[GlennS]

Has anyone take apart their dash and seen how the LCD was connected? Has anyone seen a service manual that might say how it it connected?

Thanks,

Glenn S

 

[jaak]

Which one, the colour one, or the one colour one (amber)?

The Amber one, has the controller mounted on the back and get's it's info through the CAN bus and also the Audio unit. The colour one's got the controller mounted separately and has the video fed to it RGB style.

 

[GlennS]

Jaak,

Is there any way to connect the amber unit to another LCD?

Thanks,

Glenn S

 

[jaak]

It's not a graphical display, it's icon and text based, so it's not possible without writing code and doing some hardware.

The alternative, would be to put it into a closed box with a camera on it, so you effectively digitise it into a video signal that could be put onto a conventional display. This would allow you to switch display modes, or the alternative would be to genlock the camera to other signals and you could even mix or do video effects.

In the long run, it might be better to just buy an OEM Nissan contoller and colour display set up. But you know it won't be cheap.

 

[GlennS]

Nissan Controller

Would it be possible to just use the Nissan Controller with another LCD? If I added the color Controller in place of my amber Controller and attached it to any other LCD, what would the new controller connect via? Would it be RCA plugs, BNC plugs, a VGA connector or a proprietary connector?

Thanks for all the help,

Glenn S

 

[jaak]

Hmmm, that's a good idea. It's an RGB interface, but I've not looked at it in detail. It would be interesting to know what the colour controller costs (which is available in the Nav threads as one of the parts in upgrading the system).

Stick the controller on and use an aftermarket display that fits, and you might be in business.

 

[GlennS]

Jaak,

Sounds good. I think I will try that out after I find out what type of connector it uses and how much the controller costs. If you do find out what connector it uses please email me at prontoglenn @ aol.com

 

[jaak]

I think the first thing to do is download the service manual from www.nissan-techinfo.com. Subscribe for a day at $19.99, and while viewing it in Acrobat, save each section. The most important section is the AV.pdf one.

There you will see detail on the connections. It appears the other controller would just plug in, then you have to make the video connections.

I haven't found a source for the connectors Nissan uses, so that's a nuisance.

 

[GlennS]

Jaak,

Am I looking for this http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38653&item=2467707060

or this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38653&item=2464794355

Thanks,

Glenn S

 

[jaak]

The first one is the Maxima version of the Murano's controller and might be exactly the same. (I don't know, if you can check part numbers, that might tell you, but they might flash it differently.)

The second one is part of the Navigation system and useless for what you want to do.

 

[GlennS]

Sounds good. I thought that it was the first one but just wanted to get a second opinion. I'll try that one. I haven't had a chance to get on the service website to DL that info you told me about. I will try to research if those two controllers are interchangable.

Thanks,

Glenn S

 

[jaak]

You can download the manuals for both. It's quite likely, the module's identical.

 

[haddock]

GlennS, did you ever get one of these controllers?

I'm really interested in the same thing... basically swapping my amber screen out for a nice LCD...

I didn't get the nav (and don't really care about that part) because my dealer more or less talked me out of it with pricing... basically I got the non-nav version (otherwise identical) for $5k less than the best price he'd give me on the nav version. Told me demand on the nav system was too high for them to be aggressive with the numbers.

If I could get the controller and a nice 3rd party screen for a couple grand max, then I'll have exactly what I want and will have come out way ahead.

 

[jaycen29]

I too am interested in this. Please post any info you have on it. Thanks.

 

[generator]

First off, all the plugs on the NAV screen/ controller are proprietary (trust me on this, if you have been following my threads you know I have done some crazy stuff with these screens). Second even if you did get only the controller it would fault out the minute it did not see the GPS antenna and the DVD ROM drive. I don't think you would like turning your car on to a host of failure messages everyday. It seems to me that the only way to do it is to go the all the way or not at all.

 

[EmbeddedMO]

OK, this amber screen is pissing me off day after day .. who is willing to jump with me into deciphering that data pattern that is sent from the controller board to the lcd screen .. if we get that we can dump the lcd screen and start displaying everything on a third party screen .. I remember seeing something like 8 lines on a ribbon cable going from the controller board to the lcd screen ..

 

[jaycen29]

I would love to do that. Unfortunately I have no knowledge about that type of stuff so I would be no help :8:

 

[jaak]

OK, this amber screen is pissing me off day after day .. who is willing to jump with me into deciphering that data pattern that is sent from the controller board to the lcd screen .. if we get that we can dump the lcd screen and start displaying everything on a third party screen .. I remember seeing something like 8 lines on a ribbon cable going from the controller board to the lcd screen ..

Lot of work, brother... Thought about it too, but I don't even have enough time to get on the board regularly, these days! OMG 340 unread posts!!!!