DIY: Android Tablet Navigation Retrofit
 

Hi everyone, I'm fairly new to the forum and I wanted to share my the retrofit I made for the 05-06 navigation screens.

I've owned my sedan for 9 months now and since I've research every available option for these cars, one of these is the OEM Navi Unit.
Not only it accentuates the interior better but it adds infinite possibilities as far as entertainment. This would all be a dream unless I could find an affordable Navi unit.

About 3 months later I found a donor Coupe at my local yard and decided to give it my undivided attention to the unit itself. I learned that the harness is incorporated in the main dash harness so right there I realized an equal transplant was out of the question. I also learned that the control unit is separated from the screen and occupies the space in the top glove box in our cars. I knew that I would not be purchasing this due to many things, price, dead weight and it would take the little bit of space we already struggle with.
I was left with this massive block of Navi/CC/Radio, I took as much wiring as I could and off I went.
Out the door with the whole unit for $25:eek3: they priced it as a OEM RADIO. ( Don't expect the same)

I spent weeks in G35driver looking at threads and threads on this, and after dismantling the unit I realized I would be using a Phone/Tablet in it's place, technology has advanced quite a bit in 12 years:icon17:

I tried many phones and tablets, it was quite a journey from size to OS to placement of buttons and charging slots it was not an easy decision.
I Narrowed it down to 2 HTC phones, 1 Huwawei phone and 1 Samsung tablet, in the end the tablet took the throphy.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...29aae80a67.jpg

Samsung Tab A6 $60 (Used)
Samsung Mini Wireless charging pad $20
Wireless receiver + extra cables $20
OEM NAVI unit $25
Materials, Cut off wheels, tape, zip ties, $25

You'll spend at least $100-125 in said above, the determining budget killer or saver will be how cheap you can get the navi unit. If your car already brought navigation:BOUNCE:

Difficulty 6/10


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...b8031c6bc9.jpg


As you can see it's a nice fit, it requires some trimming of the plastic for better fit.

Figuring out the charging port was much trickier due to it almost not having any room for a regular micro usb cable however this reminded me of wireless receivers back in the pre wireless charging days.
Ebay has tons of these flat receivers that help with the space. I went with one of these, very inexpensive.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...5fb7dd4f3a.jpg


Then was figuring out the wireless pad, I chose a Samsung mini pad because of space. You can use which ever you want in this situation being that this will go taped to the back of the tablet to make contact with the pad.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...2c24d7892a.jpg

It Works!!!

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...6eca646eb5.jpg

Now for fitment, the metal tray that the OEM LCD goes in needs to be trimmed to accommodate the screen, you can use the metal guides that the plate bolts to for reference, you need to cut the tray flush to the guides (see pic). Some Double sided tape will provide the cushion that this plate needs to hold the tablet secure. Too tight and you'll have issues with touch sensitivity. Pretty much trim until the holes on the plastic trim align with the metal plate.
This is the most crucial part as this will determine the look and functionality of the tablet.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...19d5b2595f.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...d18b0802e3.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...2f5b5e9989.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...afcb9343c2.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...abf1096741.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...4873ef8dfa.jpg

For Power:
You will have to cut a slot on both the metal plate and plastic housing for the power wire to go down in the unit.
Route the power wire under the motor and out the back.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...ba878e13cd.jpg

For voltage you can ad a separate board that provides 5v to the tablet, I kept it simple and used an usb adapter and drew power from the front lighter adapter. I made it like this to be able to remove it once it reaches 100% to prevent memory.
Power routing will entirely be up to you. I chose the simplest route for me

As for Wiring, the Navi Switch which is the controls that light up need to be connected to the illumination wiring, I chose to splice into the climate control wiring.
And for the Up/Down switch you'll need to splice the lt grn and red/wht to power and blk to ground for basic up and down. The other two wires you can connect so the navi goes up and down by itself. I avoided this because if the limit switch goes bad no more up and down.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...dd01a78583.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...5a95aa83af.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...d8a7f1fefe.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...cc83cf89d9.jpg

Once installed, test the illumination of the navi controls and function of the up/down switch.
You'll need to download offline applications if you don't plan on using a hotspot
It works great with OBD apps, also a POWER OFF app to turn screen off because controls will be hidden, to turn the tablet on again just touch the home button on the tablet.


Enjoy!

Love the hard work you put into this BUT any reason why you didn't just opt to buy an android radio from eBay for about 150?

Good work man, thanks for sharing.


It won't cost just $150. You'd have to buy all the other materials (dash kit, wiring, etc).

The pop-up nav feature is also one of the coolest things on this car. It makes it cooler if you keep that and just upgrade the screen to a tablet like what he did. Makes it more useful since its a Tablet and you can download any apps you want easily.
( I've thought about this same scenarios myself)

Oh I see, my car came with the dash kit so mines was just the cost of the radio. Either way looks good!

I've been kicking around this idea for a while since my OEM nav stopped working. Thanks for the detailed pics and confirming which tablet fits in that space.

Do you have audio hooked up at all, how did you handle that wiring?

Nice clean install going on here, be good to see some finished pictures in daylight.

I also did a tablet install but just in the usual radio spot. Micro usb connector was also a problem for me, got it done by disassembling a micro usb side and bending it 90 degrees. Have to be careful though as weakening the connection can affect current transfer, essential for running a tablet with the screen on most of the time. The wireless charging pad, however, is a nice idea.

Also, just like yourself, I couldn't get to the on/off button. My work around involved using a timed clock screen saver which comes on after about 30 seconds (variable) of no activity. The screen is then awoken by simply touching it. I like this as I can hit the screen anywhere without needing to look and when the tab is not in use I have a dimly lit clock. My tablet (older ASUS) doesn't have this feature but your newer Samsung one may have the "double tap to wake", two taps anywhere on the screen will wake it without needing to locate the button. You can also use a normal time out lock to turn the screen off.

After having this tab for a while now there's a few things I noticed. It's sort of a novelty.... in the end I would only use it for music and navigation and nothing more of all the great things the tablet has to offer. It's a bit difficult to navigate, of course, compared to a normal radio. Simply turning the volume up takes a bit of getting used to. There are some car orientated apps/themes though which can make the icons bigger and the whole OS more user friendly in general. Also, I butchered up an aux cord so it would fit in the cramped space available. Since then I've now fitted a bluetooth receiver - with play/pause/answer button and built in mic - that is plugged into the stereo (which is in the upper glove box). Having the bluetooth now, I would just use that for audio transmission. I use it every day with my Phone and the audio quality is much clearer and cleaner than the aux cord I was using before...

One question though, did you consider flipping the tab the other way? So that the home button etc would be on the driver side and closer/easier to use?


Couldn't find any proper pics of mine but you can see it going on here....

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...ad67b1b4fd.jpg

I have an FM transmitter handling any input to the stock radio. I can toggle between the tablet and the phone to hear in the radio. The speaker of the tablet is loud enough to hear the GPS through.
Since it doesn't have cell data i dont connect it to the radio that much.

Man, the struggle of cords! Like you I too eventually stopped using this that much. I mainly now use it for navigation and OBD
I was not even going to try for the aux. I chose the samsung for the button, the one and only thing. If you look at some of the pictures you'll see where I drilled the plastic to access the power and volume buttons however I sealed them up after finding the apps.

As for orientation of the home button I chose this way for 3 reasons.
1 these buttons are so close to the edge you kinda have to angle your fingers if not use your pinky to access.
2 the button was almost hidden when rotated towards the passenger
3 by flipping the tablet where the home button would be close to the driver it puts the power/volume buttons facing down and they actually touch the plastic. I know over time a bump and the plastic could touch them.

The biggest set back on this I would consider is heat, I left the car parked outside one day under the sun, inside temps got to 120-130s:flame: the tablet would not charge due to high temps. After 5 minutes of AC it started charging again.

i did this same project but with a nexus 7 tablet and got it to display the oem navigation. so i have both oem display and the nexus 7 running timurs kernel. got it to sleep with car off and then auto on with car on. when the display goes down the screen sleeps and vice versa. added additional buttons next to the oem navigation buttons so when i press the oem nav map button if im not on the oem screen it will pull up waze. also bent and soldered little supports for the micro usb port so its at a 90 degree angle


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...fc0361eae0.jpg



https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...ec5735a75e.jpg

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...8aa516bb69.jpg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...808cea6a41.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...1fbce6b4be.jpg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...a8a7b7412d.jpg

That's badass, after taking a look at the navi switched I knew I was not dealing with it.

UPDATE:8/22

So I might have to open the metal case in the back to allow the tablet to breathe better. After a hot day temps in the car can hit 120s and the tablet will overheat.

Also I noticed this tablet takes a long time to charge even with a 2.1amp charger it still takes a while and all of my driving is city.

Retrofit
 

The problem here will be thickness of the screen and data cable. The rest will be cake.

5 Star thread.

Thank you for this write up, I will be doing the same thing to my G35 as well, also adding a double din kit with another radio, leaning toward Kenwood due to DVD rom drive included with radio.

Cant wait