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![]() | Home > Maintenance & Modifications > Retrofit Android 7" Tablet |
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Kabous1 Member Since: 04 Jul 2011 Location: Johannesburg Posts: 57 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
After several month's of reading through the various posts about satnav/car-pc retro fitting, I decided to try and install an Android 7" Tablet.
![]() I started off by ordering a cheap tablet from Ebay that at least had a built in GPS and of which the diameters would fit the space in the Freelander's dashboard. I finally settled on the Freelander PD20 Android Tablet, which I got for $117. http://www.ebay.com/itm/FreeLander-PD20-7-...3ccac0dd87 The tablet was a perfect, albeit tight fit. However the first problem popped up in that all the plugs of the tablet was located on it's side and as such I had to solder the wires for charging and audio-out directly to the circuit board. I also added a wire in for a momentary push button to operate the power button on the tablet.
-Black wire for the stereo audio-out to the Aux of the car radio. -White wire toggles the power button on the tablet. -Grey wire is the power feed from a 5v USB charger I installed in the center console. I then installed the power push button to switch the tablet on and off, and a switch to allow me to separately switch on/off the power to the USB charger, into the back ashtray holder in the center console.
-The blue audio cable is the feed from the tablet to the car's AUX in. -The red button toggles the power on the tab by holding it for 5 seconds. -The black switch toggles the power to the USB charger. Next I added a speaker to the space in the center of the dash board. The plan was to use this speaker for the tablet when using it as a GPS and I would still be able to listen to the radio. I used and old 3" speaker I had laying around, just had to make a bit of a spacer for it. I then added a small USB powered amplifier, which I pulled from an old set of desktop PC speakers, to the back of the tablet to power the center dash speaker. The end result works pretty well. ![]()
The volume controls on the amp are not used as I change the volume using a small widget app on the tablet. I then installed Sygic Navigator from the Google Play Store for navigation and WinAmp for music. ![]() I'm not a 100% done with the project yet, still need to sort out the following: -Some way to select the audio-out to the center speaker or to the car's aux in. (This is a bit of a manual process at the moment) -There is a slight bit of background noise when using the AUX in on the car. (I've order an in-line audio noise suppressor, will give it a try once it arrives) :mrgreen: Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated ![]() |
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Bugblatter Member Since: 08 Mar 2012 Location: Ilkley, West Yorkshire Posts: 417 ![]() ![]() |
Looks great! 2013 RR Evoque Pure Tech
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jon_a5 Member Since: 20 Jul 2012 Location: Hartlepool UK Posts: 347 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Nice project, sounds much simpler than my car computer was!
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Kabous1 Member Since: 04 Jul 2011 Location: Johannesburg Posts: 57 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Great stuff, that's the exact in-line filter I ordered. Hope fully it will sort out the background noise I'm having as well.
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jon_a5 Member Since: 20 Jul 2012 Location: Hartlepool UK Posts: 347 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
I have to say I wasn't expecting it to fix anything but went from annoying wine while my computer was starting and noises when accelerating to complete silence (aprt from when you turn the volume up to max, but it does that with nothing plugged in!)
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Kabous1 Member Since: 04 Jul 2011 Location: Johannesburg Posts: 57 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Sounds like the same noises I'm hearing on mine at the moment.
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djwhyte Member Since: 24 Aug 2010 Location: Brisbane Posts: 336 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
I saw the same tablet when I was looking into doing the same thing, I thought the naming was ironic |
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Kabous1 Member Since: 04 Jul 2011 Location: Johannesburg Posts: 57 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Must be because of the naming that it's such a great fit |
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djwhyte Member Since: 24 Aug 2010 Location: Brisbane Posts: 336 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Have a look at 'Tablet Talk' (assuming you have an Android phone too). It gives you a pop-up on the tablet when your phone is receiving a call.
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johnny_22_83 Member Since: 05 Dec 2010 Location: bucuresti Posts: 182 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
judging by the connectors, there's no way in connecting a rear camera to the tablet. Am I wrong? |
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Kabous1 Member Since: 04 Jul 2011 Location: Johannesburg Posts: 57 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
I'm not sure, the tablet has a USB host port which can be used for an external device such as a 3G modem.
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jutrem Member Since: 14 Mar 2008 Location: Burlington Posts: 144 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Nice install, I was also looking at the Freelander 7" Android GPS /Tablet, glad to know it fits. Did the screen line up with the space in the dash? No hidden pixels or visible plastic bezel?
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Kabous1 Member Since: 04 Jul 2011 Location: Johannesburg Posts: 57 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The screen lines up perfectly with the space in the dash, there are no hidden pixels. It sits perfectly flush at the bottom of the space in the dash and has a tiny gap of about 0.5mm at the top which is hardly noticeable. It also only has about 1mm of plastic bezel visible at the top.
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djwhyte Member Since: 24 Aug 2010 Location: Brisbane Posts: 336 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Given the Freelander PD20 was such a tight fit, do you think a tablet with an extra 5mm height (the long edge) could squeeze in too? 190mm vs 185mm. 1st time FL2 owner. 2007 SE i6 in Tambora Flame. |
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Kabous1 Member Since: 04 Jul 2011 Location: Johannesburg Posts: 57 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
185mm was a tight fit but I still had space for double sided tape to sick the sides in place.
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