T-Style Android Head Unit first impressions - 2016+ model (1 Viewer)

[greynolds]

My delivery just arrived, so the plan is to spend some time over the weekend getting it installed. I may get some of these questions answered by watching the EC Offroad videos again, but I wanted to provide some pictures of the back of the unit and the cables that are included, as I didn't see those in the first few posts.

Just quickly mocking things up, I came up with the following questions, most of which can probably be figured out with a bit of trial and error, but answers would be awesome. I'll try to remember to take notes on what goes to what, but no promises as it's tough to work on these things AND take notes and pictures at the same time.

1. For the main harness:
   1. There's a purple and red wire terminated with a quick release connector (shown in the upper right in the photo below) - does this get connected to anything?
   2. One of the video connectors is labeled "astern Video Output" - am I correct in assuming this goes to the input labeled "Camera" on the AV In harness?
   3. One of the video connectors is labeled "360 Video Output" - am I correct in assuming this goes to the input labeled "S Cam In" on the AV In harness?
   4. There's another mystery connector similar to the purple and read one for item 1 above that I noticed after I took the photo and can't be seen in the photo. There doesn't appear to be a place to plug this in, so I'm guessing it will go unused.
2. For the High Config Amp harness:
   1. Does this get used? I suspect the answer will be obvious when I go to hook it up as there's another grey connector on the main harness that plugs into the same place on the head unit, but with a different connector on the car end. I'm assuming I'll only have one connector in the car that fits.
3. For the CD Aux harness:
   1. Does this get used? The obvious thing is to connect the RCA cables into the left/right audio inputs on the AV In harness, but not sure there's a connector that matches on the car side.
4. Line-Out harness:
   1. I'm assuming this doesn't get used as I don't want to hook up external amps
5. Blue optical input harness:
   1. Does this get used? Not sure there's anything that makes sense to connect this to on the car side

Here's the back of the unit, it's fairly obvious what plugs in where because other than the WiFi and GPS connectors, everything else is setup so that each connector only fits in one location:

The only included cable I didn't bother taking a picture of is the HDMI cable since there's nothing really special about it.

Cables Part 1 (top left to bottom right):

• GPS antenna
• External mic
• "High Configuration" Amp harness - this gets used if the factory amp connection doesn't fit the connector on the main harness
• AV In harness - I believe the factory reverse camera and 360 camera outputs connect to this
• USB harness

Cables Part 2 (from left to right):

1. This appears to be an optical video input harness (I don't think this will get used)
2. An adapter to connect the factory USB port to one of the USB inputs (I probably won't use this either as I want the USB ports hidden away)
3. CD-AUX harness (this may be for hooking up the factory aux input to the head unit, but I'm not certain of that)
4. Line output harness for using aftermarket amps (this should also go unused as I'm using the factory amp)

Cables Part 3:

This is the main harness with kind of a rats nest of connectors

 

[kcjaz]

If I edit the first post, I can still edit the title,

Yep that works. User error.

 

[RidgieWagon]

My delivery just arrived, so the plan is to spend some time over the weekend getting it installed. I may get some of these questions answered by watching the EC Offroad videos again, but I wanted to provide some pictures of the back of the unit and the cables that are included, as I didn't see those in the first few posts.

Just quickly mocking things up, I came up with the following questions, most of which can probably be figured out with a bit of trial and error, but answers would be awesome. I'll try to remember to take notes on what goes to what, but no promises as it's tough to work on these things AND take notes and pictures at the same time.

1. For the main harness:
   1. There's a purple and red wire terminated with a quick release connector (shown in the upper right in the photo below) - does this get connected to anything?

Mine was connected to the female plug with the lone orange wire, in the EC video they say to connect it to another quick release which didn't exist on my harness. That took me at least 30 min of head scratching.

1. 1. One of the video connectors is labeled "astern Video Output" - am I correct in assuming this goes to the input labeled "Camera" on the AV In harness?
   2. One of the video connectors is labeled "360 Video Output" - am I correct in assuming this goes to the input labeled "S Cam In" on the AV In harness?

1 & 2 - I didn't use either of those. I only use the male RCA connection that said camera and plugged it into the female RCA on the harness

1. 1. There's another mystery connector similar to the purple and read one for item 1 above that I noticed after I took the photo and can't be seen in the photo. There doesn't appear to be a place to plug this in, so I'm guessing it will go unused.
2. For the High Config Amp harness:
   1. Does this get used? I suspect the answer will be obvious when I go to hook it up as there's another grey connector on the main harness that plugs into the same place on the head unit, but with a different connector on the car end. I'm assuming I'll only have one connector in the car that fits.

There is going to be a power plug on the harness that will not get used. In the EC video they said it's a good accessory point of power.

• For the CD Aux harness:
  1. Does this get used? The obvious thing is to connect the RCA cables into the left/right audio inputs on the AV In harness, but not sure there's a connector that matches on the car side.

Not unless you connect an external CD player or external player

• Line-Out harness:
  1. I'm assuming this doesn't get used as I don't want to hook up external amps
• Blue optical input harness:
  1. Does this get used? Not sure there's anything that makes sense to connect this to on the car side

The blue plug was used in the video but I didn't find a connector in my vehicle wires to match that. There are going to be a lot of unused plugs and wires which threw me off but it all worked so I just shoved them to the back of the cavity behind the radio.

Here's the back of the unit, it's fairly obvious what plugs in where because other than the WiFi and GPS connectors, everything else is setup so that each connector only fits in one location:

View attachment 3047677

The only included cable I didn't bother taking a picture of is the HDMI cable since there's nothing really special about it.

Cables Part 1 (top left to bottom right):

• GPS antenna
• External mic
• "High Configuration" Amp harness - this gets used if the factory amp connection doesn't fit the connector on the main harness
• AV In harness - I believe the factory reverse camera and 360 camera outputs connect to this
• USB harness

View attachment 3047688

Cables Part 2 (from left to right):

1. This appears to be an optical video input harness (I don't think this will get used)
2. An adapter to connect the factory USB port to one of the USB inputs (I probably won't use this either as I want the USB ports hidden away)
3. CD-AUX harness (this may be for hooking up the factory aux input to the head unit, but I'm not certain of that)
4. Line output harness for using aftermarket amps (this should also go unused as I'm using the factory amp)

View attachment 3047690

Cables Part 3:

This is the main harness with kind of a rats nest of connectors

View attachment 3047691

Good luck on the install! If I can help with anything just sent me a message...my memory is a little fuzzy the further I get away from it but I'll do my best to remember. The EC videos help a lot too. Let me know how the GPS adapter works. I'd be willing to revisit the setup and plug in the factory GPS antenna.

 

[TeCKis300]

I have a 2013 cruiser with the 16" unit from EC Offroad.
Biggest pile of garbage I've ever owned.
Have to manually connect Bluetooth every single time it's powered on.
Can't use the Torque-it app unless I "pair" it every single time.
The volume resets itself to 0 randomly , so I'm for ever turning the volume up
The radio function skips its self out of tune randomly
The steering wheel buttons are all reversed ( can't be changed )
The Ac temp up and down buttons are on the wrong sides - passenger side has master control....
And the best part of all - 14 months old and the screen display is dead.
All touch functions still work along with the back lighting but no display.

Now I need to find a replacement that actually does as advertised

View attachment 3047061

View attachment 3047063

Thanks for the feedback. It's one aspect that makes me hesitant to jump. The OEM HU may not be feature rich, but it is reliable. With as many functions that is integrated, almost critical to the functionality of the car. One area where OEMs spend more money is the overall quality of electronics for durability against environmental factors like heat, for capacitors and heat management.

Commonly something like this

Toyota would certainly spec Grade 0 components. It would be no surprise for 3rd party electronics like these Tesla screens to compromise and suffer premature faults with more extreme climate areas.

 

[greynolds]

I made pretty good progress on the install today.

The only thing I’m having trouble with is getting the cameras to work. There was a connector that fit the blue cable that looks like an optical video connector (the left most cable in the cables part 2 photo in post 81), but hooking that up didn’t seem to accomplish anything. I’ve reached out to Sergey on the T-style Facebook group mentioned in the first post hoping he can help.

The GPS antenna adapter didn't work out. There is a connector in the factory harness that fits, but I don’t get a GPS signal on the head unit when using it. I do get a GPS signal when the included GPS antenna is connected. Either the connector that fit isn't actually from the factory GPS antenna or the antenna is powered and isn't getting the signal to turn on anymore. Not the end of the world, but being able to use the factory antenna would have made for a cleaner install.

I’ll post more details and notes once I get the cameras working (I hope…).

 

[Jay from wa]

Yikes! I have a 2013 too and just installed EC Offroad unit but a US spec, from your pics, yours is right hand drive. Shouldn’t matter though. Did all of this stuff work initially and then fail or has it never worked? If u r in Australia, what is EC Offroad saying? I had some install and setting issues and they were helpful via email and phone.

Yes, mine is right hand drive and all of the issues presented from new. EC Offroad Australia just wanted to sell me more crap to " fix" the issues and now the head units display isn't working, they couldnt care less as its 2 months out of warranty .
I spent about $2k all up and now I have to spend more on finding a replacement .
Not happy what so ever

 

[greynolds]

Regarding the camera issue, I was able to confirm that the yellow RCA inputs on the head unit work. I fed the composite video output from an old Bluray player to the “Camera” and “S-Camera” inputs and used the test app that is preinstalled on the head unit to confirm I got a picture (the app can switch between backup and side inputs). I also connected the composite output to the AV input on the basement TV and got a picture (this was to confirm input to the composite input on the TV works for the next test). So far so good.

I then sent each of the camera outputs from the main harness to the AV input on the TV. The one labeled “astern video” did nothing when I shifted into reverse. The one labeled 360 caused the TV to display a black picture when I shifted into reverse, so there was a signal of some sort being sent. The TV won’t support anything higher than 480i on the AV input, so if the camera signal is 480P or higher, I wouldn‘t expect to see a picture there.

My working theory is that I need to find a way to tell the head unit to grab the camera feed from the other video input that comes in on that blue cable. But I don‘t see any option to make that change. It may be on the password protected option page that I don’t yet have the password for. If that isn’t the issue, then the only other thing I can think of is that the camera isn’t receiving power, but then I probably wouldn’t have gotten a reaction on the TV in my test.

 

[kcjaz]

Regarding the camera issue, I was able to confirm that the yellow RCA inputs on the head unit work. I fed the composite video output from an old Bluray player to the “Camera” and “S-Camera” inputs and used the test app that is preinstalled on the head unit to confirm I got a picture (the app can switch between backup and side inputs). I also connected the composite output to the AV input on the basement TV and got a picture (this was to confirm input to the composite input on the TV works for the next test). So far so good.

I then sent each of the camera outputs from the main harness to the AV input on the TV. The one labeled “astern video” did nothing when I shifted into reverse. The one labeled 360 caused the TV to display a black picture when I shifted into reverse, so there was a signal of some sort being sent. The TV won’t support anything higher than 480i on the AV input, so if the camera signal is 480P or higher, I wouldn‘t expect to see a picture there.

My working theory is that I need to find a way to tell the head unit to grab the camera feed from the other video input that comes in on that blue cable. But I don‘t see any option to make that change. It may be on the password protected option page that I don’t yet have the password for. If that isn’t the issue, then the only other thing I can think of is that the camera isn’t receiving power, but then I probably wouldn’t have gotten a reaction on the TV in my test.

For the cameras, did your unit come with a separate 360 degree decoder box?

Mine is for a 2013 but I had to use this box and set the model year to 2016 for the cameras to work.

 

[greynolds]

For the cameras, did your unit come with a separate 360 degree decoder box?

Mine is for a 2013 but I had to use this box and set the model year to 2016 for the cameras to work.

No, there isn’t a separate box. @RidgieWagon didn't receive one either and his is working fine. But he doesn’t have the connection for the blue cable in his, which I’m guessing is the key difference between his and mine.

 

[greynolds]

Good news / bad news on the camera issue. The bad news is the cameras still don't work. The good news is that I have a wiring diagram from the manufacturer showing what is supposed to be connected.

The only difference that should matter, and it may be super important, is that the 360 camera connection (which IS related to that blue cable) should be using a grey connector instead of the blue connector from the factory harness. Unfortunately, the grey connector is keyed differently and won't plug in. The only other difference is that 2 of the small connectors do not have a mate to plug into while their diagram shows them plugged in (there are 3 of these smaller connectors in the harness).

The diagram PDF file is attached. I also now have detailed photos of how I have everything connected. I'll share those once everything is working as I would rather not confuse matters with incorrect connections shown.

 

[RidgieWagon]

Good news / bad news on the camera issue. The bad news is the cameras still don't work. The good news is that I have a wiring diagram from the manufacturer showing what is supposed to be connected.

The only difference that should matter, and it may be super important, is that the 360 camera connection (which IS related to that blue cable) should be using a grey connector instead of the blue connector from the factory harness. Unfortunately, the grey connector is keyed differently and won't plug in. The only other difference is that 2 of the small connectors do not have a mate to plug into while their diagram shows them plugged in (there are 3 of these smaller connectors in the harness).

The diagram PDF file is attached. I also now have detailed photos of how I have everything connected. I'll share those once everything is working as I would rather not confuse matters with incorrect connections shown.

I'm assuming the ZF-1807XH has the same connections as the ZF-1829XH right? It's a bit of a mystery why the cameras are not sending signal. This may not change a thing but did you find the matching cable for the red/purple connector like the picture? I'm not sure what it connects to but I just left it alone. The EC video says to disconnect it and plug it in to another matching cable which didn't exist on my wiring harness.

 

[greynolds]

I would assume the connections are the same for the 2 models, but that’s just a guess. For those 3 small connectors, only one of the 3 is paired up in my harness, as shown below. I can’t find mates for the other 2.

 

[RidgieWagon]

On mine, that red/purple combo plugged into the single orange plug. It only fit in there one way and doesn't look like it should at all. I can't remember if it was the red or purple wire that got plugged.

 

[greynolds]

In theory, it won't hurt to try that (I'll report back shortly)... On mine, there's currently a connector from the factory harness that is plugged into that single orange plug (number 6), which seems to agree with their diagram:

 

[RidgieWagon]

In theory, it won't hurt to try that (I'll report back shortly)... On mine, there's currently a connector from the factory harness that is plugged into that single orange plug (number 6), which seems to agree with their diagram:
View attachment 3049997

I didn't see that was attached! I don't want to be responsible for the thing going poof so please feel free to disregard my last post.

 

[greynolds]

I got it working. The red/purple wire did not need to be connected. I decided to persuade the grey connector from the factory harness into the blue connector that came with the unit. Once I did that, the cameras started working. As expected and had already been stated, the picture quality is pretty bad, but it works. The View button triggers the front park assist / top view, reverse triggers the backup camera, etc.

Now Zlink has decided to go into a connecting / waiting loop, but I'm sure that's fixable. Zlink can be a little bit temperamental at times and I'm used to that having used it with the EC Offroad interface module.

At this point, the car is all put back together and everything seems to be working. Next step is to log into the Google Play store with my account, install some additional apps, get Google Maps up and running, etc. But the hard part should be behind me now.

Thanks for the help and moral support along the way @RidgieWagon.

 

[RidgieWagon]

I got it working. The red/purple wire did not need to be connected. I decided to persuade the grey connector from the factory harness into the blue connector that came with the unit. Once I did that, the cameras started working. As expected and had already been stated, the poor picture quality is pretty bad, but it works. The View button triggers the front park assist / top view, reverse triggers the backup camera, etc.

Now Zlink has decided to go into a connecting / waiting loop, but I'm sure that's fixable. Zlink can be a little bit temperamental at times and I'm used to that having used it with the EC Offroad interface module.

At this point, the car is all put back together and everything seems to be working. Next step is to log into the Google Play store with my account, install some additional apps, get Google Maps up and running, etc. But the hard part should be behind me now.

Thanks for the help and moral support along the way @RidgieWagon.

Nice!! Yeah the quality isn't top notch. Long hold in one of the boxes in the pictures (top left or over the car on bottom) and one of those should get a contrast/brightness adjustment box to open. Change them to 100/50/100.

 

[greynolds]

Nice!! Yeah the quality isn't top notch. Long hold in one of the boxes in the pictures (top left or over the car on bottom) and one of those should get a contrast/brightness adjustment box to open. Change them to 100/50/100.

Those picture settings definitely improve the picture quality.

Here's something I think you're going to like, @RidgieWagon. I requested the password for access to the "Install Set" section in settings, figuring it might come in handy at some point. The answer I got back was "7890 ok, or 8861 ok" - 8861 worked for me. I only took a quick look through the list of settings, but I don't see anything in there that should be too risky, so I'm comfortable with posting the password. I'm not planning on messing with the settings unless there's something that I'm really interested in (don't want to risk bricking the unit just playing around). But the setting that I think you'll like is "Display temp" - it resolves one of the items that had been in your downsides list:

 

[greynolds]

I went out on a quick errand to pick up a few groceries first thing this morning. The improvement in the quality of the maps compared to stock or using the EC Offroad Android interface module (which still uses the factory screen) is huge. Car Play is up and running much faster than it was with the EC Offroad interface module as that unit always took quite a bit longer to boot up from standby mode before the Zlink app could start. This unit comes out of standby mode very quickly. My initial impression is that this is what our Land Cruisers should have come with from the factory. The only thing that's really missing is a SiriusXM sat tuner. I'm willing to give that up for all of the other gains, but it's definitely something a potential buyer needs to be aware of before making the switch as having the sat capability is really nice if you have a limited data plan or frequent areas with poor cell coverage (and like listening to SiriusXM).

I'm going to plan to modify post 3 (my first post in this thread) to post (hopefully) useful stuff I've found beyond what's in the first 2 posts so it's more organized and easier for people to find.

@RidgieWagon - what did you change to get up/down buttons for the driver and passenger temp at the bottom (is that a customization from Sergey's custom firmware?):

 

[RidgieWagon]

I went out on a quick errand to pick up a few groceries first thing this morning. The improvement in the quality of the maps compared to stock or using the EC Offroad Android interface module (which still uses the factory screen) is huge. Car Play is up and running much faster than it was with the EC Offroad interface module as that unit always took quite a bit longer to boot up from standby mode before the Zlink app could start. This unit comes out of standby mode very quickly. My initial impression is that this is what our Land Cruisers should have come with from the factory. The only thing that's really missing is a SiriusXM sat tuner. I'm willing to give that up for all of the other gains, but it's definitely something a potential buyer needs to be aware of before making the switch as having the sat capability is really nice if you have a limited data plan or frequent areas with poor cell coverage (and like listening to SiriusXM).

I'm going to plan to modify post 3 (my first post in this thread) to post (hopefully) useful stuff I've found beyond what's in the first 2 posts so it's more organized and easier for people to find.

@RidgieWagon - what did you change to get up/down buttons for the driver and passenger temp at the bottom (is that a customization from Sergey's custom firmware?):

View attachment 3050463

Yes the dual temp up/down are some of the customization from Sergey's firmware. There are quite a few changes from the original setup plus it speeds up some of the app opening times. Also you can customize the background with your own photo if you have a good one in the right position (looking at the left-front at a 45 degree angle).

I went into the settings and typed the passcode to get the screen...I had no idea that was a thing! One of the mods that Sergey had put was to pull the temp from an outside source so I turned that on but the temp was way off so I turned his setting off but the temp remained and has been on for a week or so. When I pulled up the menu it was turned on there too so I must have backed into it by accident.