My KJ MyGig RER Multimedia System Install Project

[Rednroll]

This is an on going project that I started. Hopefully, when I eventually get it done it should be one of the most killer multimedia surround sound systems around. This install will be where the best of OEM will meet the best of aftermarket and work together in complete harmony.

A couple people have asked me to post pics of the MyGig RER install. I call this "Phase-1" of the install, which is basically the heart of the system.

Here's the outline of the full install I'm working on.

Phase-1 (Radio Install)
- Create Custom Radio Bezel
- Install MyGig RER Radio
- Install GPS Antenna
- Install Sirius Satellite Antenna

Phase-2 (Rear Seat Displays)
- Mount dual 9" LCD/DVD players behind rear seats (Toshiba SD-P91S)
- Wire MyGig Audio/Video to rear seat displays

Phase-3 (7.1 Surround Speaker Installation)
- Front Doors: Infinity KAPPA 60.9cs 6.5" 90 Watt component system
- Rear Doors: Infinity KAPPA PERFECT 6.1 6.5" 100 Watt component system
- Rear Behind Seat: Infinity KAPPA 693.9i 6x9 110 Watt Tri-axial
- Sub Woofers: Dual Infinity KAPPA PERFECT 12VQ 12" 400 Watt subs
- IP L/R fronts: 2.5" undecided???
- IP Center: 2x6 EDPL Flat speaker

Phase-4 (Surround Processor/Digital EQ amp Installation)
- Infinity OEM 12 Channel Dodge R/T amplifier

Phase-5 (High Power amp installation)
- (2) JBL P180.2 360 Watt 2 channel amplifiers
- (1) JBL P80.4 320 Watt 4 channel amplifier
- (1) Infinity KAPPA ONE 800 Watt 1 channel Class-D Sub amp

Phase-6 (Power support)
- Deep Cell Marine Battery Install
- High Output Alternator

 

[Rednroll]

Here's the basic diagram of the system after the Phase-1 completion

You must be registered for see images

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Keep us posted....

 

[Rednroll]

Phase-1 Pics

Here are some pics of what it looks like in the vehicle. Tell me what you think so far.

Front Bezel Mounting view

You must be registered for see images

DVD Playback front view

You must be registered for see images

Start up Screen view

You must be registered for see images

Radio View with Jeep logo

You must be registered for see images

 

[Rednroll]

Keep us posted....

You jumped in too quick. Pics are up now.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Very cool.

 

[Rednroll]

Very cool.

I'm totally digging it......Currently, I'm riding around and trying to figure out what I want to listen too....I've got too many options to play with. Do I want to Play a DVD movie? Do I listen to SAT radio? Do I want to plug in my iPod and listen to that? Do I want to use the Navigation? Do I start loading up the hard drive and listen to all my MP3 files? Am I missing listening to my standard radio stations yet? Do I want to connect my phone via Blue Tooth??

Too many things to play with.

 

[hyde]

Very cool, especially if you got mygig at a good price.
Keep us posted with your speaker installation as well, I am interested to hear what it will be like to have 7.1 in such a small area...

 

[Rednroll]

Very cool, especially if you got mygig at a good price.
Keep us posted with your speaker installation as well, I am interested to hear what it will be like to have 7.1 in such a small area...

My goal when I'm done is to be able to compete with a Libby system like this one.....but make it look as OEM as possible:
http://www.infinitysystems.com/car/installs/default.aspx?Language=ENG&Country=US&Region=USA

I know I already have a leg up on them in this install. I know they don't have a 12 channel digital amplifier with surround sound processing and digital EQ and delay adjustments on each of the 12 channels.........That's what I do for a living....I design OEM digital surround sound amplifiers.

I got the MyGig at a great price......I have some inside connections.

 

[Marlon_JB2]

How about you share those inside connections? lol3.gif

That looks great... stock even! Very nice job.

 

[Rednroll]

How about you share those inside connections? lol3.gif

That looks great... stock even! Very nice job.

Yeah....I've got to use that inside connection again. As you may have noticed on the pics, the screen currently has a small scratch on it. That's what I get when trying to balance 3 things with only 2 hands.....oops....OUCH!!! So, I'll have to do a screen replacement in the near future. I'll probably take care of that when I have to do the wiring to the rear screens, hopefully some time next week. I'm currently waiting for those portable rear seat DVD players to come in the mail, so I can start Phase-2.

Thanks for the compliment!! That was my 1st custom bezel I ever made. It took me over 2 months in my free time to complete. I bought a used 2004 Libby Bezel on Ebay for $30.....got out the Dremel, some Epoxy, Plastic, put it all back together and filled it in with some Bondo, sanded, primed and painted.

 

[flair1111]

ive never been one to like the screen units, but now with gps and just being cool on camping trips ild like to get a head unit like what you have. how much did that head unit cost?

 

[Rednroll]

ive never been one to like the screen units, but now with gps and just being cool on camping trips ild like to get a head unit like what you have. how much did that head unit cost?

I've seen them sold on eBay anywhere between $700-$1200. What you're looking for is the "MyGig RER". Be careful because there is a MyGig "REN"...which looks almost the same, but doesn't have the Navigation

But, I would hate to lead you in the wrong direction. To actually put this radio in to the KJ, it's a harder task than it appears. This radio was designed for newer Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge platform vehicles. The major obstacle for the KJ is that this radio requires a CAN bus communication. There is no IGNITION on/off wire connection on the radio. The KJ has a J1850 bus communication, where the new model Liberty (2009+) has a Can bus communication. So what happens in the newer platform vehicles is that the on board vehicle's computer communicates through the CAN bus with the Radio. So when you turn on the ignition, the vehicle's computer sends out a CAN bus communication message which tells the radio to turn on, when the computer detects the ignition switch is on. Then the computer additionally sends out periodic messages to the radio to let it know to remain on. Additionally, the vehicle's computer sends out your current speed to the radio through CAN communications, so that the radio knows how fast you are traveling and it uses that information to more accurately do the navigation. So none of that is possible on the KJ, since it has an older J1850 bus communication....thus no CAN communications for this radio to work properly. If you have a newer Chrysler vehicle with CAN bus communications....then it's not so difficult to install. Your only obstacle there is knowing if your vehicle has "Low Speed" Can, or "High Speed" Can...since there are 2 different versions of the radio...one with Low Speed Can operation and one with High Speed Can operation.

So anyways.....how I got this to work is that I installed a separate electronic box. What the box does is that it has an ignition wire, and a Speed Pulse wire input that connects to the KJ's ignition wire and speed pulse wire which comes from the KJ's BCM. It takes these analog signals and then translates them into CAN bus communication messages, where it then sends these messages to the radios CAN bus connections. Thus, it's performing the task of what the newer vehicle's computer is doing.

So your next question is probably going to be, "Where can I get one of these boxes and how much does it cost?" I can't help you out there too much. I know they exist, I think they might be called a "Lock Pick" box or something like that....I think I saw those on Ebay also, but I don't know too much about them. I happen to work with some software engineers that reverse engineered the necessary CAN messages and designed one for me as a prototype sample.....otherwise, I would just point you to the device that I know works and where to buy it. So you might have to do some research, if you're still interested. You're basically looking for an electronic box, that has an Ignition wire, and a Speed Pulse wire input and has the ability to translate them to CAN bus communication messages. From what I've heard, it's pretty easy to design if you're a software/hardware engineer, familiar with the CAN bus protocol.

There are aftermarket options though, which will be less headaches which do most of the things this radio does.

 

[hallb4]

So how did you get the 2-DIN head unit to fit in the 1.5 DIN slot? Besides fabricating the new bezel did you have to do any modifications to the dash hardware that holds it in?

 

[Powerslave]

I used an XBOX, and had everything under the sun... Now, with the 360, you got WiFi, and wireless controllers. I plan on placing one in my Liberty, just trying to get a space to mount my 7.2" Widecreen LCD. The Xbox will fit under the seat, so, it's just a matter of, WHEN do I want to do this...

I got an XB1 I can use as well, and that's what I used in my Avenger. Complete multi-media system, with Xbox Media Center as the dashboard. People loved it. I got a post here, somewhere, on how to do this, 'cause with XB1, you need a custom made controller with a power button in it, and that's easy to do, as well as modding just ONE of the controller ports for it. With XB360, the controllers have the center button, so you can turn XB360 off with the controller.

 

[Mopar4L1fe]

Nice! Looking foward to seeing all the wiring!

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Phase-1 Pics



DVD Playback front view

You must be registered for see images

I'm way out of touch with the music world man!
But is that Rob Zombie in the above picture?
Or is it Jesus Christ?

I'm totally digging it......Currently, I'm riding around and trying to figure out what I want to listen too....I've got too many options to play with. Do I want to Play a DVD movie? Do I listen to SAT radio? Do I want to plug in my ipod and listen to that? Do I want to use the Navigation? Do I start loading up the hard drive and listen to all my MP3 files? Am I missing listening to my standard radio stations yet? Do I want to connect my phone via Blue Tooth??

Too many things to play with.

Yeah, Great!
As long as you concentrate on playing with the steering wheel while driving, and save the goodies for when you are standing still!

BTW, I like the idea of TFT LCD monitors installed in the back of the front seats headrests.
I'd wire up some lipstick camera's around the vehicle and a six channel multiplexer.
One facing foreward, and one for each wheel to catch some real wheelin action. That way my two daughters would think of 4X4 ing as a video game and be able to switch views!
Or one of these: http://www.gizmag.com/go/4920/picture/17805/

 

[twack]

Wow that looks great much better then that link you showed with that nasty orange KJ. I got a flip out DVD and a screen in the back of my kj, just something simple

 

[kb0nly]

Don't replace the screen just polish out the scratch. I've taken care of scratches like that on various displays over the years. I always used the Novus three stage polish. It comes with three different compounds. Works great on headlights too!

There is some that sell it on eBay, search for Novus Polish.

 

[Rednroll]

I'm way out of touch with the music world man!
But is that Rob Zombie in the above picture?
Or is it Jesus Christ?

LOL!!! It's Rob Zombie. For driving purposes, I like to purchase Music Video DVDs, so that I'm listening to music the majority of the time, but I can occasionally look at the screen to check out the video. So I'm not watching movies while driving, since I know I would have to pay too much attention to the screen to follow along with a movie.....which would be way too dangerous.

I'm really digging the Blue Tooth function in this thing. It automatically downloads all my cell phone stored names and numbers. Then I just use the voice recognition, and say "Call Joe Smith", and if I have the name "Joe Smith" in my cell phone it then replies and says, "Calling Joe Smith".....then dials the number. It's all hands free for me now, which is much nicer than I expected it to be. No more trying to hold onto a phone with one hand and drive with the other and becoming another azzhole on the road, trying to drive while on a cell phone......God, I hate those people. So I always tried to avoid talking on my cell phone while I was driving. Now, I don't mind it so much because I have both hands on the wheel and just look like I'm talking to myself if anyone was watching me from the outside.