[FYT Android Head Units] edit:
21. Some have the FYT5009 SOM but some have the new FYT6021, what are the differences?

1. both have 2Gb or ram and 32Gb storage

2. the CPU on the FYT5009 has a max clock of 1.041Ghz

3. the CPU on the FYT6021 has a max clock of 1,2Ghz

4. the FYT6021 SOM has a tiny bit better heatsink (shape wise to dissipate the heat) but worse for cooling mods. The heatsink is attached with screws so it's easy to take out and replace the thermal paste (with a higher quality one) between the components of the SOM (CPU, VRM) and the heatsink. It does not have thermal pads between the components of the SOM and the heatsink like the FYT5009 does if you look at the pictures here http://4pda.ru/forum/lofiversion/index.php?t793304-1400.html

5. the FYT5009 has an worse heatsink but way better for a cooling mod because of it's smooth surface (glue a bigger heatsink on it), it also has a big and thick thermal pad under the SOM to move some of the heat to the bottom of the steel case. The heatsink is soldered to the SOM board so it's tricky to open up and replace the thermal paste, but someone did it on the russian forum, user YAM1966 and he claims that he lowered the temp by 13C . More details here : http://4pda.ru/forum/lofiversion/index.php?t793304-1400.html (use google translate)

6. the motherboard that hosts the FYT6021 SoM does not have the 2 video out RCAs like the one that hosts the FYT5009 SoM

If you ask me BOTH SOMs need active cooling. The default heatsink on both is poor and without active cooling the heat builds up very fast to 60-70C.

22. Is there a problem if I flash the firmware made for FYT6021 to the FYT5009?

I heaven't seen anyone doing that for testing purposes so I don't know what happens. I was curious to see if flashing the 6021 firmware onto a 5009 drives the CPU clock to 1.2Ghz but I haven't found any info on it.

Although the SOMs are pretty much the same the motherboards that sit on look different from one model to another (different layout, some extra connectors on the board, missing video outputs) so the MCU's could be a bit different... I would say it's a small chance that you could brick the unit.... I can't tell if it will be permanent or temporary (if in the brick state allows you to you flash it again with the proper firmware)

23. Are there any mods/skins of the default FM Radio app?

Yes. [MENTION=2550900]surfer63[/MENTION] did a very nice work here (with pictures)

https://hvdwolf.github.io/Joying-RootAssistant/RadioMods-examples.html

24. Are there any mirrors to the Joying firmwares?

Yes. [MENTION=520205]gtxaspec[/MENTION] was very kind and hosted some here : http://mirrors.gtxlabs.com/joying/1_Firmware/

But not the latest one....

25. I need a small ADB kit to install and use, where can I find one?

Here : https://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=42407269#post42407269

You can find portable (no install needed) and non portable versions also.

26. How much power it drains in sleep mode?

Usually the unit enters sleep in 50 seconds to 1 minute after you turn off the engine. In those 50 seconds to 1 minute the power drain fluctuates from 0.50 to 0.75A. After that the unit drains ONLY 0.012A.

I noticed 2 instances when the sleep behavior changes, can't really tell if it's by design or it's a bug:

1 If you happen turn on the engine in that 50 seconds to 1 minute time frame, before the HU enters sleep, from that moment on the unit will enter sleep only after 5 minutes from the moment the engine is off. In those 5 minutes the power drain fluctuates from 0.50A to 0.75A but mostly in the 0.60A area. After those 5 minutes it enters sleep mode and drains only 0.012A

2. After using Waze and iGo at some point the same issue occurs, and the unit behaves like I described above.

The unit has some fail safes and if for some reason it gets stuck draining more power than it should it shuts down/power off on it's own.

27. How long does it stay in sleep mode ?

Personally I haven't test it for more then 2.5 days and it slept fine 2.5 days without shutting down.. I use my car every day so it rarely sits in the driveway for long periods of time.

Some users said that it shuts down after 72 hours.

28. I am leaving my car in a parking lot of a month, I am afraid that my car battery will be empty when I get back, what shall I do?

If you don't start the car for a a longer period of time and you left the unit sleeping the HU shuts down/turn off at some point on it's own, no one really knows exactly after how much time is needed for that to happen.

To be absolutely sure that the unit drains no power at all and the car battery is safe do this :

1. enter Car settings app

2. Go to the bottom right tab (the one with the screwdriver on it) ckick it and enter 3368

3. Make sure that Dormancy Settings is set to OFF (the unit will power off/shut down when you stop the engine)

In the power off mode the HU it drains 0.00A

29. Why not use the Shutdown button from the notification bar to shutdown the unit ( 2 swipes down) ?

If in the Car Settings app the Dormancy Settings is set to ON, after you pushed the on screen button with the engine still running, the HU turns off the screen and backlight and it drains 0.45-0.60A. After you turn off the engine it enters sleep mode and drains the usual 0.012A. It does NOT shutdown! If you turn on the engine it wakes up in 2 seconds.

30. What about the Standby button?

It is semi-useless in my opinion. It displays the time and the date, white fonts on a black background.... nothing more.

31. Waze hangs when the HU exits sleep

I happened to me in many firmware versions, did not had the time to check how it behaves in the 25May version.

What I did is:

1. install the V6.3-Custom_Keys-Mods.zip made by [MENTION=3076686]gustden[/MENTION] from here : https://xdaforums.com/android-auto/android-head-units/joying-2gb-steering-wheel-key-t3543390

2. I've downloaded Notepad++ app to be able to edit the install.sh from here : https://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v7.4.1.html

2. Edited the launcher.sh with Notepad++ and inserted this

sleep 5

am force-stop com.waze

After this:

98) # ACC_OFF - executes on key off

$pause

In the end it should look like this :

98) # ACC_OFF - executes on key off

$pause

sleep 5

am force-stop com.waze

What is does is after you turn off the engine, it waits for 5 seconds and it kills the waze task. The good thing is that once the units wakes up it launches automatically the last active app, so it starts Waze and it resumes the course if it was interrupted during a course.

32. What app shall I use to edit launcher.sh ?

Notepad++, free, official download site : https://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v7.4.1.html

33. How fast does the unit start?

1. From shutdown it takes 43 seconds.

2. From sleep it takes 2-3 seconds

My experience : I am using the unit for more then 3 weeks now and the unit never rebooted and it never started in the morning from shutdown.

34. What was your previous unit? Why did you choose this one?

Before this one I had an Witson unit with an RK3066 (dual core 1.6Ghz) with 1Gb of ram and 8Gb of storage, 2 microsd slots, 2 usb ports.

I upgraded to this one mostly for 2 reasons it's instant power on and the XDA support and community. After I bought it, I discovered that it has GLONASS and that was a great addition and it had a bit better GPS signal also a welcomed plus. After that I discovered that the unit can be tethered via bluetooth, a major plus.

The new unit lacks a CD/DVD drive but I don't need one, because I mostly stream music and use Waze... when I am in an area with no cellular coverage I use PlayerPro and iGo/Here. I haven't touched a CD in years also I consider the DVD technology obsolete. The sound quality of the FM Radio on the Joying unit is a lot better than my previous unit but it still lacks badly for me, especially when I listen to music, it lacks the dynamic range, it lacks punch, the clarity needed to be able to enjoy music. For talk shows and news is perfectly fine.

Believe me or not but I haven't really felt that this unit is faster then my previous one probably because I keep my units simple, I have very few apps loaded and running.

35. Have you done any hardware mods to your unit?

Yes. I could not stand the high temperatures of the CPU and the throttling on a hot day so I glued (with the help of Arctic Alumina thermal adhesive) some small heatsinks on top the (default) smooth aluminium heatsink to help dissipate the heat more efficiently and soon after I added a few more taller heatsinks for an even better efficiency. All that helped till a certain point where the heat buillt up in the steel case and remains trapped there heating everything up pretty nicely. So I drilled a lot of holes into the top of the case and mounted an low power, low noise high quality fan (Noctua NF R8 redux 1200). The fan sucks the air into the case and slowly cools down the internals.

36. Is there a way to start Google Maps with a darker theme at night to search for a place?

Yes! I was also bothered that when I start the Google Maps at night time, it welcomes me with a blinding white-gray map. Once you plot a course it enters navigation mode, checks (via gps) if its night outside and goes to a dark theme but untill that moment you have to deal with the white map.

So there is an Google Maps widget, more like a shortcut called "Driving" and that one starts the Google Maps in driving mode and at night has the proper dark theme and the cool thing is that in daytime has the proper bright theme.

37. Is there a way to set the default start up volume?

Yes ! In Car Settings app, first tab, lower left, scroll down till you found "Default boot volume" and set it to a decent 7 or 8... the default is 18 and it's too much.

38. I am using a pair of sunglasses that are polarized when I am driving and when I look at the unit the screen reflections (glare) are rainbow like, extremely annoying and the screen looks somewhat darker? Is there a solution for that?

Yes I bought an anti-reflex screen protector, from here : http://www.magic-guard.com/screen-protector-antireflex.html

I measured the screen exactly and ordered 2 sets, one exactly what I measured and the second with 1mm smaller just to be on the safe side in case the first one does not fit for some reason. They take custom size measurements and they laser cut it to your specifications.

It cuts the rainbow effect of the reflections, the fingerprints are no longer a problem, yes it still gathers fingerprints but are not that visible. It cuts down a bit on clarity if you look at it really close, it's nothing bad, but that was to be expected since the screen protector has a grainy texture. I don't really notice any clarity issues because the unit it's at an arm length from my face at all times :)

39. The glare on these units with clear glass on a car environment are absolutely horrible, any solution?

Yes! look above at question 38. Indeed the fixed unit position, depending on the car of course, mine is pretty up on the dashboard and pointed a bit up so the light from the side windows reflects pretty badly. I cannot use it without an anti-reflex screen protector to cut down the glare.

40. I installed Poweramp, I have the Custom Keys mod installed and working alright with other apps but it does not work with Poweramp to start the music on engine start. Is there a solution?

Yes! In the launcher.sh I added this :

# Poweramp

poweramp="com.maxmpz.audioplayer/.PlayerUIActivity"

poweramp_press=$play

and at "97)" you have to replace the simple "$play" with "( $poweramp && sleep 2 && $play ) &" in the end it should look like this:

97) # ACC_ON - execute on key on

( $poweramp && sleep 2 && $play ) &

;;

41. I've made the modifications that you mentioned above at 40 but it take some time for the music to play when I start the engine.

Yes, indeed it takes about 15 seconds. I haven't found a solution for that yet. On PlayerPro music player I did not encounter these kind of problems, it was almost instant from the moment the car was on and the app resumed ( not exactly instant mode like 5-6 seconds overall). [MENTION=4982607]dayanandgp[/MENTION] mentioned that is the units fault because it insists to scan the USB ports at every unit wake up.

Later edit : I found out after tons of testing (of course it's never fast or easy) that when you have installed the Google app there is that 15 seconds delay at Poweramp start. Once I uninstalled Google app the Poweramp music starts playing 3-4 seconds after the unit wakes up. What's strange is that Deezer is not affected by the Google app presence.... with or without Google app installed it starts playing in 3-4 seconds after the unit wakes up.

42. Poweramp does not work with Viper4Android even if other installed apps seem to work file with Viper.

Go to Settings -> Audio -> Advanced Tweaks -> Direct Volume Control (untick / disable it)

Now it should work fine..

43. are you using a different Google account for the car or the same that you have on your phone.

For a long time I was using my main account but at one point decided to make a new one just for my car because these Chinese units have very poor security and if you value your privacy I recommend to do the same.

44. How do you decide on what model to buy from all the Chinese units?

1. First of all I look for the unit that has the biggest fan club here on XDA :) Without the xda support, the mods that xda members make these units are pretty poor even if they have good hardware because most of the time the software (out of the box) is so bad that it makes you regret buying it in the first place.

2. Second, EXTREMELY important for me is to make sure the unit has ROOT. Most of the units that I've encountered have poor EQ, (that translates into very poor bass output for my speakers), some have 3 EQ bands, some have 7 or 9 or 10... NO matter how many EQ bands they have I've never seen a good implementation of the EQ... That's why for me Viper4Android is a MUST have piece of software I can tune the sound to my preference and tailor it to my car speakers. Viper4Android needs root to be able to install and run. For me and my car speakers (nothing fancy, but of average quality (or a bit above average) Viper4Android trully made the sound quality good (took it from poor to good).

3. I start to read a lot on the people experiences, gather as much data as I can find and decide if the unit will suits my needs or not.

4. After I gather enough data I make a list of questions to make sure that the unit really fits my needs and that I got all the facts straight (sometimes things change for better or worse depending on the firmwares)

5. it's also a bonus if the unit can be purchased from an European store because in some countries with the import taxes and vat the price can get quite high...

45. Why have you chosen this unit and not a different one ?

1. Mainly for the instant on feature. Got tired of my old unit that took 40 seconds to turn on each time I got into my car. After waiting for 40 seconds had to wait a bit more to start the music app, pick up a playlist of album and press play... then start waze, select the location and set sail. Wasted time around 1-1.30 minutes each time. With the new unit the time the music starts automatically where it left off, the waze starts automatically, I only need to enter the adress and go... wasted time 20 seconds at best.

The moment I turn on my car the last used music app resumes playing where it left off (this works only the [MENTION=3076686]gustden[/MENTION] "no kill" mod). Basically in 5 seconds from the car start the music starts playing without me touching the unit. Pure gold !

2. BT tethering - second best feature for me because I stream a lot of music and it's not heavy on the phone battery while I am the road for hours,

3. because it has GLONASS... it helps a lot with the GPS precision in many situations

4. the screen is decent for such a cheap unit. It has decent brightness during daytime and also goes low enough during night time but not as low as I would have liked... I have to use an app to take it further down... wrote about about it.

5. the SOM has the BT/Wi-Fi chip on it so the android has full access to the BT and WI-FI module so I can enable BT tethering something that I haven't seen on other Chinese units.... it's also very important for me. The downside is that is badly implemented in the software out of the box.... of course. A mod made it work (as i said the XDA community is pure gold when it comes to these units) but out of the box the BT tethering is impossible.

6. has good BT and Wi-Fi signal quality... not amazing speed or anything but enough

7. it has 2Gb of ram and 32 gb (24Gb free in fact) storage and a decent CPU. The CPU is just decent, it gets the job done but I could not call it good. The storage is slow when it comes to writing and decent when it comes to reading so rebooting (or booting from shutdown) is a bit on the slow side compared to my old rk3066 dual core at 1.6ghz with 1 gb of ram and 8gb storage. My old unit, using the same apps was booting in 40-45 seconds and this new one (Joying Sofia) is booting in the same amount of time (more of less) but it's a quad with 2gb of ram... I expected a faster booting experience but it is what it is. The upside is that I rarely reboot it or forced to boot up from the shutdown mode.

8. It has hardware buttons and volume knobs - The capacities buttons are not good for car use, you need to take your eyes from the road to look for the buttons you need to press

9. It does not have an CD unit but I am not interested in having one. I haven't touched a CD in the last 3 years and I haven't bought one in the last 6. I stream all my music for convenience. I don't need to handle CD's while driving, searching for an album or song is lightning fast, compiling big playlists is easy.

10. The FM radio implementation software and hardware is decent enough on the Joying unit but rather poor in my opinion so I don't use it. I rather stream an FM radio station over the internet... I get a lot better sound quality.

46. I want to flash JUST the MCU from another firmware without flashing the whole firmware how can I do that

If you want for some reason to flash the MCU only extract these files from an firmware and put in the in the root of a flashcard or usb stick :

AllInOne.bat

SQLSOFIA

STM8_PROJECT cov.s19

STM8UD.BIN

EVEN if you flash the MCU only at the end of the flashing it will wipe the unit also so BE carefully.

47. What If I want to flash the OS part of the firmware but I want to keep my old MCU

If you want for some reason to flash/reflash an firmware without the MCU (because you want to keep the MCU you have) unpack the firmware archive in a folder and delete these 3 files (just the 3, SQLSOFIA is needed for the unit to detect and flash the firmware, it's the flash trigger file)

AllInOne.bat

STM8_PROJECT cov.s19

STM8UD.BIN

48. I can't adjust brightness properly, it's way to bright at night and the "Backlight current adjustment" menu from the Car Settings app is gone

I flashed the 25May firmware the FYT5009 version on a 5009 unit and discovered that It does not have the brightness menu in the Car Settings app so I flashed the 25May FYT6021 version on the 5009 unit, flashed ok and the brightness menu showed up.

Then decided to compare the files (binary) between the firmwares to see what files are different and except the customercfg.txt and rksofiacfg.cfg all the other files are identical between the 2 firmwares.

The rksofiacfg.cfg file has the same size on both firmwares but the content is different.

It ALL comes down to this file when it comes to "Backlight current adjustment" menu being present or not : rksofiacfg.cfg

My advice is to get this file from a previous firmware that you used and where the "Backlight current adjustment" menu was present and working.

49. Is just me or the BT speed is lower with the Android 6 firmwares versus the Android 5 ones?

Indeed for some reason with Android 6 the bluetooth speed droped like 50-60%. Also I find the unit pretty picky with the phones when it comes to Bluetooth speed, I tested with an Huawei and it would never get past 220k DL but with a Samsung gets to 340k...

50. Is there any piece of software for the Joying unit that can make my life easier?

Yes it is. Thank [MENTION=2550900]surfer63[/MENTION] for his nice piece of software!

More info here : https://xdaforums.com/android-auto/android-head-units/joying-extra-tools-apk-apk-to-help-t3628200

51. Can I cut the 3 second lag on the launcher.sh somehow? I feel that when I use the custom keys mod there is lag when I use the keys or steering wheel buttons.

[MENTION=2550900]surfer63[/MENTION] gave some pointers here : https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=73023988&postcount=930

Edit the launcher.sh with Notepad++ and add "#!/system/bin/sh" at the beginning of the file

"This makes it slighly faster (approx 1 second) as the system does not have to check first whether "this executable" really is a shell script.

Next to that I removed all unused stuff as it makes the loading of the script slightly faster as well, but that should be in the range of milliseconds and is actually not worth the effort."

52. I want to turn off the screen but not the unit, the brightness bothers me at night.

Press and hold the MUTE button for 2-3 seconds and the screen will go off. Push any button or touch the screen to turn the screen back on.

53a. What cooling solutions do you have for the 5009 and 6021 units given the SoM have different heatsinks (more like heatplates)

Disclaimer : I am just giving some ideas here... just to make sure that your modding is safe talk to someone with extensive experience when it comes to electronics

IF you want to KEEP your warranty, especially when you have 2 years (European buyers) the best and single solution is to mount an 80 or 120 mm fan on the top of the case.

The fan needs to be high quality, silent, low power, low speed, no more then 1200-1800 RPM. Use a FUSE box for the FAN... ask someone with experience in electronics for more details.

You will need to cut a hole for the fan or drill a lot of small holes in the top steel cover for the air to get in... If you cut a single big hole and you are worried about the dust use an magnetic dust filter on top of the unit... you can find plenty of models online for PC cases.

With just a fan (and no additional heatsink glued onto the SoM), depending on your unit placement,the dash configuration, fan speed you might never see impressive low temperatures but at least you will not see the unit getting toasty at 100C. To explain a bit more about the temperature in the dash... some car have the air vents above the headunit and those vents cool the place up when AC is running , some cars have the headunit totally isolated... just a hole in the dash with little to no air getting to the unit so in this scenario the unit will heat up slowly but surely no matter what (in this case an the fan's help will be limited but still better then nothing)

On the 5009 - given the smooth surface, first remove the stickers, clean the surface, then find an aluminium heatsink that has many high fins (help dissipate the heat faster) and it's tall and long enough to NOT cover the SoM holes, use some thermal adhesive and glue it in. Also try not to pick up heatsinks with thick base, it ads up more weight but aren't necessarily more efficient. The CPU is under the "dent" so the dent and the area around it is very important. I guess you could fill up the dent with thermal glue to help with the contact of the new to be mounted heatsink although I did NOT test that.

You could glue in 2 heatsinks if they are the right size and the SoM holes will not be covered.

Example of heatsinks.

1 : https://www.micforg.co.jp/images/c_cs.jpg or this one http://northamericanshores.com/slowblog/good_heatsink.jpg

On the 6021 - given those tiny fins using a thermal adhesive on it it's a bit tricky. The CPU is under that middle flat square spot. You should use enough glue to fill the space between the fins (around the flat spot) to maximize the contact surface between your (new) soon to be mounted heatsink and the SoM heatsink. Be careful that a bigger amount of thermal adhesive will have a longer curing time (also is more liquid).

Use adhesive tape to cover the holes of the SoM heatsink so you don't accidentally get thermal adhesive inside those... and carefully remove the adhesive tape later when thermal adhesive has hardened enough.

About the height :

1. If you have a single DIN unit the heatsink needs to be lower so maybe 2 cm tall.... you need to measure because it depends on the fan position

2. if you have a standard 2DIN unit 3-4 cm would work ok (even 5 cm might be ok but check if you have enough spare room for the fan above)

When it comes to heatsinks the bigger the better... the more surface there is to dissipate the heat the cooler the component will get. I prefer aluminium heatsinks over the copper ones (when we talk about gluing them to the SoM) mostly because of the weight but there are some other issues like corrosion (copper with aluminium).... given the 5009 SoM is soldered to the motherboard the weight of the SoM+heatsink, combined with the car vibrations (more or less, depending on the car brand, engine type, road quality) could stress too much the SoM soldering points and possibly crack/break some in time. I am NOT sure of it, I don't have the means to test that, but just by looking at the soldering points I just don't have enough confidence to recommend an big 200-300 grams heatsinks. The heatsinks I've installed were around 60-120 grams max.

On the 6021 unit giving the socketed type of the SoM (way more solid built than 5009) you could probably install an heavier heatsink, say 200 grams, without worrying so much.... again, I have not test it to be absolute sure that nothing goes wrong in 3-6 years time.

Do NOT cover the SoM ventilation holes. Again, I don't have the expertise to be able to tell what happens if you cover those but I think the holes are there for a reason so let's keep them open.

Use some adhesive tape to cover the holes and remove it after you finished the modding (to prevent the holes to fill up with glue)

These thermal adhesive are good :

Warning : Both linked below are PERMANENT thermal adhesive, once you glued the heatsink on the SoM ... it's there for LIFE

I used this one because it's completly safe, it's not capacitive or conductive.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_alumina_thermal_adhesive.htm

This is better formula for heat transfering but it is slightly capacitive :

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_thermal_adhesive.htm

Be careful not to drop some by accident on the motherboard.

These 2 adhesives curing time depends a lot on the temperature.... the higher the temperature the faster the curing time is

Fans that I would use:

These 2 are adequate for a 2DIN unit :

Noctua, 80mm, 1200RPM - http://noctua.at/en/products/product-line-redux/nf-r8-redux-1200

Noctua, 120mm, 1200RPM - http://noctua.at/en/products/product-line-redux/nf-s12b-redux-1200

And maybe this ones are good option for some that think that they need more airflow although it will generate a bit more noise:

Noctua, 92mm, 1600RPM - http://noctua.at/en/products/product-line-redux/nf-b9-redux-1600

Noctua, 80mm, 1800RPM - http://noctua.at/en/products/product-line-redux/nf-r8-redux-1800

One thing I don't know is how these fans will behave in very cold weather, in the winter time at -10 to -25C.

I opted for the fans above because the Noctua brand is well known for it's very high quality fans and designs, 6 years warranty, having low RPM is good because they are very quiet although the airflow takes a hit, but I am using the 80mm 1200RPM fan and it's more then enough when you have an heatsink glued onto the SoM.

Remember that in the end no matter what fan size or speed you end up using, it is better to have a fan because every bit of airflow helps so if you don't have the space (in 1 din units) to install an 80mm fan install something that fits your space. Don't forget to install a fuse on the fan... if for some reason the fan breaks and for some reason shorts out... you need a failsafe (fuse).

go to 53b ->