Davebrossi

Hello all!

I completed the Turbo S interior install and decided to take a look at the headrest displays as a secondary project now that everything important is installed. The right display has a DVD drive and a set of female RCA plugs extend from behind the seat. The Driver's display has no DVD player. Both units terminate in what resembles a D15 monitor connector under the seats with the driver's seat having an additional din connector.

Resembles an old PC monitor connector.

Displays in place.

Driver's side

Passenger's display

RCA cables from the passenger's side

TRINITONY

I have that in mine and it came with two headphones. Sucks that audio is only from the headphones. I turned it on once to see if it works...LOL.

Davebrossi

Honestly my only intention with the rear monitors is to use them to mirror in output from an aftermarket stereo that has RCA jacks on it for video out yeah I can obtain wireless headphones they can be bought after market and worked his fine but I want to mirror what's coming out of stereo deck

Davebrossi

This is a surprisingly rarely discussed setup. I recognize I should probably just pull the units because they are not exactly cutting edge, but who am I to back away from a stupid unique problem?

Davebrossi

So I know that isn't likely to get a response, but unlike the lights comfort system, this one was a last minute bodge job, and I still have my original seats so....I pulled the whole system. Photos to follow since the whole thing is a seperate unit. Also the factory worker (their name was on a label on the inside) did a number with a reciprocating saw when modifying the seatbacks...which had seperated from their mounts anyhow. Wayhey!

Davebrossi

As promised! After pulling the video units which were mounted by two nut/torx screw combos and a clip that supported the displays that clipped under the headrest guides, I was able to remove both display units from the front seats. As part of the process of adding these 'factory' options, a section of the seat back was cut to accommodate the mounting bracket, with an additional hole bored into the passenger's seat back to accommodate auxiliary input 1. As I said, because I had my original seats, I was able to replace these modified seat backs with standard ones. The modified units also only relied on two spring clips instead of three to hold the back against the frame of the front seat. In both seats here, despite being a model year newer than the seats they replaced, both seats had spring clip mount failure (glue.)

As previously mentioned, what looked like D-15 plugs ran from both units, and while there is a component missing that they join up at, the purpose of this 15 pin connector is to mirror the main display to the passenger's as well as feed it power. Let's just call this the slave cable, that's what Porsche did. In addition to the passenger's unit having a DVD player built into the display, there's a junction box where a slave cable can feed from the main display to a second display, and also where (2) AUX inputs reside. I found the second bundle buried under the seat in factory melty gross electrical tape and a zip tie. Power was delivered by two pins, with a common ground. After screwing up the pairing (and magic smoke, BRIEFLY, I proimsie!) I reset my connections and breathed life into the unit. The buttons, when not in service are...just gross, they used that rubberized coating used on so many surfaces that 12 years of desert and heat have reduced to tar. Power fed into the unit and....well I'm going to pretend the tearing in the screen is the result of age and not my misadventure with power leads. As promised, the resolution leaves something to be desired. DVD player works at least! Bonus points to those who know the anime I tested the remote with.



The 'main' unit with DVD player and decoder card separate from the display. Note two sets of RCA cables, a 'slave' cable, a power lead, and what you'd be forgiven for thinking was an unoccupied S-video port.

Not one, but TWO Aux inputs. One exited out into the map pocket of the passenger's seat, but what about the other?

Yep...This is how I found Input 2. Probably going to leave it that way, too.

Other than 'set them on fire' I really don't have any ideas how to make this not disgusting. UV radiation and plastics, well...bugger

The details of the pin-out of both the slave cable, the power cable I -absolutely- didn't wire up incorrectly leading to magic smoke, and a mystery cable I assume to be part of another setup.

Feed it some power, and...well it doesn't get much more pretty than this, but it works! Even after magic smoke time. Screen tear/dead pixels I'm going to say are age related.

Wings of Honneamise is much more ground breaking than this system, and it was made in 1987! This was with the brightness/contrast/hue, all tweaked as best as I could. Also the remote works just fine with this.

Davebrossi

So...after an inspired think about, I took a look at the sole cable running from the Driver's side monitor, the 'slave' unit. The wiring harness that comes from the display is terminated just outside the unit with an extension 'slave' cable that is male to male D15 pin. Setting the two units next to one another and removing this extension I was able to attach the slave cable from the main unit to the driver's side unit, and.....


Yep... those black lines are really there...bugger

I'm unhappy that there are dead sections of the display; At this time I do not know if that's the result of ribbon cable damage, or damage to the display itself. Is it really stupid to continue to disassemble a display in the hopes that I can figure out the connection point, see if anything has lifted, maybe even check for a replacement that has the same voltage leads in the hope of improving these, or what? As it stands, if I were to put this back, I know the 'how' (I know there's a MacGuffin out there that the two displays join into, probably also has connections for chassis ground and leads 15 and 30, but not having that, I suspect I can take the leads and wire them in to other sources) I also believe I can probably find an old fashioned D-15 male to male adapter (to be fair I'm going to have to check pin alignments before that) but I'm fishing in the dark here. Don't even have IR headphones (you can get aftermarket units, which I will do) but I wonder just how deep down this rabbit hole it's worth going.

Davebrossi

DVDs have stopped reading, CDs are OK. Going to have to slog to find something with RCA video in :-D

Davebrossi

So I did find a D15 display female to female adapter, it's on it's way, allowing me to solve the slave display issue without some sort of special item. Electrical question; I have two positive leads on the power harness. 12VDC, sure, one lists +15, the other +30. One I imagine needs to terminate in a switched fuse, the other one that receives constant voltage. Am I reading that right, or is it something else? On my bench power supply amperage never exceeded 2 amps (really 1 plus change) and wattage was around 22 watts for both vs. 11 for one. I'm getting -really- good at adapting and utilizing those fuse adapters sold at FLAPS when you want to add electrical devices

TRINITONY

Are you looking into hooking up the audio to rest of the speakers?

Davebrossi

Attention is now given to the displays. They're old, under the 'Eurologics' Philips line, fitted by another name from the factory. I haven't pulled the casing apart for them, but I'm hoping I can get a read on the model of 7" Active Matrix display. I can see the damage to the LCD panels is from age, swaths of dead pixels. Since the Driver's side unit is the slave unit and doesn't contain a DVD player, my plan is to pull it open and see if I can match it up. I cannot imagine the display was unique to just one product line, messy as it is, I'm sure Philips products of the era used it everywhere. I removed the rubberized coating that had turned to 'tar' with leather prep agent from leatherique. Did the same pre-emptively with the slave monitor. Buttons look great.

Davebrossi

At this time I have no plans to try and wire them into the audio of the main stereo. Before I get creative I want to just get things to 'work'....Because the setup already accepts RCA inputs, I was thinking a wireless input that mirrors an android device for starters.

Davebrossi

I've taken the liberty of dismantling the Slave display which consisted of a PCB that controlled power, image processing/custom software, IR transmission, back light illumination and of course the feed to the LCD panel. The panel was a joint venture with LG/Philips, part number LT070W02-TMG1. Turn outs you can still buy them, though... with a resolution of 420x234 a replacement wont look any nicer, just...free of dead pixels. The PCB and display were joined together by industrial Velcro, which, as it turns out, makes up a lot of what holds things together in the V3 Porsche Rear Entertainment System.

Having 'sorted' the displays, I'm going to put this on hold since sudden unexpected change in revenue keeps me from spending on any new projects. Since that situation is a case of 'is what it is' and no one's banging on my door, it may be some time until I revisit this. Ideally I order replacement displays, and once the slave display is reassembled I can turn my attention to servicing the DVD player in the master unit, as well as a further exploration of the guts of the DVD player/command module that sits below the display. Dismantling the display starts with removal of a back 'cover plate' held in by Velcro. This gives you access to (4) long coarse Philips screws which removes the leather surround from the display/swivel mount. With the Swivel mount, you need only loosen the outer most lock nuts to remove the display from the mount. (4) smaller Philips screws hold the back of the casing on and can be found around the outside perimeter of the display. Once removed you'll find a mounting bracket holding the combination of display/control board in place. Disconnect the two wire harnesses at the bottom right, one leads to the IR array, the other provides power/data input to the board. You will find Foil tape holding the metal surrounding bracket in place and (3) Philips screws holding the driver board in. Once the foil tape is removed the outside bracket folds open, the two boards can be removed. Finally, foil tape surrounds the display/driver board before you can disconnect the display ribbon, and the worryingly toxic CFL illumination system which is plugged in up top.

I had photos taken, but apparently my token has expired. Like so many other things in my life. Needless to say this one isn't rocket science, this isn't removing a burned exhaust valve. Anyhow my photos were terrible as guide images, but, well...

Davebrossi

Davebrossi

So, digging further I found the displays use a CCFM illumination system and white paper behind the LCD display itself. You gently pry on tabs holding the units together to seperate them out. Held up to a light the fault is clear...er...blacked out.