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New Dvd Satnav Unit Fitted (Pics)


liam-20
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Latest firmware update with my unit seems to make the Speakers default on powering up, to front left hand side instead of wherever I'd set it to :unsure:

Will see what I can sort out before having to email asure about it.

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That's an odd one Troy, are you sure it's just not saving your config properly? I've lost a few settings due to not having them saved properly so far!

how is your wifi out of interest? not had an issue using my phone to run a hotspot but it's eating the 4g up! since my home wifi wasn't quite covering where my car is i've moved an enterprise level router in the closest point of the house to the car, there is now only 2 inches of wood, one house exterior wall and about 4 ft total and i'm only getting 1 bar with limited power.

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cheers again,

was attempting to give this a go but it seems that my keys will no longer unlock the radio to remove it and one key is now permanently lodged in, they were releasing fine prior to being installed. wondering if it maybe shoddy keys as i struggled greatly to get the stock radio out with them.

when you have the wire down the side of the pillar by the dash does it just sneak behind the plastic into the dash area or do you have to pop something there?

Oh, I can't count how many times my fingers literally bled from trying to remove lodged key in the stereo locks! :D ... Unfortunately, this is the chinese "quality"...you can try to reach the lock with some flat screwdriver from a side which is unlocked, or just pull really hard to get it out...the stereo shouldn't be damaged in any way, it's just the key that's stuck in the wrong part of the lock...and since it's both metal parts, it kinda makes it reaaally hard to just torn it out. But, of course, do this on your own risk, I didn't damage anything during this process, but I may have been just lucky...

As for the wires down the side of the pillar, yeah, they just sneak behind it, there's some room for them, so non worries, just tuck it in there, maybe "slide" it up&down a little so it's settled all the way and you're good to go. No need to pop anything, this should be the least "popping" way to install the wires :D

And for the wifi signal...I don't have a picture, but this is the apartment building where I live (the one with the red&grey balconies):

https://www.google.sk/maps/place/Objekt+LIPTOVSK%C3%81/@48.875358,18.049877,3a,75y,95.29h,105.73t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sIJVrZH26SLiROaOs44PT2Q!2e0!4m7!1m4!3m3!1s0x4714a3d277ca1437:0x762f5ad1124a333b!2zTGlwdG92c2vDoSwgOTExIDA4IFRyZW7EjcOtbg!3b1!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0xe29891300ab2a335!6m1!1e1

...my apartment is on the sixth floor, and when I'm parked outside, with the other cars as it's on the streetview, I can still catch my wifi every now and then. The router is in the room on the same side of the building though...and I'm using this bad boy at home:

http://www.asus.com/uk/Networking/RTAC87U/

Oh, and btw, the password for the factory settings should be "126", but I'm afraid you would just have to install new app as a music player from the Play Store, I didn't see anything in the settings which would allow you to change the default one... ;)

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Hi There,

I've narrowed my search for a head unit down to this one for my 2006 focus TDCi

Could anyone advise if this will be just plug and play or will require additional cables? not sure if this has the canbus (does that just enable the steering wheel stalk?)

I'm looking at one of these. I couldn't find a Manual online. Do you have a link?
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I'm looking at one of these. I couldn't find a Manual online. Do you have a link?

Hey,

There isn't an actual install manual, the manual that comes with it is just a brief overview of android OS,

as far as the wiring goes it is all just plug and play with the unit I linked. the only thing i haven't done is install a reverse camera yet and i'm unsure if that requires a separate canbus or not.

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2nd car now finally purchased (soooooo bored of looking for/ at cars now!), now to get myself one of these. Have decided on the Android from A-sure for various reasons .

Will no doubt have a question or 2.

Which satnav program are you all using?

My youngest son is autistic and has just got into an autistic specialist new school that's about 20 miles away. We have about 4-5 different routes (2 starting via M25) to get us there. When the wife or myself take him, we use Google Maps on our Nexus 5's as the real time traffic info is a must. It suggests the quickest least congested route each time. It also reroutes mid route if there is traffic further along.

So is anyone using anything similar, with real time traffic updates? Or just install Maps app on my Android version, if I can? And get a 2nd offline system to use at other times?

I am going to order the unit in the next day or so as am off next week so hope to install it then.

Edit: just thought of another minor question. The big !Removed! microphone in the photo's, is that just for chatting in the car to passengers? If so, no need to have it? The unit itself has a built in mic for bluetooth doesn't it? Or have I got that wrong?

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Congrats on the car Jason, many happy miles! ;)

For the real time navi, I'd suggest using Google maps which is (/should be) built in the device...you can connect it to wifi hotspot from your phone, and you'll have the same thing as you do on the phone, only on bigger screen. Or, if that's an option for you, the device should support plugging in the 3G USB modem, and it'll have it's own internet connection and again, you can use Google maps as you do on your phone right now.

For offline navi, I'd suggest using Sygic on Android OS (for WinCE I preffer iGO). It has very good route planning algorithms (though it may be different in UK than here in Slovakia) and it never failed me. Also, at least for Apple iOS, they offer various discounts every now and then in the Appstore, they do it for the Google play too I think. And since you have basically an Android tablet/device as a car stereo, you have access to the Play store and you can easilly download the Sygic app from there. (or any other app of course)...

I didn't check if the A-Sure unit has it's own button for the GPS on itself, but if it does, you can program it in the settings to the app that you want to use as your primary GPS app. And simply just add the second app's icon on your homescreen and launch it from there.

And the microphone thing, the big one is only sort of "upgrade" for the built-in one for bluetooth calls. So if your built-in mic receptions seems poor, you can plug in this bigger one, route the cable to some place closer to you as you would speak and theoretically you should have better microphone reception. Personally I never tried this, the built-in is fine for the call every now and then, and also, there is no elegant way to route the bigger one to let it look like OEM thing :D

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I've been using iGo since installing mine (came as default) it's very responsive in comparison to my old tom tom that occasionally took 15 seconds to realise i have turned onto a new street! it's been okay so far, had a few issues with the config needing resetting if i removed a usb device from the stereo (game controller in this instance). I've only just realised that the app required the internet connection for live traffic and have been trying it out for the last 2/3 days, it seems to over exaggerate the time remaining on a busy route, i.e. it tells me to go x way around the motorway because this way i wont get home till xx:48 and then using my knowledge of how the traffic flows I end up getting home around xx:29 or so. Only other issue is the way the voice announcements scale in comparison to music volume, if I am listening to some too loud rock or such the voice comes in at a deafening level!

I think i will experiment with some of the options over the next week or so! is the tomtom app viable for one of these devices?

I ran the external microphone through the dash and into the drivers side column and have it just about the door now, unfortunately I think there maybe some lodged on part of the wire as it is giving a really bad quality outbound! so be careful of that if you route it through the car.

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Congrats on the car Jason, many happy miles! ;)

For the real time navi, I'd suggest using Google maps which is (/should be) built in the device...you can connect it to wifi hotspot from your phone, and you'll have the same thing as you do on the phone, only on bigger screen. Or, if that's an option for you, the device should support plugging in the 3G USB modem, and it'll have it's own internet connection and again, you can use Google maps as you do on your phone right now.

For offline navi, I'd suggest using Sygic on Android OS (for WinCE I preffer iGO). It has very good route planning algorithms (though it may be different in UK than here in Slovakia) and it never failed me. Also, at least for Apple iOS, they offer various discounts every now and then in the Appstore, they do it for the Google play too I think. And since you have basically an Android tablet/device as a car stereo, you have access to the Play store and you can easilly download the Sygic app from there. (or any other app of course)...

I didn't check if the A-Sure unit has it's own button for the GPS on itself, but if it does, you can program it in the settings to the app that you want to use as your primary GPS app. And simply just add the second app's icon on your homescreen and launch it from there.

And the microphone thing, the big one is only sort of "upgrade" for the built-in one for bluetooth calls. So if your built-in mic receptions seems poor, you can plug in this bigger one, route the cable to some place closer to you as you would speak and theoretically you should have better microphone reception. Personally I never tried this, the built-in is fine for the call every now and then, and also, there is no elegant way to route the bigger one to let it look like OEM thing :D

Thanks for the quick reply Scorpion, knew I could rely on you ;)

Luckily I only looked a 4 Focus' before I got mine 6 weeks ago. The 2nd car has been harder to find. Maybe I was too fussy? Or set my sights too high? Who knows?

Its hard enough looking for 1 car, let alone 2 at the same time!

Anyway got a 2006 (56) plate Honda Jazz 1.4 SE with 51k miles, 1 owner from new with full Honda dealer service history, worth it in the end!

So we will carry on using Google Maps just tether from our phones (Nexus 5's). Will look at the other app, Sygic, as well.

Don't think I will bother with that big mic. Am sure the standard one will do, or we can just shout louder!

Thanks again mate, will let you know how it goes.

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No problem, feel free to ask anytime! ;)

xand, I also needed to adjust my navi app volume, for the same reason actually :D ... I was on the "highway to hell" and then I heard "on the next intersection, turn right" ... that was a funny experience :D

I really don't know much about the external mic quality, for a quick test I would suggest to plug it into your PC and run a quick test call via skype or something like that...you will see if it's any good ;)

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The microphone was fine when i just had it running through the blanking plates and onto the wheel quality wise, pretty sure i've squished the cable or pulled it out a tiny bit in the routing!

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That's the one I will be getting, but in silver to match my trim.

I prefer the black version, but saw a Focus the other with a black one and silver trim, and thought silver and silver would look better.

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I have essentially that model but built for the MK2 instead

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That's the one I will be getting, but in silver to match my trim.

I prefer the black version, but saw a Focus the other with a black one and silver trim, and thought silver and silver would look better.

Yeah good point, it would look much better in silver, as it would also match my trim. Black might stand out too much.

EDIT: What's the sound quality like on these units, compared to the Ford 6000CD?

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Black with silver trim might not be the best combination...but maybe vice versa - black (dark) trim with silver stereo might look good :)

Speaking about the sound quality, with the standard Speakers I'd say it's the same, definitely not worse, maybe radio reception is a little bit worse - but in my case, the reception might have gotten worse generally in my area even with standard ford stereo, I didn't listen to it very often...

BTW, after few weeks with the Android unit, I decided that I still don't like Android, no matter on what device, and I'm getting something like this:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/WITSON-A8-Chipset-S100-platform-dvd-for-FORD-MONDEO-FOCUS-2008-S-MAX-with-Super-Fast/2039202170.html

Yes, it's based on WinCE platform, but according to few videos, it's really really fast, the interface looks quite friendly and the feature list is very similar even compared with Android...and yes, I'm doing the upgrade to Mk2.5 trim also - that's why I mentioned the black trim with silver unit - now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not really sure which color I ordered from Ford... :D ...I'm hoping for silver, but black might be also good - and if not, I'll just put some silver plastidip over it :)

Oh and yes, the Android unit will be for sale if anyone's interested...I'll post a offer in the for sale section soon (though feel free to PM me if you're interested) :)

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don't do it! WinCE is horrible! had it on a few devices over the years (non radios)

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It's already ordered...but I'm not worried at all about it...I had WinCE stereo before and I was happy with it, but I was convinced by Android's features and possibilities...only to find out, that I don't use most of them and things that I use on a daily basis are the same and some of them even bit worse than with the WinCE...don't worry, this time I did my research to find out almost everything I needed to know about this stereo and I think it will be the one I'm staying with.

This of course doesn't mean that all I said about Andoid stereos is bulls&@t and that Android stereos are bad, they are very good, packed with tons of features and possibilities to add even more, and they are great way to upgrade from the stock stereo, either 6000CD or the Sony one (Travelpilot, well, I wouldn't be so sure)...it's just that I went through about 4 different stereos already (and played with in store with few more) and even though there are many good ones, great ones actually, there are also some which don't have the design (either UI or physical) figured all the way through to fit my personal needs...

So I believe that for my day-to-day driving I'll be fine with the WinCE (and if not, there is a possibility to upgrade it to Android - 4.0.something).

I can talk about my reasons some more if anyone's interested, either here or via PMs, just ask :)

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Hey guys, so just a quick update, will do a better overview if you want, last Friday my new oval shaped stereo arrived, along with my new dashboard trim - it's the black/dark one - really didn't my research here, I ordered the first part that Microcat threw at me, and I didn't realize that it could be the black one. But, at least not that many people has this trim, and the chrome frame around the stereo adds a nice touch to it - it might not be that well visible on the photo, but it looks nice, it really is interesting color combination :)

post-58295-0-60273500-1432662822_thumb.j

This is the exact stereo that I bought:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/WITSON-A8-Chipset-S100-platform-dvd-for-FORD-MONDEO-FOCUS-2008-S-MAX-with-Super-Fast/2039202170.html

Oh and btw, about the system - from the first look, it has really good looking and user-friendly UI, the screen size is little smaller, but it's not that visible (6,2" compared to "standard" 7"), everything seems stable, I downloaded new maps for my iGO GPS software and put it in from my previous WinCE stereo - all good, maybe one thing that I could list as a con, is, that it can't seem to browse through playlists on the iPod/iPhone. It just plays the one that's currently selected. Which is not that big deal for me, since I usually have only one favourite playlist but it's a little bug that's there - unfortunately, literally noone does an overview of the iPod functionality on youtube videos.

And one more thing, but it might be a glitch in the wires' connection - button backlight isn't working when I turn on my headlights. I will look into this sometime soon, as I saw it once lit up already, but I don't know what caused it.

From my first impressions, I think I'm probably staying with this one for a long time - it has nice features - which I actually use, it's responsive, and it also goes with my "facelifting" project for my car :)

If you have any question, as usually, feel free to ask ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...

What are your impressions now after having it for a few weeks

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So far still good. I solved the backlight issue, it somehow can't control it through CANBUS on my car, so I had to wire it to the original wire harness, but that's no biggie, and the backlight then works well, only turning on when the headlights are on, etc... but there's no green backlight option, only red, blue and purple-ish, despite the manual saying that there is green colour option. But red is fine for now. Maybe a tweak saved for later.

Other issue I had was with reverse camera. From my previous stereo, I had to wire signal wire from reverse gear to the stereo unit, and then when I put in reverse, the camera screen went on.

However, with the new shape stereo (with CANBUS decoding box), this is controlled by CANBUS. I, not being aware of this, wired the reverse gear to the stereo again - because the stereo still has this connector too!!! - and so this resulted into errors with reverse light. After putting in neutral, or any other gear after reverse, the reverse light was still on and also the camera screen was still on. I didn't realise it was happening because of the bad wiring so I even changed the reverse switch on the gear box (which, if you're looking for the least accessible part of the car, is number 1, btw) :D ... so this was on me, not doing all the research I had to do...

But other than this, I have to say, no issues so far. I even found some possibility to change the skin of the UI, but I didn't go for it so far, since it's a paid skin pack and I'm not sure it's worth it...

Startup time is fine, definitely shorter than the Android stereo, just like the WinCE stereos have...I didn't look into iPod playlists issue, since it's not that big deal for me when I'm using only one playlist which I edit when I want to...USB folders are of course there, and you can easily switch between your music there...FM radio reception is fine, RDS is showing station names with no issues, though this may of course vary, depending on your area...GPS is working properly too, I had to wire in the antenna again though, because it has different connector than the previous stereo had, so this was one more job to do, but the reception is good and the GPS app is working well (I use iGO for WinCE)...3G connection works too with my Huawei E1750 USB modem, built in Opera mini is...just like any other Opera mini on any other device :D ... also BT for either music or calls is good too - I think the built-in mic is little better than the previous one - so far no one complained about the reception when talking through it - but again, this might be different unit to unit...

I think this covers most of what I tested in the few weeks I had it, if you'd like to know something specific, just ask ;)

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So far still good. I solved the backlight issue, it somehow can't control it through CANBUS on my car, so I had to wire it to the original wire harness, but that's no biggie, and the backlight then works well, only turning on when the headlights are on, etc... but there's no green backlight option, only red, blue and purple-ish, despite the manual saying that there is green colour option. But red is fine for now. Maybe a tweak saved for later.

Other issue I had was with reverse camera. From my previous stereo, I had to wire signal wire from reverse gear to the stereo unit, and then when I put in reverse, the camera screen went on.

However, with the new shape stereo (with CANBUS decoding box), this is controlled by CANBUS. I, not being aware of this, wired the reverse gear to the stereo again - because the stereo still has this connector too!!! - and so this resulted into errors with reverse light. After putting in neutral, or any other gear after reverse, the reverse light was still on and also the camera screen was still on. I didn't realise it was happening because of the bad wiring so I even changed the reverse switch on the gear box (which, if you're looking for the least accessible part of the car, is number 1, btw) :D ... so this was on me, not doing all the research I had to do...

But other than this, I have to say, no issues so far. I even found some possibility to change the skin of the UI, but I didn't go for it so far, since it's a paid skin pack and I'm not sure it's worth it...

Startup time is fine, definitely shorter than the Android stereo, just like the WinCE stereos have...I didn't look into iPod playlists issue, since it's not that big deal for me when I'm using only one playlist which I edit when I want to...USB folders are of course there, and you can easily switch between your music there...FM radio reception is fine, RDS is showing station names with no issues, though this may of course vary, depending on your area...GPS is working properly too, I had to wire in the antenna again though, because it has different connector than the previous stereo had, so this was one more job to do, but the reception is good and the GPS app is working well (I use iGO for WinCE)...3G connection works too with my Huawei E1750 USB modem, built in Opera mini is...just like any other Opera mini on any other device :D ... also BT for either music or calls is good too - I think the built-in mic is little better than the previous one - so far no one complained about the reception when talking through it - but again, this might be different unit to unit...

I think this covers most of what I tested in the few weeks I had it, if you'd like to know something specific, just ask ;)

We should have a wee chat sometime with regards to this, I'm planning on fully exploiting this thing. Mine by an large works fine although I have the same issue with the headlight function which makes me think these are all largely the same units!

But there is still room for improvement especially on the radio side. once my warranty runs out soon ill be taking a peek inside, I believe most of the good stuff isn't visible to us when using the Nav SD card trick and needs to be accessed via the PCB or directly linking to the EEPROM. At least on mine anyway.

id like to get a completely functional copy of CE (in English) on here and from there we aren't a million miles away from being able to use the HU as a OBD diagnostics display.

WP_20150412_016.jpg

I had to skin the silver console and trim, by the handbrake it was badly scratched and looked terible. I know the carbon effect is very much a marmite subject and looks nothing like carbon but its better than the alternative

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scorpionSX

I have this same HU ,but don't seem to be able to find the correct wire for lighting buttons when ignition switched on.

Also won't connect to 3gnet or explorer through my USB dongle.

As yours all seems good, if you can enlighten me in any of the above I would very much appreciate your Help and advice.

Everything else on the HU works fine .

Thanks

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@Sangster:

Button backlight is simple. On your stereo wires you have a wire going from CANBUS box to the main connector marked as "ILL+". You have to cut this wire and splice it together with the one on the original Ford wiring, the one that goes to pin #14 - check the scheme here:

http://www.jamessimpson.co.uk/ford-focus-mk2-5-2008-stereo-removal/

So in result, the wire will go straight from Ford wiring to the main stereo conncetor, bypassing the CANBUS box, which apparently can't handle backlight signals...for some reason. This way, you should have working button backlight the same way as with original stereo, that is, only when your headlight are ON. If you have DRLs, your buttons won't be lit up.

And as for the 3G, there's a list of supported modems I believe, but I can't find it anywhere. The Huawei E1750 works, that's for sure, it also works on the Android models as well. If you have a supported 3G modem, you might need to look into the 3G internet settings, where you maybe need to input correct APN settings. Then you should have it all working.

@Darren:

Definitely. This thing has lots to offer, but the chinese WinCE copy that's inside makes it kinda inaccessible...but I believe there's a difference between our units, maybe not that big, but I think that the UI on mine is set-up kind of as a platform, while yours seems to me is using the WinCE and then somehow loads up some sort of "radio player interface". But I don't know, that's just how it seems to me. Mostly because there's even option to upgrade mine to Android (4.0.3 I think)...but that's just a thought, so far I didn't look into this that much.

Oh and btw, that carbon trim is still pretty decent, the ones that are mostly silver color looks kinda ridicilous to me :D

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ScopionSX

Thanks for the reply and advice I will take HU out over weekend and splice wires together, don't have DRL's so hopefully buttons will work.

I will then have a look into the APN settings for Three 3G Dongle.

Let you know how it turns out, but thanks for your help.

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