VXOC Astra-J/GTC

Hi all,

So this thread will be used for me to gather info and then add it to this original post...rather than having info all over various threads etc.

I want to start off by linking to the module I'm personally installing:

http://www.iceboxauto.com/vauxhall-opel-...id-44-m072

There are two other main models I'm aware of which are the C072 and A1884 (think that's the model number) which have varying differences (both available on iceboxauto to take a look at).

Anyway I will focus on this specific model atm so we can try and figure out what does what, what's needed, what can be adapted to work from factory, what won't work etc. 

Hoping to take some of the confusion out of buying aftermarket units too!

Thanks to @marcus we now have pics of the actual item that you'll get from iceboxauto! I've added two of them to this actual thread and below is an album containing the rest of the photos that he took...these are ALL his photos so credit to @marcus for them.. thanks mate! 

http://imgur.com/a/bPVLy  

The interfaces 
I want to try and list what they are all for and whether some may or may not be needed for most purposes



1. Obvious...just connects straight up to factory wiring
2.  External optional antenna for DTV
3.  External optional antenna for ATV
4. Same as 2
5. For the bluetooth MIC...they give you a MIC which connects to this and then fits into the head unit fascia I believe?
6. 
7. 
8. This plugs into the FACTORY USB connector that you already have (or can even buy) you don't need to do any modifications at all to get this working 
9. Plug that provides the power, earth and video feeds for the reverse camera
10. Standard power supply support provided by the original factory wiring
11. As stated
12. ?? 
13. Should be to provide a TV feed to other monitors in the car
14. As above but allows for show recording
15. 
16. 
17. 
18.

Below are three of the main accessories which are listed as working with this unit (other however probably will work):

The Wires

I will update this with pics of the real wires when I get my unit but for now I found this pic on an eBay listing for a model that looks almost the same...the M model found on the icebox site may not be the same but it should come with all/most of the same wires as below:


ACCESSORIES 

REAR CAMERA 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Dual-Use-...3cc43e1bdb
DVB-T 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOUCH-SCREEN-H...3a98a5beb3
DVR CAMERA
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Dash-DVR-R...4180eeb8de

I'm personally buying the following wireless reverse camera which @rusty2009 suggested I buy so will report back on how well that works!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAUXHALL-Wirel...Sw3ydViDVu

Firmware Update

I found the below information on the official forum which states how to update the FW on this unit (it's an S160 series, each unit generation has a series number like this). I will be doing this should mine need updating when it arrives.

http://www.roadnav.com/forum/firmware-aa...structions

Official URL for Product Info
http://www.roadnav.com.cn/show_content.php?id=653

Product Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xYBr-uyt6o

3G Mobile Dongle

On the official site it states that this dongle is tried and tested and supported on this unit:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Huawei-E173-HS...1855214345?

You can connect the above USB dongle into any USB port that's connected to the head unit and the data will work like it does on a mobile.

You can also use the following style Mobile Wi-Fi dongle and connect to it via Wi-Fi on the head unit and get data that way (this is the method I use)



Tutorial Videos from the Manufacturer

These explain how to do things like change the boot up logo and various other things:

http://www.witson.com/en/introduce001.ht...roid%204.4

I am going to add a lot more especially with regards to the extra modules etc. that you can buy...I will also post loads of pics when the unit comes and make a full tut out of all this...as i say there is no real info anywhere for this and what there is out there is mainly in chinese or german lol.

Other Useful Info

You may find that your unit shows that the doors are on the wrong side on the little diagram when it notifies you of an open door. To fix this you'll need to go into the phone app and dial ##0323 and hit call. This will bring you to a hidden menu and if you scroll to the bottom there will be an option for LHD and RHD so just pick the correct option and job done

Latest RoadNav Firmware (As of now this is 12th June 2016)

RoadNav don't provide changelogs with their firmware updates but this one at the very least adds a larger user app install partition (now 2gb for your personal apps). I believe it also provides faster boot up too.

Link to latest firmware: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/smm7ai4cnt58g...H-p1a?dl=0

Feel free to tell me what any of the above do or if anything needs adding.

Cheers

Below is a review from forum user @xtech on the unit:

So i've just installed the S160 M072 yesterday that i got from iceboxauto.

I had previously the CD400 (which i loved, but it hadn't a big color screen and GPS, two "must" features on my cars). The installation took me long time (about 4 hours) because it was the first time i've worked on an Astra J and i had no natural light. I did it in my garage which hasn't enough natural light as it is on the basement of my house...

Installation

I had to figure out how to remove certain things like the lighter trim (as i needed to reconnect things up) but generally speaking that wasn't the most difficult part. The most difficult part is to get all the wires behind the DVD reader unit... it is a headache which i could only figure after one hour, after trying several times! The most difficult part was where to hide the BIG CHINESE speaker of the unit and the large connector. Thank God i've manage to hide them. I've also drilled (and polished it to get a nice finish on the hole) the center speaker panel to pass the GPS antenna wire.

* * * * * * * * * * Feedback * * * * * * * * * * *

Overall

It's still to early to say, but the unit is good. I've had other chinese unit in my previous astra h, and this M072 is way way better in every aspect. Overall it seems to have nice quality, good software integration, very responsive. The unique odd thing i've noticed was that "sudden volume peak" when changing the volume on the panel volume wheel. But it may be some hidden setting as i feel the volume of sometimes changes in certain situations. Sound quality seems about the same as the CD400 - maybe it has slightly less definition, nothing noticeable really - but it's too early for me to say that. Overal functionalities are good and this is definitely a step up considering the CD400 unit.

Screen
The screen shines (figuratively - which is good, and literally... which isn't - it has too much glare!). So i guess i'll try to buy some kind of anti glare film. The screen has very good quality, on par with an average tablet - which is very good for a chinese unit. My previous chines unit had a resistive screen (which i hated) and besides that i couldn't see it under direct sunlight. This one, i can - thumbs up for these chinese guys. The screen reacts very well to the touch. The problem is... this Astra was not made to have a touch screen - it's too far from comfortable reach. Although you can reach it while driving, it gets unconfortable as you need to stretch a bit to reach it - and when you do it you loose pointing precision.

Functionalities

I think this is the best point. It has everything you will ever need. The fact of having built-in wifi is great: i used my Microsoft Lumia smartphone as a mobile hotspot and it worked great - get your emails and calendar there, watch youtube videos, etc. The interface seems good enough, and it has an "Android mode" which is like a typical Android 4 enviroment. If you are confortable with it - i am, as my previous mobile ran on Android 4 - you will love the M072.

The integration with the car functionalities is excellent. Everything works as it should, and any oddity can be solved with the "key mapper" app it has. The car diagnostics work well (they lack some calibration, i guess, as i pressed toe down the brake pedal and it only show me i was pressing it 44%) but the window, door, consumption, parking sensor information is good. The parking information is even more detailed that the one you see on the tachometer screen. The radio works fine - but not as good as the CD400 interface wise - a typicall chinese thing. It won't show you the music name going on the radio, and i am having a hard time to save stations on the presets...

The navigation works good, the GPS has enough sensitivity, but as it is a "connected" unit it can use A-GPS which decreases cold start time and improves precision. I've not tried any other GPS software besides the one that comes with the unit - seems good enough and it has traffic info for my city - Porto, so i see no reason to replace it in the near future. The maps seem quite up to date too.

Regarding the bluetooth, it seems working good. I've tried and it worked instantly. I've made a call, and (answering to the people that asked  about it) the internal mic works fine . The other person could hear me perfectly, as i suspected (my previous experience on the astra h chinese unit with the internal mic was good, so i was expecting it now to be too). As i said in a previous post, i didn't install the ugly external mic as i was confident the internal mic would suffice. Thankfully, it did! So, there's no need to install the external mic.

Final Remarks

I would like to thank you all for your posts and your help - they were fundamental for the installation of the unit. Thank you guys!

Here is one photo of my unit in the car:

1 these will all be one block or individual plugs.
2 is RCA cables like listed and you should have white red and yellow also another yellow for rear camera.
3 as 1
4 as 1
5 as 1 although not sure what black zone means
6 will have a iso connector which should plug into the factory plug.
10 could be for front or rear cam
12 extra TV box guess that could be for adding a rear screen or another TV receiver.
15 No factory mic won't totally different connection.
16 no idea

Lets see what you get in the box mate.

Sweet! Thanks for the extra info mate [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES] will add it to the main post after work.

Will also be adding other sections later too.

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Looking forward to seeing your write up on this sheppy, I almost bought one of these units myself last year but decided to stick with the CD400 and upgrade to DAB (which is excellent anyway). Lets see if you can persuade me!

Yeah I was about to do the same mate! But then realised I can get DAB via an android app which works fine on my phone and then thought.. May aswell go all out! Haha.

I'll make it as useful and informative as I can [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES] just need people to tell me what else they want me to find out or add to the thread as I go along

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(3:rd-Feb-2016, 17:44:07)sheppy1 Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah I was about to do the same mate! But then realised I can get DAB via an android app which works fine on my phone and then thought.. May aswell go all out! Haha.

I'll make it as useful and informative as I can [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES] just need people to tell me what else they want me to find out or add to the thread as I go along

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Dab via an App? That sounds like it will be streaming to me which will mean awful coverage in the car and huge data usage.

To receive DAB broadcasts you need specific hardware, I see the unit you are buying has that option, I would strongly advise going for it

Yeah it's more Internet radio... I used it for around 2 hours and it used 21mb [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES] so I'll get that on the head unit and use that as it's brilliant and never cut out once.

I will do yeah but the person selling it said they don't have a module atm but one should be out soon

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Also wasn't sure my model actually supports it yanno! I was told it doesn't and can't see what connector on the back would be for DAB?

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Looking forward to seeing progress on this one and hoping the DAB is added at a later date. They sent me a link to another unit that supports DAB but didn't have as many features.

Ahhhh balls :( but yeah will ask the guy to keep me up to date with regards to the DAB module and if one gets released!

Also I know it seems a bit complex at first but I'll make sure the tut is user friendly and simple to follow

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Bit of info needed here...So there is a wire which is in the power block along with another 8 or so wires...the 1 wire I'm referring too is the handbrake connector, this wire will cut off certain features of the head unit such as video from playing when the handbrake is NOT on. Now to get around this you can ground that wire...I searched for a video on how to do this and came across one.

Now the guy snipped the handbrake detector wire in two and then grounded the wire coming from the block and not the remaining long length of wire still in the body harness...but it worked. I'm assuming what I should be doing is the opposite to what he did?

Image from the video:

Awesome news! We can ignore the whole section about handbrake grounding... I've been told by the seller that there is a feature on the unit to lockout the handbrake safety feature anyway! So no need for any manual trickery [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

@rusty2009 you may find that interesting

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You fitted it yet lol


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have you seen this one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151958825498?_...EBIDX%3AIT

It hasn't arrived yet! Ha. And yeah seen that mate, same as the car vision ones... They look more factory spec but I'd rather have the android one as you can get all the apps and that then too... Wouldn't think that one you linked too would be worth 500 quid!

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I'm gonna get what I believe to be a supported 3G dongle with a data only plan and see if I can get that working with this... It's supposed to work right out of the box so should be fine [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

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Got my m072 today. Still need to fit it though. Did manage to pull the centre console to bits to see if there were any gotchas. Still waiting on my wireless reverse camera.

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Oh wow! Can't wait to see how you get on! Is there anything to be aware off in the console then or any wires which seem out of the ordinary??

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That picture you have of the back of the unit isn't the right one. I saw the same one on the website but it's a different one. Pm me with your e-mail address and I'll put some photos in a Google Drive share for you.

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Yeaahh thought as much mate! We're mainly juts to get us off the ground with some info etc till we got some proper pics!

Sure! I'll send it over now, appreciate it [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

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I wouldn't mind something like this but I wouldn't want to give up my factory DAB. I already use an aftermarket bluetooth kit so that wouldn't be a problem for me.

I've seen some using that display the original GID screen. Not sure how they work.

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Like this one

https://www.car-vision.co.uk/vauxhall-na...20232.html

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It's a whole new screen and head unit mate just like mine but it's designed to mimic the factory look

@bhalay207 the place where @sheppy1 is getting his from do a similar one with DAB as an option. You can also upgrade memory and screen so it's pretty much the same. Works out at about £400 all in so cheaper then car vision and looks much better. Just waiting to see how this one looks when fitted and how easy it is.

Well I'm hoping I'll get it next week! The seller said the Chinese factory are back working as of this weekend so will be sending out units to him again

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(12:th-Feb-2016, 21:51:13)WhelanUK Wrote: [ -> ]@bhalay207 the place where @sheppy1 is getting his from do a similar one with DAB as an option. You can also upgrade memory and screen so it's pretty much the same. Works out at about £400 all in so cheaper then car vision and looks much better. Just waiting to see how this one looks when fitted and how easy it is.

But it won't be the factory DAB will it?

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No it won't mate... Will be their own dab module

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See I'd rather keep the factory DAB... Cost me enough time and effort getting it fit haha

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But why does it matter? You'll be able to use your existing Ariel setup (whatever that may be) to get the signal... Just have to use their module that's all

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Hmmm I guess. I'm just stuck on the standard idea I guess

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I've been thinking about purchasing also.
But have you thought about this:
(I almost never turn off the phone.)

What happens every time when you start and stop your car?
The Android will boot and shutdown every time. I suppose it is not so quick.

Just thinking.

@jerry

I believe power is still sent to the unit for a set amount of time after the car has been turned off... But, I'll check this and report back when mine finally arrives

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Courtesy of @marcus who has done his install today:

View 1


I don't think that's where he is keeping the mic and GPS box but he just did a hurried install so that's why they're still out and visible

View 2

certainly looks much better than the cd400 does

Yeah so does a radio from a car from the 90s [WINKING FACE] haha. He said he doesn't think the existing radio control dials work with the unit though

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no they won't it all touch screen isnt it

Oh really @sheppy1 is there no patch leads or anything?


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Apparently not mate [PENSIVE FACE] steering controls should work though... They're advertised as working anyway

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The control panel should work


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Yeah a lad on Facebook page has confirmed they work, except fav puts nav on lol


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Okay so turns out the factory knobs for controlling volume etc are supposed to work... Mark said he thinks one of the spare cables he had goes into the adapter block... So yeah, I'll be testing all this stuff in depth and reporting in what does and doesn't work anyway when mine comes [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

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It looks very impressive that's for certain.

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Yeah too right! And everything appears to be totally plug and play too which is great! Only things you have to fiddle with to get working would be the reverse camera [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

Only thing is I've no idea where the Bluetooth mic is supposed to go? I thought it clipped in behind the head unit or something but no... Appears you have to place it yourself somewhere

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Can't go wrong then mate. Just need to check on whether the stereo facia works as that's a massive waste of plastic if not lol. Does it retain the stereo mechanism behind the control panel or is that pulled out?

Do what I've done with my IO PLAY and place it in the factory position near the lights.

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What do you mean about the facia mate? If you're on about the huge big of plastic that surrounds the whole stereo and controls then yeah that stays the same...

Also the factory CD player is fully replaced yeah and the screen but that's it... Rest is stock stuff still [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

The roof lights do you mean? If so then yeah I was planning that but I can't route any more wires up the A pillar as it's getting busy up there now! Haha

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Yeah, I mean you obviously keep the stereo controls but you lose the actual stereo behind it?

Yeah get the mic up near the roof lights. You'll see two grills... That's where Vauxhall install their mic so that's where I put mine also.

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Yeah you do mate...But they give you a complete replacement obviously

Aye, I currently have factory BT so I've seen the mic up there...what route do you take for getting your wires up there? As I say I go up the A pillar on the passenger side but I've already got more wires going up that way than I'd like and i worry every time i add more as they're gonna start causing issues with the airbag curtain thing if I start adding even more!

That's ok then. Hopefully the stereo controls still work then.

I go up the driver side A pillar. I've gone that way in every car I've ever put BT in.

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Hmmmm right okay... Never gone that way before! How do you route the wires? With the other side you obviously go round the back of the glove box... Do you have to remove anything to get them up to the a pillar or just stuff then up out the way or what?

Ta

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I found a link on road nav forum that suggests that the audio controls do work with the S160 unit. I should have plugged the redundant display cable into some dodgy looking plug socket on the wiring harness. Disassemble part 4.

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Dodgy looking plug socket...Hahaha. Did the factory satnav work fine BTW? Also is it an app or is it linked to a button or what?

Ta

(15:th-Feb-2016, 09:25:40)sheppy1 Wrote: [ -> ]Hmmmm right okay... Never gone that way before! How do you route the wires? With the other side you obviously go round the back of the glove box... Do you have to remove anything to get them up to the a pillar or just stuff then up out the way or what?

Ta

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Well this is the thing... It's a b@st@rd to get the cable through on the driver side what with it all being closed off. You end up having to food it through any gap possible issuing a coat hanger or something like that. Once it's through its just a case of going up the rubbers and along the door liner. Make sure you unscrew the interior light... It makes it easier to get the wire to where it needs to be.

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@sheppy1 is the A8114 unit the same as the M072 but with added DAB?

I see what you mean about different types of systems available... It's mind boggling!

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