Stay away from Eonon radios

[Joshdub]

Less than a month. I figured the mics are just bad quality

[semcoinc]

Originally Posted by Joshdub

Less than a month. I figured the mics are just bad quality

Chinese New Year is just starting and from what I hear the celebration is about a week or so. I've just emailed customer support and will soon know if they are shut down or responding during this time.

Please keep me posted on your fix results.

Thanks.

Mike

[Joshdub]

I emailed them too. I'm thinking about sending it back.

[semcoinc]

Couldn't fault you for that thinking. Maybe they would send you a replacement unit and credit you when the other one was returned.

Mike

[itsbrokeagain]

Originally Posted by Joshdub

I emailed them too. I'm thinking about sending it back.

I have the external mic run up by the overhead console behind the grille where the factory one would have went.

Calls are pretty clear, I can hear my girlfriend quite well when she calls while driving. Doesn't even have to speak that loud.

Is your connection secure on the back?

[Joshdub]

The connection is secure. It's the same issue with the external mic and internal mic. I also tried different phones.

The mic thing isn't the only issue. I am more annoyed with the lag when trying to run maps/waze and either google music or Pandora. The thing is just incredibly slow when you have more than one app running. I am also irritated that I need to find a solution to make it sit flush in the dash, and find a way to hook up the illumination. It also has some annoying feedback when the car is on.

Honestly, I would send it back for sure if it wasn't so much work to take the wiring harness back out and the return shipping was cheap/free.

[semcoinc]

Here are my results from today after excruciating pain pulling the fakra and other wires up under the carpet and in through the console



I might fiddle with it some more to get it a squeak better.

Mike

[semcoinc]

Streaming BT from phone is working!

It is in the A2DP app. Initially the stream was choppy but in a couple minutes it got really good.

Illumination of buttons works. No dimming with dash rheostat but that's ok by me.

Steering wheel buttons all work. Talking head goes to phone page.

Edit: The unit apparently has two level dimming NIGHT and DAY. There is no dimming wire to connect to the vehicle circuit in this GA6166 configuration. I don't know if the dimming is GPS time/position sunset based or if there is an actual sensor in the unit.

Mike

[itsbrokeagain]

Originally Posted by semcoinc

Streaming BT from phone is working!

It is in the A2DP app. Initially the stream was choppy but in a couple minutes it got really good.

Mike

Really?? Hrm this I must try out later on and see if that was the solution the entire time...

[semcoinc]

OK, so here is my approach to the running the dreadful Fakra wiring harness (and a couple other cables) from the rear of the E53 near the battery up to the dash for Factory NAV equipped vehicles.

I started here doing a test boot up of the GA6166:



Here is the Eonon supplied Canbus box and the antenna connection



The driver side panel was where I chose to pull my cables



Using a wire hanger as a fish line I pulled the cables into the main cabin at the driver side rear seat



I routed the cables around the front of the rear seat where existing factory wiring lies



Here comes the tricky part. I decided to run the cables up under the carpet and in under the console and from there up to the center of the dash where the HU lives. Crystalworks has an awesome DIY on how he tore apart his interior for an AVIN install and I used that as my guide on how to unmount the console enough to lift it (and support it by 2x4s) to do my cable pull. BTW, this is the same area that I used to run my Dice Mediabridge unit's cable for it to live in the console cubby. Here is crystal works DIY

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...-detailed.html



In the above, you can see the slits I made in the carpet (under the console and out of sight) previously for the Dice and I needed to widen them a little to get the Eonon Fakra and antenna cable as well as my sub cable and rear camera cable.

The below pic shows the piece of frame under the console through which I ran my cables



Here is where I see the carpet opening where I can grab my cables from the console cubby box and route them. The carpet slits are visible at the bottom of the cubby box.



These are the cables that I pulled for my install. I chose to wrap the fakra harness with its antenna wire to make it easier to pull through the tight spaces and it helped me not get caught on anything.



The rear carpet was extremely heavy and unmanageable to lift and move. It has a rubber reinforcing and I ended up using a 2x4 block to support it while I used my hand to route the cable up through my carpet hole. I was very careful with my slitting of carpet because there is a wire bundle under that area and there is some foam that I needed to dig out to make an access hole big enough for the Fakra cable to pass through.

Here is my success in getting the cables up through the carpet to begin their way forward.



Here is my finished access point in the carpet under the console



I was happy with this finished result.



I put my USB plugs in the ash tray





With the removal of the console retaining phillips screws (thankfully identified by crystal works in his DIY) I placed my cable BEHIND the mounting tabs so they run in the inner side of the console



The cables take a little bit of work to massage into a nice way to lay for the unit to fit in the dash. I used the two top T10 screws to retain the unit.

I placed the hotspot antenna just below the unit in the center of the dash I believe on top of the box that holds the switch panel for PDC, rear hatch release, etc.

I placed the GPS antenna just slightly to the right side on top of the big tubular frame. I mounted it with 3M two faced foam tape because I felt the magnet could slip under a hard braking scenario. GPS signal in my garage was good going through my frame garage ceiling and roof and the plastic dash materials.

PS: 15' of RCA subwoofer cable is not enough and I came up a little short to reach my amp mounted on the driver side wall of the spare tire well. So, if you have a sub amp in the back, maybe consider 18'-20'

The supplied camera cable was plenty adequate, whatever length that was.

Mike