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Android Box Installed

31K views 80 replies 19 participants last post by  Hansaplastique 
#1 ·
After months of back and forth I finally ordered and installed an Android box I got from Aliexpress. It was 319.00 shipped and I got it in a week. It was totally P&P unlike some earlier units that had you splice into the quadlock. It took about 2 hours because I didn't want to break any hidden VW tabs. No instructions came with it but I was able to follow along with some pics sent by the seller.
The one thing that held me back for so long was that it only has Android 6 but the seller said he would show me how to upgrade to a newer version however I'm not going to hold my breath. The touchscreen is not as as smooth as I like but gets the job done. I suspect that its the RNS850 software thats holding it back and not so much the Android box. Its going to take me a while to get used to the UI but all in all I think it was worth it just to have something that resembles 21st century tech. You switch over by a long press on the mic button on the steering wheel and from there on its pretty much like a tablet in your car.
 

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#2 ·
So you didn't have to splice or tap any wires at all? You only had to unplug the wire harness from the head unit? If so, that's fantastic. I'm going to order one and also purchase a Carplay USB dongle that should work. The whole thing will be less than $400, which is almost half the cost of Naviplus, and you don't have to mess with the touch screen ribbon or tapping any CANbus cables.

This is the one I'm thinking about ordering. Not sure if this is the same seller you ordered from, but the box looks the same.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32919511260.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.25b13c00WKkn91
 
#4 ·
The link above is the same I bought from L-way store...the 2G 16G model. No wire splicing required and the harness shown in the picture is not the same as you will receive. You don't have to get a car play dongle because the Easy Connection app is already installed and actually worked good in my CC. I suggest taking down the glove box instead of trying to remove the dvd. Much safer for the fiber optic cable and much more room to remove the connectors. 4 torx screws at the top inside and 2 on the bottom. It will come with a harness with a green connector and aux male cable that will now go between the factory harness to the quadlock on the back of the dvd. Pry up the tab on the quadlock with a tiny flat tip and the oem connector will pop out and slide the new one in and the connect the old one to that...all P&P. That male aux will connect to the female tip on the main harness for the android box or you wont have sound but everything else will work as I found out after an hour of head scratching. I opted to install the supplied external mic and the supplied speaker which will talk over the oem speakers if you are listening for route guidance on either the Android or RNS system. If you want sound on the android system simply press the media button which will switch it to aux mode. Since the android software eats up about 8 GB's I suggest a large sd card be on hand. I've already installed a couple of apps from the play store so no problems there. The gateway connector is the bottom yellow connector located on the left hand firewall. Since I'm using a tmobile syncup drive wifi I didn't need to install the gps antenna as google maps will now work. When you get the parts in your hand it will all make sense and I will be happy to walk anyone thru it.
 

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#5 ·
I found the box from the same L-way vendor on Amazon. I went ahead and ordered one. https://amzn.to/2GWKRfc

I also purchased a CarPlay dongle to use with it. https://amzn.to/31s7BeU

I’ll report back here in a few weeks after everything arrives and I get a chance to install it. Are there any special tools I’ll need? Do I need trim removal tools or like plastic pry tools of some sort?
 
#6 ·
The only thing you need to pry is the storage tray in the middle of the dash. There is 1 plastic torx (t30) screw that you can pry out with your nails and then use a thin plastic pry tool at the front of storage tray and pry up and pull it forward. There are two t20's holding the display unit in and then just pull forward. You will need a t20 torx for the 6 glove box screws. Put a pillow on the floor to let it rest on when it comes off. After all the screws are out it will swing forward at the bottom and hang at the top until you pop it off. Fuse box cover has to be off to get it unhooked all the way. I'm glad to report that all steering wheel and mfd functions remained and when in Android mode the rvc turns on immediately just like factory. If you can get an extra pair of hands it will come in handy when putting the glove box cooler vent tube back on. It pops on and off pretty easy. I can't stress enough DO NOT turn car on or even acc mode with the airbag wire disconnected from the display unit.
 
#7 ·
Hey so I'm new to the Touareg, just got a 2012 sport w/ nav, 55k miles, I'm in love. Only thing is the damn technology. Can't link my Bluetooth. So I'm reading through this forum realizing I don't know ****, which is ironic since I work in IT, albeit not at a technical capacity. Anyhow, I would love to be able to integrate my Droid, Moto z3 into this vehicle, I just don't really know where to start! This page looks to be the key, and I'd love to do it myself. Just could use a dumbed down step by step. I'm a 31 year old millennial so although tech-oriented-ish, I'm ADD af.
 
#8 ·
Hey so I'm new to the Touareg, just got a 2012 sport w/ nav, 55k miles, I'm in love. Only thing is the damn technology. Can't link my Bluetooth. So I'm reading through this forum realizing I don't know ****, which is ironic since I work in IT, albeit not at a technical capacity. Anyhow, I would love to be able to integrate my Droid, Moto z3 into this vehicle, I just don't really know where to start! This page looks to be the key, and I'd love to do it myself. Just could use a dumbed down step by step. I'm a 31 year old millennial so although tech-oriented-ish, I'm ADD af.
One thing that will help is to pay $35 for one day VW Erwin access so you can download factory service manuals. That way you can safely tear into the interior.
 
#11 ·
This feels like a dumb question, but I have a US 2016 Touareg TDI Sport with tech pack. Our Touareg doesn't have a DVD player in the dash, but does have the standard rns850. Most Android boxes like this seem to require doing stuff to the DVD changer. Would I be able to install one of these if I don't have a DVD drive in our Touareg? Would kill to have Android auto or anything better than the factory nav.
 
#16 ·
Our preferred language in this forum is English. Please adjust your posting to ensure this is complied with.
Notre langue préférée dans ce forum est l'anglais. Veuillez ajuster votre affichage pour vous assurer que cela est respecté.
 
#18 ·
If your Touareg did not come with a factory rear view camera the listing states that it will support an aftermarket camera. There is a yellow video input on this items harness. I don't know if Android Auto will work with this or not however it has a built in app that will allow you to mirror your phone via usb of which there are 2 on this unit.
 
#19 ·
The factory camera in the Touareg is a composite video connecting with a small coax cable to the back of the DVD/CPU. I think that the factory camera is PAL and the aftermarket may be NTSC, but I may be wrong.
In some other models the video is RGB and not composite.
It is likely that the android could take either PAL or NTSC and automatically convert to the proper output, but I cannot confirm that at all.
The stock camera does not have very good quality in the Touareg, but the RGB either had better resolution of the smaller RNS 510 did not show the fuzzienss in the display.
 
#27 ·
Kenrick118 did you remove the DVD player or did you remove the entire glovebox? Do you have any install tips or pics? My box should be arriving in a day or two. Thanks!
I removed the glove box,made life real easy. I reached out to suzy1052 and he walked me through the whole process . I made sure I had almost everything pulled before reaching out.

We should be happy God doesn't give us everything we ask for
 
#29 ·
The gateway connector is on the left-hand firewall. You have to remove the kick panel under the steering wheel to access it. It is the module with two orange connectors in it remove the bottom connector and splice it into the new harness and then connect the new harness into the gateway. this is by far the hardest part of this installation as you will have to contort yourself to reach this box but it is doable.
 
#30 ·
Agreed that was by far the hardest part. I’m a skinny dude I can’t imagine someone big or someone will bigger arms and hands being able to do it.

I have my CarPlay adapter working with the box, but the audio gets really choppy with multiple apps going. Not sure if it’s the CarPlay adapter/software at fault or the android box, but this seems to be a common complaint with these CarPlay dongles.
 
#31 ·
Agreed that was by far the hardest part. I’m a skinny dude I can’t imagine someone big or someone will bigger arms and hands being able to do it.

I have my CarPlay adapter working with the box, but the audio gets really choppy with multiple apps going. Not sure if it’s the CarPlay adapter/software at fault or the android box, but this seems to be a common complaint with these CarPlay dongles.
Only problem I'm having is with "Waze" guidance work but no audio. Using Google map?,perfect audio. Confuse.

We should be happy God doesn't give us everything we ask for
 
#33 ·
Well sadly I don't think this android box is fast enough for this carplay adapter. The audio gets extremely choppy and all in all it just doesn't work well. Another gotcha is that pressing the 360 camera button does not automatically switch to it like the backup camera does. You have to hold the steering wheel mic button to switch back to the VW interface to see the 360 camera.

My main reason for wanting to use carplay is my corporate cellphone doesn't allow tethering so to use this box with Waze and Spotify I'd have to add a sim card and pay $20/mo to add it to my wife's plan. I went with this box over the Joyeauto one since you didn't have to tap the canbus wires, but if I did it over again I'd go with the Joyeauto unit.
 
#37 ·
Well sadly I don't think this android box is fast enough for this carplay adapter. The audio gets extremely choppy and all in all it just doesn't work well. Another gotcha is that pressing the 360 camera button does not automatically switch to it like the backup camera does. You have to hold the steering wheel mic button to switch back to the VW interface to see the 360 camera.

My main reason for wanting to use carplay is my corporate cellphone doesn't allow tethering so to use this box with Waze and Spotify I'd have to add a sim card and pay $20/mo to add it to my wife's plan. I went with this box over the Joyeauto one since you didn't have to tap the canbus wires, but if I did it over again I'd go with the Joyeauto unit.
I don't have 360 camera, only backup. I have front and back security camera that I installed . I have a dedicated 10g hotspot that I now use for the camera and the android box .

We should be happy God doesn't give us everything we ask for
 
#40 ·
Have you guys noticed that sometimes when you switch back and forth between the VW interface and Android, that the Android screen gets noticeably dimmer? I had this happen today, but after turning the car off and back on the issue went away.

I asked the vendor about the issues with the 360 camera button and the steering wheel skip-track buttons. He asked for a video, here it is.
 
#41 ·
I really don't know how much I would gain functionally but I am concerned about Android 6 being unsupported in the future. I never really noticed the screen dimming but I'll check it out next time I get back in my car I've been riding my bike for a few days.
 
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