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Navigation Hack! (Hardware Version)

183K views 141 replies 43 participants last post by  cstyle251 
#1 ·
OK... so I took the plunge (which was kinda scary I might add) and I took the whole center unit apart to install a switch on the speed wires. The bad news is that it took me two tries (stupid me in too much of a hurry). The good news is that you can benefit from this and now we all know that it works!

Let me start by saying that what I wrote in the other thread was spot on. I created this so that people would know that it works, and would know where the instructions (with pics) were. The process isn't too hard to boot.

First I gathered all the tools and stuff I would need. The shopping list is as follows:

  • A switch (Single Pole Single Throw, SPST)

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  • Wire (I used 20 gauge, but smaller wouldn't hurt, it looked like the wires were more along the lines of 24 gauge)

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  • Electrical tape or Wire Nuts (I went with wire nuts because it is faster and more reliable IMO)

The tools you will need:

  • Wire snips (you have to strip a lot of wire, and trust me you don't want to do it by hand)
  • Flat head screwdriver (...doesn't need to be anything specific)
  • Phillips head screwdriver (I believe it was a PH1, but it could have been a PH2, either way it was a decent sized one)
  • Cloth to keep from scratching everything while taking it apart.

How to get to the wires:
(** THIS IS DIFFERENT THAN THE BASIC BOSE UNIT, THERE ARE MORE STEPS! **)

1. Remove the bottom cover:

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All this takes is a little prying near the back of the panel (the end closest to the front of the car).
It will come, but be careful.

2. Remove the fascia piece around the CD changer. All you do is pull carefully around the top and wiggle it out, it should just pop right out.

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*NOTE: I did this install from the passenger seat, and was able to just let this piece dangle while I did the install.

3. Next you should remove the A/C vents. The vents come out with a little bit of encouragement. You do this by placing a cloth in the seam and using the flathead screwdriver to carefully pry each side loose. The best I can tell you is to pry about an inch above the bottom, that is where it worked for me.

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4. Now you access to the myriad of screws you have to remove. First start by removing the two gold screws on the bottom (yes, doing this first is better).

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5. Now you have to remove 6 screws. The first 4 that you remove are the one's that hold the CD Changer in place. The other two (of the first four) are next to those screws and hold a bracket in place that has to be taken out. The 4 pictured below are the first that you should remove, and the other two are located below the changer.

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6. Now that you have taken those screws out you have to loosen (don't remove, they are a pain to get back) the two screws that hold the bracket that I mentioned in. The screws are squeezed between the CD Changer bracket and the side of the hold. Loosen these about 3 full turns and you should be good.

7. The last of the screws come out now, the two gold screws holding in the top of the changer. You can see them in the second picture of the A/C vents being removed.

8. Now you can pull the whole thing forward. Unrealspeed was right, you just have to pull... it won't break, but you should be careful.

9. Now that you have pulled the entire unit forward you can disconnect the wire harness that you have to mess with. The harness is the one closest to the driver (it's about an inch and change wide, and white). It's a standard connector, so just make sure to push the tab when pulling it out.
 
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#2 ·
10. Now, take a good look at the connector. I have put a picture below, as well as the diagram from the service manual. The thing to remember is that the diagram is backwards when you are looking at the connector from the front (like the picture).

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11. You will be splicing the switch into wire 8. That is the slot 2nd from the left, on top as you look at it in the picture!

12. The next step is to find the wire and cut/strip it, it is the color of the severed wire in the picture below.

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13. Now splice in the wire that you are going to run for the switch. You can see one of them is already done in the picture above. Once you are done, with this, put the tape covering it back together, and start buttoning the whole thing up.

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Where you put the switch is up to you, I still haven't figured out where to put it, but I want to make it look professional, so it might take me a few days to figure out the placement, and grow some to cut into my new car!
Here is it's temporary location:

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** OH! I almost forgot. I didn't do this, but it would have been a huge help. I would do this on a flat surface and put the car in "N" and put the parking brake on. Some of the stuff gets in the way if you don't do this. But make sure that the car is off when doing this!!!

========================================

So... now that I had it installed... I went for a test drive, and by God if it didn't work! I took a movie of how it works, but I am warning you it's not very good. I was the only one there, so I played stunt driver, switch thrower, and cameraman. One thing that I noticed right away is that because this is the speed sensor. When you break the connection, it doesn't think you are moving, so it doesn't update the GPS map. Once you turn the switch on again, it takes it a minute to update where you are, and if you do it for too long, it might be COMPLETELY off for a while.

Movie Link

Hope this is useful... if anybody near Atlanta wants to do this now, I'll gladly help out. It took a couple of tries to get it right, so I have taken that thing apart 8 ways to Sunday!
 
#5 · (Edited)
HOLY COW gtcompscientist!! You are the man!!

Is your temp location for the switch in the passenger footwell? Also, are you going to have remove all that again if you decide to put that switch somewhere else?

Sorry if this is covered in the vid. I can't watch it because of my firewall at work.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for all the props.

To answer all the questions:
Silent Z said:
Is your temp location for the switch in the passenger footwell? Also, are you going to have remove all that again if you decide to put that switch somewhere else?
The temp. location is exactly where you guessed. The footwell was the only place that I could put it without drilling a hole or anything. And I am going to have to take at least some of it apart to re-position that switch. The work isn't all that hard.

dhwang said:
wow. nice job man. i def dont have the balls to do anything more than give my car an oil change.
It's really not that hard. Just go for it! Installing the switch is going to be the hardest part.

UPDATE: I called Nissan to see if I could get a "blank" switch that matches the "VDC Off" Switch next to the steering wheel. It's $35 and they don't have a blank one, only the VDC and TCS versions. I'm not even sure if it will work, so I'm probably going to hold off on that for now. I'll update you if I make any changes.
 
#103 ·
Backup Camera Mod

Have you ever thought of adding a switch to allow you to turn on the backup camera at will? This would make parking easier and allow you to see behind your car in normal traffic situations. Thanks for the Navigation modification. That will be very helpful when I make it to my 08 Altima HEV.


======

Thanks for all the props.

To answer all the questions:

The temp. location is exactly where you guessed. The footwell was the only place that I could put it without drilling a hole or anything. And I am going to have to take at least some of it apart to re-position that switch. The work isn't all that hard.



It's really not that hard. Just go for it! Installing the switch is going to be the hardest part.

UPDATE: I called Nissan to see if I could get a "blank" switch that matches the "VDC Off" Switch next to the steering wheel. It's $35 and they don't have a blank one, only the VDC and TCS versions. I'm not even sure if it will work, so I'm probably going to hold off on that for now. I'll update you if I make any changes.
 
#9 ·
Excellent work! I come from an off-road background where people are custom fabricating their own suspensions; so the "bolt-on" approach that seems to be more the norm around here was a bit disappointing. Its no double-triangulated 4-link coilover set-up... but at least you're not afraid to do something that didn't come with its own instruction manual.:bigok:
 
#10 ·
Forget not having instructions. I wasn't even sure this would work! It was damn nerve racking! My heart was about to jump out of my chest when I cut the wire!
 
#11 ·
Very interesting. Any chance it'll work on 2006 Altima Navigation...?
 
#12 ·
This particular set of instructions won't work on the 06, but I'll look at the manual, and see how to do it. I'll post those instructions here, or PM them to you...
 
#14 ·
I have tested leaving it on for 5 minutes and it definitely lost track of where I was. When I turned it back on it took it about a minute to get it's brains back in order. The big thing was turning on to another road. That apparently helped it right itself. I have my conjectures as to why, but they are long and VERY technical.
 
#16 ·
When I was reading the service manual.. or some other manual, i forget, it said that nissan navigation systems use three things to determine your location on the map.

1. direction of car. (compass-type function. checks any turns made, etc.)
2. GPS
3. Speed.

I'm guessing that if any one of these things are missing, then the navigation doesnt work correctly. but that sounds like a small price to pay.

does the nissan nav take voice commands while in motion? Or is this not a viable alternative?
 
#17 ·
OK... first I'll answer the question of what get's turned off when in motion and what my Hack turns back on!

There is a long list of things that are disabled while moving. I have some pictures of my Nav. System that I will use to try and point out what you can/can't do while driving. Anything that I don't have a picture of I will just mention at the end. If I miss anything somebody let me know!

1. This is a picture of the CD screen. While in motion both the "Folder" and "Track" buttons are disabled.


2. This is a picture from the "Folder" screen. If you happen to be in this screen while in motion, the up and down arrows that let you move around are disabled.

*The same thing happens on any screen with the Arrows... if you aren't stopped, you can't scroll. This includes, your address book, destination lists, POIs, etc.

3. This picture is the "Destination" screen. When you are moving you can't use the "Street Address", "Points of Interest", "Other", or "Change Region" buttons.


4. The other things that I can remember off of my head are just the voice recongition prompts, but that's just scrolling, and the phone tools (soft keypad, time display, etc).
 
#18 ·
dhwang said:
When I was reading the service manual.. or some other manual, i forget, it said that nissan navigation systems use three things to determine your location on the map.

1. direction of car. (compass-type function. checks any turns made, etc.)
2. GPS
3. Speed.

I'm guessing that if any one of these things are missing, then the navigation doesnt work correctly. but that sounds like a small price to pay.

does the nissan nav take voice commands while in motion? Or is this not a viable alternative?
You are right about how it computes your location on the map... the three signals are used to figure out your location. Specifically they are:

1. An angular velocity sensor (gyroscope) - used for high-precision, low speed, vehicle positioning. (This is located within the AV Control Unit)
2. GPS signal - Used for low-precision, higher speed, vehicle positioning. (The signal is sent from the GPS antenna to the AV Control Unit through a dedicated connector on the back of the GPS Unit)

3. Vehicle Speed Sensor - This is used for motion on the map during normal motion. This is the least important of the three signals. There are about half a dozen ways that the service manual details how you could end up "off" on the map because of this sensor. This is the sensor wire that I spliced a switch into.

Here is a brief primer on how the AV Control Unit determines where you are on the map:




As far as voice control goes, it is there, but as I have said many times, the response time is too slow, and it just doesn't work as fast as I need it to, if I am going to rely on it while driving.
 
#20 ·
Believe it or not... I was brave/stupid enough to take the whole thing out and apart to see if I could get access to the software. That was the mod I originally wanted to make... get rid of the "I agree" screen, and just permanently disable all the "safety" features.

Here are some pictures:


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Unfortunately, the thing is put together in a way that makes it nearly impossible to get to anything without some seriously specialized tools that I didn't have with me. I should have taken a picture of the finisher piece that went with it. But I have to warn you, whatever it is like, I am pretty sure that you can't just retro-fit these pieces to the lower models and make it work... there are a ton of differences.
 
#22 ·
You'll have a lot of crap to buy if you want to make it work... there were about 1000 little pieces that all worked together to hold that unit in there. But it is do-able. The only thing that would worry me is the lower piece. You have a storage bin there, and I have the CD Changer. The problem is that there are some brackets that won't fit without some modification. But those brackets may or may not be necessary.
 
#24 ·
It's really awesome how well it works. I am planning on going by the Nissan dealership to get the button today. It's going to cost me $30 for the switch I want, but I figure that's a really small price to pay for it to look perfect. As soon as the switch comes in (they have to order it), I'll install it and post up more pics. Then it will really be awesome, and while it's apart, I may or may not try to hack the rear-view camera.
 
#25 ·
<<<please help>>> install question and help on installing

I just bought a new 2007 2.5SL with bose and love it, the CVT is great.
I have my ipod hooked up to the aux jack and it sounds very good.
What I want to do is run the 3.5mm cable out from the jack and in-between the radio and side panel.
From there I want to run the wire through my center console (under shifter and cup holder, etc.)
I want the cable to come up through my center glove compartment.
It would look sweet and very close to factory, plus there is a power adapter to charge my ipod.
I am very tech. savy and have installed car audio for myself before.
Could someone please shoot me in the correct direction as to how to install this. thanks.
 
#26 ·
seventy07 said:
I just bought a new 2007 2.5SL with bose and love it, the CVT is great.
I have my ipod hooked up to the aux jack and it sounds very good.
What I want to do is run the 3.5mm cable out from the jack and in-between the radio and side panel.
From there I want to run the wire through my center console (under shifter and cup holder, etc.)
I want the cable to come up through my center glove compartment.
It would look sweet and very close to factory, plus there is a power adapter to charge my ipod.
I am very tech. savy and have installed car audio for myself before.
Could someone please shoot me in the correct direction as to how to install this. thanks.
Welcome to the board and congrats on the new Altima. I would check this thread as a starting point:
http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/new-2007-nissan-altima-discussion/235086-diy-07-stereo-removal-xm-install.html
 
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