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Android Auto, OBD-II, Hands-Free calling and more in 2005 Audi A8 D3 with MMI 2G High
Hello! I would like to present you my solution that extends MMI 2G High infotainment in my Audi A8 D3 2005.
I added support for Android Auto, Phone Mirroring, reading and displaying OBD-II data, Bluetooth Hands-Free calling, Kodi, music player and many other features. System is based on the Raspberry PI 4 with 4GB RAM and OpenAuto Pro application. The same modifications can be done for any Audi equipped with MMI 2G High infotainment (A6, Q7, A5).
My car has not been equipped with a factory TV Tuner and F-BAS socket so the very first thing to do was mounting an LVDS Video adapter dedicated for the MMI 2G High system. However, factory TV tuner was not an option because I wanted to control OpenAuto Pro and Android Auto using the factory buttons panel. In case of displaying video from Raspberry PI using a factory TV tuner that would not be possible.
Installation of the LVDS Video adapter was quite easy - they are Plug & Play devices. It required removal of the glovebox. Then simply connect the factory LCD to the adapter and adapter itself to the MMI 2G head unit (adapter is kind of a proxy that allows switching video sources). Last thing was powering the adapter (+12V and GND).
Next I connected PIN16 from MMI 2G High head unit harness to the MAX3232 adapter - that is required to receive signals from buttons panel by the Raspberry PI. Buttons panel uses 12V logic levels which is way too much for the Raspberry PI. This is the reason why I used MAX3232 - to convert 12V logic to 3.3V logic.
Switching from the factory MMI 2G system to OpenAuto Pro is done by pressing the NAV button. Once I press any other “function” button on the panel like RADIO, CD, TEL, CAR then it will switch back to the factory MMI 2G system. Adapter that I used supports switching video sources using panel buttons. So both systems (OpenAuto Pro and MMI 2G) do not collide with each other. However, DVD disc with maps has to be ejected so you lose the ability to use factory navigation but Google Maps or Waze are way better and modern.
And that's all - clean setup without cutting any wires and drilling .
I attached a simple schematic of how everything is connected in the car. To summarize - In order to use the factory buttons panel to control OpenAuto Pro/Android Auto you need to use LVDS Video adapter dedicated for the MMI 2G High. If you want to use a factory TV tuner then it will require you to mount some touch panel mounted on top of the factory LCD or an external keyboard in order to control OpenAuto Pro interface. Next I connected the buttons panel (PIN 16 of the MMI 2G head unit harness) to the Raspberry PI via MAX3232 converter. From the MAX3232 converter I connected a wire (TXD) to the LVDS video adapter for switching video source using buttons panel. Last thing was to connect the video signal from Raspberry PI to LVDS Video adapter.
Used components:
Required by OpenAuto Pro:
Raspberry PI 3B/3B+/4B
16GB SD Card
External sound card
Microphone
CSR 4.0 Bluetooth dongle
Required by MMI 2G High:
MAX3232 converter
LVDS Video adapter for MMI 2G High
Fiber optic AUX adapter (my car did not have any AUX input available)
It's been a long time since the last post. Everything works well still . I added more detailed description of the mounting and uploaded new photos. Enjoy!
It's been a long time since the last post. Everything works well still . I added more detailed description of the mounting and uploaded new photos. Enjoy!
Have you by chance mounted a touchscreen? Also would this system be compatible with iOS and carplay?
10-21-2018, 11:31 AM
Android Auto, OBD-II, Hands-Free calling and more in 2005 Audi A8 D3 with MMI 2G High
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. I added more detailed description of the mounting and uploaded new photos. Enjoy!
