Successful install of Chinese Android unit in 2014 Tourer with nav

If you check my post history you'll see I've been having a nightmare with trying to install a Chinese Android unit in my 2014 Civic Tourer, but I've finally been successful. I wanted to write up the key findings in case it helps anyone else.

Here's the result:




This is the stock navigation unit I was replacing:


I bought the HU from AliExpress, I don't want to mention the seller because they were so useless in their support, but with that caveat I will in case it leads others here: the shop was called Nevegetor. The reason I chose this unit was it was a high end spec, especially the screen. It does look stunning now that it's all working.

Specs:
Android 12
UIS7862(S) Octa-core 2GHz CPU
8GB RAM
128GB storage
2000x1200 resolution 10" IPS screen
Wireless Carplay, Wired Android Auto

The unit came with a harness for the Civic which included a canbus decoder – if you go on eBay and search for "16 pin Civic" you will find the exact ones (note the year). However, those harnesses are actually designed for the model without navigation. There is a 20-pin connector on the harness which is supposed to receive the canbus signal from the car, but in the models with factory nav, this signal is sent via a 24-pin connector instead.

I bought a 24-pin male connector from AliExpress and followed the re-wiring instructions in this PDF to identify the correct pins for the canbus. I also noticed that the InCarTec interface has an RCA connector wired to its 24-pin connector for the subwoofer output – I'm not sure if this is actually doing anything in my final solution, but the wire colours match the description from another set of instructions, so I wired an RCA connector into the pins corresponding to the Sub+ and Sub- pins below:

I also had to bypass the built-in amplifier on the head unit by cutting the wires for the speakers from the car, adding some RCA terminals, and connecting them to the AUX out connectors. I think this is a fairly common fix for this sort of issue (e.g. this video).


Finally, to get the amplifier to power on, you need to supply power on the "AMP-CON" cable. This has been documented elsewhere on this forum so I won't belabour it. I just used a Wago connector.


There is a pop when I turn on the engine from the amplifier turning on, so I'm not sure if this could be handled better somehow. But it works.

You might have noticed that I have two sets of guiding lines on the reverse camera in the image above. One of those is hardcoded into the camera itself that came from AliExpress, it's coming in with the video feed. It is even doing some image tracking to make the lines turn as you reverse. Which is interesting, but not hugely helpful as the lines aren't very accurate to the position of the car – you don't really go where they're pointing. The second set of lines is done through the Android software, and is highly customisable, so I was able to make them line up with the size of the car. They don't turn though (they didn't on the stock camera either, so I assume the car isn't sending that signal).

This took far too much of my time but now it's working I am very happy with the final solution. I basically leave the HU on the Apple Carplay app full time now. Finally the modern look of the head unit matches the modern look of the rest of the dash. Happy to try to answer any questions if I can.