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2006 RT3 to Android - is it possible

5K views 26 replies 5 participants last post by  BiGK 
#1 ·
I have just bought a 2006 407 2.0 HDI Executive.
It has the RT3 system, a nice bit of retro tech, although in reality it has more buttons than it does functions.

Reading through the forums and facebook pages seems to point towards issues with CAN signals and BSI damage.

However has anyone successfully removed an RT3 unit and fitted an android aftermarket item that worked and integrated with the CAN system (climate control display, access to trip computer etc) without causing damage to the BSI? Interested to get an up to date assesment of what is now available, perhaps a solution has been developed since those earlier posts.
 
#2 ·

Although I went from RT4 to Android. You will need Peugeot Diagnostics to recode the BSI to tell it you have an RD4 instead of a RT3.

That was my own method of doing it as I wasn't happy with the full on integrated Android headunits (heard horror stories off a fair few people)
 
#3 ·
Ah, i had read on that very thread the issues of BSI units bricking due to parking sensor button. If the button was removed and a blank put in its place i wonder would that prevent that issue?

I was just keen to explore the possibilty of fitting a fully integrated android unit, purely to have only the one screen.
 
#5 ·
yes i have one. only issue i have found is that it changed the milage on my speedo to kilometers and i cant find a way to fix that. not sure about parking sensors coz mine have never worked and i dont feel the need to try and fix them. iv had mine a few years its running android 7 and i cant see the same brandname available. cruise controle works on the speedo screen. climate controle works on the tablet display. diagnostics on the tablet is verry basic might tell you if you have a light out. it a pain in the backside trying to cram all the cables into the back of it so i cut out some of the plastic frame
 
#7 ·
Hello guys,
a few weeks ago I ordered multimedia from aliexpress.
I settled on the 9 inch screen option, where the factory 1 din unit is retained (RT3 in my case).
Well today multimedia has come.
My car is a coupe, 2006 with RT3 navi and JBL.
According to the seller, the android device is compatible with JBL.
Well, after installing it, the air conditioning control is not visualized on the screen, and the sound control does not work, neither from the steering wheel, nor from the touch screen.
Open doors are not shown on screen, parking sensors are not visualized.
So I went to the local audio/multimedia shop , but the guy there didn't do anything either.
According to the guy from audio shop, I should go for mutimedia, with the standard size screen and its own 1 din unit under the screen.
Any expirience with this type of problems with Android navi ?
 
#8 ·
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this is the can bus decoder its what's responsible for showing that information on your screen

check you have one and its plugged in properly

this guy dosnt know what hes on about
"According to the guy from audio shop, I should go for mutimedia, with the standard size screen and its own 1 din unit under the screen. "
 
#13 · (Edited)
@BiGK you were totally right.

The can bus decoder was set for Nissan, so I changed it to Peugeot 407.
So after that i got sound, but the AC doesnt show on the screen when i ajust something from the panel.

Also when i was with nissan settings, my oem parking sensors were working, but with the P.407 setup i got just rear view camera.

Another weird thing, my radio controls from the steering wheel were working, but i did software update of the head unit and they don't work anymore.

Also i tried to do initialisation (fron car setting menu) but it didn't change anything.

Sooo... back to RT3 for me i guess 😐
 
#14 · (Edited)
i dont think these android units fully shutdown when the key is removed. i think they go into a sleep mode. (i say this because iv noticed my battery goes flat much faster now... if i dont use the car... id say 5 days if i leave it unlocked... mabey 2 weeks if its locked. but my battery is old)
now that you have changed the settings.. try rebooting the headunit with on screen settings. or if you cant find that.. try disconnecting your battery.
iv never refilled my ac... but mine shows me when i adjust the fans/ temp settings. theres an overlay bar that pops up at the bottem of the screen. regardles of what is on the screen when i press a heating related button.

"Also when i was with nissan settings, my oem parking sensors were working, but with the P.407 setup i got just rear view camera."

this could be normal? my parking sensors stoped working around the time i installed my headunit. cant say for sure coz it didnt concern me
i hate beeping noises... so i see it as a bonus.. id love to know how to disable the seatbelt warning

with android phones/tablets iv seen many strange things with updates. i would advise you to wipe/format data / factory reset after your update to see if this helps

(also note that my headunit is running android 7 and is atleast 5 years old so... not the same as yours)

"initialisation (fron car setting menu)" im not sure what that is?
 
#15 · (Edited)
Well that's good... but there should be more settings as well in there somewhere? Certain features need enabling / disabling if your car has them.

If after an update it doesn't work, change the canbus decoder to something else in settings, then change back.

If all that doesn't work, you may need to change the BSI settings using Peugeot Diagbox from RT3 to RD4.

All these chinese units are made by 1 or 2 different manufacturers but have multiple sellers - not all is lost!

Original (RD4, RT3 etc) do not fully shut off either as there is no switched 12v. Instead, the headunit is meant to enter a low power state when switching off. This helps when unlocking car, the original headunit starts up in background, so it is ready for you by the time you turn ignition on.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Update

@BiGK your advice was spot on.
Hats off, sir.
I found a guy with Diagbox, that was able to reprogram the BSI from RT3 to RD4.
Also we changed the settings the of the head unit, where u had to select what canbus do u use and ect.

Even if the canbus decoder had a sticker with Hiworld
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we found that the best results we get with Raise, and the option of the model "407 (save the original CD) ".
That's weird because I still have to keep my RT3 connected, there is a really big harness plug for it.


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If it's not connected, there is no sound on the android unit. Also, I can mute/unmute the sound from RT3 unit by pressing the on/off button. I can't adjust the volume from there, neither anything else from any other button, just that.
AC is working as it was expected, as a single zone climatronic.
The OEM parktronic is working, but the graphics of the zones of each sensor are not correct, also the hole system is lagging a bit, like 3-4 seconds for the front parking sensors.

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The bad things:
- As I expected, I have to say goodbye on all system messages that used to pop up on the navi screen with the RT3.
I still hear that specific alarming beep from the car, but can't check what about it.

- There is something weird with the trip computer.
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And its like that hours, doesn't change. I can still can check the trip info on the android unit, but this isnt very nice.

-The android-auto option is a joke. You have to use 3rd party app, for screen mirroring, but it's just bad. No idea about car play and iPhone.
 
#17 ·
Thanks for the update. This is the issue with android headunits sadly, sloppy coding. The lag on the parktronic and flashing trip computer messages means that the canbus is having conflicting messages sent... most likely by the canbus receiver.

This might also be because the RT3 is plugged into the system but the BSI thinks it is the RD4, causing mismatched messages sent on canbus. What you might be able to do is buy a cheap RD4 unit, code that into the car, that might resolve some issues (RD4 supports JBL I believe).

When I advised to inform the BSI an RD4 is fitted, I had assumed the RT3 would be unplugged! It seems the chinese headunit uses sloppy coding, the reason there is no sound is because the JBL amp is not switching on - the RT3 unit switches it on!
 
#19 ·
It's impossible to know without trying it, most likely it will need coding with VIN, but small possibility of not needing to do so.

There is one other option available for you and that is to probe the FAKRA part C output wires coming from the RT3. On my diagrams Pin 9 is connected to the JBL amp but another has said pin 11 (which doesn't have a connection on my diagrams). If you use a multimeter, that pin should be 12v. That 12v would then act like an amp switch on wire I believe. We can then use another wire instead to provide that 12v switch on (or whatever voltage it turns out to be) and remove the RT3 entirely. I suspect this is why your headunit can disable the sound when it is turned off.
 
#20 ·
Sorry for the late reply.
On pin 9 and 11 i measured 9v on both, but tried to make a bridge with 12v input but still had to keep the rt3 unit connected, if want to have sound.

Ordered another can bus decoder for Pug 407.
It was more laggy, the aircon menu used to pop up on screen only .20% of the time.
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But after so many tests something happened with the audio.
Now the rt3 restarts itself every few minutes. And the audio drops for 10-15 seconds.
First i decided that the problem is in the rt3 unit, got other one from a donor car but the problem remains.
Also when the RT3 restarts (i can hear the cd mechanical parts are doing initialisation), at the same time on the small screen in the instrument cluster i can see the checks that car is doing when the ignition is starting.
Like oil ok, check ok, man/auto functions etc.
So i guess the problem is more serious and its mot related with the rt3.
Maybe is something related with the dashboard that i changed a few weeks ago.

Any ideas how i coud bypass this?

Also any ideas where is the JBL amp located in 407 coupe?


I guess somewhere here the normal people start to consider dacia sandero as a reasonable option...
 

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#21 ·
No worries, I realise things take time to test out etc.

9v is worrying. It indicates that it might be a LIN bus...but I checked the wiring diagrams and it's not indicated as a LIN bus.

What did you do to the dashboard and why? (I assume you mean instrument cluster?)
 
#22 · (Edited)
I replaced the whole car interior from white to brown/tan and one of the steps was changing the dashboard.
407 Coupe seats from RHD on LHD car

And there were so many wiring harnesses in the dashboard, I'm start thinking that some of them could be pressed, damaged etc., while I assembled everything.
also there were a few modules behind the glove box, when I have time i gonna check their connections.
Also since i have two RT3 units already that work exactly the same way, i will get a RD4 unit just for the test.
At least RD4 is way more cheaper and easy to find donor cars with them.
 
#23 ·
Right, so you installed Android unit, then changed interior, then tried a different CANBUS. Where did you notice the restarting issue, after the interior or the CANBUS?

Did you replace the HiWorld canbus with the old one or is HiWorld still being used?

It is unlikely to be headunit, nor anything to do with dashboard. RT3 is switched on.. and kept on by messages sent on canbus.
 
#24 · (Edited)
I did the dashboard change and the android unit install almost at the same time.
And first days i didnt have sound at all, till i found a guy who reprogramming the car from rt3 to rd4. At this moment i noticed the problem with restarting RT3 unit.
Cuz when the audio shuts down for 15seconds its easy to hear that something moving in the rt3, i guess the cd optics mechanism is doing initialisation.
And i thought ithe rt3 just died.
That's why i got second rt3 unit, but the problem stays. Btw with the second rt3, i didnt get that beeping sound every 20seconds, when VIN number in the unit isn't the right one, no idea why.

So I'm with the first canbus right now, that came with the Android unit.
But with the both canbus modules i got the same result about the audio.
And From what you are telling me, maybe is something related with the BSI, fuses plugs or etc.
 
#25 ·
RT3/RT4 and RD4 may use slightly different CAN network messages. I believe the issue could be related to changing the BSI to think it has an RD4 attached but the RT3 getting confused. These RT3/4 units use a process monitor - when it thinks something is wrong with the system, it reboots itself.

Try switching back to RT3 in BSI. Hopefully after all this, it should all be working, however it could break something else... time will tell.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Update
So, i have got RD4 unit annnd my problem with the audio magically disappeared!!!
Thank you @BiGK for the support
Also the other good thing, the problem with the trip 1 and trip2 info, changing constantly on the small display in the instrument cluster also disappeared.

The bad things:
Remote control from steering wheel for the audio doesn't work anymore - the volume adjustment and the next/prev. somg/station buttons that used to work with rt3, dont work now.
The donor car was 407 sedan and the color of the rd4 unit is brighter:
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But I'm so done with these audio problems, so gonna leave it like that.:)
Also with the second RT3 unit and with this RD4 unit, i didn't get the alarming beep for audio unit with wrong VIN, no idea why.
 
#27 ·
The remote control (audio stalk) interacts with COM2000, it then sends CAN messages on a different canbus line to the BSI, which then forwards the correct message to the comfort CAN bus which is what the instrument cluster / radio uses.

I checked and the commands sent to the radio should be same for RD4/RT3 according to PSA CAN

Two options:

1. BSI sends different commands if it's RD4 / RT3 and the chinese headunit is configured to RT3 commands somehow. Reinstall RT3, recode BSI to RT3.

2. Chinese headunit has a glitch. Maybe needs a power cycle (remove fuse for the headunit) but other than that, who knows how to fix.
 
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