New Head Unit and Key Fob Lock... related?

Hey all,

So I picked up a Joying Android head unit, removed my old 6-disc OEM head unit with the non-OEM bluetooth.

One of the mods I did was the rear backup camera mod (see https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/oem-camera-connection-below-dash.30889/). And it works great. I tapped into this wire to the "back" camera wire on my Joying:



So here's my issue. I run the truck for a bit, shut if off and get out, hit the button my fob to lock or unlock and ... nothing. Then I get really close to the front end and just keep hammering on the fob and eventually it will lock. I can also use the key to lock the truck.

If I wait a few minutes, then everything is working fine. Full range to lock and unlock using the key fob.

The ONLY thing I can think of is that I have a front-facing DVR camera that stays active for a minute or so after the truck is turned off. The head unit goes dark but I see this DVR keeps going for a bit.

Can my remote fob issues and my head unit install be related? Has anyone else had this kind of issue before?

Thanks for any insight!

J.R.

 

I don't see any likely relation between the radio and your remote lock button.
Have you tried a new battery in the remote? Or have you tried the OTHER remote?

Also, don't blame Android when that radio makes you want to rip it out with a crowbar and smash it repeatedly with a sledge hammer. I wasted WAY too many hours trying to make not-so-joy'ing radios work *adequately*, but at the end of the day, there are just way too many problems with them. Dead slow (even before they overheat and throttle back), completely unpredictable bluetooth (i.e., answer the phone and maybe 30% of the time it actually connects the sound), outdated software, INTENTIONALLY crippled kernel (they have a USB WHITELIST, and only VERY BASIC devices like keyboards, or things that THEY SOLD will work), and firmware locked up the wahzoo.

PM me when you get horribly frustrated with it. I can help you rig up a completely custom radio, that even uses the same LCD and touchscreen digitizer you already have.

 

Ya I did new batteries recently, and both fobs (both new batteries).

Last night I got out of the truck and saw the front DVR camera and my USB key (for music) lit up for about 3-4 minutes. I was hitting the lock on my fob throughout and it wasn't working. Once the lights went out on those devices the lock worked. So I'm still wondering if it's related somehow. I used their "universal" Toyota harness that fit up perfectly (except for the XM plug, which I don't use anyway). I'm going to see if there is a more instant setting some place to turn those devices off when the key is turned off...

I hear you on the build quality. Aside from the fact that their Android 8.0 doesn't do Android Auto (Zlink) with 8.0 phones (wait, what?) it's working OK for me. I am able to install some apps like Gaia GPS and various music players for the majority of what I need. Sound is surprisingly better than the OEM unit with stock speakers.

It's not a bad unit (4GB RAM / 32GB space) and it starts up pretty quick (they flat out told me the 64GB unit has a 20-30 second startup vs. this one). I've seen BT behave erratically when streaming music, but the one that really burns me is when you first link up your phone and it DELETES YOUR CONTACT LIST. So disabled contact sync, and luckily restored from Google Contacts to get 99% of them back.

Heat hasn't been an issue so much for me yet. But I haven't been in full sunlight during desert time to see that happen...

I lurk on XDA forums from time to time. Not ready to try custom ROMs yet, but that may happen once I get bored.

But hey, for less than $300 for the unit, I'm OK with it.

I'll hit you up to see what you're talking about when I get to that point! Thanks!
J.R.

 

That is... really weird.
I wonder if its feeding back on that red wire you tapped into for the reverse signal?
Or here's a completely out of this world idea.... maybe the bloody thing is spewing too much RF radiation and interfering with the receiver?

 

Weird indeed. I never heard of it happening with other people's installations for any brand or type.

RF could be the issue. I know it's not top quality specs on these things but I'm gonna make it work, damn it! LOL.

Hopefully will get in the truck soon and check out those settings.

J.R.

 

The key fob won't work if the ignition is on, so somehow your system must be back feeding into the ignition circuit.

 

OK this makes more sense to me. Wondering if I pull the tap I did for the reverse camera will tell me more.

I might hit up Joying on this as well and see if they have some kind of answer (hit or miss but worth the effort to just email them I suppose).

J.R.

 

Just to add to this, I'm assuming that there's a constant power wire and an ignition wire feed. Maybe the unit is bleeding power to the ignition feed from the constant, until it powers down. If that's the case, a diode in the ignition feed wire should fix it, so that power can't feed back to the truck.

 

Thanks @Muddinfun for the insight. I just shot them an email so maybe it's something simpler than adding the diode, but I'll keep that in mind! I'm also assuming that the constant and ignition wire are both matched to the OEM Toyota harness pinouts. So if it worked with my old 6-disc OEM unit, it "should" be the same here. Buuuut we'll see...

J.R.

 

Ok, so I just took a quick peek at the "universal toyota harness".
It looks to be "mostly" ok-ish.

One thing that they are known for screwing up, is reversal of BATT and IGN lines. While it sounds like yours is (may be?) operating correctly, that could just be lucky.

Normal operation would be like this;

From TOTAL power off, it will take a couple of minutes to boot up to some semblance of a desktop.
IGN OFF --> Screen goes off, the rest remains on.
+30 seconds to a few minutes --> Device goes into STANDBY/SLEEP
IGN ON --> within 5 seconds it should be back to some semblance of a desktop.

Truck wiring harness for the two main connectors (the third one with only 3 wires is the steering wheel buttons, and CANNOT impact anything):


Now I notice on the joying harness pictures, that they show an orange wire going to "N" or "O" on the 6 pin plug. I can't make out the label on it, but that wire should not be there.

Good luck with talking to them.... let me know if you end up speaking to "Candy" or "Mandy" (they're both retarded).

 

@96carboard -- NICE. I'll have to see what's going on with my pinouts. Sigh. This will be the 30th time taking the dash apart (OK I'm exaggerating...)

From the unit to the Joying harness there is an orange wire that says "BACK" that is not part of the Toyota Universal harness. That's what I hooked up to the wire behind the glove compartment for the backup camera. That's what made it work, so have to wonder if that's the wrong wire, or ...

Thanks again for the diagram!

J.R.

 

So for those still watching or tagged in this thread, I think I found the answer after dealing with my key fob issue for so long.

Following the image that @96carboard gave me, I traced the Universal Toyota Harness and the pinouts to the radio.

Apparently the orange wire that is in the harness was for illumination of the keys. It was mapped to the "J" pin The other "Do not use" (N and O) were not populated with wires:



I cut that wire (on the Joying side of the harness) and so far no issues with the remote! So I don't have the keys on the radio lit up when I have the running lights on, but I think I can mod that to work some place else.

Anyway, so far so good. Thought I'd update in case anyone else had this issue.

Now to find a good 12v hardwired USB hub to see about adding more than 2 devices with full power support...

 

Bringing this back from the dead.

I'm facing the same issue with my 3rd gen after installing a Joying android unit. My Key fob range has decreased dramatically and sometimes there is a delay. Did cutting the J pin wire solve your issue? Did you just wire it to another 12v input?

 

Hey,

For the most part I'm going to say that this did NOT solve my issue. For some reason every once in a while the fob does not work for me and I have to manually lock it, or wait about 3 minutes total to get it to respond again. I've even just kept clicking the fob and hovering over different parts of the truck and it doesn't always respond.

I kind of gave up, honestly. Sorry!