# Parrot Asteroid Smart Install



## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

Parrot announced their Asteroid Smart double-din head unit last fall running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), which definitely piqued my interest. I've been in contact with them for the past couple months to obtain a review unit. Just a quick background, I'm a freelancer for Tom's Hardware Guide specializing in automotive reviews and such. 

The unit finally arrived Thursday and I began working on the install that night. Parrot offered to get it installed by a certified installer but I declined since I enjoy installing car stereo equipment. Needless to say it was a big pain in the ass.


Parrot Asteroid Smart by tuanies, on Flickr

Let's start with the car I have


2011 VW Routan SE
430N RHB (Garmin Navigation)
Rear VES with Dual Screens
Basic 4 speakers + 2 tweeters system


Here's all the harnesses I needed (provided by Parrot)


PAC Audio CHY-RVD (VES harness)
C2R-CHY4 (CANbus radio replacement)
Install Kit
Parrot Unika (steering wheel interface)
Antenna adapter


The harness was a big pain in the ass since there are two modules with about 4 different connectors to splice / join. I soldered and used heatshrink on every connection. After about an hour and a half, I was done.


Parrot Asteroid Smart by tuanies, on Flickr

Installing the unit wasn't too bad - my old HHR SS was worse. The Parrot is a shallow depth mech-less head unit (4.5-inches deep) so there was plenty of room to shove the sea of wires back there (it was still annoying). 

I had to run their microphone, which is a stereo array mic. I ran it through the dash up the A-pillar and just sticky taped it to the top left corner of the windshield. The GPS receiver is USB and I just stuck that in the spot where the center channel speaker is supposed to be, which I don't have. The USB ports were ran through the lower glovebox because it was easy and did not require any drilling.

Here it is installed.

installed by tuanies, on Flickr

I'll have more clearer pictures of it installed later, but I have a almost 2 year old, a 1 week old and my wife to tend to most of the day .

Now you might be wondering why I swapped out the 430N, which isn't too bad of a navigation system. First, I needed a car to evaluate the head unit in. I could've used my E39 BMW touring but it wouldn't be testing out the full capable of the system. Since the Asteroid Smart has video input, output and backup camera capabilities, the Routan was a better fit since I can tie into all the factory systems. I thought about moving it into the E39 afterwards but the van is what gets driven the most since I have two kids and I don't want to have to remove it.

Second - Chrysler UConnect for the 430N sucks. I've never used such a horrible system for phone pairing. Voice commands for all your phone pairing needs sucks, especially since I like to flash different roms and wipe my phone regularly. Most of the time my phone isn't even paired in the Routan anymore. 

Third - I love tinkering and Android in the car is pretty sweet.

As for the Parrot Asteroid Smart, it runs a TI OMAP 3630 SoC (think Droid X/2) with an 800x480 capacitive touch display. The visuals and everything make it look a lot cleaner than the dated RHB visuals. It comes with iGo for navigation. There's a Spotify app for premium users on the Asteroid Marketplace. You can also ground the parking brake to enable use while in movement instead of buying a $300 lock-pick.

But the fun starts with side loading applications. You can install any Android APK on it by just placing it on the SD card. To me this opens up a world of possibilities. I've already installed XBMC (still need to test video playback), YouTube, Nest (home climate control) and Flickr (has orientation issues since there isn't a landscape mode).

The factory backup camera and rear VES system still work

Its only been a day but I'm still learning everything with it and finding out the quirks. Overall, its a sweet deck for those that enjoy messing around with Android. I still need to sideload Googlemaps and get the Play Store working on it though.

Played with Spotify today. Had to pay for the $10 premium account. It works great tethered via Bluetooth via my Galaxy Nexus running Cyanogenmod 10.1. Sound quality is decent with the quality of the speakers. My wife loves having access to all of that music, including the mid-to-late 90s pop music we had growing up (we're in our mid/late 20s). The backup camera mode is still finnicky as the backup camera app doesn't always close when its in drive. However, you can turn on the backup camera whenever you want. 

The rear VES still works and the Asteroid Smart can receive input from the lower DVD player. Only slight annoyance is the input will not display anything unless you launch the video input app and then turn on the DVD player. Not a big deal since it won't be used for my needs anyways. Still need to test video playback of the unit itself. VLC did not like the HD MKV files I had and XBMC cannot play any media on a flash drive so I need to put it on an SD card.

The SD card is also a pain in the ass to get in and out without some tiny needle nose or tweezers. 

Anyways onto more pictures

The box

Parrot Asteroid Smart by tuanies, on Flickr

Detachable power button / SD Card cover

Parrot Asteroid Smart by tuanies, on Flickr

Backside

Parrot Asteroid Smart by tuanies, on Flickr

Accessories that come with it

Parrot Asteroid Smart by tuanies, on Flickr

Mounting kit attached

Parrot Asteroid Smart by tuanies, on Flickr

Trim removed

Parrot Asteroid Smart by tuanies, on Flickr

If anyone has any questions / concerns that they'd like addressed - I'm open to testing anything you can possibly think of with it


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## 58kafer (Jun 27, 2007)

That looks sweet and I'm an Android fan. But here's the deal breaker for me unless it does it. Without the OEM DVD/NAV in dash, you can now only play the same movie on both screens and not two different movies? Or can it run two movies if you ripped it with handbrake or the like to the SD card or a legit digital copy? That looks awesome in there. I guess you also share your wifi from your phone with it so you could stream netflix as well correct? What about head phones, are they now BT headphones? 

Price tag of said hardware?


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

I'm still working on getting it top output to the rear screens. It should be able to rhetorically but I haven't copied usable movies to it yet.


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## Artem (Dec 26, 2012)

This is very cool. I found myself to be in a very similar situation: we're 26, have two kids, one is 2 y.o., other is 5 mo. old, also have a 1999 E39 540i Touring and a Routan. And I too do not enjoy the so 2005-ish factory system.
Looks like an amazing alternative to the factory setup.
Question 1 - where is the factory microphone located? On the unit itself or somewhere hidden in the interior?t
Question 2 - can I also ground the parking cable lead on the factory unit?
Question 3 - pricing of this device?

Sound quality has nothing to do with the head-unit. Any device can output audio signal. For quality I would suggest adding an amplifier and replacing the factory speakers (likely, coaxial) with some quality component speakers. A subwoofer, of course. Even basic amplifier and sub would make a world of a difference.


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

Artem said:


> This is very cool. I found myself to be in a very similar situation: we're 26, have two kids, one is 2 y.o., other is 5 mo. old, also have a 1999 E39 540i Touring and a Routan. And I too do not enjoy the so 2005-ish factory system.


The E39 is so much more enjoyable after a few days of driving the Routan.



Artem said:


> Looks like an amazing alternative to the factory setup.
> Question 1 - where is the factory microphone located? On the unit itself or somewhere hidden in the interior?t
> Question 2 - can I also ground the parking cable lead on the factory unit?
> Question 3 - pricing of this device?


1). Factory mic is located in the rear view mirror
2). No, you need a $250-300 lock-pick device that tricks it into thinking the parking brake is engaged.
3). Its $600 for the Asteroid Smart and you'll probably need about $200 in installation gear (CAN interface, UNIKA steering wheel interface, mounting kit), though I think Crutchfield offers the CAN interface for half off if you purchase it with the head unit.


Artem said:


> Sound quality has nothing to do with the head-unit. Any device can output audio signal. For quality I would suggest adding an amplifier and replacing the factory speakers (likely, coaxial) with some quality component speakers. A subwoofer, of course. Even basic amplifier and sub would make a world of a difference.


Sound quality does have to do with the head unit - the DACs are on the head unit itself and the internal amps are very different and that can affect sound quality. Most factory head units output about 13-watts, the Parrot is a 55-watt x 4 MOSFET design so significantly upping the power does yield better sound. Also being able to tweak it with a 7-band EQ vs simple bass / treble controls can do a lot to alter the sound.

The factory setup is a 2-way system up front with 6x9s in the doors and a 3.5-inch paper cone tweeter in the dash. They're terrible. I'm considering a couple component systems that have inline xovers so I don't have to mount / deal with the wiring.

The Kenwood XP184C comes with 7" to 6x9 adapters and tweeters with an inline xover for $100. There's also the HAT Imagine 6x9 components but those are $350. I also believe the Mopar Kicker 77KICK28AB upgrade for the Dodge Ram / Avenger / 200 / Caliber / etc... should drop right in for $150. But my wife just popped out a baby and not working for a few months so things are a bit tight for the time being .


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

Also, where'd you get the Routan HIDs and how much did you pay for them? Were they just plug and play without reprogramming? I need to find a pair.


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## Artem (Dec 26, 2012)

1) The Xenon lights are simple plug-n-play, got them used off eBay (~$260 ea), you would need to drop the front bumper to access the two lower bolts, and you can sell your halogen lights on ebay as well.

2) I thought the E39 was spacious before I installed the rear-facing infant seat in it. The front seat needs to be moved all the way forward and only my wife could fit in that position.

3) The price you noticed is decent, given that I can sell the factory nav unit on eBay for $400, and then there is $300 for lockpick, that ends up having comparable cost.

4) The 55W MOSFET power is usually almost equal to 13W OEM power rating. Using the built-in-head amplifier you never get quality sound. Even the basic standalone amplifier outputs 100-200W of effective power (compare to 13!). You provide those amps with non-amplified line-out audio, so the built-in-head amp will not even be used anymore.

6) I am thinking if I should sell the lower DVD player and the RSE overhead system, since I don't really want my kids at 2 years old to demand cartoons every single ride.

7) Do you have any pics of the factory speakers? If the front doors have standard 6x9s, these would be easy to replace with component units. What about the speakers in the rear (mounted in rear quarter trim panels near the 3rd row seat?


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

Artem said:


> 1) The Xenon lights are simple plug-n-play, got them used off eBay (~$260 ea), you would need to drop the front bumper to access the two lower bolts, and you can sell your halogen lights on ebay as well.
> 
> 2) I thought the E39 was spacious before I installed the rear-facing infant seat in it. The front seat needs to be moved all the way forward and only my wife could fit in that position.
> 
> ...


1). Sweet I'll keep an eye out on ebay then.

2). That's why we got rid of my HHR SS for the Routan to begin with - we put in a convertible Britax car seat, shook our heads and had to get something bigger. We also tried to put a Diono Radian RXT rear facing and it would only fit in the middle row of the E39, which is a bitch to get a carseat in because of the location of the buckles.

3). I see the Navigation unis listed for $700 or so on ebay.

4). I believe it uses a digital MOSFET amp, much like the technology used in the small compact amps and probably similar to the Alpine KTP-445U upgrade. They can get a lot of power out of little space and energy consumption, which is perfect for automotive use. I don't need anything more than that since we still have conversations in the car.

5). Where's 5?

6). Keep it anyways, it'll be a bigger pain in the ass to remove. My wife was playing Super Nintendo and N64 in the back of the van when we first got it. We only plan on letting them watch something on longer trips. 

7). The factory setup is standard 6x9 front and rear with 3.5"s in the dash. There's also room for 3.5"s in the rear right behind the rear quarter windows where that bump is. It shouldn't be hard to get a component system in there, I just don't want to have to deal with running wiring to a crossover network and prefer a set with an inline filter/xover instead.

8).


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## Artem (Dec 26, 2012)

How do you program the steering wheel controls to the android system? I suspected it wasn't possible since all communication is done via digital (CAN) bus. Am I right or is there something like this:


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

Parrot has their own steering wheel adapter that works with the can bus, but the VR and hang up buttons do not work, just the backside ones.


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

Swapped out the speakers over the weekend. Picked up a set of Kenwood KFC-XP184C components for the front and KFC-X173 coaxials for the rear. The reason I went with the Kenwood's is because I found the components for $90 and coaxials for $50 and spent $150 total shipped. Both sets came with 6x9 adapters that bolted in easily. The components have an inline crossover that does not require a external crossover network so I was able to just wire them into the factory wiring in all locations. 

I thought the tweeters were the same size as those in the Ram / Avenger / 200 so I ordered adapters from car-speaker-adapters.com but they are a tad smaller so they are just attached with one screw and some double back tape. Its a tweeter so it doesn't need to be sealed or anything. It was my fault as I assumed wrong, they did not list it as compatible but it was only $20 shipped so I thought I'd give it a shot. (Ignore the garbled image, SD card took a dump and had to be recovered and some images had artifacts). 

 
f3018752 by tuanies, on Flickr 


Installed in the door 
 
f3367424 by tuanies, on Flickr 

Rear 
 
f3406336 by tuanies, on Flickr 

Factory garbage speakers 
 
f3445248 by tuanies, on Flickr 

Overall I'm happy. The Kenwood's, though not the best I've had work adequately. They were easy to install and can't really complain about the $90 price. There's much more detail and clarity now as well as punchier mids. The factory speakers are garbage compared to the Kenwoods. Not sure why Chrysler calls it a 6-speaker system, the "tweeter" sounds like muddled garbage and any signs of low or mids sounds like muddled garbage.


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## Artem (Dec 26, 2012)

This is amazing. I respect your choice of speakers. Thanks for clarifying about the factory speaker opening and posting a pic of the door. I will do the same one day, though I also want to have a separate amp and a sub. 

Where do the tweeters go?


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

Artem said:


> This is amazing. I respect your choice of speakers. Thanks for clarifying about the factory speaker opening and posting a pic of the door. I will do the same one day, though I also want to have a separate amp and a sub.
> 
> Where do the tweeters go?


 Factory upper dash locations. I might add a sub if I can find the factory enclosure and drop in my own amp. I'm quite happy with the Parrot's internal amp. I believe they're using a 4x55-watt MOSFET digital amp so its very efficient and has a bit more detail than the usual 4x18-watt integrated amps.


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## ripter (May 9, 2013)

*Parking Brake Bypass*

Have you tried grounding the Parking Brake with no luck? Another site claims that grounding out the parking brake lead is good enough, trying to avoid the extra cost...any help would be great.


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

ripter said:


> Have you tried grounding the Parking Brake with no luck? Another site claims that grounding out the parking brake lead is good enough, trying to avoid the extra cost...any help would be great.


Yep, parking brake lead was grounded with success. Its very easy.


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## Artem (Dec 26, 2012)

By the way, I too bought this unit a few days ago. Not installed yet.
I also bought a set of Polk Audio components speakers for the front door - http://amzn.com/B000P0R6LQ
I am also planning on sound-deadening the front doors and adding an amplifier to under the passenger seat.


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

I'll be pulling it out of my wife's cRoutan soon enough. Its really cool and has great features but she doesn't like to tinker like I do so its going into my E39 and she can have her 430N back


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

Help me out here. I bought and installed some three way infinity speakers in the back. I need to now install some new speakers in the doors and the little ones in the front. 

1. What is the difference between 6x9 three ways and the component two way that you suggest?

2. The door panel is obvious to take off. What about the speakers in the dash. Is there just two? One on each side? Is there one in the middle where it looks like a speaker might be? 

3. As I understand it there are two 6x9 in the back, two 6x9 in the front doors, and two small speakers in the dash. Is this correct? Are there more? What do you call the dash speakers?

4. Besides an amp, is there anything else that is an easy and recommended upgrade?

I took my kids and wife to a drive in last night. The new 6x9 infinity speakers sound so much better than the stock ones I still have upfront. 

Thanks.


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

Steveaut said:


> Help me out here. I bought and installed some three way infinity speakers in the back. I need to now install some new speakers in the doors and the little ones in the front.
> 
> 1. What is the difference between 6x9 three ways and the component two way that you suggest?
> 
> ...


The 3.5" speakers in the dash are supposed to serve as tweeters. Its a component setup up front but with poor speakers. Component speakers are 2-way and separate the woofer and the tweeter instead of altogether in coaxial arrangement..


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

How do you remove the top/dash speakers? How does the dash piece come off?

Thanks


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## Artem (Dec 26, 2012)

tuanies, I am in the process of installing this thing into my Routan and have a few questions.
Let me explain what I have now.

1) The Parrot Asteroid Smart (further, PAS) unit, 
2) the Unika MKi Interface, 
3) and the C2R-CHY4 harness.

I sold the RHR radio yesterday and I am also going to remove and sell the DVD VES and the overhead DVD screens. My kids are 2yo and 6mo, and I am not going to let them watch it in the next few years. And by 2017, this "DVD" thing will be very outdated, with everyone watching live HD videos on their own tablets, should need be. 

1) With said above, do I understand correctly, that I will not need the CHY-RVD adapter?
2) The C2R-CHY4 harness is there to allow for a plug-n-play connection of PAS into the car), right? How much soldering work am I looking to do? You said you had to splice a lot. Why buy all of these harnesses then, if you have to do this?


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

Artem said:


> tuanies, I am in the process of installing this thing into my Routan and have a few questions.
> Let me explain what I have now.
> 
> 1) The Parrot Asteroid Smart (further, PAS) unit,
> ...


1). That is correct.
2). I had to join the Parrot Asteroid Smart and UNIKA harnesses to the C2R-CHY4. The C2R-CHY4 has a steering wheel control output but thats only for the PAC harnesses. You need to use the wires labeled CANbus, there's two of em on the C2R-CHY4. And you can't do anything without the C2R-CHY4, it provides all the outputs for reverse camera and ignition power. You will also want to short the parking brake wire on the Parrot asteroid if you want to use it while in motion too.


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

Steveaut said:


> How do you remove the top/dash speakers? How does the dash piece come off?
> 
> Thanks


Pry at the spots furthest away from the glass to pop it up, just feel for it. Then when all those pieces are popped out, pull gently / with a tad of force and it will come out. Its all clipped into place.


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

Thanks, really appreciate the help.


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## Artem (Dec 26, 2012)

OKay so I spent two hours with my soldering iron and now this thing began working - it powers up and there is sound from the speakers.

Now there are several things I would like to highlight

1) You need this mounting kit, otherwise your Parrot will fall in the slot and look like this:









2) You will not be able to connect the antenna cable without an adapter like this or similar.

3) How do I connect the rear camera? Parrot expects an RCA input, while factory RHR rear plugs look this:









4) The UNIKA thing has A MILLION WIRES! One of the bundles has 8 wires, each says AUX1, AUX2,..., AUX8 and the other bundle says "K-Bus, Can High, Can Low, V1, ground, V2". I figured that I did not need the AUX1-8 wires, but how do I connect the other six? Also, what's the "cap" for, which is just a short piece of wire with a plug?

5) The C2R-CHY4 comes with a male ISO plug, the UNIKA comes with male-female 1/2 ISO plug T-connector. But neither Parrot head unit nor factory head unit used the ISO plug. I don't understand why Parrot head unit couldn't use a standard ISO plug for basic functions, but I had to cut the power and speaker wires from the C2R-CHY4 ISO plug and solder them together with the Parrot head unit plug. 

Tuanies, I'd appreciate if you could clarify at least #3 and #4.


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## Artem (Dec 26, 2012)

And yes, the first time I plugged everything in and turned ignition on - ALL lights on the instrument cluster came on and stayed on even after I started the car. The compass and the outside temp display did not show anything. The TPMS icon was constantly flashing. Also a red circle in the middle of the cluster was lit which I haven't seen before. I disconnected Parrot and cycled the ignition - no change. After I unhooked the battery for a few minutes and connected everything again, the problem disappeared.


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

3). Oh yea the CHY-RVD has a camera input cable too so you'll probably need that to make things easier.
4). You just need the power cables + Can high and Can Low wires, ignore the rest they are for other vehicles. Use these directions - http://dbinstall.parrot.com/Pdf_manual/UNIKA280.pdf

It shows a different connector but the Canbus adapter should have two wires labeled CAN.

5). Yes you have to cut off the ISO plug to join to the Chrysler harness, its not used at all and not important.


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