Hi All, Belated Happy New Year.
So I've been wanting to put this post up for quite a while, but its taken me a very long time to get the end line of trying to complete this retrofit. It was one of the last things my car didnt have and I wanted to see if it was even possible to do. Having spoken to a number of people all over the place the general consensus was it could not be done unless it was ordered from factory. I had heard things like:
1. It just can't be done.
2. You need new seats so its therefore too expensive.
3. You wont get the tablets talking to the car.
4. You have to order them from factory only for it to work.
5. Unless you order it from factory the car won't talk to the tablets.
Now those comments plus others did throw a spanner in the works and put me off even attempting it, but when I found a pair of tablets (Factory OEM ones) on a well known auction website for a reasonable price I decided it was worth the punt, but I was effectively going in blind. It was then the homework really began.
First and Foremost it's important to point out there are 2 Types of Audi Tablet that go into the Q7 4M and they have some key differences. There is:
1. The Factory OEM tablets. These tablets can "only" be ordered from factory but integrate heavily into the car MMI system. They are Audi branded Android based tablets. This means you can see car information on the tablets (like Ad Blue levels / Tyre Pressures / Service Information / Speed / Trip/Distance etc / Oil Level) etc. In addition you can play any media on the MMI Jukebox storage (10GB) on the MMI unit that is in the Glove box on these tablets. This includes if a DVD is in the DVD slot, you can watch that on the tablets in the rear seats. In addition, if you the factory TV tuner and/or 6 Disc DVD Changer installed in the boot, the 2 tablets can utilise them so rear seat passengers can watch live TV , watch a DVD off the 6 Disc DVD changer. Finally, the rear passenger tablets can send Navigation information to the MMI in the front of the car. For example passengers can pick out POI's or new destinations using Google Earth and "send them" to the MMI in the front of the car and the driver can choose to accept/deny those navigation requests into the Sat Nav.
Finally, the rear tablets can be controlled from the MMI in the front of the car. You can "lock" the tablets from the front MMI system so the tablet screens in the rear are disabled. You can send media to them from the front of the car if you want them to play something from the MMI jukebox or a DVD for example. You can also control a few other bits and pieces.
These tablets also have an SD card slot for local media to be played on them.
2. The second version of the Audi Tablet is call the "Audi Accessories RSE III / Audi Entertainment Mobile" Tablet and are not available from the factory but can be ordered with a new car via Audi Accessories (or second hand online). They will actually be fitted by the dealer who receives the vehicle. These also fit in the back of the front seats in the same manner as the Factory OEM ones but are effectively an Audi branded Android based tablet with Wifi. They can connect to the Car wifi just like the the Factory OEM ones, but do not have any other integration like the factory OEM ones like the points I've listed above. They have a memory card slot for local media playback.
Both tablets are Android tablets, so they have all the standard features of an Android Tablet so you can install apps from the Google Play store (BBC Iplayer / ITV / Netflix etc) and stream all that using the Car Wifi.
Here is a pic of both tablets. The Factory OEM one on the Left and the Audi Entertainment Mobile on the right so you can see the cosmetic differences.
Factory vs Accessory Tablets.jpg
However, for clarity, both these tablets "fit" in the back of the front seats in exactly the same way, so the benefits of that type of installation is the same. The differences lie around the functionality of each type of tablet.
Both types of tablets have a special screen build and design that has been tested so that in the event of an accident the screens do not shatter which may injure the rear passengers. In addition the locking mechanism in the front seats they plug into is designed to stop the tablets flying about the car in the event of an accident etc.
My install is based on the Factory OEM tablets.
So firstly I had to see how I could swap the pieces in my front seats to physically accept the tablets - especially after I had heard people saying "You need new seats!"
In addition, new control units and wiring is needed for the factory OEM tablets and I had to figure all that out. I actually first built the entire setup in the passenger footwell of the car so I could figure out if I could technically make it all work before taking apart my seats. That in itself took a month or so to tinker with when time allowed and I finally got there about 90% and while I didn't have them working 100% I was confident I would get there in the end so I ploughed on with the physical install.
Here is a pic of my jerry rigged install in the passenger footwell.
IMG_20190708_104919_1.jpg
Once that was out the way I started on the drivers seat once I had all the new parts I needed from my local dealer and then got the kit installed in the seat. I knew that once I nailed the process on the drivers seat I could re-use the same process on the passenger seat.
Here is a pic once I swapped the pieces on the drivers seat.
IMG_20190228_205657_7.jpg
After that I had a gap of time before I could get the wiring in the seat done and wired into the car. These factory OEM tablets need more than just power. However, I got that all done and the drivers side was effectively done.
IMG_20191218_143125_3.jpg
It was then a matter of repeating the process on the Passenger Seat, control unit fitted, wiring run and coding (at least, all the coding I had figured out so far).
Again, there was a pause of a month or so while I had to find time to do this, make up the relevant wiring etc etc, but got there in the end. Here is a pic of them installed, the top picture the passenger tablet is installed but wiring not done so not powered on, but the physical install was finished. Bottom half of the picture below is after I finished all the wiring and coding.
2020-01-08_11-41-07.jpg
Once I got this far I was effectively done and just needed to do a bit of tidying up. I had all the trim back, seats all back to normal and the whole car was "happy". However I couldn't get all the car information and car integration working all the time and this was a piece that got me beat for a while however the other day I managed to finally figure out what to do and updated the system accordingly. Now it all works beautifully and I'm so so pleased (as are the kids!)
I'm going to do a couple of videos of the tablets working so if desired you can see all the car integration I have been talking about, a picture says a thousand words after all. It will hopefully then make a lot more sense. Give me a couple of days to do these and I'll post in this thread.
Here is a pic I have of the Tyre Pressure Monitoring system showing on the tablets for example. (this is for cars with Advanced TPMS installed).
2020-01-08_11-48-29 blurred vin.jpg
Was it worth it? Personal opinion I guess, bit like everything else I've done. Many will argue, and rightly so that an iPad or similar on a holder does the job just fine and it absolutely does, but this is what I wanted to do and prove to myself it could be done and prove others that said it couldn't be done that it could. That's just me though.
Hope this has been of interest
Cheers
Andy
