This post is to provide a snapshot of a TOMTOM system built into my now deceased XKR:https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...atures-182981/

Before departing the car morgue, with permission I removed the satnav conversion, which is discussed in this post. Fellow forumistas may be interested in this conversion, which included what I now think of as many unnecessary elements - see later. Although this is awkward from both an electrical and a design perspective, I am working on a much neater and more elegant solution which should be well within most people's capabilities, so please don't be put off by the seeming difficulty of all of this.

Essentially the conversion was based upon the removal of the centre dash and the fitting of a Tomtom Live. I also added two gauges, as the pictures show this entailed drilling out the centre dash, using the Jagwrangler 3-instrument conversion kit, and adding two non-standard dials




The first two pictures, above, show the end result, with the clock on the left and voltmeter on the right.

The left hand

• The menu button is on/off
• The 'list' button connects the Tomtom USB connector to the output, in order to be able to update
• Below this is a USB connector. It normally acts as standard, but when the List button is latched it acts as a USB input to the Tomtom
• Below that is the volume control - the mushroom shaped button was previously in place.

The right hand side set of switches has been replaced by a mesh grille, behind which is an external speaker, and below that the Tomtom microphone and a button to adjust the clock.

The next two pictures show the horrendous stuff round the back:






This worked really well, but there were a number of things wrong.

The dash panel There was the tiniest but unnecessary of scratches on this where I just touched it with the dremel. I wasn't careful enough!
The Tomtom itself Lots to be learnt, here. I never used the volume control to control volume - I used it to turn the volume off, and there is a much easier way to do that.
The USB port looks horrible, and although it worked fine, it meant wires trailing from the dashboard. The loudspeaker sounded weak and poor, and I never used the microphone. I suspect that both loudspeaker and microphone would have been just as effective - possibly more so - using the Tomtom's items without touching them at all.
The gauges These looked cheap and it was impossible to get the backlighting to get anywhere close to the Jaguar original effects..

Developments

I am currently making a new system for my replacement car (https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ve-jag-183024/ Indeed, part of the reason for going for an X100 as opposed to an X150 was that I knew I could do this again, though more elegantly. The new Tomtom 5100 and 6100 make this much easier, because, being wireless, they do not need any external USB connection. The new system will use Tomtom's own internal speaker - I'll let you know if it is loud enough - and I will not be adding a volume control or moving the microphone.

I'll report on this in due course, if you wish. Meanwhile, here are two pictures of the work in progress:






The dash unit, in this instance, is non-standard (but I intend producing instructions for a standard unit and how to deal with it) and of the four buttons, one is the on-off switch, the other is mute - these have been tested and they work; the remaining two buttons have functions I will describe later. The empty dial will take the oil pressure gauge (I have used original gauges from the 3-gauge unit for this) and I have just received the Realgauge conversion for eventual installation.

I hope this is of interest.

 

Very interesting. If the Tom Tom has Bluetooth capabilities, plug a Bluetooth cassette into the player. I use once with my iPhone for music and calls and it works remarkably well. Could be a useful item. ION Audio Cassette Adapter Bluetooth | Bluetooth Music Receiver for Cassette Decks About 22$.
Would you consider building for others? I hope so.

 

This was not in my mind......... but maybe? Depends partly what others think.....