Fired up the PC today. Everything came on...looking good so far Had one minor issue where we had the power to the nav motor and the power to the screen on the same circuit (front cig lighter) and it was popping the 15A fuse. Moved the fuse to 20 and it started melting the wiring to the screen power (too much current), so we re routed the power to the motor to the rear cig lighter that already runs on 20A and moved the front back to 15A. No wire melting :D

As far as pulling the skin, I haven't played too much with the software yet, but would be happy to post it when I do, but it will be a while. My car will sit in a garage for the next 6 weeks while I'll be working in D.C. still. Further updates to come. I will probably post my own thread and give a link to it in here.

Want to say what a good job alz did on this. It's been very easy to hook it up on my side so far coming from his system. Needed almost zero instruction. It's pretty straight forward install as long as you know what you're doing with routing power wires.

-Derek

 

I am currently building one.. and could you explain your problem a little more? I don't want to run into anything like it...

 

We just had an issue where we had like 20 guage wire hooked up to the power for the LCD screen and we put it on a 20A line and the wire did not like that much current . We moved it to a 15A line and worked just fine.

But the reason why we had to switch is b/c we were blowing the 15A Cig line with having the housing motor power and the screen power on that same line, so we broke it up and kept the LCD power on the 15A front Cig line and moved the motor acc power to the rear Cig line which was already at 20A.

It's all together now and everything is working great so far with the housing motor and the and the computer. I think I shorted a USB inlet though b/c I'm getting an error about USB power surge. I'm going to have to disable one of them I think, but the computer itself is not a concern of mine. I can build those all day long.

We mounted the CarPC in the Vertical Console leading to the trunk. The wiring comes out right behind drivers side rear seat. We left that unbolted (as it slides into place) for easy access to the unit.

I work up a little write up tomorrow on the whole process. We changed out the interior at the same time from Cloth Black/grey to Leather Red/Black.

 

ah, rotarykillz I forgot to tell you the wiring on the nav hood itself.. seems like you got it right though.

red = ALWAYS ON 12v
black = ground
grey = SWITCHED 12v

 

made a DIY for people to see how I did the wiring to get the nav hood buttons to work

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-interior-audio-electronics-24/oem-nav-hood-controls-w-o-custom-pcb-172054/

 

I figured as much...if you want the thing to close down once you turn the car off

Thanks again for a great setup. It went as smooth as I could have asked for. You had a nice preinstalled MP3 collection too :D

I'm going to play with the gauges a bit. Throttle position doesn't seem to be accurate, but I've heard there's a new dash command coming out so might wait for it as well. As soon as I get back to my car (It's in Tulsa. I'm in D.C.), I will try and locate that skin and get it uploaded for you guys. I move back to Tulsa at the end of May, so look for it Mid June after I get all settled down after the move. If someone is really really wanting that sooner than that, PM me and I'll see what I can do to maybe have my brother get it off there.

 

hehe yeah forgot I was giving you my entire music collection!

the throttle position reading inaccurate is a function of the rx8 ecu, for some reason it will always report 67% as max.

 

Thanks for the info...any luck on the search for a new ride?

 

have my sights set on an S2000.

between the insurance settlement and a bit more saving I am looking to pay for it cash, no loan this time around.

getting out of the car payment obligation with the car being totalled and the insurance money was a blessing in disguise.

 

S2000 should be a ton of fun...very nice cars

Why did you not use the Radio option for the Centrafuse. I don't see it anywhere on your interface.

 

Well I am going to wire the nav hood power up to the battery line I am running, and the ignition up to that sig. Idk what I am powering the screen off of. Probably the same front cig lighter. Maybe an add-a-fuse, as I have run a lot off of the back cig lighter already.

Thanks for the info

 

I powered the screen off of the Front Cig Lighter(15A), but when I tried to power the screen and the motor, the fuse blew. I figured since it's just Cig Lighter, I'd install a 20A fuse there. This started to burn my wiring for the screen power, so shut that down quick

Ended up wiring the screen to the FRONT Cig Lighter(15A) and the Motor to the rear Cig Lighter(20A). That worked out great.

 

So you powered the motor off the rear cig lighter? or the ignition wire to the nav housing off the rear lighter?

 

Ignition wire to the nav housing motor off the rear lighter. Also have a constant power source running from the car battery as alz had mentioned earlier.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/GROM-Audio-Mazda...d=p3286.c0.m14

This is the only thing i could find.. But how do i know what firmware i have?????

http://www.gromaudio.com/store/aux_a...m-aux-maz.html

 

My thread lives on!

Turn on the radio, push and hold the Text button, then press and hold Preset
1 button to display version

 

ha ok THANKS!
Going to bed, later

 

I've been actually considering redoing this on my second 8.

Maybe.. just maybe.. if the funds ever allow it again.

 

This has been on my list for a long time. Since you are just 'considering' it, why wouldn't you do it? (other than funds) Is there a hassle component or other drawback once it is fully installed?

 

The OEM nav hood will be hard to source at a reasonable price.

Apart from that there is no other drawback.

It is all you'd ever need in terms of entertainment in the car, with the exception of maybe upgrading the sound system in general (speakers, woofer, and amp).

 

Cool, thanks. About what I expected, but wanted to check

I do alot of long distance driving, and my current setup has alot to be desired. Front cig port for my radar detector, rear is split to dual, one powering an inverter which powers my laptop, the other powering an FM transmitter to play music/movies over my 8's speakers, air card in the laptop for the frequent traffic.com checks (I use it all the time passing through NYC) Work hasn't replaced my GPS yet, but when they do, I am already out of connections, not mention cables everywhere, laptop seatbelted into the passenger seat, etc...

CarPC would resolve most of this, and it's on my short list.

 

Are you looking to just get audio? Because I bought a "Car2PC" and it does audio and allows the stereo buttons to change the song and such on the computer itself. It was also cheaper than most others that I found. That grom audio is not the only one.

 

Just a little suggestion in the interim... I assume you have your radar detector on your front windscreen, no?

I have my GPS mounted up there and I'm a cable clutter freak, so I picked up a second cig lighter and an add-a-fuse kit at the local auto supply place.

I added a second fuse into the fuse box on the drivers side and brought the wires out the back of it, up under the dash. The pos cigarette lighter got wired to the add-a-fuse and the negative got sandwiched under a bolt in that region that I sanded a bit of paint off of to provide a decent ground.

I did that almost a year and a half ago and it's been working great ever since. I found the cable on my TomTom fits quite nicely in the crevasse between the gauge cluster hood and the dash surround, then it disappears down the side of the wheel.

 

Handy. Thanks, I will have to do that.

 

Mazda 02+ Auxiliary interface(GROM-AUX-MAZ)
Mazda RX-8 04-08 (*, radio firmware v9.55 or later /v10.1 and v9.81 not supported/)

I have Version 9.82.. So i guess i am good!

I will also check "cartopc" Thanks