DIY: All NAV Functions All The Time without Firmware Downgrade!

[engmedic19]

Got my box built today. Just need to hook it up and see what happens.

(you can monitor the speed pulses by accessing the diagnostic menu and selecting the Navigation Menu... Vehicle Sensors option) How do you get to this screen? I have looked at all the available menu functions and can't seem to find. I have the 6.1 version.


Thanks

[wileetundra]

Originally Posted by engmedic19

Got my box built today. Just need to hook it up and see what happens.

(you can monitor the speed pulses by accessing the diagnostic menu and selecting the Navigation Menu... Vehicle Sensors option) How do you get to this screen? I have looked at all the available menu functions and can't seem to find. I have the 6.1 version.


Thanks

Turn on the truck with the headlights off and let the NAV unit boot up. Hold down the INFO button on the NAV for 3 seconds, then continue to hold it down while you turn the parking lights on, off, on, off, on, off. The diagnostic menu will appear and you can release the INFO button. When finished with the menus just hold down the DISP key for 5 seconds and the NAV unit will reboot.

[wileetundra]

I made a second batch as promised however it sold out in less than 2 days. I guess there are a lot of NAV owners on this forum that want to enable all of the functions. So I was waiting at the mall today for the wife to finish shopping and I went into Radio Shack. They had a huge overstock on parts and were bagging the excess stuff up to send it to other stores. I told them to wait and they let me dig through the bags. I found a ton of the circuit parts for the NAV mod, which is rare since most stores normally only cary 1-2 of each item in stock, so I took this as a sign from above that I should build a few more. I went ahead and purchased enough parts to build 8 more NAV speed pulse generators!

My wife thinks I am crazy but I am trying to help people out. My generosity has limits, though, so this will be my third and final batch then I am moving on to work on my other mods. So if you want to buy a pre-built NAV speed pulse generator to enable all of your NAV functions then PM me soon otherwise my install report has all the info that you will need to build your own. First-come = first-served.

For those that have installed one of these please share your experience. It will be nice to know a lot of Tundra owners are enjoying full NAV function despite the stupid lockout that the Toyota legal department tried to force on us with a bad design.

My NAV is heavily modded and I am enjoying every bit of it!

[99EclipseSilver]

hello,


I AM SELLING MY ECLIPSE AVN30D that has only been used for a week and a half, if ANYONE IS INTERESTED PLEASE CONTACT ME AT dandefronzo@yahoo.com the unit is in perfect condition, no scratches or any problems at all. All who are interested please contact me by email and I will respond VERY promptly, also please include your offer in your email, please be reasonable and considerate with your offer's this unit is practically brand new, it was barley used, and was professionally installed and uninstalled. Everything is included with the unit.

[Jer]

Originally Posted by 99EclipseSilver

hello,


I AM SELLING MY ECLIPSE AVN30D that has only been used for a week and a half, if ANYONE IS INTERESTED PLEASE CONTACT ME AT dandefronzo@yahoo.com the unit is in perfect condition, no scratches or any problems at all. All who are interested please contact me by email and I will respond VERY promptly, also please include your offer in your email, please be reasonable and considerate with your offer's this unit is practically brand new, it was barley used, and was professionally installed and uninstalled. Everything is included with the unit.

Does this look like a for sale section? This is a good way to remain a long time member of this forum.

[dhawken]

Originally Posted by wileetundra

The factory NAV unit in my 07 Tundra is great but it has an irritating and poorly-designed safety feature which disables many of the functions and on-screen buttons whenever the vehicle is in motion. This is done presumably to prevent the driver from being distracted while driving, however it doesn't take into account that the front seat passengers will want to use those functions (especially on long trips). This is a common problem on many vehicle NAV systems and there are literally dozens of threads and thousands of posts on forums all over the web with vehicle owners seeking a solution to enable all the NAV functions while in motion.

For the 07 Tundra you can purchase or burn a modified firmware DVD which will enable the functions, however this can be expensive, the burning process is tricky and requires a specific hardware / software setup, the bypass function has to be initialized every time you start the vehicle, and you will lose the bypass function if you upgrade to the newer factory firmware when it is released.

The ideal solution was to find some type of hardware modification which will work with most NAV units and won't be tied to a specific firmware version. Obviously I wanted something cheap, fairly easy to acquire, easy to install, automatic to use, and reliable. I came up with the perfect solution after hundreds of hours of research, firmware evaluations, vehicle wiring tests, and some basic electronics tinkering.

The answer was to build my own speed pulse generator which would replicate the signal from the Tundra at 1 kmph so that the functions would all stay enabled all the time regardless of the firmware version. The parts cost about $15 and it works like a charm. You can see the photos and details in my latest installation report by clicking here and then scrolling down to report #16 - NAV Speed Pulse Generator.

Enjoy.

This may very well be the coolest site ever. I need to try these mods out! On a scale of 1-10, for a total newbie, how would you rate the speed pulse generator construction difficulty? I do not have the NAV, but am considering an OEM purchase and home installation. Whilst i have the dash apart, throwing that bad boy in there should be easy.

[wileetundra]

Originally Posted by dhawken

This may very well be the coolest site ever. I need to try these mods out! On a scale of 1-10, for a total newbie, how would you rate the speed pulse generator construction difficulty? I do not have the NAV, but am considering an OEM purchase and home installation. Whilst i have the dash apart, throwing that bad boy in there should be easy.

Making the generator device from scratch would be a difficulty level of 8 or 9 for someone that hasn't soldered on circuit boards before. If you have some soldering experience then it should be much easier, but still about a 5 or 6 since you still need to carefully align all the parts, bend the jumpers precisely, and take your time not to short any pins. Good luck if you decide to try it. The parts are cheap enough so why not give it a shot?

[ag4ever]

I have to thank you WileETundra.

I decided to make one of these this weekend (actually two), but instead of using the board you used, I decided to make my own board.

I got my inspiration from you and this site Documento senza titolo

So I started by making a schematic and using ExpressPCB to make my component / trace layouts. (If you want the layout file, let me know and I will post it.)

Here are the files used (PDF).

Edit: If you decide to use these files to print your own mask, then be sure to select none in the page scaling box under the paper handling section. The image should print to the correct scale.

[ag4ever]

So after I got those made, I cut out a page from a magazine to print the traces on.





Then I ironed the traces onto the cleaned board. (I used RadioShack's "Printed Circuit Board Design Kit" Part Number 276-1576.)



Then I soaked the board in the sink with a little soap in the water. Once the paper was softened, I started pealing it off and then rubbed the remaining paper off to reveal a masked board.



After I cleaned it up by using a sharpee to ensure the mask was good in some of the thin spots, and an exacto to scrape the toner that blead a bit making some of the traces get a bit too close, I soaked the board in the Ferric Chloride solution. Then rinse (a lot) and cut the boards apart to make 6 individual boards.



Next I drilled the holes in the lands.




Then I populated the board with the components.



The grease on the back is actually flux.



Then I soldered the components.





Then I soldered on the wires, red +, Black -, green signal.



There you have it, a custom board for your Speed Pulse Generator.





Multiple boards just ready to be populated.



Now, since I have both a Camry Hybrid and a Tundra with navigation, I decided to make two of these. I just need to install them now.



I plan to run down to the local electronics parts house (EPO, Electronic Parts Outlet) and get some large heat shrink that will fit over the board instead of installing it in a project box. That is why I tried to make the board as small as possible. I had thought about potting it in epoxy, but think the large heat shrink will be better.

One other item I changed was the capacitors. I decided to use axial lead capacitors to keep the body closer to the board and it just worked out better with my trace routing. (Also, the local RadioShack did not have 4 22uf radial lead caps in stock, but had 4 axial lead caps in stock.) The part number for the axial lead 22uf capacitor is 272-1014.

[wileetundra]

Great work AG4EVER!

I am familiar with etching PCBs but decided against it since it takes a lot longer and requires more supplies than just making the circuit from scratch. With my revised layout there are fewer jumpers needed and for those I just bend over the excess component leads and solder them to the next connection point. I also wanted a design that others could make easily if they had the soldering skills.

An important note for anyone trying this at home: my original design did use 2 capacitors, one of them on the output line which kept the output voltage close to 0 volts and created a negative pulse. This was picked up by my NAV unit just fine but after a few weeks the output capacitor went bad. It could have been due to a bad capacitor or it could have been the stress of the negative pulse / return voltage from the NAV. So just to be safe I removed the output capacitor and now the unit outputs ~12 volts and drops toward zero briefly for each pulse. My NAV still picks up the pulse just fine so I am going to update my install report and schematic soon with the new info.

And for all of you that want one of these but can't make it for yourself: I sold out of three batches in no time but I built a fourth batch due to all the PMs that kept rolling in and I still have a few of those left. These new units use the single capacitor design and have been tested extensively just like the others. PM me if interested and I will send you payment instructions then ship via priority mail the day after your payment arrives.

[ag4ever]

WileETundra,

So when the output capacitor went out, what did the NAV do?

When you were doing the initial investigation, I think you measured various voltages between 0 and 12v. Is that correct? If so, then there really should not be any problem with 12v going to the nav.

Another mod that I was thinking about was the potentiometer. Since this circuit only uses one "fixed" resistance across it, could it not also be replaced with a resistor? All we are looking for is a fixed voltage drop every 2 seconds, so an appropriate resistor should do the job. Correct?

[The Phoenix]

Very nicely done! I'm going to make this a sticky for awhile, and also add it to the FAQ.

[jcp]

I just completed the installation of my own speed pulse generator and could not be happier. Works just like advertised.

My bigest problem was figuring out how to remove the NAV unit. The trick is to pry up on the rear end of the main cup holder console. Once this come out the cigerette lighter unit, the climate control, and finally the NAV unit can be easily removed.

[wileetundra]

Originally Posted by ag4ever

WileETundra,

So when the output capacitor went out, what did the NAV do?

When you were doing the initial investigation, I think you measured various voltages between 0 and 12v. Is that correct? If so, then there really should not be any problem with 12v going to the nav.

Another mod that I was thinking about was the potentiometer. Since this circuit only uses one "fixed" resistance across it, could it not also be replaced with a resistor? All we are looking for is a fixed voltage drop every 2 seconds, so an appropriate resistor should do the job. Correct?

When the output capacitor went bad the NAV unit behaved as if nothing was connected at all. In this case the functions are enabled for 30-40 seconds when you first throw the switch to disconnect the factory speed pulse signal, then after the short delay is over the NAV realizes that no signal is present so it reverts to using GPS and locks the functions back up again. After removing the bad cap and twisting the leads together (to form a jumper) then the pulse was back and the device has been working fine ever since.

I did test numerous output voltages from the generator to the NAV howev