Retroplay

I was thinking about what you say about keeping your phone in the car and wondered if for you, you could come up with something that fits in the rear storage pocket (the little flip open box on the back of the center console) where you could store your phone and have it charging. IIRC, you did a mirroring mod. With a handsfree BT interface you wouldn't even need to see your phone.

Let's be honest, nobody is going to fit in those rear seats and you have probably never opened that rear pocket since playing with it when you first got the car.

I have not given up on the cupholder mod. I just happen to move around on the various projects as inspiration hits. I am still mulling over how I can build it with the equipment I have. What I am currently thinking is to just cut the face of it out of sheet of plastic, and then 3D print the mounting brackets and glue it together. My 3D printer isn't big enough to try to print something that big (and it would take a week to print something that large!) So, it's coming. Just tossing it around in my head to make sure it will look right.

tamermido1

This is monster project! but I love it

Retroplay

Definitely. The part that sucks is breaking stuff. But that often happens in hacking/modding. Which is why I usually order a backup part. I should have done that with the climate controls before I even touched it. Lesson definitely learned there.

So, as far as my progress, I spent most of what free time I had last night redesigning the LCD bracket. It now uses the little clips to hold the bracket in place. This means I don't need to screw or glue the bracket in place. It fits the LCD very snug but cars vibrate a lot so I am still going to adhere it to the back of the LCD. Pictures will make sense of this.

I also added a layer of front surface mirror and a black mask to the back of the LCD to help reflect the leaking light back into the display and prevent it from leaking light into the dash. I'm glad I bought that Silhouette Portrait cutter a while back. Simple as designing what I want (stencils, stickers, thin plastic sheet, vinyl, etc...) and then load and cut. I end up with precision parts. I also used it to print a front mask to go around the active area of the LCD. But I got the dimensions from the datasheet and this is the 3rd time I have had to adjust things because the reality didn't match the drawings. So I have to go back in and tweak it some more. This will basically surround the LCD masking off everything but the active area. It will wrap over the sides as well to make sure nothing shows up but the picture.

Using the cutter, I also cut out some of the different types of films I picked up to test for reflectivity. None of them seem to be improving it much. Doing more research on Transflective displays, I learned that the key is a special rear polarizer that both reflects light in one direction and transmits light from the other direction (basically a one way mirror.) This is what makes an LCD daylight readable. I can find the special polarizer material, but the real question is whether I am brave enough to disassemble the LCD to replace it. If I break it, it is only a $40 part, but I will have to order it from China again and wait a month.

I'll have some more pics up this weekend. I am hoping to at least get the LCD mounted in the housing in its final form. Then the next step is a ton of wiring and mounting the LCD controller and PC also inside the housing.

An issue on my mind is also how cold Michigan gets in the winter. The liquid in LCDs can actually freeze! So, I am probably going to need to build a heater to attach to the LCD to quickly bring it above freezing when I start the car. A few resistors, a steel plate and a simple controller circuit is probably the simplest approach. Once the display has been running (and the heat in the car) should keep it above freezing.

Retro point: Way back when, there was a ton of thought that went into how to install a computer in a car with regards to the HDD. The vibration in the car would destroy a hard drive if it were not mounted in a shockproof housing. Solid-state memory was too small and very expensive at that time. Amazing that you can buy a 128GB USB memory stick and SD cards for $40 now. I paid that for a 60GB laptop hard drive back then! Of course, back then, Windows XP only needed about 3 of that 60GB compared to around 13GB for Windows 10.

Retroplay

I have this really cool idea of a cupholder which has the woodgrain door retract down into the console but grrr... a can just barely fits in the space even without the door beside it. No room for the existing door. Maybe with a much thinner door, but there is no way I could match the existing woodgrain.

I might just mock it up anyway but make it brushed aluminum to match the shifter instead of woodgrain. Stay tuned.

Harold57

Retroplay, when you had the mirror map light assembly apart and were retrofitting the bulbs with LEDs, did you get a good look at the switches used for the map lights? My map light switch started going intermittent a while back but didn't recognize the switch. (Obviously, Lexus won't sell just the switch.) Do you recognize the switch or know of a good replacement for it? I'd like to replace the switch but don't want to have to replace the entire assembly to do it.

Retroplay

Which one? The door switch or the manual on/off switches? I can take a look and see if I can suggest a replacement, repair, or I will probably end up with an extra I might be able to send you.

The one I am modding above was an extra I purchased. It had the OEM microphone in it, so I jumped on it.

I went ahead and assumed you meant the manual switches and I had them sitting right here on my workbench, so here are the repair instructions:



Push in the switch so it pops up. There are two small tabs under the hat. Push those in and pop the hat off.




Two little clips holding on the mounting bracket




Circuit board is held on with small clips on either side. You can just wiggle it free. But be careful of the switch. There is a spring inside of it under light tension.Just make sure you have your hand positioned to make sure it won't jump anywhere you won't find it.




The switch mechanism. Not the little metal thing on the bottom of the housing. That is what handles the latching action. When you put the switch back together, just make sure this is sitting in the right spot. Easy because you can't push the switch at all if it is not. You can test it before putting the circuit back on.



You are left with these two pieces. That little copper pieces slides over the contacts and bridges them. Notice how dirty they are.




Cleaned up with some rubbing alcohol and a q-tip. I put some paper towel over the blade of a scalpel and ran it between the copper clip as well.



To reassemble, look at the slot on the white switch plunger and put that copper piece inside of it. Then reassemble the plunger into the housing. Make sure you can push it and it will latch. Then snap the circuit board back in place and clip on the mounting bracket again. And finally snap on the switch hat again.

And you are back in business.

Retroplay

If you have de-oxit and/or conductive grease, you could put that on the surfaces of the contacts. Recommended, but probably not too necessary.

Bgw70

Great write up! I need to clean mine up too!
Just want to add two additions, CRC makes a good electrical contact cleaner and it is sold at Wally World!
Make sure you purchase the correct grease, dielectric grease is NOT condutive, many people, including myself, confuse the "di"

Retroplay

While you are in there, you might want to clean the door selector switch too. Mine was more dirty than those manual switches. But you need to lift up the homelink to get to it.

Harold57

Thanks, I didn't think about taking the light switch apart to just clean it up. I figured that it was sonic welded together and would have to replace the entire switch. I'll have to look at the door switch while I'm about it also (good suggestion).

Harold57

Well, I got it apart fairly quickly and cleaned it. Then I attempted to reassemble it and ran into the spring problem. (Had to regather parts a couple of times.) The spring isn't the only problem, that little clip at the bottom of the black piece is a real bear to put back in. (Try to avoid allowing it to come loose!!!!)

Mine was more than just a dirt problem though, the slider had scraped a slot in the contacts and I had to get some Emory paper to it to clean the contacts. I finally got it all back together and it worked fine. (I actually need to go back to clean the door switch though, it is pretty intermittent. I didn't want to clean it since I had a fair amount of contact grease and I don't have anything to replenish it.)

The other problem I have is that the slider of the worst switch has started to spread a little. The sliders are really delicate but I attempted to tighten it up some with the hope that it will stay.

Thanks again for the help!

Retroplay

You are most welcome. Slots huh? Next time you need to get in there, maybe tin it with solder?

bviverette

[QUOTE=Retroplay;9177113]Found the service manual for the head unit (attached.) /QUOTE]

Well that got my attention. But I am stumbling on finding that attachment.

You are my current hero, Retroplay. Our 2007 has become a part of the family, and I want it do grow with us. You have inspired me to act!. Hat's off to you plans and mods.

Bill
2007 SC430
Dorothy's Ruby Slipper Red Metallic (someone called it Matador Red Mica, ok.)
Camel interior
No mods, yet

Retroplay

[QUOTE=bviverette;9214029]
Well, that's odd. It succeeded when I first attached it and shows up in my attachments in my profile. But when I try to re-attach it, it is too big (4.77MB limit).

I will find some place to store my attachments. In the meantime, here's a link you can download a copy from:
http://www.opweb.de/en/model.php?id=8931

Retroplay

I've been under the weather all week, hence the lack of motivation to work on anything. But this weekend I am hoping to finally tackle the cupholder issue. I made some paper templates to get a good idea of the space I have to work with.



This is an Iphone 5c and standard 16oz can dimensions. The white sheet represents the cutout in the center console with door and original cupholder completely removed.

As you can see, there is barely room for a can and the iphone, which is a very small phone by today's standards, just barely fits. So this is going to be a challenge.



This is my 5" android phone. Obviously no chance of fitting in there!

So, the first thought is that laying the phone down horizontally like I had wanted is either out of the question or I will need to raise whatever I come up with above the console. The can should still work but it actually will only fit at the top. Even a can (approxiamtely 65mm) will not fit at the bottom.

This all pretty much rules out any ideas I had for covers, or the tray descending into the console, etc...

I've decided to start out with old school techniques to work on this. My 3D printer is too small for something like this. That means breaking out some foam and sculpting.

I could really use some brainstorming here if anyone is willing to put on their thinking caps and come up with suggestions. Just get crazy and don't worry about not necessarily knowing what is possible. Well, with the exception of the space we will have to work with.

Help me out, guys! and I will try to make it happen.