Yesterday I did some more work on the stereo on the truck.  I need to get bluetooth working on the Android side so I can use the Torque app to monitor the truck while we're pulling the trailer.  Supposidly Ford 6l diesels have issues with the EGR system and it will overheat, possibly cracking the head.  Not good. So I use a bluetooth ODB-II monitor, and Torque on my android phone.  I should be able to use it on my android head unit also... but no, they didn't install bluetooth on the android side.  It does have a usb port for the wifi adapter though.  So I planned to just put in a hub and use both at the same time.  

Nope, didn't work, nada, nothing.  For whatever reason the software isn't recognizing the usb hub.  So consequently anything plugged in isn't recognized either.  BUT- it gets worse.  Even without the hub, it won't recognize any bluetooth module I plug in.  I have about 4 different brands and none of them work.  

There is hope though.  Some smart fella has released an updated rom for the Dynavin, and lots of people are using wifi/bluetooth at the same time.  He wants a $30 donation for the rom though, so that's a bummer.  

For being as expensive as it is, it sure doesn't do what I want it to do out of the box....

For now, I leave you with this:

Rear-view camera installed!

Yesterday I worked on our 'new' truck.  We bought a decent used 2006 F-350.  It's an ex GE commercial truck.  Big tough 1 ton diesel, more than enough to pull our 7,000 pound trailer.  

So with the extra money from selling our newer Toyota Tundra, I bought an Android stereo to replace the crappy stock unit. 

It's a Dynavin, a European company. The spec's on it make it out to be really cool.  Full Android 2.2, GPS, USB, Bluetooth, etc.  What they don't say is, this thing is really two separate units in one.  It has a 'radio' side, and a 'nav' side.  The 'nav' side is Android.  The 'radio' side is some crap Chinese gui, probably running over Win CE 5.  So by default it starts in 'radio' mode, playing whatever is in the usb port. That's fine, but then you have to wait for the Android side to boot, just like rebooting your phone.  So, min later you can use the navigation.  But wait!  If you select the Android side, the 'radio' doesn't stop playing, it just mixes in the Android audio.  Personally I think the Android has a much more robust playback system, I love the interface on my phone, plus I'm used to it.  Anyway, rant over. 

Yesterday I finally got the rear-view camera hooked up.  The truck is already big, but it's also a long bed, so the stock video cable that came with the camera wouldn't reach.  Being cheap, I didn't want to run to Radio Shack to pick up a RCA couple, so I ordered one on Amazon.  It finally came a few days ago.  When I installed the new radio I also ran most of the wire I would need, Video and a 2 conductor + shield/ground for power and reverse.  Now when I put the truck in reverse the head unit senses this and brings up the camera.  It's so much easier backing up to the trailer now!  It's not perfect, but hopefully I won't need Daphne to help me anymore.  

So I've decided to start a blog.  I don't know if it will work out or not, but I think I need a place to put all of my ideas and projects.  We'll see how it goes!