asbks

That's odd - my factory alarm stops as soon as the key gets to ACC on the ignition.

You need to open the tuner up to get to it (which means unscrewing the tuner from its mount). From memory once the tuner was open I also had to unscrew the circuit board to get to it. It's not as hard as it sounds - I have no experience with doing anything to circuit boards but was okay. Earthing C1 would mean the VTR screens permanently - the park brake (left foot brake) then has no impact. Obviously the screen will only display the camera output when the camera is powered (when the vehicle is in reverse gear). You won't see anything as you're crusing down the road.

Yes I have a wire from Cont1 pin to earth, via a switch (& also to earth via a relay to come on automatically when in reverse). I didn't find it necessary to solder it, rather the wire I used fitted snuggly in to a connector that was on Cont1 and I taped it down to help keep it in place (yes it sounds bad but it is a good connection with no problems). You could earth it permanently, but as you seem to already understand that would mean never being able to access the fuel leaf etc (it is quite easy to leave a switch in line, although to be useful it does mean running a wire from the boot to the front). Provided you were happy with that I can't see how it would be unwise to have it permanently earthed. Although if your reverse cam is only powered off the reverse lights then it will only display a picture when the camera is in reverse - you could just have the c1 running to earth via a relay to come on automatically with the reverse lights (that would mean tapping into the reverse light 12v in the boot roof lining though). Are you in Auckland or somewhere else?

I did wire off the oem tv tuner (c1/cont1) - ran it to earth via a switch next to the steering wheel so I can bypass motion block at will and also on a relay so it automatically bypasses when the vehicle is in reverse. When c1 is earthed it automatically puts the screen onto VTR. Have a look at this thread: http://www.skylinesa...page__hl__asuka EDIT: or yeah, via the english language conversion - $320nzd for us in Auckland I think.

I got my stuff delivered in 3 working days (posted on Monday and delivered in NZ on Thursday - I was very impressed)- so it's possible but would depend on how keen you were to get it into your car Haven't updated the firmware as everything is working correctly - I wouldn't know where to look either sorry.

okay, it may only work when you have the park brake engaged (on) then. How is the camera powered? If it's off the reverse light then it will only be powered and on when the car is in reverse. So, to test it, turn the car on and put it in reverse, while leaving the park brake on. Open up the screen and set it to TV, then onto VTR (which is Aux). If that works then let the park brake off and see if it still works.

And you plugged the camera into the jap tuner? Do you have either a relay or a switch to short c1/cont1 on the jap tuner (I'm presuming the jap tv tuner is the same as the series 1 m35)? Alternatively do you have one of those motion block bypasses installed? Otherwise I'd expect tv VTR/Aux won't work when the park brake is released.

I think he has the Series 2 M35 - I'm not sure how it differs to Series 1 in terms of getting the screen to Aux/VTR (and displaying a reverse camera). Is the camera factory fitted or aftermarket Sonny?

That's weird about the camera facing the wrong way on yours - maybe it was just a mistake during manufacture. Good to know your wireless set up works - I ran an rca lead at the time while doing it all so no point in getting another wireless unit. Out of interest did you buy the Koleos camera as a result of my post or had you gone for it of your own accord? I haven't had any problems with sound on any digital channels in NZ, although I think the NZ standards are different to Australia.

It seems the Metra kit won't fit properly with the pop-up screen (but will fit with modification) however a better quality dash kit will fit. So the installer that told me I would lose the screen must only have had experience with metra kits, and that was basis for their statement. I note on the ebay link above for the metra kit the seller states "We have installed this kit into vehicles that have factory navigation- it was not easy to install but it is possible" so they've obviously had people come back to them complaining about it. http://g35driver.com/forums/audio-video-electronics/333847-wrathernauts-double-din-shopping-resource-list.html

Hmm it's tempting, looks like it would be about $300 (for Metra) or $420 for more expensive dash kits (nzd), plus the cost of a new head unit. Given I can play mp3's already through the tv tuner it's probably not worth it for the sake of playing a cd (which I would just create anyway so USB is more practical). One of the other aspects I like about my setup (and the stagea pop-up screen in general) is the completely stock look while having some pretty fancy stuff installed, and I would lose that stock look with an aftermarket stereo.

Yep the Koleos lens is same fit - very marginally larger but I think that was down to the cheap chinese manufacture. I used the same screw holes and the lightbulb fitting clipped in properly to the Koleos lens. Thanks for the link - I have the brown/tan interior so would need to get a brown one. Just reread the emails I received when I made enquiries about the headunit change - I was told I would lose the oem screen which I presumed was down to the depth of an aftermarket stereo but that doesn't look right, maybe there was another reason for it. Has anyone replaced the integrated stereo with an aftermarket stereo (with new fascia/console), and retained the pop up screen? Although going the tv tuner with usb route is still a considerably cheaper option.

Hi all. I have an 2001 M35 Stagea (2.5 RX) that I picked up a few weeks ago, and am in Auckland, New Zealand. I wanted to make use of the oem pop-up screen and was impressed with the use of the TV tuners used over there in Australia, along with the use of reverse cameras etc. Below I will layout the process I followed, what I bought, how much it was, and where it was from., to aid anyone else reading this that might want to do the same. Unfortunately the CD player in my Stagea is broken. As the stereo is ‘moulded in’ to the console I initially got quotes on replacing the stereo console panel to fit an aftermarket stereo. The cheapest quote of a half a dozen installers in Auckland was Rapid Radio, that was $639nzd plus the price of the new stereo (So the $639 was made of the new console panel and labour). Other quotes were significantly higher than that, and then of course a bunch of places didn’t even reply. Rapid Radio gave me prompt informative replies to emails (in addition to being cheapest) so if you needed to get anything done professionally I would go there. However replacing the console panel meant losing the oem screen (as the factory stereo/air con is not as deep as an aftermarket stereo). I then considered other options. I planned my set up to have: TV tuner (With USB for playing of movies and music due to no functioning CD player) Reverse Camera It took a little digging but the digital tv we have in New Zealand (“freeview”) is MPEG4 H.264 with 8mhz channel spacing. I purchased a TV tuner off ebay that was compatible with that, had USB, had dual antenna inputs, it also has Aux RCA input. The tuner was $169.99aud including shipping from ebay seller “kissmegoodbuys”. I’ve found this tuner to work well with the Stagea oem antennas and picks up Freeview well. The auction listing specified that the tuner had a “parking switch” pin. I was hoping that meant a reverse switch (as in wanting a reverse camera when you’re parking) but unfortunately it is meant for a park brake (all it does is give me a warning message on watching tv while driving if 12v is fed into it). For the Reverse Camera I wanted to go with a camera that was mounted on the rear illumination plate light lens. I was disappointed to find that there were no standard Stagea cameras on ebay so measured it up and found the closest/most similar lens was for a Renault Koleos. That lens turns out to be a direct replacement fit with the Stagea lens. The camera was $18.13usd including shipping from ebay seller “sunwayonline2009“. I also purchased a “2.4Ghz Wireless RCA Video Transmitter&Receiver for CAR REAR VIEW Camera Monitor” from the same seller for $18.38usd including shipping, so I wouldn’t have to run any new cables to the tailgate from the boot. However I found the wireless unit to be absolutely useless – it powered up but did not transmit a video signal (the transmitter and receiver were tested in line of sight, about 2cm away from each other and still got no signal). It could just be my unit, but I would recommend against buying them and just running an RCA lead to the tailgate. A more expensive wireless unit may be better, but then if the price gets too high just running an RCA lead gets more and more attractive. I had also purchased a Clarion MSS430 AV switch unit for a future install, but as the tv tuner I bought doesn’t utilise a reverse camera automatic switch, I needed to use it now. The clarion has 4 inputs, with 3 outputs, each output has an individual wired controller to select which input that output will utilise, independent of each other (so while the screen up the front displays a reverse camera, a backseat screen can display tv tuner, while another screen can display dvd etc). The Clarion unit was $25usd + $60usd shipping, for a new unit from a US-based seller (they only had 1 unit to sell so no point naming them). To make the RCA plug for the oem tuner I purchased a jumper wire from www.nicegear.co.nz (search PRT-10374). I cut off one end of an old 3-rca to 3-rca lead and soldered the jumper wire leads to their appropriate RCA centre/shield. The purpose of the pins on the oem tuner aux-input is already detailed elsewhere so I won’t go through it. The jumper wire is $3nzd with 4 pins each end (so one jumper wire is all you need when cut in half). Shipping is $5nzd flat rate (to NZ) but you might find some other stuff to throw in with your order. Of course you could always get the connectors out of an old computer. Below is a plan of the wiring I did. Audio/Video leads are on the left, with power and signal leads on the right. The Audio out of the tv tuner is split to also feed into the Clarion along with the reverse camera video – this is due to the fact I use the tv tuner for playing mp3s via USB, and when the vehicle goes into reverse and the screen automatically jumps over to the reverse camera, I still get the music playing from the tv tuner. Where wires cross over/touch each other they are not connected, unless they are the same colour. There are 2 switches. One earths the C1/Cont1 pin on the oem turner to bypass the motion block. The other switch stops power feeding to everything (so if I am parked and listening to the radio, the battery is not draining supplying power to everything unnecessarily. There are 3 relays. In the diagram, the coil (pins 85 and 86) are vertical on the left, with pins 30 and 87 vertical on the right. Relay 1: When acc power is fed through Relay 1 (and the switch is on) then 12V+ from the battery lead is fed to the Acc 12V+ inputs on the devices. Relay 2 and 3: When the reverse gear is engaged Relay 3 feeds 12v to the Clarion reverse switch and also to Relay 2, which in turn grounds C1/Cont1 pin. This all forces the Clarion to output the reverse camera and the oem screen to display it, when the reverse gear is engaged. I’m keen to hear any feedback or suggestions, or any queries. Also thanks very much to Commsman for plenty of advice on what I was doing. Will try and take photos during the week.

I don't mean to be insulting with this; but have you turned the asuka on with the remote control? When I hooked up my aftermarket tv tuner (bought off ebay) and powered it up and turned the screen on to tv I just got a black screen - took me about 20 seconds to realise I needed to actually turn the aftermarket tuner on with the remote control. The only other problem I could think of is an issue with the cable, or a dud unit. Checking with the standard tv would be the next troubleshooting step I guess.

How did you get power to the asuka - did you tap into the +12v for the oem tuner or have you run a separate power wire from somewhere else? (I'm just wondering if you've cut into the power for the oem tuner maybe the oem tuner is no longer getting power)