Jenninaj, I actually have a friend at work who has done a couple of Raspberry Pi projects. I was talking to him about this mod and he had what sounded like a great idea. He suggested having the display automatically switch over to the rear view camera when putting the car in reverse. Maybe hooking into the backup lights to the Raspberry Pi and use the Raspberry Pi to control the HDMI switch. The one challenge that might be there is if the input to the HDMI switch is a simple toggle and there might not be a way for the Raspberry Pi to know how many toggles to get to the rear view camera. Anyways, just a thought.

 

I thought about this as I was planning the system. Two things dissuaded me from it:

1. the HDMI switch I have only cycles through the inputs. I looked for one with direct selection but I couldn’t find one that also stripped audio
2. These cars are a total PITA for routing wires so I wanted to keep the fishing around to a mininum

Triggering the pi is relatively trivial (I have another potential update to this project). If the sources could be directly selected I would install a 3- or 4-position rotary switch. If you find such an HDMI switch please let me know!

 

I can appreciate keeping it simple. But this would be very nice to have as an option though.

A few different ideas/options. I don't know how feasible these are. I'm sure you will know.

A) I did find a 4 port switch with audio extractor and a RS232 port. I believe the RS232 port should allow it to be controlled by another device. It is a Orei HDY-401A. It is on e-bay for $58.
B) Bring the 4 port LED indicators as input to the Pi so it knows which is the currently selected port. Then use the Pi to cycle through the ports.
C) There are several options which either have direct selection on board or an RS232 port but no audio extractor. Get a separate audio extractor and put it behind the switch.
D) Use a 2 port switch (with audio extractor) behind (CORRECTION) the 4 port switch. The 2 port switch would trigger off the backup light and always show the backup camera when in reverse and everything else when not. The Pi would control the 2 port switch and the 4 port would be like it is right now minus the backup camera. It would possibly mean you could not manually switch to the backup camera. Which may be OK for most?

EDIT
(I need to slow down a bit...too many typos

 

Lots of work and effort here...What exactly does it accomplish? You wanted this reversible...I get that, but why make it work with the crappy factory nav? Can you let the screen operate on it's own without the video input from the Volvo navigation? Also, all this work and you still have to switch inputs just to make a back up cam work? If doesnt come on automatically? the size and location of the factory monitor is the huge issue for me, just because it's higher resolution, its still to far away and too small to make it effective...Thats why I decided to not even use the factory screen location. all the switching seems to make this much more complicated to operate to do simple things

Good luck to all who tackle this project! As James Bond once said... "Everybody needs a hobby...!"

 

Personally, for me, I don't mind the pop up screen, it is a bit James Bond...

But the factory sat nav is very limited and the screen is not so good looking any more. But i did not want to mess up the interior with my phone on a caddy somewhere, stuffed in an air vent or similar, so this is the perfect solution for what I was looking for.

You need to be able to keep access to the original sat nav to be able to raise and lower the screen, just in case it forgets its setting, even if you do the switch off of the car with the screen up and it remember to raise the screen the next time you start the car, if you disconnect the battery, it can loose that setting, so providing an HDMI interface for the old system so that you can still see it is purely for backup.

Replacing the old looking screen with a new version, in the same pop up is perfect for me, higher resolution and brighter solves my two complaints about the old screen. And having a standard HDMI input for cameras, Apple Car Play etc is exactly what has always been missing for me.

I don't mind the manual switching between HDMI inputs, most of the time it's gonna be sat on the Apple CarPlay input, but I reckon there's more to come, it's a problem that can be solved, and like you said, 'We needs them hobbies'

 

These are all good suggestions. I would have to make the case substantially larger in order to accommodate these (almost certainly...but could be wrong). The trouble here is that the case is a pretty tight fit under the footwell in order to not obscure the fan flow and/or avoid getting kicked by passengers. Locating the box elsewhere is an option but all the options I could think of would be unsightly (e.g. on the shelf behind the seats) or a PITA (e.g. in the trunk and having to run a million wires around the various corners and blind alleys).

If you manage to get your solutions working please share with us!

 

I'll bite.

What does it accomplish:

1. Reversible (as you noted)
2. Better screen resolution
3. Access to multiple inputs
4. CarPlay and/or iphone integration

Madgadget has covered some reasons why I wanted to keep the undoubtedly crappy sat nav. A couple of other points:

1. To keep the car as 'stock' as possible. Talking with AM dealers they note that people like stock in these cars and mods are generally a two-edged thing. Hence why the original functionality and screen housing was a goal for me, not just being able to reverse the mod.
2. I was out in the desert about 6 months ago and was getting zero reception on my phone. Unlabeled roads, no paper map (remember those?!!), no gas stations, and a little lost. I actually fired up the sat nav and it was up to date enough to get me back to cellphone reception near town. Admittedly an edge case, but a very welcome outcome for yours truly.

I'm looking to make the backup camera automatic but for this first iteration the functionality is good enough for me...and that's who this project was aimed at. I find the new screen very usable, especially with carplay.

And yes, this was a hobby project. I figured I'd post here in case it case others the inspiration to improve upon it or indeed find an entirely different solution. Again, if someone finds a totally different and superior solution I can back this entire mod out and put something else in.

 

I wasn't suggesting doing all of them of course. Just anything to get the reverse to auto switch to the backup camera. Option B requires no additional components, but not sure if using the Pi to cycle through the ports is ideal. Using a direct selection type solutions seems like it would be better. If I decide to give this a go, I would at least attempt one of these options. I'll study the document this weekend. Thanks again!

 

For me, I'm looking for a solution that upgrades the factory screen, gives you carplay/android auto and a backup camera. Something that accomplishes this and looks as factory as possible. No, it is not perfect. If you want close to perfect, you probably going to have to get a newer car. And I don't care for mounting a tablet in front of the ski slope. I know some don't mind/like that option. To each his own. Plus I like doing projects like this.

 

Here is version 0.6 of the how-to. This includes all the double-checked Hirose components for making up the key wiring harness, including images of the components and how they are assembled:

<link removed - please see new link later in the thread>

Enjoy!

 

For years I have been looking to 'replace' the original volvo sat nav, I say replace, but in reality, as Jenninaj said, dealers, buyers etc all prefer stock cars and the vast majority of in car entertainment mods I have found all require varying degrees of destructive change and they are questionable in terms of what you get at the end, for example, at just around $1200 ish, you can get a module that interfaces into the existing sat nav system to give you the video feeds in for car play etc, but on the original screen, which is dim, low res and not that clear.

It really needed HDMI and the actual original screen needed to go, I could see that, but just could not see 'how' to do that without risking damaging the car's electronics and we known how much Aston charge for simple things, let alone a toasted sat nav.

When I came across this thread, I read it, then read it some more, analysed his pictures and realised that Jenninaj had created, what I thought would be the holy grail, keeping the car as is, replacing the poor screen but keeping it aesthetically looking the same but better and the icing on the cake, getting Apple CarPlay into the car. The HDMI switching is the same on the expensive so called commercial offerings, but this solution seemed to be far more palatable and no where near the extortionate cost of other similar ideas, plus it's fully modular, what more could you do to like it

His solution really captures the key issues I have had for years and now that he has thankfully taken considerable time to document in great detail, everything he did, including the small but vital mods and even the case designs etc I will be eternally grateful.

I am just pulling all the parts together to do this build, it's tricky in a few places, but with this brilliant guide, I feel totally happy to pull the Vantage apart and get my iPhone properly integrated.

Thank goodness you resurrected your thread Jenninaj, You are a credit to the 6speedonline community and techy piston heads around the world. Bravo !!!!

 

I get the idea to upgrade...I've upgraded many of rides, torn apart a Porsche, e.t.c... but with the Aston, the biggest problem with today's desired upgrades is location, size, orientation, plus wanting it reversible...

I looked at allot of options and simplicity, mainly because my Aston is just a weekend car and I like driving it...I don't need complex infotainment, but still want convenience... for navigation, a vertical aspect works best and for cameras, a horizontal aspect is better. smartphones natural aspect is also vertical except when viewing videos...

decided that the Aston screen was always going to be a compromise... in fact I've never used it.

I opted for a horizontal aspect in a rear view mirror screen for camera feeds that is smaller but much closer to the eye... in fact Aston is coming out with video rear view mirror monitor... mounted in factory location with original mount, camera feeds are controlled by remote in door pocket. I mount my phone vertically on console, easy, to control, and use Alexa for voice control of music streaming, navigation on phone and controls my smart house garage door, e.t.c......

we all need hobbies!

 

All,

It seems that the document wasn't being shared from google drive - apologies. Here's a new link to the 0.6 version of the document:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rR...By33Fk2kqc_umX

 

This thread has become an interesting display of folks defending their opinions and choices and preferences. This isn't really helpful IMO - perhaps someone would like to set up a separate thread just for that? Please go ahead as I won't be joining it.

Whether you use a new nav screen, a smartphone, a new rearview mirror, the old mirror, or a man carrying a red flag, I don't care/mind and these are all your choice(s).

This thread was not intended to solicit praise or negative criticism. I see that there are commercial solutions to going some or all of the way towards the functionality I wanted and have in this current project. I wanted to see if I could do something myself, exactly how I wanted it, whilst having fun with my car. Since I'd seen people post about mounting small, self-contained, sat navs and other solutions to the original screen I thought folks might find another approach welcome and/or perhaps interesting. I also recognize that my solution isn't perfect, and I thought that perhaps others could offer constructive approaches to improving it (as some have, either privately or publicly in the thread). Hence, I thought I'd create this thread.

If you don't think this mod is useful please just move along to another thread. If you have something to offer in terms of improvements please comment. If you want to try this or similar and would like help please comment and I'll do my best to help.

Thank you <tips hat>

 

So it looks like some models don't have the external 3.5 mm aux source that my car possesses. One solution is the Dension 500, which looks to retail around $500 but used ones can be around $150 on ebay. I'll post any other solutions I can find.