I saw a thread over a year ago where a guy was trying to do this. I think he was trying to decode the switches so he could add their function to an interface on the screen he would create. I haven't seen any mention of it for a while, so not sure if he hit problems.

 

You might be thinking of Rhys Morgan's work here:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/g...uar-xf-217412/

 

That's it, thanks. Looks interesting.

 

I've mapped out most of of the wiring in a diagram It is similar to the XK but I have questions still. I'll post the diagram when I'm done. There are two connectors that Paul also asked about and I didn't see an answer.
I assume a later model year but which one?
What models are these for please and what do they connect to? The Gray connector is wired to the can bus and SWC like the green connector but also has a ground wire.
The white connector I can't figure out as there doesn't seem to be a counterpart for the 2009 model. All the wires on that connector come from the can bus decoder except the ground and the orange illumination wire which come from the main power connector, but I don't know what the connector is for. Any help please?

 

Coincidentally I have been working on the same thing.
I ended up removing those 2 plugs from my harness, the grey one is for later models and joins the green one for prefacelift.
I asked the factory about the white plug in your picture, they said it's unused, that's for others cars.

So far i got:
CANBUS TO MAIN PLUG
Yellow = battery
Red = acc
Black = gnd
Orange = illumination
Pink = backup camera trigger
Blue = power antenna
Brown = steering wheel key control
White = canbus steering wheel control.

Green connector.
Green = ac controls
Brown = fan controls
Please help me confirm of it's correct.

 

The Green/black wire is Can Bus - and the solid Green wire is Can bus +. The brown wire is steering wheel control.

 

White/blk wire on can bus = to the unit RXD > TXD
White wire on can bus = to the unit TXD > RXD

 

I just tried installing the unit in the lower part.
it's just not possible, you cannot disconnect any of the FO cables form the OEM system, even if you use the loops, IAU was the only one that i could disconnect and the system would still work but as soon as you plug in the blue RCA FO converter box, the system shuts down.

So for now the only solution is a software update, which i highly doubt will ever happen from the manufacturer.

I have managed to decompile the apk but there are so many files and my android programming knowledge is very limited, only a qualified programmer might pull it off.

 

Anyway I could get those files you've decompiled? Maybe dropbox? I'm looking for the temp controls as My unit won't change to Fahrenheit - only reads celsius. Also the A/C works but the buttons don't light up.

 

OK I think I have the wiring mapped out for the Android 7" unit. I didn't map the connectors for the later year models

 

I´m unable to upload the files here, no specific reason given, i tried filedropper link, but it keep crashing when posting the download links here.

 

nothing attached Carlos

 

Anyway i made great progress installing the unit on the lower part i got everything working, i removed the canbus box.
The OEM unit is completely intact everything works as normal.

I just connected the RCA out from the android unit to the aux plug in the car, i got 12 V source from the power socket in the arm rest, this socket is acc , turns off when locking, so i routed both batt + ACC wires. Now the unit shuts completely off, so battery drain will never happen.

The sound quality is better than the blue box, this box is just a FO RCA converter, so the OEM unit is still sending digital FO signal, even though the aux input is analog, it sounds better.

This setup is very basic but efficient, its like hooking up your phone to the aux.
Now i'm working on a frame to make it fit perfectly, i did have to take the android unit apart because it was to thick to fit, so i got 50 cm long FCP wires that hook up to the LCD from the PCB, they are 40, 12 and 6 pins, the PCB with the heat sink and the wiring will not fit under the CD player, so i had to installed, under the steering wheel, there's plenty of space there.

It works very well, the volume is managed by the OEM unit on the steering wheel, it sounds much better, the android unit was off, it´s was too loud, i had to adjust the amp setting and the sound quality wasn't as good, i was getting loud, noises when turning off like tapping a microphone.

I disabled the AC app that comes with the android unit, it wasn't working properly and is useless without the canbus decoder.

This install can be done with any cheap android unit, no need to pay all this extra cash, just make sure its the slim ones, that are 5 cm thick, there are many
for less than 150 on aliexpress.

I ordered some extra stuff, for the build acrylic for the frame, wrap, a rotatory control, tpms, FCP cables, blank PCB to cover the back to the heatsink, some connectors.
I´ll make a video and setup instructions, of the whole process once everything arrives, as for wiring its very simple, but there's a bit of handy work involved.

 

Sorry Sean, i believe the files are to big to attach, I'm getting time out errors.
I tried file drop but Forum doesn't let me post the Links.

Pm your email I'll send them.

 

Just emailed you the files, i tried PM but i get erros when posting the links.

Hope you can get something out of them i wasn't able to do much.

 

Got them thank you Carlos! What a mess though right? The files have coding for dozens of makes and models. I see JADX failed to decompile the XK correctly. I have no experience with Java so this will be fun.

 

Yeah I real mess, i managed to identify the files for xf, the layout of the AC menu.

I was able to open the APK, on Android studio as "debug mode", without decompiling.

That's as far as I went cause the android emulator caused havoc in my PC, it corrupted one of the hard drives in which I have all my company info. I managed to fix that, but i won't risk that again, so i advise you test the changes on an external device don't use emulator.
​​​

 

Finally got it installed and working.

Very happy, no OEM functions touched, nothing lost.
It works very well, sound is much improved since it's all routed through the OEM system. I added noise filters for the sound and power cables.
Got a rotary control installed, not the prettiest but, not that bad either and works really well.

I got tpms as well since my car didn't come with OEM tpms, which is a good thing cause i constantly see problems with them.

The only thing that I had to give up are the physical buttons, the only one i miss is the ac fan on/off, i was pretty used to it, but those functions can be accessed in the climate menu, so functionality isn't lost.

So next project will be to open the ac controls for button relocation, I'll move them to the part below the new unit, sourcing for parts needed now.

I Just gotta put up with the ugly old OEM interface, but hey what the heck better to have functionality than looks.
I just turn it off with the clock screensaver.

Things i didn't do:
Fitting another camera, an AHD camera won't work in the OEM screen due to it's low resolution ( tried it ), so to have an AHD camera I would have to disable the OEM camera with SSD, and get AHD in the android unit.

Or install a front camera. Things i might consider later but for now I really don't need them.

The leaper was to cover a horrible scratch i had.

 

very nice work Carlos

 

Hey everyone! I know I'm a bit late to the thread but I just got my first Jag (2011 XF and in love already) and I recently bit the bullet and bought the tesla screen. The only problem I'm having is I can't get any sound. The screen comes on everything else seems to work ac is controllable and I seem to have everything plugged in except for one wire which is the emergency lights. Ill update with some pics in a sec but anyone knows which wire is for the actual speakers to the radio unit?