philooo

subscribed Go for it...


I don't see how you could do it without also having something to get the sound into the OEM stereo.

Like the Dension 500 for example. I'd be interested doing it, if you can find the space

But in our car, there is no bluetooth and even connected via the Dension500 , you would have no way to control the volume, if you place the iPad mini in front of the radio... should that even be possible

Looking forward to see how this DIY turns out. It would be great to have the OBDII info right there.

philooo

a little image to help...

philooo

seems like the top storage tray is large enough to accommodate the standard radio size....

Keeping the oem radio is the simple way to go.

philooo

double din is 7" x 4"
ipad mini seems a little larger ...

Gonzo911

Confused as to why use an iPad mini instead of a Double Din unit? What are the advantages as overall cost would be similar plus the adaptive hardware is readily available? I assume you won't be surfing the web while driving.

philooo

For me the ipad mini would be helpful as it could display information from the OBDII reader, using app connecter to a bluetooth obdii reader.


and then use an app like dashcommand:
http://gopointtech.com/applications/dashcommand/

then there is the music and the gps application of course.

perfectlap

need the desktop to connect the Ipad to Itunes: Select OS, select device, run update, etc.
There are ~20 million original ipads that are SOL. Even the 3G orignal Ipads that could have received the update wirelessly.
Apple like it when you buy their stuff sooner than you need to.

p.s.
I'd wait for the Retina Mini Ipad to do a double din display. That way you'll at least get a discount on the the currently over-priced non-Retina version.

Slopeslider

What Philoo said. I currently use my iPhone mounted horizontally in the lower console for music, nav, obd, Harry's laptimer, etc... I connect to the Bose system via Sosche IPFMRDS http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ejOo7pP...l?i=142IPFMRDS
Pretty cool as it will display the song name on the radio and dash and charge my device. I would think if using the stock head that you could connect the iPad mini that way.

white out

For a non-DD or highly modded car, I always thought it would be good to just run an audio output to amp. Control everything with ipod/iphone. But using the ipadmini it would look much better in the car.

socalgt3

That is a good idea...keep us posted on your progress.

philooo

is anybody working on installing the ipad mini in their 996 ?

Slopeslider

PFBZ over a 6Speed is working on it.
http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/9...-997-a-11.html

pfbz

I haven't had much time to work on this since last week, but everything is pretty much ready to go back into the car.

Here's what I'm doing:

• Relocate HVAC to lower slot in lower center console.
• Relocate head unit to upper slot in lower center console.
• Replace head unit with Pioneer single din with USB input and enough charging current to keep iPad mini operating properly.
• Custom mount mini in upper dash.
• Modifications to horseshoe bezel and cup holder trim only. Can be returned to stock easily by replacing $60 bezel.
• Mini will feed into pioneer stereo, then to upgraded speakers in dash and rear.

pfbz

On the hookup, you could eliminate the head unit and go directly to the amp, but there are several considerations...

Head-unit solution:

• A top of the line Pioneer 1Din head unit (DEH-X9500BHS) is only $182 on Amazon.
• It has dual USB inputs with adequate charging current for an iPad mini, three sets of high-voltage RCA outputs if I want to drive an amp, HD radio, Sat-radio ready, and adjustable illumination color so I can exactly match the OEM amber lighting. It also has full bluetooth integration with my iPhone for calls.
• A volume **** rather than some slider is very nice.
• Built in amp is adequate for my current needs
• Easy to mount into one of the existing DIN openings.

No head-unit solution:
There are various ways to do this, but they all have some limitations. IMHO the BEST way would be

• iPad mini
• iStreamer digital-analog converter (DAC) ($230). This will allow you to bypass the relatively low quality DAC's built into the iPad to get a higher quality signal and simultaneously charge the iPad.
• Audiocontrol three.2 equalizer (~$300), fed by analog output from iStreamer. This will provide a real volume control **** as well as a front/rear fader (though still no balance control). 1/2Din form factor, so it will need a bit more custom work to install.
• Four channel amp. On the inexpensive/small/light side, something like the Fosgate punch PBR300X4 ($150) would be fine.

My original intent was to not use a head unit, but as you can see, it might seem simpler to eliminate the head unit, but it actually requires more stuff and is significantly more expensive to do correctly. It just didn't make sense with all the great low cost USB input head units now available to try and work around it.

I suppose you could do nothing more than take the headphone output of the mini and use a headphone jack to RCA cable and run it right to the amplifier... It would likely not have sound quality, and quickly adjusting the volume is difficult. And it *still* would cost as much as a decent USB input head unit...

pfbz

I function tested everything previously with the head unit and HVAC in their original upper position and the iPad mini just temporarily mounted to the lower console. Pandora, Slacker, Waze, MotionX, Harry's Lap Timer, Safari, Google maps, Apple maps, accu- weather all work great. You can even make phone calls if you want without a cell phone using a skype account. Inbound as well, but it takes a bit more work.



One of the things I've been waiting on is the IOS/iPad-mini jailbreak which was just released today. The thing I really wanted jailbreak for was to eliminate the 'lock' slider and have the mini immediately go live to the last app in use when the ignition is turned on, and immediately go to sleep when the ignition is turned off, just like it works with the smart cover. Simple enough, but impossible to accomplish without jailbreaking the device.

The jailbreak should also allow me to use the less-expensive generic OBD2 bluetooth devices to feed data to Rev, harrys lap timer, etc.