7" Android tablet install

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Originally Posted by rangerdanger

how did you get the dash mounted switch to work? Is it a momentary switch or a latched switch?

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I just extended the two power button wires from the standard Wits power button to a new momentary button on the dash - as the standard Wits button is no longer accessible while in the dash. Pressing the dash button for 3secs is identical to holding the Wits power button for 3secs for on/off purposes.

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Originally Posted by rangerdanger

Regarding connecting via the clarion CBus changer cable, the more I research it, the more it looks like it won't work, as the head unit needs to "sense" the presence of the CD changer playing the CD before it will accept the signal.

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I'm not sure but I think some just let the cd changer play a cd indefinitely so the head unit still senses a cd playing - but then bypass the audio out to an aux unit and the head unit knows nothing is wrong. Obvious downside is your cd unit will continue to wear.

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Originally Posted by rangerdanger

My aim would be to hard wire this in on a power circuit so the tablet fires up whenever the key is in position 1, or maybe when the head unit is turned on.

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I've given this a bit more thought and come up with a more elegant way to make the unit turn on and off I think. I've bought an adjustable 12v timer switch/relay ($23+p) that will close the 'power button' circuit for 3 seconds when I turn the igntion to 'acc' or start - this should make it turn on. I'll leave the dash mounted switch however as it's still going to be useful for turning the screen to sleep/wake mode.

Power off will still require user intervention as android doesn't appear to support turning itself off when not on charge etc. So there's a few free apps in the android market that let the unit turn off with a single click - as apposed to the power button being held, confirming that you really want to shut down, then an ok screen to be really really sure. All the shutdown apps require 'root' (master/administrator) access to the device which requires a few small steps to achieve on most devices.

Junosi, would you post some daylight pix so we can see how it looks in the dash, please?

Sure, although the other ones were done in daylight also, might look a bit dark as the camera is compensating for how bright the Wits is (it's bright on its high setting and on it's dim setting its perfect for night). Here's some more, taken from the back seat with the doors and sunroof shut at about 4:30pm today.

The last photo shows a new app I've been playing with called 'Torque', it's a very configurable OBD app that can show whatever OBD info you like - in either dial form, graphs, history, logs etc etc - looks very in depth. It communicates with a bluetooth ODB dongle that is switched on/off with ignition. Currently using the free version of Torque which has an apple iPad advert on it - kind of ironic when I'm viewing it on an Android tablet ...

ps the small hole to the right of the tablet is part of the original dash, little annoying that's it there but that's life

Thanks. Maybe turn the screen off and just come out a little from that of the third pic.

It's hard to see the surround of the screen and how it looks.

Wait. I've edited one of the pics:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...011/03/516.jpg

Here's another one, screen off.

High res version available here Wits a81 in P38 dash | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

hmmmm very tempting project to try.

Ron, maybe you could find a tablet which about fits that trim piece?

I suspect the later model dash with the factory sat nav cavity would be an easier fit. My install is slightly resessed with the Wits bezel making a seal from behind which made securing it much easier. If I'd made it flush securing would be a problem and more of the dash would of been butchered. The Wits is about as small as it gets in the 7" field, it has a very small bezel, if it were much larger then fitting would be more difficult. As I said in my original post - I'm not sure I'd really recommend a Wits, there's already better tablets around - Nook colour, Samsung galaxy, dell streak etc. and there will be a plethora of new ones on the market this year.

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Originally Posted by jsp

hmmmm very tempting project to try.

Ron, maybe you could find a tablet which about fits that trim piece?

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I was thinking the same thing, John.