iDataLink Maestro RR Installed

I finished my installation of the iDataLink Maestro RR. It was a wild ride:

2010 Prius Model 2 - No Nav, No JBL

Kenwood DMX905s (not recommended)
Kenwood KFC-XP6903C Component 6x9" + 3-1/2"
Eclipse 33230 2ch amp (120w rms x2 @4ohm)
iDataLink Maestro ADS-MRR
iDataLink T01 Harness
Kenwood DRV-N520
Generic Amazon Reverse Camera
Generic Amazon IR led puppy camera


The iDataLink Maestro is an interesting piece of gear. It's a powerful little box, that you throw firmware on from your computer/their app. It adds a bunch of functionality to my 2010 prius, and is really capable of much more on other vehicles. It works in conjunction with a compatible head unit, and paired with my kenwood, it adds the following features:

TPMS - Outputs tire pressure and temperature, user configured tire position
Gauges - Engine Coolant temp, tachometer, external air, and a few others.
Check engine light readout - Only when check engine light is on, haven't been able to verify
Access to factory settings for vehicle - I should write these down and post them, things like lighting timeout, lock behavior, and a few others.
Steering position - reads steering angle from car, and uses it in conjunction with reverse camera overlay.
Steering wheel control - with short and long press actions
Retains factory AUX input from console
Capable of integrating factory camera (my prius did not have factory camera)
Capable of JBL amplifier integration (Not applicable to my car)

It does not offer:
Climate controls for 2010 prius
Custom PID's for hybrid battery voltage monitoring

Installation was a nightmare. The harness made things easier, but the harness has it's own issues. Understandable, as the company is offering shotgun solutions for many cars, with many different options groups. Intermediate/advanced knowledge of automotive wiring would be my minimum recommendation. It was NOT plug and play. The documentation is incomplete, and vague. You also need to be quasi computer literate, because the box needs to have firmware flashed from your computer using their app.

The app is easy enough to use and navigate, but you need to create an account to download your firmware, and have the radio's serial number handy before you flash. Once you sort all of that out, it flashes quickly, and you plug it all back into the car.

In the car however, there are more issues. The harness is gigantic. and oddly constructed. You end up with a very large mess of wires, which is strange for a pre-built harness type of installation. There were bugs, and I needed to search their forum, which doesnt have a search feature. There are no vehicle specific faq's or categories. Telephone support was good, but the issues I had shouldn't have required support, they did answer the phone quickly though, on weekdays.

First issue was that the reverse camera wasn't getting a reverse signal. So the head unit wasn't triggered to turn the camera display on when I selected reverse. With ALLLLL of this information being fed into the head unit, reverse is somehow omitted. I had to tap a reverse wire in the left kick panel. This probably isn't an issue in cars with factory navigation. I was irritated that it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the iDataLink diagrams, and in fact; there is a purple/white wire in the iDatalink T01 Harness, it just doesn't work.

Second issue, radio stays on and door chimes when car is shut off. Deep within the forum, somebody else had this issue. The response was to cut "the red wire" on the harness. There must be 6 different red wires coming and going from this thing. Luckily, the OP clarified that it's a red wire on a 12 pin vehicle harness connector. Issue resolved, but I have no idea what that wire was "supposed" to control/do.

Third issue - On the T01 harness, there is a tiny 2 pin female connector. On my harness, it was empty. Nearby, there is a matching 2pin male connector. Nowhere in the documentation does it mention this plug. I don't remember what was broken while it was disconnected, but re-connecting it fixed the issue. A simple label/indication on the install document would have helped.

Fourth issue - The installation documentation. What a mess. There are 3 pdf's out there required to figure this all out. If you aren't familiar with what this maestro gizmo is/does, you might only search for one. I needed all 3 to finally put this all together. The pdf's are designed for computer guys, not car guys. Specific vehicle instructions are located by selecting the pdf bookmark for your vehicle; because the document is hundreds of pages long. It did end up being helpful to have other install diagrams to look at, but it's a shotgun solution to file management on their part. One pdf holding "custom" install diagrams for every supported vehicle.

Overall, I'm glad I did it. I like to know what my car is doing. I like that it can talk to the radio. The amount of integration they're doing is probably tricky business. With all the different car manufacturers, and radio manufacturers, and users... There were bound to be some speed bumps along the way. It'll be interesting to see how this aftermarket stereo space evolves as the vehicles and head units catch up to smartphones and tvs. Now that I've got my feet wet, I'll be on the lookout for another vehicle to try this tech on.

 

I have started to forget everything I went through to make this work. But I want to try to help where I can.

I'm my 2010, I had the base stereo unit.

I think it had a standard antenna jack cable, that plugged straight into my head unit. I know the T01 harness did not have an adaptor, but I've used them on other Toyotas in the past.

The TPMS functions and gauges are connected using an OBD2 connection wire that was in the T01 kit. It was a standard OBD2 connector, and it plugged into the maestro box. From there, the head unit can access the additional data, by selecting the gauges "app". It's hidden in the head unit sources menu, and it will be grayed out if it's not connected.

The hybrid light that came on was easily reset. I don't know if I cleared it, or just drive until it goes away.

My car didn't have Toyota factory Bluetooth. So, no mic, not sure