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headunit upgrade

Kaput!

Active Member
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Location
BOLTON UK
Car
04 accord tourer 2.0
Hi all
I know this has been covered elsewhere,ive spent some time trying to find a solution.I have a pre facelift petrol tourer with premium sound system NON navi.I have found an android multimedia system on ebay with seems made to measure for 03>06 accord incorporating heating controls etc.Can anyone tell me for certain this a straight swap keeping full functionality of the current unit.Maybe a member has one of these installed? The one i have in mind looks great and not sure these were around when many older threads were created so i want to be sure before i buy
many thanks for advice in advance
 
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I had a similar one in my old Mazda 6 for a while, it will probably work but it wont work well, 1gb of ram is not enough and the audio quality is trash, like legitimately hurt my ears, I had to return it in the end. If your heart is set on one then get one with 4gb of ram, though by most accounts these Chinese android units don't last very long because the quality control is rather poor.
In my accord, I've got a single Din jvc stereo in the compartment below the factory radio. For everything to work as it should, you need a y cable rather than just a cable which converts the car harness directly. Also, the factory Amp in the premium sound system does not always agree with aftermarket head units, I took mine out and hacked together a bypass cable (bypassing it means you need a separate amp to power 4 of the 8 speakers, I got a cheap 2 channel amp to power the rear 6x9s and disconnected the tweeters in the dash because the speakers I put in all had tweeters built in anyway.)
 
Chinese android units don't last very long because the quality control is rather poor.
I have read a few accounts of this since i posted here and why i havnt gone ahead and just bought one.I currently have a pure highway dab adaptor hard wired through xcarlink adaptor to the spare socket on the underside of the premium headunit inside dash (did not need Y splitter).I lost no functionality with CD as changer is built in and the audio quality is superb.My other option was to install a single din unit with dab radio below existing one...this would now be my prefered idea given the feedback on those chinese android systems.
I would need to research wiring for install of said single din device so i have no problems with headunit.I reckon it would look fine given the space available below, so, if you or anyone has any links or ideas for correct kit id require that would be a great help.
Shame about the pure highway radio because although audio quality is great its stuck on facia and looks out of place...i want a clean tidy solution if possible.
 
I'll send you some links and some pictures of what I used when I get the chance.
Mine looks quite tidy though you can lose all of the radio functionality from the factory radio, the clock and the air con temperatures will still work fine but it all depends upon how you wire it up. Mind you I didn't mind losing the CD changer because my single din unit has USB and you can get FM radio on a potato.
What do you use for a Dab antenna? For my previous three cars including an 03 civic coupe with a similar rear windscreen antenna arrangement I've just used one of those Chinese powered signal amplifiers through the main antenna but that doesn't work as well in the accord.
 
I'll send you some links and some pictures of what I used when I get the chance.
That would be a big help thanks.Car electrics i try to leave alone but im sure with help i can figure this out.I cannot loose any functionality of the heating controls obviously but i can manage without the built in CD changer.FM i never use and never will so i can wave bye bye to that.As for dab antenna i installed a 10" vertical magnetic mount aerial at the rear of roof just in front of boot spoiler.I did read somewhere here trying to utilise the built in window FM aerial wont work but i did not try this so cant say either way.I then routed cable through to front of car and into the front dash.Works perfectly never drops out,even in rural areas it performs well.Also with the aerial being so small its almost unnoticable on top of the car.The premium sound system/amp/speakers sound excellent in my car so i need any single din device to run through it without having to swap out anything.Sure its possible if wiring done right?
 
Had an idea.My current xcarlink adaptor has a 3.5mm jack which is how the audio from my current dab adaptor inputs the head unit.Could i simply buy a 3.5mm female to RCA male cable and connect new single din unit that way.All the single devices seem to have a L/R RCA audio out at the back.All i then need do is connect power source.Keeps things simple and all sound will input head unit just as it does atm with no wiring mods needed
 
Had an idea.My current xcarlink adaptor has a 3.5mm jack which is how the audio from my current dab adaptor inputs the head unit.Could i simply buy a 3.5mm female to RCA male cable and connect new single din unit that way.All the single devices seem to have a L/R RCA audio out at the back.All i then need do is connect power source.Keeps things simple and all sound will input head unit just as it does atm with no wiring mods needed
That is probably not a bad idea come to think of it as long as you can fit the single din stereo in without removing the factory amp, I don't know how it is mounted in the non-nav cars but in mine it was mounted using the same bracket as the nav DVD drive which I had to remove to fit my stereo in.

I really don't like having to cut factory connectors etc so I did this all using adapters
Regardless, this is the fascia I used for under the factory stereo, a bit pricey but there aren't many single din fascias about for our cars and the various double dins about are literally a hole in a bit of moulded plastic.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honda-Ac...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
It says that they don't include a wiring harness but they sent me one anyway for no extra cost, I'm not sure if this was a mistake or if they're just trying to get rid of the stock but I wasn't complaining!

When I didn't know I was getting a wiring harness for free anyway, I ordered this one from aliexpress paying the $2 extra for the aliexpress standard shipping because I wanted it to arrive this side of Christmas,(it took about 2 weeks)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32880025998.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.3d9a4c4dm3POMw
If you decide to go for a traditional stereo install, that's the sort of cable you need to retain the air-con temperatures and clock functionality of the factory stereo and you need to wire it up to the harness of your after market unit.

Do you have factory steering wheel controls? if so, I had a bit of a mare getting them to work properly but I found a solution in the end.
I bought this from halfords
https://www.halfords.com/technology...eering-wheel-control---nissan-res-285145.html
I know it says nissan but it's a universal unit and on clearance so massively cheaper than the universal unit on ebay. All you need to do is chop off the Nissan wiring harness.
I then bought a few of these wiring harnesses to use for donor pins to put into the wiring harness above
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honda-Ci...427631?hash=item5d71eeb42f:g:E8AAAOSwEZdaJ-Zn
using these extra pins and wires, I connected pins 3(steering wheel remote +ve) and 11 (steering wheel remote -ve) and wired it up as per this diagram
Screenshot-2020-07-29-11-14-22-216-com-pac-audio-controlpro.jpg


and the bank of 8 dip switches need to be configured as per this picture though the bank of four will vary depending on the head unit you buy (mines a JVC)
IMG-20200727-160100.jpg
 
Thats a neat n tidy solution exactly what im after. Im going to buy a similar single din unit and attempt to use the RCA audio out and run it through my existing adaptor.I see no reason why it shouldnt work? The only other thing id need to do is power the unit.I do have full steering wheel controls yes but i never use them.couple of pics of my current set up...
 
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Not sure what the issue is each time i try upload images on this site it says file size to large? any ideas? Never joined an online forum before so this all new to me.Btw ive been using my smartphone so far maybe i need to login via PC and or convert images?
quick edit

after trawling through the forums seems i need to use a photo app or something...what does everyone use now?
 
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I just googled image hosting and used the first free one which popped up
 
To power the unit you should just need a constant 12v, a switched 12v and a chassis ground, on an aftermarket unit, there's usually one other wire for detecting when the lights are turned on and the rest are all speaker outputs which you should be able to ignore.
On an aftermarket Head unit the wire colours are usually yellow for 12v constant, red for 12v switched, black for ground. I don't know off the top of my head which colours those are on the factory harness but you could always just run fused spurs from the fuse box.
 
Not sure what the issue is each time i try upload images on this site it says file size to large? any ideas? Never joined an online forum before so this all new to me.Btw ive been using my smartphone so far maybe i need to login via PC and or convert images?
quick edit

after trawling through the forums seems i need to use a photo app or something...what does everyone use now?

I use this site;
http://jpeg-optimizer.com

Just upload pic convert it and save it and then you can use it
 
I will try that thx...appriciate the help and will update once i begin my upgrade :cool:
 
Not sure what the issue is each time i try upload images on this site it says file size to large? any ideas? Never joined an online forum before so this all new to me.Btw ive been using my smartphone so far maybe i need to login via PC and or convert images?
quick edit

after trawling through the forums seems i need to use a photo app or something...what does everyone use now?

Usually the file size is too large - I get the same when trying to upload a Raw file which has been converted to jpeg at the best quality option in my software. So you simply need to adjust either the image quality setting in your camera from say Fine to Basic(or whatever your camera settings are) or adjust the photo editor/raw converter to convert at a lesser quality ( I use 50% rather than 100% on my software).
 
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