2 DIN aftermarket installation on D3 (report)

[Stan]

There is a small report on my not easy way of fitting 2 din navigation into D3 HSE central top compartment.
HSE means that you have harman kardon audio with amplifier connected via optical MOST interface.
So there are only 2 options to have 2 din nav unit installed:
1. Replace original amplifier, put all new wires and replace original head unit with 2 din.
2. Leave original audio system and connect 2din unit via AUX in and put it in top central compartment (or replace 4WD screen/nav if it installed).
I’ve chosen option 2 as less invasive and much cheaper.

2 din unit was purchased from ali for 140aud including delivery.Pop up in 10 days. Model E-3001-2G. It has 2Gb RAM and 32 Gb ROM. It appears to have quite old 4 core cpu but surprisingly works very fast. Probably because of the old version of Android 4.4. But Waze, Google maps, OSMAND and MP3 player works fine so it fits my needs perfectly. Purchased this model mostly because of price and very thin form factor.
2din-front.JPG
2din-back.JPG



Mechanical fitting.
I went hard way. As my car does not equipped with 4WD screen I have to cut top console opening.
original-box.JPG
But I did not removed top box completely and left a small piece to create a frame to avoid having gap between screen and vent frame.
It takes me 3 hours to cut it. Console plastic is made of 3 layers - top rubbery one, foamy stuff and hard plastic.
So I cut the top 2 layers with paper knife and removed inner part (layers are glued, but can be separated using some force)
Then I used a torch to heat the knife blade and melt plastic centimeter by centimeter. You can use a dremel tool to do this job but I don't have one. Please pay attention that box is glued from behind so you have to crack it to break glue.

Electrical connections.
I have connected 2 din unit in parallel with original head unit. Bench tests gives me about 600mAh current draw with speaker disconnected from new 2din. After 20 mins of work new 2 din become quite warm. As it does not have built in cooling FAN I've decided to desolder amplifier IC(previously I have had overheating issues with chinese 2din unit).
As a result current dropped to 350-400mAh and heat is not a problem anymore. Unfortunately Line out have stopped working after a while. Don't know if it is desoldering process related or I have shorten something but finally have to wire output of audio processor chip to line out connector directly. During sleep android unit draws less than 0.01mAh.
To connect new 2 din have to remove some wires from the original connector, cut few and make joint on others. There are details:

Connector C1354 - large one
we need following:
pin 1 GND
pin 7 steering wheel buttons wire 2
pin 8 sleep
pin 11 Battery+
pin 12 Antenna power
pin 18 steering wheel buttons wire 1
c1354-1.JPG


c1354-2.JPG

connectors.JPG


Have to open connector and remove Antenna power, steering wire 1 and wire 2 from socket (moved down red piece and then used a needle to push latches to release wires).
Soldered joints to Battery +, GND and sleep. These wires have to remain connected to original head unit and be connected to new one

Connector C2115 - small one, AUX in connection
pin 1 - AUX in Left
pin 2 - AUX in Right
pin 3 - AUX GND

socket2.JPG

this one is simple - left 4cm of cable and cut the rest.
Soldered new interconnection cable.

If you decided to do something similar do all electrical stuff with disconnected car battery and make good isolation for all joints. Personally I soldered every single connection and put a heatshrink on top.

These connections were made:
Wire__________2din unit
Battery +__________Battery +
GND__________GND
Ant power__________Ant power
sleep__________ACC
steering wire 1__________GND
steering wire 2__________KEY1

AUX in Left__________Line Out Left
AUX in Right__________Line Out Right
AUX GND__________Line Out GND

rev camera Signal__________Cam In
rev camera GND__________Cam GND
rev camera Power__________BACK

Also have to cut off the original antenna RF connector and attach standard one. I have used PP2044 from JayCar.

All wired, checked and ready to go. Battery connected and....it works but there is a small issue. Unit works when car is off and it shuts down when the car is started. WTF??? Triple checked all connections - all were good. Then I've checked voltage on sleep wire and found that signal is inverted - it is Low when car is started and High when you remove key from ignition.
It was late so I took a couple of beers and went to sleep in hope to finish this project next day.
Next morning I checked electrical diagrams for D3 but was not completely convinced If I can use simple transistor-based inverter connected directly to enable wire so it won't burn anything. So I came up with a simple isolated inverter circuit.
You need only 3 elements to assemble it - 2 resistors: 1.1kOhm + 4.7kOhm and optocoupler 4N25
invertor.JPG
In this way input enable pin is completely isolated from output so it is safe to use it for my needs.

Inverter soldered, connected and ta-da. Now 2din unit works as expected. It turns on and off at the same time as the original head unit does.
Now it is time for reversing camera.
I've put wire between roof and roof lining. It takes some time to make it properly. I've put cable through left rubber corrugated pipe between roof and rear door. Reverse camera power were taken from rear left light lamp in box where all tools located (in 7 seater).
(this line also connected to BACK input line of the unit and it trigger reverse camera viewer application)
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20190808_135613.jpg
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Finished product
20190806_185317.jpg
20190806_185332.jpg

Hope someone finds this report handy.

PS. Unfortunately wasn't able to locate easily accessible dimming wire and have to left ILL input disconnected. So need to adjust screen brightness manually atm. I know it exists in climate control console and in hazard light button panel but have had no time to look closely.

[DiscoDB]

That is a very impressive install. Thanks for posting.

[101RRS]

Sorry - a little confused - so now you still have an original radio where it always was and a second radio up in the original cubby hole?

[Stan]

Sorry - a little confused - so now you still have an original radio where it always was and a second radio up in the original cubby hole?

yes, but only volume knob is used from original unit

[Ruper]

So does this also retain the use of the original radio functions when those functions are selected from original radio, such as the CD player?

I assume in your setup the OEM radio would stay on AUX to provide the input for the 2 DIN.

[MJB]

Thanks for the excellent and detailed post! D

Did anyone ever figure out if there was an easy way to provide a high or 12v signal to aftermarket head units for dimming when the headlights are on in the LR3?

I'm about to embark on replacing the factory non amplified head unit in my LR3 with a double din android unit.......

[DiscoDB]

You just use a mini fuse tap on one of the side lamp fuses at the central junction box behind the glove box.

[MJB]

You just use a mini fuse tap on one of the side lamp fuses at the central junction box behind the glove box.

Thanks, I was thinking along those lines also.

[DiscoDB]

You can also get the reverse signal, permanent 12v, and acc. 12v the same way. Make sure you don’t get the low profile mini fuse tap. Needs to be the standard profile mini fuse tap.