Getting the basics working first is certainly a priority and not without some trial and error. Your button selection seems reasonable. (edit. I would add the shock stiffness select button and think just AC and shock would be enough for most every day)

My startup sequence is usually.... car on... flip to native screen... acknowledge nag screens... set shocks to sport... ac off & windows open (unless it's raining or winter) ...flip to back to android screen. A bit annoying, and the android os does take a few seconds to boot.

Once I've done that, I've found little reason to go back to the stock screen on a regular occasion. Once in a great while, I'll tweak the audio settings. For the rest, the up/down/auto buttons for the AC work just fine. Hardly ever use the trip computer other than the one in the center dash, or the other buttons/features.

Be glad to share all that I have. (one more post and you will be able PM me your email address and I can send you the file - Funny, I had the exact same problem when first attempting to contact lilo!)

 

From what you’re saying then I need to have a PIC with ten inputs: the seven being those listed above, plus additional ones triggered by damping and ride height on the horizontal control panel, and finally, the tenth being the momentary push button in the ashtray.

Pressing any of the nine should cause immediate reversion to native Bentley format, with an automatic reversion to Android after 20 (tbc) seconds.

The ashtray button should cause an immediate toggling of format i.e. Android → Bentley → Android → Bentley and so on.

The PIC will start up almost immediately and should be programmed to select Bentley (tbc) at start up.

Presumably the selection of reverse should override these selections and display the camera output.

Does that all make sense?

 

That all makes sense.

The Momentary push button cycles the inputs via the keyboard header on the LCD controller, so you might want to consider leaving that one separately. (can't remember if it defaults at HDMI start or last setting. Might be configurable by the LCD controllers on screen menu, that can be accessed by the remote) . Order is hdmi, vga, av inputs I believe.

For ease of reference on the inputs

HDMI - Car PC (minix)
VGA - Bentley Stock screen (RGBS signal .. this is why the russian firmware is needed, to translate the stock rgbs signal, and of course the little breakout board to connect to the vga header)
AV1 - Reverse camera (coax + voltage, via pigtail to reverse light from camera hareness)

Having an aha moment just now... you could possibly just use the PLC to take the button inputs and, use that to pulse the appropriate number of button presses to the same inputs the ashtray button uses. (if it's just one, you might even be able to do it with a relay setup) Going back, however, you'd have to use the ashtray button. This wouldn't be a bad compromise, though.

The reverse (video input) is on as long as voltage is applied to the pin that's part of the av input header. When the voltage is gone, it reverts back to the HDMI input. (or perhaps the default, will have to look into this)

I'll look at the LCD controller documents more closely, as it may provide manipulation via the keyboard header that makes this much easier.

 

Hey Dark Green,

Realized that I didn't answer your original question of knowing when it's displaying what screen. One thing is that when inputs are switched, theres a text indicator on the top left of the LCD panel. The LCD controller must be sending that information to the panel as text. If that signal could be intercepted, that may be a way to know what the LCD is displaying.

 

I think that there may be an easier way, but until I actually get hold of the LCD Controller Board, and more importantly its remote control, I can't be sure.
I'm wondering what is the moding of the video source select on the remote control, and whether that too just cycles, or whether it is capable of making a 'hard demand' i.e. show VGA, rather than just show next source.

Even if it is necessary to make multiple button presses, or menu selections, there's no reason why the message sequences to imitate that couldn't be hard coded into the PIC.

In the first instance I just want to understand the message set that the remote is capable of generating, but so far haven't seen anything in the documentation for the board that defines it.

The idea of decoding the video signal to the panel to interpret the pixels showing the source caption is an interesting one, but unfortunately its definitely beyond my coding skills. I'm not even sure that the PIC would be capable of capturing the data.

Alternatively what are the range of functions of the small external PCB that seems to have five switches on it? Can those switches be usefully mimicked?

As you may have noticed I'm getting distinctly impatient whilst waiting for all the component parts to arrive.

 

Unfortunately, the PDF I have for the LCD controller seems to be different than the install based on the connections vs. the document, or perhaps the russian firmware changed the keyboard header pinout. I'll take a pic of the remote when I get back in town this weekend.

Be glad to send the LCD controller pdf to you if you like. (can't recall if this was on their ebay listing or came on a thumb drive that shipped with the product, but will send what I have when I'm back at my home computer)

 

Hi Dark Green,

I have ordered all the parts for my 2006 GT. Waiting....
Do you have any updates? i would be interested in sharing experiences as it appears we are not far away from each other.

 

Yes, sorry for lack of updates, the situation is this:

I eventually opted to use an Arduino Uno rather than a PIC.

I have successfully mapped the rows and columns of the standard key pad matrix, and have now written code which enables the Arduino to recognise when specific Head Unit buttons are pushed.

I have successfully used the Russian originated Arduino sketch to select specific inputs to the LCD controller by issuing I2C commands – thereby confirming that our firmware v555 contains the code necessary to receive and action I2C commands. (This also means that the remote control and receiver mini PCB can be discarded)

I have designed an Arduino Shield PCB (i.e. one which sits atop the Arduino) to which the Head Unit key pad matrix can be connected.

What I have not yet done is physically mounted the Arduino inside the head unit, nor have I merged my Arduino code with the Russian sketch so that a head unit button press triggers a display format change.

In summary then, I’m content that all the building blocks now exist, all I have to do is the integration.

 

Dark Green,

As someone less capable in this area, it feels like there might be an opportunity to create a 'side hustle'. Is there any chance that I could hire for this service? The ability to essentially 'rest-o-mod' the old deck into new is BY FAR the most elegant option.... For now I have opted for the NAV-TV option because my brain hurts cycling through the old tech in the factory unit.

Please PM me if this is a possibility - very exciting what you and Sam have done!

 

I know that this is an American oriented site, so I shall chose my words carefully, and don't wish to cause offence, but I'm terribly sorry I haven't got a clue what you're asking me. Might I trouble you to repeat it in English? Toodle pip old boy!

 

Ha - you mean the Queen's English! Let me try that again.

I don't trust myself to try and do this factory unit upgrade. I was wondering if you (or someone else) services could be hired to do this for others? The NAV TV option is 2400.00 US dollars. I would rather pay that kind of money towards the work you are doing.

 

Thanks for being so patient; I now understand.

When I embarked on this journey I was fortunate to buy a working Head Unit on EBay for less than $300, and it's that unit which I am using as my bench prototype, and will install in my car, thereby freeing up the original Head Unit.
My plan was to then modify that original Head Unit to the later standard, and possibly sell it. However, there are a number of issues with doing so:

During installation there are wiring modifications required to the car, so even if I sent you my Head Unit embodying it wouldn't be a simple plug and play exercise.

Next is the issue of in-service support - if anything goes wrong, or software gets corrupted, or, or, or.... Then who will take responsibility for fixing it?

Finally is the fact that much of the intellectual property isn't mine to sell - yes the Arduino shield is mine, as is half of the Arduino code, but the remainder belongs to a plethora of other people who have given their time and knowledge freely.

Therefore I would be more comfortable putting my element of the design into the public domain so that those who can use it are able to do so themselves, but in your case might I suggest finding a local high school electronics student, showing them the relevant Internet articles and paying them to build it for you?

Does that sound reasonable?

 

makes perfect sense! Thank you!

 

Best of luck skilly,

As a point of reference, I knew just about nothing about the process when embarking on this and it seems overwhelming at first. Once you get all the parts together and do things in steps, it's not so bad if you can do things at your own pace and trial and error (and success).

Glad to help with any questions that arise along the way for you or your delegate that I can answer.

 

Has anyone seen this screen?

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/4000284044955.html