[ Carputa Install v2 ]
Shopping List
* EBay "Vw Gti 2006 Car Radio Dash Kit & Install Stereo Harness' kit" - $32
* The Infill G4 - Ummm Well more than my girlfriends’s first car. :o
Intro
I realised after a few near misses on the road that I had to move my screen up
higher so I could see the road while looking at the GPS. So Carputa v2 began.
Initially I thought this process would involve taking out my current stereo, moulding the Lilliput touch screen into the dash kit I got from eBay,
making some sort of
sun shield to reduce the terrible glair on the Lilliput screen, install a 4 channel
AMP, and then install crossovers for the doors as the stock stereo couldn't
be used.
A local car audio shop showed me the Infill G4 after having a look at my current
setup. He did say it would be $4000 but would be a kick arse system.
After a lot of careful
consideration I finally took the plunge and got myself the
Infill G4 from Maxice.
When I took it out of the box the first thing I noticed was the screen was small.
It is amazing how much 0.5 of an inch makes.
I got a face plate, wiring harness, and antenna cable from good ol eBay specific
for my car. The Infill fit right in without a problem.
Here is the G4 and my stock stereo side by side. I was originally concerned about
the depth of the unit raised by a post I was on the web.
It is about the same size as my existing head unit however there are big cables and a fan on the back so a bit
of extra clearance is still needed.
I wanted to have the screen flush with the bezel however I am unable to push it back
any further unless I hack some air ducts which I’m not about to do..
Wiring
Here is the wiring plug from the G4 all soldered to the VW stereo harness. I am a
bit concerned when I saw the size of the power cable. However the fuse is 15 amp
so it shouldn’t be a problem connecting it to the adapters power cable which is about
half its size.
Notice that I have put a extra power plug on the end. This is if i need to take
out the unit from my car and plug it into mains power. It wouldn’t power up from
a 230w computer ATX power supply but my 300w worked fine.
There was a slight problem with the eBay harness. The labelled accessories wire was
in fact always constant. This was no big issue as I already have a ACC wire from
my Sub installation.
Here is the cable from my cigarette lighter again.
I'm using the brown one for ACC and the little grey one for ILL (12v when my head
lights are on. This will dull the screen a little for night time driving)
There was another problem which I came across earlier in my travels. My stock amplifier in my car does not have an accessory
wire. There is no way to turn it on or off.
I came to the conclusion that it must turn on via the CAN bus that runs though my
car and is connected to the AMP OR via supplying a 6v current though the speaker
wire to activate the amp. That is what you had to do in previous models (Connecting your soundcard to a Volkswagen Monsoon Amp)
however this did not seem to work for my 2006 GTI.
I finally came to the conclusion that I would have to remove the AMP and wire in
4 crossovers for the 10 speakers.
I plugged in the G4 for the first time for a quick check; I was ecstatic when I heard
sound from my speakers. I
just couldn’t believe it was that easy all along. The amp
must if BOTH the left and right side has signal before turning on.
Installed
Here is the unit installed. Doesn’t look to shabby. Not keen on the eBay bracket but it doesn’t bother me for now. I may choose to sand, paint and putty up but not in
the near future.
Here are some screens with it running. They are bad pictures, the light reflection
is from the camera flash.. The screen is beautiful and clear in the day light. (Wish
I could have said that for my Lilliput touch screen) In the night it is way too bright..
I end up driving with sunnies on at 1am. Time for a dark skin in Centrafuse I think.
I have installed Centrafuse from Flux Media because I was not keen on
the default software that came with it.
Ratings (out of 10)
* Radio reception - 9/10
* Screen glair in daylight - 9/10
* Power consumption - 8/10 (Ran for 45 mins with car off. battrey went down to 11.89v)
* GPS - 10/10 (Sirf3)
* Supplied software - 4/10 (Functional but not very seamless. I like Street Deck better)
* Build quality - 10/10
* Box the unit came in - 11/10 (bit overkill. made me thing I was paying for the box
:)
* Grin on my face - 10/10
Update
These units have come down in price.. A LOT.
Oh well.. I knew I should have waited.
You can grab them in some stores around oz or grab it online for $2200 US at the mp3car store
I have also decided to ditch Centrafuse in favour of Streetdeck. Reason behind this is I love the gesturing. Main use is to change to the next track while driving is a no brainer. Also they have integrated it fully with the G4 as it is their recommended platform for the software.
The mapping is still not there for Australia however I have made a plug-in for Streetdeck so I can have my destinator in there. Keep an open eye. I think my plug-in will be up on this site in the near future.
