[Nexus 7 General] aviola7x7:
After mainly lurking on the forums for a while, I decided to embark on a Nexus 7 Installation as I wanted to have to same features found in newer vehicles in my 2000 Mazda Protege. The only problem is I didn't want a permanent installation and didn't find previous posts to be complete enough other than to get some ideas from. I didn't like the fixed installation because the screen in most setups doesn't face the driver and doesn't appear to be useful. In addition, I wanted to be able to remove it especially in the summer when conditions in the car may be dangerous to the device itself.

The goal of this post is to give very detailed account of the setup up, how it works, and what my future plans for improvement are. I would also like to try and answer as many questions as possible for people considering doing the same with their own devices.

Video

First off, we'll start with a quick video of the installation in action. It may seem a little low in volume in the video but all of the sounds and music are playing through the car's speakers. As such, you can make it as loud as anyone could possible want.

[YOUTUBE]f14HKzn8fEg[/YOUTUBE]

Pictures

First up is the view from about where the driver would see. In reality, the steering wheel does not obstruct the screen.

Next is where the hub is currently placed. I don't yet want it completely hidden because the signal strength is displayed on the freedompop stick. It can be pushed down and out of sight from here.

And the hub in all its glory.

This is the view from the back where you can see the fish eye lens protruding from the trunk lid.

And now with the lens removed. Its still unfinished but I wanted to get a working prototype. I just need to sand down and seal the opening to prevent rust.

The MIMO antenna for data connection is just attached to the passenger's headrest for now. The wires are pretty short so it may end up staying here for now.

The FM antenna is currently placed in the back by the rear window. I live pretty far from the station so I needed something bigger for a clean signal.

A view of the power inverter. The hub takes up the plug while the Nexus is powered via the USB port.

And finally, a diagram showing the buttons of the bluetooth remote and what they do.

Hardware

Here is a complete list of all of the main hardware used.

Nexus 7 1st Gen

PAC Ground Loop Isolator

VicTsing Magnetic Detachable Fish-Eye Lens

RTL-SDR, FM+DAB, DVB-T USB Stick Set with RTL2832U & R820T

Satechi ST-TP01 Car Holder Mount for 5" - 10" Smartphones & Tablets

AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to A-Female Extension Cable (9.8 Feet/3.0 Meters)

ScanTool 426101 OBDLink MX Bluetooth/OBD-II Scan Tool Interface

DVB-T TV Turner to RF TV Antenna Coaxial Cable Adapter

Satechi Bluetooth Multi-Media Remote

NETGEAR 6000450 MIMO Antenna with 2 TS-9 Connectors

Freedom Stick Bolt 4G USB Modem

Logitech HD Webcam with Fluid Crystal Technology, C270

AmazonBasics USB 2.0 4-Port Ultra Mini Hub (NOT CURRENTLY USED)

PowerGen 4.2Amps / 20W Dual USB Car charger (NOT CURRENTLY USED)

Schumacher XI14 Power Inverter

Rosewill RHUB-300 USB 2.0 Hub 7-Port HUB With Power Adapter

Amplified AM/FM Antenna

GE Passive Antenna

European-TV Adapter

Micro USB Host OTG Cable + USB power

Software

Here is the complete list of the major software components used in this installation.

USB ROM for Nexus 7 with Timur’s Kernel

Webcam Hotswapping by redeyedjedi

SDR Touch

Torque Pro

Backup Cam (Mirror)

Tasker

Spotify

iHeartRadio

External Keyboard Helper Pro

Assistant Event for Tasker

Hardware Set Up

The Nexus 7 is mounted on the dash with the tablet mount, facing the driver. Its placement allows for easy viewing while not obstructing vision. From there, a 3.5mm audio cable runs for the headphone jack out into a PAC Ground Loop Isolator to eliminate the alternate whine and other electrical interference. This finally plugs into the AUX input of a cheap aftermarket radio I installed to replace the stock.

Coming out of the micro usb port is a Micro USB OTG Cable with power which connects to a powered USB Hub. The hub and device are powered by a 12V Power inverter. Everything should be able to be powered just through the OTG cable but I was having some charging issues early on which I rectified by disabling some apps from logging and constantly using the GPS but I kept the setup as it worked well.

On the hub are the Freedompop Bolt, RTL2832U dongle, and USB extension. The Freedompop Bolt I got a deal on over the summer which gives me a gig of free data every month which the Nexus used for its primary data connection. The signal strength can vary pretty dramatically out in NC where I am so I also installed a MIMO Antenna to improve reception and also have cell tethering as a backup in a pinch. The RTL2832U dongle is connected to the passive antenna for better FM reception which required some adapters listed in the Hardware Section. The USB extension cable runs from the dash, under the seats into the trunk where it connects to the USB webcam mounted in the trunk lid. I drilled a hole through which a fisheye lens attached to give me the backup cam.

Connected to underneath the dash is the bluetooth OBDII adapter which feeds realtime data to the Nexus and is displayed on Torque Pro. I enjoy knowing as much as possible about the car and actually end up using this display over the instrument cluster.

The final piece of hardware is the bluetooth remote mounted on the steering wheel. The buttons are remapped to various apps allowing complete control of the Nexus just using the left hand. It only took about a day to completely memorize everything which allows it to be operated without taking my eyes off the road.

Software Set Up

On the software side, The Nexus is running USB ROM with Timur's kernel which provides a fantastic base to start from when it comes to car installations. In addition, redeyedjedi's mod was installed which allows for hotswapping of the webcam as long as it was plugged in at boot. This means once everything is set up correctly, I can remove the tablet for whatever reason and when I plug in the USB again, everything works like it did before without any reboot needed.

Torque Pro is used to read and display all of the realtime information as mentioned before. SDR Touch taps into the RTL2832U dongle to give me live FM radio which is controlled via the bluetooth remote. I have the mainstays of Spotify and iHeartRadio for music in case I have poor reception of radio or just feel like something different.

Getting the webcam to work was tricky because most apps have the display rotated 90 degrees are have too low a refresh rate such that the feed to too choppy to be useful. I ended up installing Mirror because it gives me the correct orientation of the image and has a high enough refresh rate.

Like any good setup up, the Nexus is used for Navigation which is quite nice on the large, 7'' screen compared to my HTC One which I used to use. Google Now can be launched via the bluetooth remote allowing for voice commands to be given to set the location. Having all of the media run through the Nexus means that when navigation is speaking, the other sounds are muted and the directions can be heard clearly. This eliminated the problem of having the GPS drowned out by the radio which happened all too often with my old setup. It should be noted that I cannot yet get SDR Touch to muted or lower its volume when Navigation is speaking yet so that can be a problem sometimes.

Anyways, this is meant for people to follow along if they would like, get some inspiration for their own projects, as well as get some feedback on my own and how it can be improved. As of right now, I'm not looking to completely hide everything because it's all still being tested. I am, however, looking for some thing which can be added on to possibly make it even better. Some things I have already considered are putting a bunch of music on a flash drive for another source of music in case of poor FM and data reception.