Well, today I took out my v TWO's display radio and installed a shiny Parrot Asteroid Smart I got from Crutchfield at a very good price (over the years I had amassed a few discount points!). The worst part of the installation was mating and crimping the cables from the Metra adapter to the Parrot plug. I still have to install the reverse camera (I'm planning to keep the factory camera using a LM7806 to feed the camera the 6 volts it wants) and the steering controller (have a Axxess ASWC1). I didn't installed the ASWC1 today because I got visitors. Aw well, this will be a long weekend. In the meantime, I have no steering buttons (radio AND a/c)... But I don't use them that much anyway. Note: I retained the use of the factory USB port using Metra's AX-TOYUSB adapter. The Parrot has no HD radio tuner, nor Satellite Radio adapter available. I use Tunein Radio to listen to internet streaming stations. All in all, I'm very happy with the Parrot. I rooted it, installed the Play Store and added a few of my favorite apps. Regarding the settings that used to be controlled by the factory radio, I can still access them using a bluetooth ELM327 OBD-2 module and Carista.
I have a lot of questions about the rear camera that you say you still have to install. I've got my eyes on the Alpine ICS-X7HD for my 2013 Prius V. I've used steering wheel control adapters and those are pretty easy. My only remaining concern is the backup camera. The stereo's manual describes automatically displaying the optional rear camera view when the car is put in reverse but I have a hard time believing that the necessary connections for that to happen are standardized. My stereo has a "camera" plug on the back but you describe using a voltage regulator for the 6V that the camera needs. How does/will your camera connect to your stereo? Will it automatically be displayed when you put the car into reverse? what are your drawing power from to regulate to the camera's 6V that only comes on in reverse and doesn't leave the camera on at all times? There are many more questions but I imagine you see where I'm going with this. I'm no stranger to electronics but I always try and keep things as close to stock-looking as possible. Thanks in advance.
Hello cntryby. Just today I added the factory camera to the parrot. In the end, I decided to buy a 12v-6v converter from Amazon instead of building my own... Had to add a few things to get free shipping! The connections are there, just not standardized as you say. BUT the camera output is composite and as long as your radio can use it, you're good to go. The Parrot has a common RCA connector for the reverse video camera so I built my own adapter from a piece of video cable and two pieces of breadboard jumper wires. These wires fit *perfectly* in the v's 16 and 20 pin connectors. Here's how I did it Pin 2 on the 28 pin connector is the reverse signal (+12V when in reverse). I connected both the radio's reverse wire and the converter's +12V here. The camera uses only a few milliamps so there should be no problem. The converter's ground was tied to the radio chassis. On the 16 pin connector Connect the converter output (+6V) to pin 7 (white) Connect the converter output ground to pin 15 (gray) Connect the video to pin 8 (red) Connect the video shield to pin 16 (black) If needed, connect the parking brake wire to pin 6. On the Parrot I activated the 'turn camera on reverse automatically' option Now the Parrot is displaying the factory camera's video. Every now and then I see wavy interference lines on the reverse cam video but they disappear promptly. Probably need to shorten the exposed video wire... Also I think the factory radio had a little overscan built in. I don't recall the factory camera having such a wide angle! I added a simple schematic of what I did. Please let me know if I can help you more. Still to do: Connect the steering wheel buttons
Today I (finally!) installed the ASWC1 controller and I'm happy to report all my steering wheel buttons are working. To use the ASWC1 with the Asteroid Smart, upgrade the ASWC1's firmware first. Here's how to wire the 28 pin connector: Pin 21 to the ASWC1 Green/Orange (Green/Gold to me) wire Pin 22 to the ASWC1 Black/Green Pin 23 to chassis ground (this restores the steering wheel climate control buttons) Pin 24 to the ASWC1 Gray/Blue Then ASWC1's Red wire to ACC +12V ASWC1's Black wire to chassis ground Turn on the car. While the ASWC1's led is blinking fast, activate the Steering Wheel Remote on the Asteroid. The ASWC1 will detect the steering wheel buttons and the radio. Voila! After being sure everything was working right, I installed the ASWC1 module to the firewall with Velcro, tightened the radio and reassembled the dashboard Now, Pressing the CALL button brings up the voice activated contacts dialer. Pressing the HANG UP button will end any call in progress. MODE switches between Tuner/USB/Line In (if activated)/Any streaming app that is active All in all, I'm still very happy with the Asteroid.
