GPS for Android Head Unit

[Zirk]

Hi All,

So after much research and saving I finally purchased an android head unit for my Fiesta. I will have it by the end of the week and plan to install it during the weekend. The pic below below is what I have currently. I understand all the connections but my question relates to the GPS. The unit comes with a GPS module but I was wondering that since the Fiesta has GPS for emergency assist can I simply use that instead of affixing a new module to the windscreen? As I have never examined behind the current head unit I am unsure if the GPS is wired into that? Forscan does find the GPS module and is able to display coordinates. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Stoney871]

You obviously have an aerial base with a gps receiver so shouldn't have any problems reusing it.
You may possibly need an adaptor to connect the existing gps wiring to your head unit but they are readily available (if needed).

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Micro]

Depends what your headunit is supplied with. You may have an "Active" GPS antenna, or an entirely separate GPS module which goes over usb/serial. If the former, then I expect you may be able to use your existing antenna.

Alternatively, just tie the GPS antenna for the head unit under the dash - mine is attached to the top of one of the metal support braces with duct tape and works flawlessly.

[MJNewton]

The GPS module appears to be interfaced via the MS CAN bus (hence why Forscan is able to read from it) and unless your Android HU has a canbus interface (unlikely but not impossible I suppose) then I suspect you'll be out of luck reusing it. As Ted suggests though, you will likely find that hiding the HU GPS receiver behind some plastic trim will still allow it to function fine.

[Zirk]

Thanks everyone for all the input - much appreciated. I was very surprised - and happy -  to hear that I could hide the included GPS receiver behind some trim - always thought that it needed an unobstructed view of the sky in order to function.

As I have no written instructions, what happens to the existing bluetooth module (located in the passenger foot well) when I connect the new head unit? I have watched many videos of various install's and no one has ever made mention of removing or unplugging it.

I will be installing my unit tomorrow - if anyone expresses interest I will be happy to post pics of most of the install process as it could possibly help someone in the future as I could not find any guides or a single video in English detailing the install process.

 

[Stoney871]

Just disconnect the wiring to the module so there won't be any signal conflicts.

[cjay1]

you may be ok hiding the GPS antenna but for best performance, it should have a clear view of the sky to give it the best chance of working when driving through urban canyons or dense forest. I have placed mine on the roof. also if you have a strong signal time to first fix will be shortened allowing you to navigate sooner. 

[Zirk]

Fitted the new head unit and I thought I would give some feedback. Will post some photo's of the install soon. I'm very impressed with the unit. Thought the UI would lag but its ultra responsive, clear screen with great contrast and most importantly has excellent sound quality. However, I do have some questions;

1. When I put the car car in reverse the screen goes blank. This obviously happens because it is looking for a reverse camera input but I have never had rear park sensors or a rear camera and I have not changed any options in Forscan so how does it know that the car is in reverse?

2. The agent who sold me the unit did indicate that it is fully capable of displaying everything that was shown on the original screen and I have verified this. From traction control to my Forscan enabled ambient lighting - it's all there.

He also mentioned that since the unit has a CAN interface it is capable of all displaying all OEM functions as he has seen in other Fiesta/ST's, including navigation but this is dependent on how the car is programmed. This brings me to my question of if I change the "Touchscreen", "Navigation System" and/or "In Car Entertainment" options (see pic below) in Forscan could I possibly get any additional functions on my new head unit or will it only work with genuine Ford/Sony hardware?

 

 

[Willy]

Any further update on this?

[Vaal]

Interested in sme updates / pictures as well. Do you still have (working) OEM buttons in place?

[Zirk]

@Vaal & @Willy sorry for the delayed response - work has been very busy lately. Anyway, unit was fitted and works perfectly. Not a single issue and has never frozen or needed a reboot ever since being installed. All OEM buttons are in place and are still functional. Seems to play everything including 1080p video at 60 fps without lag or stuttering. The unit has Wifi and 4G/LTE connectivity so I installed and regularly use google maps, youtube, etc. Was a nightmare to fit as this unit has so many additional cables for various inputs and outputs.

Here are the photo's of the install;

 

 

 

 

[Mornedup]

That looks fantastic, where did you get this unit from? As I live in South Africa and have been eyeing out a new unit like that but there are so many unknowns as to if the unit i purchase will actually work. But yours seems to work straight off the bat. 

[jace1969]

10 hours ago, Zirk said:

@Vaal & @Willy sorry for the delayed response - work has been very busy lately. Anyway, unit was fitted and works perfectly. Not a single issue and has never frozen or needed a reboot ever since being installed. All OEM buttons are in place and are still functional. Seems to play everything including 1080p video at 60 fps without lag or stuttering. The unit has Wifi and 4G/LTE connectivity so I installed and regularly use google maps, youtube, etc. Was a nightmare to fit as this unit has so many additional cables for various inputs and outputs.

Here are the photo's of the install;

 

 

 

 

Mate that looks great,like having a radio and a tablet in your car...Spot on.

[Zirk]

@Mornedup Thanks. Below is a link to the exact unit and where I purchased it from. Expect to pay an additional R3000 above the listed price for import duties, etc. Worth the money for all the features and overall build quality. Completely plug and play, very responsive touch screen, with vivid colours. Supports rear and forward facing camera's. Out of the box it even detected when the vehicle is in reverse gear and switches to the camera(which I fitted) without me changing any settings.

https://www.stopshop.co.za/fiesta-2014-2017/8122-ford-fiesta-android-car-navigation-gps-radio-dvd-player-k6493-k700.html

 

@jace1969 Thanks, yes, definitely the best of both worlds in one device.

[FiestaBw]

thanks for the detailed update. i have a couple of questions;

1 how is the sound quality when speaking over bluetooth, what is the mic input, is it the factory one?

2 how exactly does it interface to canbus, do you have to plug it at the OBD port?

[Zirk]

On 7/1/2019 at 1:38 AM, FiestaBw said:

thanks for the detailed update. i have a couple of questions;

1 how is the sound quality when speaking over bluetooth, what is the mic input, is it the factory one?

2 how exactly does it interface to canbus, do you have to plug it at the OBD port?

1. Sound quality is fine, the new unit is supplied with a mic which I stuck on the windscreen in between the rear view mirror and the courtesy light.

2. No, the unit is supplied with a canbus decoder which is part of the install process. Nothing is plugged into the OBD port. See photo below.

 

[luke85]

Did you need forscan for installation? 

I have a mk7 2012 pre face-lift with USB, no bluetooth or navigation. I have seen many on aliexpress but some say 2013-  onwards but the trim looks the same? 

Really needing to upgrade for better connectivity as I have a small nextbase dab350bt adapter at the moment but isn't that good. 

[luke85]

I've managed to purchase and install a head unit and all is well apart from the steering wheel controls not working. 

 

Everything else is good so far though. 

[K25]

Do you have a new link for this and system specs I’m looking to buy this head unit 

[Gazcaz]

On 10/31/2017 at 9:45 PM, Zirk said:

When I put the car car in reverse the screen goes blank. This obviously happens because it is looking for a reverse camera input but I have never had rear park sensors or a rear camera and I have not changed any options in Forscan so how does it know that the car is in reverse?

If you have a reverse camera then it should work if not then in the hidden menu you tick the no rear camera,now it wont go black when in reverse....but get the code for hidden menu.Mine is arriving in a couple of weeks so i can let peeps know how it goes.It comes with canbus ,so i hope all will work just trying to find out if the usb by the gear stick will still work as i have my funky usb stick with my music on it....

[hxrrisonc]

On 8/9/2019 at 6:29 PM, luke85 said:

I've managed to purchase and install a head unit and all is well apart from the steering wheel controls not working. 

 

Everything else is good so far though. 

 

that looks exactly like what I need, please link it I have the same exact car and issue as you had.

[bertiethefiesta]

Just to add to this thread with some useful info in case anybody comes across it in the future. I've just installed a similar android auto head unit in my 2011 Mk7 Fiesta. Same type of unit as the picture above. I got it from the 'PengGPS' store on AliExpress. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003887406417.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.21ef1802snXklu

I went for this as it was the only way I could find to get the best trim - would have preferred a branded unit but getting it to look good and integrate with the car seemed impossible. I'm 6 months on from installing it now and its generally good but a mixed review. I ended up opening a refund case against the seller because of 4 main reasons:

-Having the unit connected to the canbus disables automatic powerfolding mirrors when you lock the car (there is an option in the firmware to turn them on, but it doesn't work for me)

-I bought a 4GB version and what arrived only had 2GB of memory. This was hard to find but worth checking with a 3rd party app.

-The quality of the normal radio signal isn't great compared to the OEM radio

-The quality of the microphone for phone calls is appalling and something you will have to fix if you like to make calls while driving. 

To be fair to Aliexpress, they refunded me £100 after going back and forth a bit. The microphone was the biggest issue for me and when I opened the unit up, the microphone was just floating around in the back of the case. Maybe I just got unlucky. I have soldered a new external microphone into the unit and well, its better but not ideal. 

The steering wheel controls - two pins in the wiring loom they provided needed to be swapped. The steering wheel controls on my 2011 Fiesta work on a resistance matrix. It needs the signal wire and a ground and these pass through the looms separately to the canbus and directly to the new head unit. I just had to swap the signal wire and the ground for this to work - they were just the wrong way round. VME14 and RME14 are the wires, they come out at pins 9 and 10 on the OEM connector to the message centre module (OEM display part of the radio). Hope this saves somebody the time and effort it took for me to figure it out. Tried contacting the seller about it first and they have no technical knowledge and were completely useless. Classic AliExpress really. They clearly don't manufacture the units or aren't interested once you've bought the unit. 

 

Overall, I actually do recommend the unit. Maybe I got unlucky but I also suspect this is a classic story of buying things from AliExpress\China. I'm still using the unit and otherwise it is really good - (wireless) android auto works well, the buttons are all still backlit, it works with the steering wheel controls now and integrates well otherwise (headlight triggers the brightness and dark mode etc). It would be better if it did have 4GB ram as its a but laggy at times but I exclusively use it for android auto and to make the car feel less old than it is. So it suits me, and as far as I can see it is the least worst option out there for a Fiesta retrofit. But be prepared for a bit of a project rather than an easy swap out. 

Edited January 31, 2023 by bertiethefiesta
Addition of images and some extra detail in the text

[Chi]

@Zirksorry for the random ping, I want to know if you have a working link for that head unit you have? or one that has the same function. Ive been looking for one that specifically has the oem settings as in the traction control etc.