OEM looking Sat-Nav in you’re A2 using your Smartphone and a Dock.

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Hi all, firstly let me say what a great invaluable forum this is!

Bought my first A2 in March as a cheap run-around, fixed quite a few of the usual A2 issues(CCU, Rear seals, door straps, shocks etc) then caught the bug!
Modded a few other areas as you can see in my sig……so much for cheap run-around!! :rolleyes:

All of the problems I had were quickly diagnosed by a quick search on this forum.
Or by some very helpful forum members like Sarge who helped me diagnosed a faulty CCU/drivers door loom……..thoroughly nice chap and knows all about A2s'.

I have not written on the forum before as everything is pretty much covered already but I have read many articles with great interest.

I recently installed a dock for my A2 as I missed having a sat nav, didn’t have the cash to upgrade to an RNS-E one so I decided to use my iPhone 4 instead.
Off course you can use any dock you like, iPhone, iPod, Smartphone etc.
A few people have commented on how is looks very OE and they want one for their car so I thought I would put up a short guide on how to do it.


​

1. Start by removing the trim under the clocks, grab it from the bottom/sides and pull out.

2. Cut out a hole in the leather about the same size as the front profile of the dock you buy.
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3. Cover the dock in double sided tape so the leather will grip it.
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4. Open up the dock casing, I threaded the leather in and clamped it to the dock making it look neater and along with the tape, holds it all nicely in place.
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5. Now the trim is complete with dock it just needs wiring up. I also used some black boot polish on the areas I cut to blend the edges in
and stuck some number plate tape on the bottom of the dock so it will stick to the top of the steering column.
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To connect I used a Universal Car lighter socket panel, Belkin Micro USB CLA Adaptor and Add-a-Circuit Blade Fuse Holder .

6. Connect the add-a-circuit to the fuse box(You choose permanent live or ignition) and wire the car lighter socket on. Place it into one of the square holders above the fuse box.

7. Plug the micro USB adaptor in and plug your phone cable to it.

8. Thread the cable up so it comes out just under the clocks. (I used and old iPhone cable as it won't be seen!)
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9. Plug your dock in and replace the trim. All Done!
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I use a free sat nav program called WAZE, but there are many apps around for various tasks that you might need.

Enjoy :)​
 
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Hi Zoltar i really like your mod--good work. I must say i'm tempted to do this,i already have iPod/iphone integration kits in my a2's so its just a re route job.
Thanks for sharing Mike
 
I was also tempted, till i realised I don't have a leather bit behind the steering column :confused: mines just plastic
 
roc-a-rhol, move the column adjustment about and you'll see it :)

That's a properly done version of my cheap-ebay-3.5" nav on an ebay £1 anti-slip mat :eek:

I'm thinking that what you've done covers pretty much all bases; music/nav/phone/trip computer/code reader :cool:

Just had another look at the pics, I'm afraid I'll have to dock you a point for the nav illumination not matching the dash :p
 
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**** really cool! Now that explains a lot of your pics on the other thread with gearbox.
 
I must say, i liked the idea of this so i did it to mine. However, i must be a little taller as i require my steering wheel adjustment a lot further in, so i couldnt mount the dock in the leather part. So i took the dock apart, took out the circuit boards, mounted the circuit board with the connector facing upwards, the carefully measured and cut the plastic part of the steering column shroud. As i cut it so precisely, the shroud acts as the support to stop the phone from moving about, and the connector kind of locks it in place. I shall take pics tomorrow as my descriptions are usually pants.
Anyway, a big thanks to Zoltar for the great idea and the inspiration for this great mod.
 
Nice work chaps. If I didn't have DIS and a Dension iGateway already I'd be doing something just like this.
 
russell22dc said:
View attachment 13369View attachment 13370View attachment 13371View attachment 13372

Pics as promised
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Nice idea as you couldn't get it into the leather part, I have my steering wheel back and low as much as possible, just prefer it that way.

Looking good, how snug does it fit and is there any movement of the phone while in motion?

May be worthwhile attaching a rubber strip around the edge cut to hold the phone in place and to stop it from scratching?

Nice work Russell :D
 
Thank you
It The phone fits really snug as i cut the shroud to to be able to hold the phone snugly while in motion. My phone has 'Heli' tape front and back so it wont scratch it. i did however file and chamfer the edges, then use wet and dry paper to reduce the risk of damaging the phone.

Thanks
 
Hi Simon,

What exactly is the dock doing? Is it just keeping the iPhone charged, or are there other connections too?

Cheers,

Tom
 
timmus said:
What exactly is the dock doing? Is it just keeping the iPhone charged, or are there other connections too?
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Hi Tom,


Yes, the dock simply charges the phone in this config....you could also route the audio out from another dock to the stereo if required.

Without the dock, the phone's charge doesn't last long running these apps full time.

For me, the best thing about this mod - it hides the fact I don't have DIS ;)
 
Zoltar said:
Hi Tom,


Yes, the dock simply charges the phone in this config....you could also route the audio out from another dock to the stereo if required.

Without the dock, the phone's charge doesn't last long running these apps full time.

For me, the best thing about this mod - it hides the fact I don't have DIS ;)
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Looks great and well done, I just have one TINY comment, watch out for any errors that may be hidden by this. You should be fine because most of the icons are on the speedo and rev counter part, but there are red warnings that would be hidden (again, not a major problem because you get the beeps as well)

I didn't want to say anything negative about a great idea like this so please forgive me, it is a tiny point and you can probably squint around the side to see anything anyway.

Steve B
 
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Zoltar said:
Hi Tom,

Yes, the dock simply charges the phone in this config....you could also route the audio out from another dock to the stereo if required.

Without the dock, the phone's charge doesn't last long running these apps full time.

For me, the best thing about this mod - it hides the fact I don't have DIS ;)
Click to expand...

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, it was the audio that I was thinking about. I'm considering doing something vaguely similar, but also routing audio to the stereo. A vast majority of the docks that you can buy aren't fully pinned, so it's more of a challenge than it first seems.

I seem to remember seeing a DIS-like app for the iPhone that uses a bluetooth connection to a dongle that connects to the OBD port.

Cheers,

Tom
 
timmus said:
Hi Simon,

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, it was the audio that I was thinking about. I'm considering doing something vaguely similar, but also routing audio to the stereo. A vast majority of the docks that you can buy aren't fully pinned, so it's more of a challenge than it first seems.

I seem to remember seeing a DIS-like app for the iPhone that uses a bluetooth connection to a dongle that connects to the OBD port.

Cheers,

Tom
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The Dension iGateway interface I have :) works well in this instance, charging, audio input and allowing basic control of the iPhone's music.
 
johnmed said:
The Dension iGateway interface I have :) works well in this instance, charging, audio input and allowing basic control of the iPhone's music.
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True, and I have an XCarLink device that works similarly. However, an issue arises when you try to use something like a Dension unit in combination with the sort of dock that Simon has used. These docks are almost always designed to be connected to a USB port, for docking the iPhone into a computer. As such, they're pinned accordingly, with no provision for the connections made by Dension-style units. That's the challenge.

Cheers,

Tom
 
timmus said:
True, and I have an XCarLink device that works similarly. However, an issue arises when you try to use something like a Dension unit in combination with the sort of dock that Simon has used. These docks are almost always designed to be connected to a USB port, for docking the iPhone into a computer. As such, they're pinned accordingly, with no provision for the connections made by Dension-style units. That's the challenge.

Cheers,

Tom
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Forgive me if it's a stupid question, (I've had little sleep and a few sherbets) but why would you want to use a dension style unit in combination with another dock?
 
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