Multimedia upgrade on a non JBL 2011 prius II. low cost minimum fabrication

Hi Forum,

I am planning to replace the stock HU with a Chinese HU and also install a reverse camera and a carputer with its own LCD screen.

Thanks to this forum and all the advice I am confident I will be able to accomplish this myself...

This will be a work in progress and I will update it as I go along.

Few things to note
1. My spelling sucks, I know it, I do use spell check but not always. so no need to inform me of it.
2. First priority was to keep the cost down.
3. Second was to have minimum fabrication.
4. Third was to not alter the look of the car too much.
5. Fourth was personal prefrence... so we can agree to disagree

ALL ITEMS WERE BOUGHT ON EBAY...

Here is a list of thing I ordered. list is made from ebay descriptions

1. 2.4 Ghz Wireless RCA Video Transmitter & Receiver kit for Car Rear view Camera. $25

2. SONY CCD Car Rear View Camera For Toyota Prius 06-10/ Camry 09 10/ $ 37

3. RCA cable I will use for sound from carputer $ 2

4. Linksys AE2500 High Performance Dual-Band Wireless N USB $18

5. Nettop Intel Compact Multimedia SFF PC Car Auto HTPC Atom D510 $175

6. Car power brick came with nettop $0

7. VGA cable came with nettop $0

8. PC Laptop VGA Output to RCA AV TV S-Video Signal Adapter $16

9. 7 inch TFT LCD Monitor (VGA/Touchscreen) $52

10. VGA SVGA to S-VIDEO RCA TV AV Converter Cable Adapter $2

11. 5PCS 12V GREEN LED CAR ROUND ROCKER TOGGLE SWITCH SPST $4

12. Wire harness came with LCD monitor $0

13. Frame came with LCD monitor $0

14. 100 x 8" clear Cable Wire Ties 50 Lbs Zip Fasten wrap $4

15. 150 T-TAPS ELECTRICAL TERMINAL CONNECTOR $15

16. 12V battery laying around for testing and using as UPS later $0

17. Double 2 Din car dvd player universal car dvd gps navigation radio ipod BT 4G $280

18. METRA 70-1761 1987-UP TOYOTA CAR RADIO WIRE WIRING INSTALLATION INSTALL HARNESS $5

19. METRA 95-8226B PRIUS CAR STEREO DOUBLE/D/2-DIN RADIO INSTALL DASH KIT $20



20. Port USB 2.0 High-Speed HUB Powered + AC Adapter Free $5



21. 3 x MOMENTARY PUSH BUTTON SWITCH DC 50V 0.5A BLACK KNOB to reset the carputer manually $3



22. Toyota PC USB OBD2 OBDII OBD-2 Scanner Interface Code Reader just to see the gauges on the computer screen $30


Update # 1

Connected the METRA 70-1761 to the HU harness using but splice I already had. Most wires were connected to matching colors. had a hard time with the ilumination wire so looked in the forum and saw someone had connected it to the orange with white stripe wire... hope it works.
Also i just taped the brake wire straight to the ground next to it.


UPDATE #2
This info is for people who are a little computer hardware savy.
I considered buying a carputer but the price range was coming to about 400-to 500 (for a good one). So then I looked into making my own which is a better option but would take up extra time and still cost like 300 or so.
So I decided to go with a nettop ( for about $150). Not the best choice for a carputer because it does not have a regular ATX motherboard and not very rugged but I only need it for internet access.


I am planning on installing a micro shutdown controller but for now I only need to relocate the on/off button. Since the nettop does not have a motherboard power switch header that would normally connect to the push-button on the front of a personal computer case. I had to solder couple of wires to the on/off button which I will use to place a small push button somewhere (haven’t decided yet.)


UPDATE #3
Installed the rear view camera using wireless transmitter since I did not want to run the video wire all the way to the head unit.
I am not going to bore you with all the details, I used the instructions from all the people who have posted here about their cam install so it was super easy. I will only point out a few things that I noticed that could help others do this install easier.
Sorry for the washed out pics… I only had my cell phone to take pictures.
Removing the trim panel is simple, one thing to note is that you have to remove the trim covering the wiper motor last because it is latched under the other trim panels, See below.


This was a camry 09 camera, not a prius camera so it did not fit too well in the notched area. I too had to use the old plastic cap that was supposed to be discarded, cut out a square in it, clipped the tabs from the camera and install with epoxy , see below.



For power and ground I used the wiper motor harness. I think the two wires u need are blue and blue with stripe… they are the thick wires at the end of the connector.



UPDATE #4
I hooked up the head unit and tested the reverse camera and it work fine. So time to install the HU in the front.

I tried to remove the brackets from the stock HU and install on this unit but after much trial and error found that this setup will not work with the metra kit. it only works when u have the OEM type HU being installed.

So I had to use the plastic brackets that came with the metra kit. First I screwed it in with the HU tilted up. but that did not look good but it fit well.

but if you straighten the HU out the holes dont exactly match so i ended up attaching as follows and going to elongate the holes 2 more screws on each side.




I shaved off 2 sides of the trim piece when i thought this unit will sit flush but now that i see it does not sit flush it is too late. I already cut up the trim piece so here are some shots showing the gaps. this will have to do for now.

 

Update # 4 posted .. so far so good.

 

Update #5
I planned on using small switch to be able to switch on the reverse camera when not in reverse but I did not have to do that because the HU has a button to turn it on anytime so I spliced in the wireless rear camera receiver directly into the HU harness. Wrapped up the RCA connections with tape and the wires with zip ties.



I did not use any adapter for the steering control; instead I just connected the three wires from the HU (ground, control 1, and control 2) to the 20 pin connector wires as follows.
PINK: ground
RED: SW1 pin 7 on the 20 pin connector
GREEN: SW2 pin 8 on the 20 pin connector

Thanks to input from Bulle.


You can see the GPS antenna will go under the top glove compartment. This eliminates the need for me to run the cable up to the top or open any more panels. The AUX Audio/Video, IPOD connection and USB connection are routed to the glove compartment where the CarPC will be installed.




HU went in nicely



As you can see from the pics the metra surround has no texture but the color matches up ok.




I don't know why there is a slight gap as u can see in the picture but later I will try to put washers under the 4 mounting screws to see if that helps.



And the reverse image is nice and clear.

 

UPDATE #6

Finally got time to do some more work on the carPC install.
I tried to install the touchscreen as is but it would not fit the upper glove box... so decided to chop off the buttons on the bottom.







Seemed like a good idea at the time but turns out the electronics were sticking out from the bottom of the monitor so i ended up removing them, breaking all the stand off inside and re-mounting (squishing) everything together with epoxy.







Now it was small enough to go inside but it still did not fit right.





So I went to homedepot and bought a dremel and made it fit. even the panel with the buttons had to be chopped up to fit.







You can see the 2 holes in front of the touch screen. I first tried installing a bracket on both sides of the screen held on by screws (so I could remove it if i need to) but that prevented the door from closeing completly. So I decided to use only one bracket behind the screen and just glue it in place.





I am going to tap +12V from the center console outlet and pass it thru a switch so I can turn of power to the computer completly when i dont need it. Also i put a small push button to start the computer next to the power switch. later on i will buy a power controler but for now it will be switched on manually.





Finally I attached the computer mount inside the lower glove compartment and drilled couple of holes for wire access.

 

UPDATE # 7

Its all comming together now

I took +12V right from the utility outlet and grounded the switch to the ground wire next to it so now when the switch is on the green LED comes on.



I got lucky, right behind the glove box there are some empty space perfect for adding components so i stuff all the wires and power brick in there.



Installed the upper glove box and fed the wires thru the hole behind the LCD screen to the lower glove box area.



The audio and video output from my car PC will be inputed into the headunit so that i can play a movie on the computer and watch it on both the head unit and the LCD screen in the glove box.




Routed and secured the wires behind the glove box. had to open up the vent holes so the VGA plug could fit, and hooked up to the Car PC. Also used a peice of plastic and cut up a frame, painted it and glued it on.







And now the moment of truth....... will all this mess work....

YEP!





Someone on the forum PM me that if i could post a video of it working.. I will as soon as I finish it up completly.

Any coments are apreciated.

 

Thanx rrolff,
Yea I played around with the windows CE on my HU. curruntly I am running Miopocket 4 on it and have IGO8 and PRIMO 2 both installed and working fine.
Only thing is that in windows CE the HU does not show the USB port and not even the micro SD slot. it only reads the GPS SD slot.. so I cant install any wifi device or any other usb device. even the bluetooth dosent seem to work in windows CE.
the ottonavi and other rosen types seem to have a diffrent setup and can read from the usb port.

any Ideas how i can have my HU detect the usb port?

 

there is a mirror image setting i was playing with when i took the pic so i assume that is why it shows reversed. it is fliped now.

 

UPDATE # 8

Added a few things to this build .
first added a touch pad so i can use it as a mouse

Then installed a USB GPS recevier so i can have navigation using the computer along with the head unit
it goes next to the orignal GPS recevier, under the top glove box.


And finally installed a micro power controler behind the 12 volt utility outlet in the center console. now when the car is started the PC automatically comes on and when i shut it off , it waits for 5 mins and then sends a signal to the pc to shut off.




Here is a video of the finished system working.