My iPad infotainment Headunit

[Qnapper]

I love my 3D printer - made loads of stuff and learning a new subject in old age..........

 

[roadtripper]

I really want one but not sure I have the space with all the other tech already on the shelves in the house, so far relying on beer favours with friends that have them.

Might be tempted to jump straight to the resin printers as it's mostly small enclosure stuff I'd be doing.

 

[n10n]

Ah - I see

I looked at the apple app store and just assuuuuuuumed. :0

On a closer look I don't think it's the same app... different developer and different visuals. I think iOS developer is just winging on the popularity of the Android version and using similar name / logo.

 

[Steve1978]

Ok so a bit of an update. Stripped away the old head unit wiring and a lot of the previous auto electricians work, he wired the revering camera, tv and rear lights in.

So I took the iso block and took a feed from the ignition live. I split this in to two 12 sockets. 1 was plugged in to a cheap 12v amp which had amazing Amazon reviews, the other I plugged in a 4 way usb plug. I plugged this in to the iPad and a dash usb socket that used to get its feed from the head unit.

I used some hot glue to hold the cables and some spark tape where needed.

Problems I came up against were that the 3.5mm headphone cable is huge, with it on the front doesnt go back on. However I’ve just bought a lightning to lightning and 3.5mm splitter. That should do the trick. So further update coming.

However test fit went really well and hopefully the next update might be the last!

 

[osman]

how is this project going? any updates?

 

[Steve1978]

Yeah it’s pretty much complete. I went back to the drawing board with the iPad and moved to an iPad mini 6 cellular the non cellular doesnt have a gps chip so it won’t do any maps. The iPad mini 6 is a completely different shape so I needed to go completely back to the drawing board but I’m glad I did.

Mini 6 doesn’t have a jack so I needed to use a Bluetooth receiver. If I was going to start over I would probably look for an alternative solution, maybe a seperate screen with CarPlay, however… it’s done!

I will upload a pic when it’s daylight!

 

[osman]

Yeah it’s pretty much complete. I went back to the drawing board with the iPad and moved to an iPad mini 6 cellular the non cellular doesnt have a gps chip so it won’t do any maps. The iPad mini 6 is a completely different shape so I needed to go completely back to the drawing board but I’m glad I did.

Mini 6 doesn’t have a jack so I needed to use a Bluetooth receiver. If I was going to start over I would probably look for an alternative solution, maybe a seperate screen with CarPlay, however… it’s done!

I will upload a pic when it’s daylight!

it is a great idea I've been toying with the concept myself whilst optimistically anticipating Apple themselves or a third party coming up with a similar solution.. why we have such a total shite for choice for head units is beyond my understanding. Kenwood and Alpine.. really ? that's it ? staggering !

 

[Steve1978]

Agreed. That’s why I took things in to my own hands . For everything up to iPad mini 5 my solution worked great. But being a fiddler that I am I went for the 6! Start from scratch!

 

[Texxaco]

so a small update today, it takes so long to design and print that the updates move slowly! I carried out a test fit this evening of my "draft" part. turns out its a little bit tofast, only a couple of mm at most, however I shaved 6mm off the front, made a few additional ones, one for the internal speakers and one for the volume as the are being pressed when i am slotting the ipad in.

I did a test print v2 but the support structure was so strong i couldn't separate it from the draft print. i needed to snip a small plastic piece off the van as it was snagging on the top of the ipad, see in the pic, top dead center. however, it went in, it looked good. just a little bit too fat! so lets see what the next version brings.

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Love a bit of Mat Armstrong on YouTube

 

[t6blo]

This is a great project.

I wish that I could buy a device that enables me to have wired/wireless Apple CarPlay:

• Touch screen
• Double DIN sized screen
• powered by the van
• no radio (don’t listen to it)
• no cd (don’t use them)
• no dab (don’t listen to it)
• no satnav (always use waze)
• make/receive calls through Van mic/speakers/steering wheel
• has inbuilt gps chip
• has inbuilt 4/5G
• works with steering wheel controls for volume/track selection
• displays reversing camera
• displays reversing sensors
• has RCA / Optical SPDIF outputs

Basically an integrated dumb CarPlay pass thru - your iPad idea fulfills some of the above but not all unfortunately

 

[dcpen43]

Yeah it’s pretty much complete. I went back to the drawing board with the iPad and moved to an iPad mini 6 cellular the non cellular doesnt have a gps chip so it won’t do any maps. The iPad mini 6 is a completely different shape so I needed to go completely back to the drawing board but I’m glad I did.

Mini 6 doesn’t have a jack so I needed to use a Bluetooth receiver. If I was going to start over I would probably look for an alternative solution, maybe a seperate screen with CarPlay, however… it’s done!

I will upload a pic when it’s daylight!

i use a Garmin GPS bluetooth with my non-cellular IPAD for maps, albeit with the ipad suction mounted. You have done a great job

 

[Steve1978]

Thanks. It’s been a dead interesting project and I’ve learnt loads. Especially around using fusion 3D and how to 3D print. I have little bits of plastic everywhere and I reckon I’ve printed off about 60 sets, all needing a small tweak here and there.

Regarding your dumb head unit, yes I agree totally. I have seen some Chinese units that are basically an apple car play screen. This would have been the easiest solution with an aux cable to a cheap head unit! I’m at home on Wednesday so hopefully screw it all in!