Digital Rear View Mirror - where to put the wires

[Johnhoward]

2 hours ago, JonneyB said:

..............what is it like when driving at night?  Is it a clear view behind and hoping it doesn't shine too bright in the cockpit?

PS: I have done a major awesome sound upgrade if you need any pointers.................

I don’t know what it is like at night as I never go out after dark, so can’t advise on that. There is a brightness adjustment and you can also set it to show speed and a compass if it was distracting. I’m not sure of there is a way to switch the screen off entirely so that it reverts to being a standard mirror. The screen has a reflective surface I think to satisfy MOT regulations.

You do initially notice the mirror more when you first install it. This is probably due to the refresh rate of a screen versus what your eye expects in a mirror. You also notice that daytime driving LED lamps in cars behind you tend to flash, the same effect that you can see when filming them. I found I got used to this very quickly.

I did have a problem with mine, where I think that the mirror stayed on after I locked the car and it drained the car battery. I am not certain if this was caused by an incorrect setting, operator error or a software bug. Since then I have factory reset the mirror and it seems to be working fine now.

Would be interested to hear what you have done audio wise. I am finding that the radio doesn’t stay tuned in to stations very well, almost as if the aerial is not strong enough.

[JonneyB]

14 hours ago, Johnhoward said:

Would be interested to hear what you have done audio wise. I am finding that the radio doesn’t stay tuned in to stations very well, almost as if the aerial is not strong enough.

Oxford Car Audio removed the old head unit and all the gubbins behind it (which I then sold on eBay) and installed an Alpine ILX 702D head unit which has all the current needs (DAB, CarPlay etc).  Door panels were removed, lots of soundproofing added and door speakers + tweeters were changed to JL Audio C5 650 6.5 which fit perfectly, enabling the same speaker grills to be used.  A DAB aerial was placed on the nsr window resulting in good reception.

The rear sub woofer panel was removed (also sold), more soundproofing applied, the woofer replaced with a JL 8W3V3 (same size as the old) and a 3 way amp JLMX600/3 fitted.  Once all put back together they noticed a slight vibration of the panel, so removed it all and stated again, adapting the bracket holding it.  They learnt a lot doing this fitting!

My phone is hardwired to the system each time using a Brodit holder as this will always be a better connection than wireless, but it can be wireless if need be.  The sound is superb.

[Cdm2018]

I did similar by replacing the already upgraded headunit and replaced with dvd pioneer unit but I got my local well renowned car audio people to do all the work 

my son did the sub/amp replacement but even he complained about time and awkwardness of doing it 

I suspect replacing what Jonney undertook would have cost a decent amount in labour costs ? 

[JonneyB]

22 hours ago, Cdm2018 said:

I suspect replacing what Jonney undertook would have cost a decent amount in labour costs ? 

Ahem, yes a fair bit.  I was fortunate that Oxford Car Audio took it on as a project and stuck to their quote, despite it taking a lot longer than they had anticipated.  Even so, labour was around £550 + VAT.

[Cdm2018]

19 minutes ago, JonneyB said:

Ahem, yes a fair bit.  I was fortunate that Oxford Car Audio took it on as a project and stuck to their quote, despite it taking a lot longer than they had anticipated.  Even so, labour was around £550 + VAT.

Yes I was lucky as saved a couple of hundred pounds getting my son to do the sub/amp but definitely the head unit done by car audio guys was worth     It 

[Techyd]

Looks great, I’ve been thinking of something like this in my Elise, as it would give the dashcams I’d like a in hoping a more stable rear view image, it doesn’t look too much bigger but obviously in an Elise I’m wondering if it would be too big??