Watching with interest all the way from Scotland ! How's progress ?
Tesla Style Stereo Research - Landcruiser 2008-15 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter schiller2300
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- radio stereo tesla style
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Watching with interest all the way from Scotland ! How's progress ?
I'm from Japan and also interested in the thoughts after your install. I have been watching these for a while and just about to make the jump. Hoping your input will give me a basis to make a well informed decision. Thank you in advance!
Last update was the 20th of march. Did he start a new thread?
No, disappointingly he must have had a set back. Very much looking forward to seeing how he gets on.
Update?
I'd like to install this on my '08 prior to a cross country trip (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon) but waiting to see if the rear screen would still work with this upgrade and kids for sanity sake.
Does this eliminate the DVD player capability?
I'd like to install this on my '08 prior to a cross country trip (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon) but waiting to see if the rear screen would still work with this upgrade and kids for sanity sake.
Does this eliminate the DVD player capability?
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I'm pretty sure it does not work with the rear DVD screen. Some have gotten around this by adding an after market overhead screen as well.
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- #148
So sorry for the delay friends. Here are the 4 videos that I made about the install. One thing that I realised after installing this unit was that there would be more videos to come as the learning curve is a bit more than I had originally thought. The unit is plug-and-play but depending on what you are going to be using this unit for the learning curve can be a bit step. The setup is very customisable so I hope to produce video's as learn about the unit. I am pleased top say that the z-Link software that initiates CarPlay works very well and is quite reliable. Another thing with these fast boot units is that there are several boot times. There is the cold boot time of the stereo but once this boot has completed the unit will go into a standby when the car is turned off. Once the car in restarted the boot time is almost instantaneous. I was surprised that the length of time that the unit is in standby mode is very long - I have not seen any literature about just how long but after the install when I came out to the vehicle 12 hrs later it immediately came on out of standby mode. Now while this is very nice you now have a boot time for z-link to connect to your phone and initiate car play. Again the initial link takes about twice as long as future links as you are in and out of the car. If I get in the car to go somewhere I may have gone several blocks before z-link connects but as I stop and get out and back in the link time is much shorter. So short that I will not have backed out of a parking space before music starts to play. The climate controls start where they were when the unit went into standby so that you don't have to boil in your car waiting for the stereo to boot. This is true of music as well.
I have several issues to work out at the moment. As reported in other posts the large button climate controls under the front vents do not function properly. Only the up button works and it adjusts the temp on the opposite side and vise versa. I need to figure out my microphone situation as I plugged in the mic that was shipped with the unit but I have no mic. There is one on the side of the unit as well it may be that I just have to tell the unit where to get sound from in its software settings.
I look forward to making more videos as I learn about the unit. For now I give it a "Thumbs Up" and I must say that editing video wasn't as awful as I thought it was going to be.
I have several issues to work out at the moment. As reported in other posts the large button climate controls under the front vents do not function properly. Only the up button works and it adjusts the temp on the opposite side and vise versa. I need to figure out my microphone situation as I plugged in the mic that was shipped with the unit but I have no mic. There is one on the side of the unit as well it may be that I just have to tell the unit where to get sound from in its software settings.
I look forward to making more videos as I learn about the unit. For now I give it a "Thumbs Up" and I must say that editing video wasn't as awful as I thought it was going to be.
- Thread starter
- #149
Nice work @schiller2300. Very interested in doing something like this to my rig now (I was before, but seeing it work well is making it more real). Looking forward to hearing about the update from the Android guru you mentioned in the last video and your learning updates. 
Any chance you have a link to a website for the person you mentioned in the last video?
Any chance you have a link to a website for the person you mentioned in the last video?
- Thread starter
- #151
Nice work @schiller2300. Very interested in doing something like this to my rig now (I was before, but seeing it work well is making it more real). Looking forward to hearing about the update from the Android guru you mentioned in the last video and your learning updates.
Any chance you have a link to a website for the person you mentioned in the last video?
@schiller2300 , did you buy the wireless carplay adapter? I assume this means you don't have to plug a cord into your phone, and that carplay works over bluetooth.
- Thread starter
- #154
Yes - I did.
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- #155
I wanted to say something about those that may be critical of Phoenix for one reason or another. There are other companies that have developed a better software experience for there units. AVINUSA definitely has a better user experience stereo but these units are tailored to Mercedes Benz and BMW, another company, there name escapes me, has one of the best but only for the F150 Ford Truck. I have not found anyone that specializes in the Toyota Landcruiser and for good reason. The Landcruiser is a walking dead species. If you remember from Mrs. Beasley’s biology class it is a term used for a species that has reached a critical mass of sustainable reproduction. They are doomed to not be able to replace their numbers because there are not enough in the population. Sadly, the Landcruiser is of that species particularly in the US market. Toyota is not putting any energy to the Landcruiser and in my opinion the introduction of the Sequioa in 2001 started the decline. All this biology to say that there just aren’t enough Landcruiser’s over the last two decades for any company to put much energy in sorting out an aftermarket stereo solution like the android Tesla style units. Phoenix does it the best for our species with a resemblance of customer service that is void in any other reseller of these units that I have found. These units are not perfect but we have a solution and for that this consumer is grateful.
I have also heard rants of Sergey’s work with general coding fixes that he charges for. Most complain that anyone can spend the time to bring these features out in the stereo for free. I have no doubt that anyone can but he has spent the time and effort working on these units to make them a better user experience because he enjoys it and that I will gladly pay him. These critics are the ones that want apps for free. I can work to learn to make my own app to do what I want but I would much rather spend my time doing carpentry. I am so happy people are out there saving whales but not my thing - I will just give them money.
These units are not perfect, with time I hope to sort and learn fixes for the things that are important to me and share those with you. For those that are considering purchasing consider our expectations of yearly new updates to our electronics is a bit overzealous and does not apply with android Tesla style radios. I waited almost two years for an updated unit for my vehicle - and one feature particularly hands free Apple CarPlay. This feature of the unit works great for me and the other things are minor sortings over time.
Talk again soon - Chris
I have also heard rants of Sergey’s work with general coding fixes that he charges for. Most complain that anyone can spend the time to bring these features out in the stereo for free. I have no doubt that anyone can but he has spent the time and effort working on these units to make them a better user experience because he enjoys it and that I will gladly pay him. These critics are the ones that want apps for free. I can work to learn to make my own app to do what I want but I would much rather spend my time doing carpentry. I am so happy people are out there saving whales but not my thing - I will just give them money.
These units are not perfect, with time I hope to sort and learn fixes for the things that are important to me and share those with you. For those that are considering purchasing consider our expectations of yearly new updates to our electronics is a bit overzealous and does not apply with android Tesla style radios. I waited almost two years for an updated unit for my vehicle - and one feature particularly hands free Apple CarPlay. This feature of the unit works great for me and the other things are minor sortings over time.
Talk again soon - Chris
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Thank you @schiller2300, if not for your posts, i would not have ordered this Unit. I ordered the unit and am talking to Phoenix Automotive to get a couple of issues resolved with A/C controls being swapped and issue with all speakers being controlled by the front speaker controls in the equalizer settings.
I also discovered what i think is my AMP malfunctioning. All left side speakers are lower then right side speakers. Issue started before Android unit was installed so i think its the AMP. But i'm going to work on getting the Android unit working and 360 camera system installed before tackling that issue.
That leads me into the next segment. I ordered a Birdview 360 camera system from Amazon. Chose not to order it from Phoenix Automotive since they didn't have any description of the system and no reviews had me concerned. Also the reviews i saw on Amazon of some of the units gave me concern due to arriving damaged or not functioning properly. Ended up choosing one that had good reviews. Just got it today and checked to make sure it functions and will work before drilling.
I drilled and ran the driver side mirror and camera and posted it here. Still need to figure out how the trigger wires for the side mirrors will work and need to be wired.
Forgot to ask if anyone knows what which is the trigger wire on the back of the Android head unit?
found the trigger wire on the back of the head unit. It’s the brown wire labelled “back”.
- Thread starter
- #159
Makes so much sense doesn’t it
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- #160
If you work through the balance and fade please post the outcome. Mine are set OK but have little control as you mention. This typically would be a big issue for me but hadn’t made it to my list to addresses.
