but this might do as a crude input method for sensing a few external triggers that I need. Is the joycon software handling launching the camera app or do you have tasker in there too?

Thanks again,
Ryan
 

Kuchar09

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2012
287
158
It doesn't really have to have resistance for reverse. I think in the manual or maybe in the software I talks about how channel C and D are for reverse and other functions since it isn't as customizable as channels A and B.

So I have a wiring harness since that was required to keep my door chimes and OnStar. This wiring harness also gave me easy access to ign. power, const. power, ground, reverse wire, and also an amp turn on wire I believe.

I just tapped channel C to the reverse wire and grounded the other.

You then have to hook up your computer and put it in reverse to see where the voltage is in order to act as a key press.

No need for relays or resistors unless your going to try to setup multiple buttons.

I then programmed the key press as a camera button where I have tasker taking the camera button and opening the special app.

Hope that helped explain it a little better, really isn't that complicated once you know what your doing.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
 
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Kuchar09

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2012
287
158
Well apparently the new camera I received isn't compatible with the tablet or it is broken since the box was open when I received it. So I'll have to order another camera that I know is compatible and will make another video showing you it in action. Sorry about that!!

Here is a little video I put together of the tablet in action.


Here is a little video of the static issue I sometime have with turning on the car. This is basically the only issue I have with my setup I want to figure out when it gets warmer out.

 
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Kuchar09

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2012
287
158
What app and camera are you using to get that video input on the N7?

It's called simplewebcam, here is the link to get the apk. APK

Here is the list of compatible cameras. LIST

I originally had one like the Logitech Webcam C200 that I took apart, not sure of the exact model though.

Oh and here are my steering wheel controls with the backup cam for those that haven't seen them.
 

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  • 84
    Just wanted to show my car install that I've been messing with for some time now. My car install includes a USB DAC, flash drive, webcam, DVB-T for FM stations and a Joycon for steering wheel controls. All of these are connected to 2 USB Hubs that are externally powered.

    I have the webcam mounted for my backup cam but am having some problems with it in the daylight so I might ditch it if I can't figure out a solution.

    As far as reliability I drove 9 hours back to college with no freezes or hiccups. Since I made my hub externally powered the tablet get enough power to stay fully charged over long trips while using gps and screen brightness on full, but I should not have any problems with it staying charged with Timurs new USBROM that can enable fast charging.

    I also have a few hidden buttons in my center console for the 3 tablet buttons and also a charge button to charge the tablet even when the car is off if the battery get low, for example its been below zero for the past week so my battery is probably extremely due to the extreme temperatures. I normally only lose 1-2% over night but since I haven't been driving my car these past couple of days I have lost ~20% in a 24hr period from the -10 degree temperatures we have had, which is when im glad i added a charge button so it can charge while i'm in the store or class or something.

    Oh and for GPS and wifi antenna I ended up mounting above the headliner on the passenger side and ran wires to the connectors.

    I'm currently using
    -Timurs USBROM with kernel built in Link
    -Power Amp
    -mediaU to stream local radio stations
    -Copilot
    -Apex Launcher
    -GMD Gesture Control
    -Tasker
    -Tablet Talk
    -SDR Touch
    -Probably others that I am forgetting

    Videos at the bottom of this post.

    If you have any questions feel free to ask!!!
    What do you guys think?

    Parts List
    -$39.00 Joycon EX Steering Wheel Control PC Interface

    -$55.00 FiiO E10 USB DAC Headphone Amplifier

    -$180.00 A new Amp and Speakers to replace my factory bose

    -$37.00 64GB Flash Drive for all my music

    -$10.00 OTG Y Charge Cable

    -$7.50 One of my USB HUBs

    -$27.00 Amp wiring kit

    -$10.00 Speaker wire

    -$24.00 Digital to Analog Audio Converter

    -$10.00 2 DC USB chargers for the HUBs

    -$72.00 Trailblazer head unit wiring harness to keep onstar and door chimes

    -$34.00 Mini Bluetooth keyboard

    -$33.00 DVB-T Tuner

    -$10.00 DVB-T Antenna

    -$7.50 Another USB HUB

    -$15.00 4 USB extensions to make USB HUB externally powered

    -$21.00 3 10FT USB extensions

    -$13.00 Wire to extend GPS and WIFI antennas

    -$5.00 DC 2.1A USB charger

    Total = $610

    Of course you can do this for much cheaper, since a nice chunk of that went into audio equipment and extra accessories.



    4 channel amp


    Bracket I made to mount the tablet to. I added a fan to help keep the tablet cool along with some velcro to mount the tablet to my bracket.




    Had to add some wires for the power, volume up and down buttons that I ran to the center console in case the tablet freezes or something. Also had to run wires to the back cover since the wifi and gps are basically stickers on the back cover which I just velcroed to the top of the stereo opening.




    Mounted


    RCA digital to analog converter


    USB hub with my flash drive, steering wheel controls, backup cam (still working on) and also my usb DAC which is also in the pic


    Poweramp


    Movies


    Installed




    Wire diagram


    All of this is mounted in my Trailblazer









    3
    Excellent tut, and videos.
    Great job!! :good:
    I'll have to subscribe because this is similar to what i am doing in my mustang.

    I'm not trying to high-jack your thread, but help for your subscribers.
    A tip for others installing an AMP, some Amps come with a remote you can purchase extra. Here is the AMP i have which has 6 channels.
    This one is no longer made, but there are others like it, or you can one on line.
    http://www.jlaudio.com/xd600-6-car-audio-xd-amplifiers-98262

    Here is the remote.
    http://www.amazon.com/JL-Audio-HD-RLC-HDRLC/dp/B0025ZT1IK

    The volume control in action.
    http://youtu.be/P89paX9fcYw
    2

    Already have a PLX kiwi OBD adapter connected to my old original droid one that is permanently mounted on the top of my windshield. Rather have torque up 24/7 instead of flipping through screens on the tablet.
    Thanks for the suggestion tho ;)
    Now I have a pillar pod don't really even need the torque app either, but I'll prolly just put different gauges on the phone
    2
    It doesn't really have to have resistance for reverse. I think in the manual or maybe in the software I talks about how channel C and D are for reverse and other functions since it isn't as customizable as channels A and B.

    So I have a wiring harness since that was required to keep my door chimes and OnStar. This wiring harness also gave me easy access to ign. power, const. power, ground, reverse wire, and also an amp turn on wire I believe.

    I just tapped channel C to the reverse wire and grounded the other.

    You then have to hook up your computer and put it in reverse to see where the voltage is in order to act as a key press.

    No need for relays or resistors unless your going to try to setup multiple buttons.

    I then programmed the key press as a camera button where I have tasker taking the camera button and opening the special app.

    Hope that helped explain it a little better, really isn't that complicated once you know what your doing.

    Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
    2
    Well fixed my camera today so I should have it mounted in 2 weeks or so.