Very nice, indeed!

-mag

 

I'm not familiar with iGadgets, but I thought the power source for them is 5v. How did you hardwire into a 12v system?

Can you explain what you did? Like I said, my Android based phone does the same alternator whine, and I'm lead to believe any audio source that is plugged in to the car's cigarette lighter will do the same.

My first thought was to wire a cigarette lighter power source direct (but fused) to the battery and use my adapter.

Second thought was to re-engineer the adapter by soldering leads so that I could just use it as a transformer from 12v to 5v usb. Basically just hack it apart and solder the positive and negative leads to wires running (again with a fuse) to the battery to eliminate the goofy cigarette-lighter-interface.

These are basically both the same solution. I'm not sure of how else to get 5v usb out of the 12v system of the car.

 

Yes, the power lead cable has a small 12v to 5v transformer inline. Originally I was hoping to be able to have it go to unswitched power (direct to battery) so I could charge a phone even if car was parked and off, i.e., in a meeting anyway so may as well go for 100% charge. Since the transformer always draws power though we had to put it onto a switched circuit otherwise it could kill the battery if car was parked for a few days.

 

Wait, the actual cable that comes with the phone has a transformer in it? I guess that's why they're $30.

Weird, but useful in this instance. I can't imagine it putting a dent in the car battery even after days, if it's not charging anything. Did you measure the draw without charging? It's got to be the smallest mAh draw.

 

Its a 3rd party cable that my installer had and he charged me $40 for it. Thinking it was an AV cable for an iPhone that may have been meant for a specific AV head unit. Think he cut the other end off to hardwire it into my car.

The transformer board is about 2.5-3 inches long, and is a little thicker than my finger I guess. The board is encased in a heavy shrink tubing type material. You cannot see any of that anymore as it is in the console. Did not measure the draw, but in his opinion since the board grew warm as soon as you powered up car, that was drawing more juice than he was comfortable installing in an unswitched circuit. Since he is the expert and I want to make sure he covers all work if there are future issues I went with his recommendation.

 

Dont forget, you can do a small mod to the fuse box in the boot to make all lighter sockets and accesory outlets constant on instead of switched power.





Sent from my Epic 4G using IB AutoGroup

 

Thanks for this information, we just purchased our first Jaguar yesterday (2005 XJ8 VDP) and it doesn't have factory navigation so I wanted to update it to more modern features as the OP is doing but it appears based on your post there is a lot more involved than I was hoping. For now I hope to just get an aux port working somehow and then will circle back later for the nav, backup camera, bluetooth, etc.

 

Oh man. Is there any place for us non-Portfolio owners to buy that wood trim?

 

Oh man. Is there any place for us non-Portfolio owners to buy that wood trim?[/QUOTE]

Sadly not, i've been trying to find one for 2 years! Despite finding a few odd bits i've not come across a full set.

Best you can do if you want to replicate it is buy the veneer yourself, and take it to a wood restorers to cover for you. Beware of cost though, I was quoted $1700 to change mine. Thats why it's not been changed!

 

Do you know what the veneer is called? I'm not opposed to trying to do things myself...

 

American Black Walnut with a satin finish.

 

1: Find some veneer you like. You'll need several leaves like this (btw, as previously stated its called Amercian Black Walnut, also FYI, they did another satin finish which is an OAK - looks equally as good IMO):
American Walnut - Real Wood Veneer - 16 Consecutive Leaves - 820mm x 300mm | eBay

2: If doing it yourself, the only way to get a professional finish will be the vacuum bag technique, so you'll need to purchase pump bag etc

3: I wont tell you how to do the veneering - lots of youtube vids around to help, but beware folding around corners. As another tip, a hole punch creates the perfect circle to still view the airbag symbol.

4: It's a satin finish, so if trying to match the original worth veneering a spare to practice the finish, obviously you'll need satin lacquer.

5: If you find any Jaguar stickers small enough to put on the veneer - let me know ;-)

 

So, installing an aftermarket head unit in a 06 to 09 XJ8L is possible? Just have to do a lot of re-wiring.