steering wheel buttons resistive or digital??

[moiloon]

hi wonder if anyone can help me i need to install a joycon device with my nexus 7 installed in my car, to regain my steering wheel button functionallity to work with the tablet, but there is 2 types of joycon, one for digital button, and one for resistive, my car is a 06 octavia estate l&k, and im uncertain of which mine is

tried looking in etka and elsawin before posting for help but couldnt locate the info i require

hope someone can enlighten me

 

and attached a pic of the tablet in car in case anyone is interested to see how it looks

using timurs rom for marshmallow which is specifically for fixed dash installs ie otg and charge at same time, goes into deep sleep when ignition off and loses about 2% battery overnight, and starts charging when ignition on, monkeyboard for dab radio radio, usb digital tv tuner, 12 port usb hub, rear reverse cam via usb easycap device and rca camera, and dashcam via an android usb headunit dvr camera and a playstore app which background records displays time stam,gps,and battery info on recorded files, and audio routed via the aux -in on the parrot mki9100 and i can use the volume control on the parrot to control the tablets volume (if i didnt have parrot id have needed an amp to power my speakers, and something to be able to turn up volume ect without the need to touch the screen to do it)

homescreen made by me in photoshop, and the buttons are invisible shortcuts made in app desktop visualizer, and my launcher is nova launcher

overall im very happy with how the functionallity is, and was worth the time and effort for sure

but the final piece is regain my steering wheel buttons 

 

Edited 10 April, 2017 by moiloon

[TobyMTDI]

Hi,

 

I have some experience in this area, as I did a low budget Android HU installation in my car a while ago. The steering wheel buttons communicate with the rest of the car via the CAN bus, this might be what you mean by digital? 

 

When I installed my HU I created a small PCB that sits on top of an Arduino Pro Micro and decodes the CAN bus messages. I still have a few bare PCBs left over as I accidentally ordered 10, and I think I had to buy the majority of the SMD components in packs of 10 as well so there's still some of those left too. If you're interested, I could order the rest of the parts and make a board up for you for the price of the components (including the Arduino)? Cost would be about £20 all in. When I first created the decoder I wrote some firmware for it which converts the steering wheel messages to HID keyboard equivalents (so it works for vol +, vol -, mute, skip forward and skip back. Providing that I can find the code, you'd just need to solder 12V, GND, CANH and CANL to the board then plug it into the USB OTG port on your tablet, and you'd be good to go. The wiring is easy to figure out by looking at a pinout for your original HU - although when you cut the CAN bus wires, make sure you keep them the same length as they're a twisted pair. The board is only about the size of a pack of chewing gum (48 x 18mm) so should fit easily behind your tablet. 

 

I'm in my final year of University and have exams/coursework for the next couple of months, but I could probably sort a board out for you in June if you'd be interested?

 

Cheers,

Toby

[TobyMTDI]

Just had a look at the JoyCon thing you mentioned in the first post - it looks like it does almost exactly the same thing that my board does, but mine's much cheaper and much smaller 

[moiloon]

Which one did you buy mate?

and what year octavia?

 

sorry wasnt reading properly ,and just answered your last post,

and just now read you initial reply

 

could i ask if you could/would  make me a board, which would be fantastic i may add, could i not just connect the board to the relevant wiring for CANH and CANL  on the iso plug for original headunit? instead of cutting into wiring ? as the 12v and ground i could get from elswhere

 

 

thanks for your informative reply

 

Edited 18 April, 2017 by moiloon

[TobyMTDI]

No worries, you can use any CANH/L connection as long as it's on the right bus - connecting to the existing quadlock is ideal. It's what I've done, and it's also where I get my 12V and GND from. You could even get a quadlock extender and tap into that if you wanted, but as they seem to be about £15 I just hardwired mine to the back of the connector. For the board I could quite easily change which steering wheel buttons do what, currently I have them assigned as you'd expect (>>, <<, vol +, vol -, mute) but that leaves the two arrows doing nothing. It would be no hassle to make them simulate any keyboard key, play/pause and stop for example. 

 

How do you find the monkeyboard for DAB? I've considered putting something similar in but wasn't sure if it'd be worth the cost. Also how have you mounted your reversing camera?

 

I'll PM you re. making a board.

[moiloon]

wow thanks mate, the way you suggest with the buttons is exactly what id like, and the play/pause with the spares would be perfect mate

well the monkeyboard is exceptional mate,

I first tried to just use an sdr dongle for fm/dab, and all i can say is that i wasted money 3 times on 3 different manufacturers dongles, terrible noise/hiss on the move, pretty much unusable on the move to my cars fm antenna, now i was sceptical with the price of the monkeyboard as its reasonably pricey, but i invested in it and also a dab roof mount antenna from dabonwheels the dra-6001 and dab cable, and reception with this combination on fm and dab is perfect

also if you look on the monkeyboard site the shcematics are there and the firmware for programming it, info to make the board yourself, as your obviously a clever fellow, where im not versed in electronic jiggery pokery lol and soldering tiny smd stuff

my reverse camera is wired for power from the boot couetesy light via a relay from reverse light, as only going straight from reverse light i only had picture when car was not  running due to PWM , and then video line goes to an easycap usb device into my hub in glove box and easycap viewer on the nexus 7, but i also used a relay on the 5v power of the eacycap device so the device is only engaged when reverse is, without the relay easycap device was always on, and was getting a tad warm, now it works flawlessly evertime revese engaged bout one second till image on the nexus, and when reverse disengage the easycap viewer app closes

got the 1st picture of getting power from boot courtesy light here on forum, second pic from a a carpc forum so used a relay in glove box on the easycap device usb extension wire, and 3rd picture is my next part to get my front and rear cameras to work in conjunction, one off one on so to speak, had todo the front and back this way as my rear camera normal rca rear cam, but my front is a usb android head unit dvr camera, just didnt want to use a poor quality camera on the front and the usb one is 720 resolution, number plates people ect ect can be clearly seen, unlike the reverse camera which high detail isnt really needed

 as for the mounting of the rear camera i just bought a one for a octavia that replaces one of the number plate lights, it is off centre due to this, but not a real issue as i still predominantly use my mirrors and just glance now and again at camera image mainly once lined up and for judging the final distance with the parking lines

Edited 19 April, 2017 by moiloon

[TobyMTDI]

Managed to get the SMD components soldered onto a board today. Here's the board next to a pen for size:

 

 

I've tested the board in my car and it all works okay. I've soldered some jumper cables onto CANH and CANL so I could test it, it's up to you whether you use them or not. 12V and GND are not needed as you don't need the board to be on before the tablet, so you can just power it through USB. The fifth output is for simulating the 12V ignition wire, but that's not connected up (hence the missing transistor just above it) as I made a mistake in the schematic. The rest of the board isn't affected by that. 

 

Key mapping is as follows:

 

Vol + -> Vol +

Vol - -> Vol -

Mute -> Mute

>> -> Next

<< -> Previous

Up Arrow -> Play/Pause

Down Arrow -> F2

MFSW lights -> F3

 

I use the SW lights button to toggle a screen filter, as my HU is far too bright at night even on the dimmest setting. I just use Screen Filter for that, combined with External Keyboard Helper to trigger the filter when I press the button.

 

 

Thanks for the info on the reversing camera etc, I might well add one at some point. 

[moiloon]

wow that is fantastic work mate, wish i had your skills

this will be the icing on the cake for my install

i very much appreciate you making this, hope i can one day return the favour

send me your paypal mate via pm