VLINE VL2 Install

[Texas]

2 hours ago, Billnick said:

Hi all,

I just purchased the 8.1 upgrade micro SD £14.99 +pp

https://gromaudio.co.uk/products/accessories/vline-vl2-android-8-1-upgrade-microsd-card.html

 

Hope the 'upgrade' to 8.1 goes swimmingly and you don't get any problems ( fingers crossed knowing all things Grom! )

Question? Is there going to be anything remarkable with having 8.1 installed?

Just after I installed my VL2 I tried loading the Netflix app but it was not compatable, do you know if it will be with 8.1 installed?

cheers Paul m.

[baviaannl]

4 hours ago, Texas said:

Hope the 'upgrade' to 8.1 goes swimmingly and you don't get any problems ( fingers crossed knowing all things Grom! )

Question? Is there going to be anything remarkable with having 8.1 installed?

Just after I installed my VL2 I tried loading the Netflix app but it was not compatable, do you know if it will be with 8.1 installed?

cheers Paul m.

I remembered you mentioned the Netflix issue previously so I had a look today, installed properly and works perfectly in my car, maybe the app has been updated since you last tried?

 

[Arqum]

So I have the VL1, is the VL2 that much better? 

[Texas]

5 hours ago, baviaannl said:

I remembered you mentioned the Netflix issue previously so I had a look today, installed properly and works perfectly in my car, maybe the app has been updated since you last tried?

 

That's encouraging! Gonna have to go out and attempt to install it again, But gotta ask Lee, what version of android do you have in use the 5.1 or 8.1? 

Just worked out you must still be using the 5.1 as you have asked to 'borrow' Billy's 8.1 SD card! 

I might be cheeky and ask the same but as the saying goes 'if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it' might mean I leave it a while?

paul m.

[baviaannl]

7 hours ago, Texas said:

That's encouraging! Gonna have to go out and attempt to install it again, But gotta ask Lee, what version of android do you have in use the 5.1 or 8.1? 

Just worked out you must still be using the 5.1 as you have asked to 'borrow' Billy's 8.1 SD card! 

I might be cheeky and ask the same but as the saying goes 'if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it' might mean I leave it a while?

paul m.

Hi Paul, I've not upgraded to 8.1 yet, still have 5.1 installed on my head unit.

[Texas]

All noted, thanks, will endeavour to install Netflix soon as!

paul m

[BillNick]

On 5/13/2019 at 2:05 PM, Texas said:

Hope the 'upgrade' to 8.1 goes swimmingly and you don't get any problems ( fingers crossed knowing all things Grom! )

Question? Is there going to be anything remarkable with having 8.1 installed?

Just after I installed my VL2 I tried loading the Netflix app but it was not compatable, do you know if it will be with 8.1 installed?

cheers Paul m.

Hi Paul.

I intend to install the hardware and then upgrade to 8.1 immediately so I will not know any differences I am afraid. I just figured would be better to start using it with the latest platform seen as it's only 14.99. People on this thread mainly have reported various issues in 5.1 which should be fixed....only one I can remember is the return to VLINE screen after reversing.

Anyways, it arrived yesterday (2 day delivery). Will update once I have installed everything on the 2nd weekend of June.

[baviaannl]

Just to add to the 5.1 debate, mine is 100% stable.  8.1 doesn't fix the automatic return to VLine after reverse action, GROM have mentioned that they cannot fix this issue.  Not a real problem though, you maybe engage reverse twice a journey so hardly a deal breaker.

 

I admire your patience waiting 4 weeks to install, I had my garage door open, tools ready whilst waiting for the courier to drop it off 😄

[BillNick]

Trust me I cant wait....but my Mrs has it all wrapped up for my birthday so....lol

Fair play RE 5.1 and the reverse....you are right, hardly a deal breaker and you'll probably only be reversing at the end of your journey anyways.

[baviaannl]

Just now, Billnick said:

Trust me I cant wait....but my Mrs has it all wrapped up for my birthday so....lol

Fair play RE 5.1 and the reverse....you are right, hardly a deal breaker and you'll probably only be reversing at the end of your journey anyways.

I'm in the habbit now of double clicking the button to get a return to GROM straight after manoeuvre.  The install is pretty straightforward, I have my GPS receiver on my dashboard (passenger side close to the window)  Satellite acquisition is almost instant, I chased the mic cables up through the pillars and it sits next to the rear view mirror.  

[Tweefurs]

I just got the install for vline 2 and did a review video. Check it out if your unsure whether to commit to it. 

 

[baviaannl]

17 hours ago, Tweefurs said:

I just got the install for vline 2 and did a review video. Check it out if your unsure whether to commit to it. 

I'm curious, how comes your bar is on the right hand side of your screen?  Is this an option somewhere.  Are you running 8.1 as your screen looks like it has a slightly better resolution than mine.

[Tweefurs]

The latest software update changed it to the right and the screen display looks better once you play with the stock display settings. I kept the brightness setting on max and contrast in the middle setting.

[Mrconwaytwitty]

I have a 2009 Lexus IS220D with factory navigation and rear camera etc. 

So I ordered the GROM VLINE 2 LEX5 model Friday from carputershop website which is the UK distributor of GROM. obviously ordering Friday meant Saturday and Sunday plus Bank Holiday Monday prevented my order being processed and dispatched, however it was sent Tuesday and I got it today wed 29.5.19.

Now let me tell you I'm no mechanic and definitely thought the installation of this was beyond me and I couldn't find a local audio fitter who was familiar with the product and none could guarantee me they would be able to fit it successfully or place the various peripherals (mic, GPS antenna, unit housing) in any specific place so I could of ended up with it being stuck under footwell (no good with car heater blasting down on it during winter). So decided to take the plunge and do it myself. 

To be fair it was fairly straightforward taking apart the centre console, removing the air vents where a bit tricky but came away eventually, the hardest part was figuring out where to place the vline unit for housing and accessibility and even though I have lost my storage space for mouth wash, owner manual and various other crap I decided to clear out the glove box. I also ripped the shelf out on the left hand side which is near the cabin filter housing so I had a full rectangle space to work with. Once I did this I got my torch and looked for any gaps, there aren't any apart from one square piece of plastic which I didn't know what it's use was but turns out it just had a LED light attached for the glove box. So I ripped the LED from the plastic cover and set them both to one side, this now provided me with perfect access to seat the unit in the glove box and feed through the wires into the back of the stereo unit. Thank god for that otherwise it would have been a nightmare. 

Actually connecting the wires into the back of the stereo unit was difficult for me, no matter how many times I watched the grom installation video on YouTube I couldn't figure out as there so close up the angle frazzled my mind, that might just be me being a bit brain dead, so connected what I thought was right fired it up and nothing happened apart from my hazards lights where on and wouldn't go off. Clearly that wasn't right then. So disconnected again and what threw me was that both the power cables and the video cables have male connectors to plug in but also female connecter to re attach what you pull out. This was fine for the blue video cable but there was no power cord to unplug that would plug back into the female socket, in the end I found an empty port unused and just plugged the make into it and left the female return wire hanging, give it another start up and presto we are in business! 

So while everything was still pulled apart I decided to set it up a bit before putting everything back together to prevent repeating the process. 

First thing I did was connect to my home WiFi with no problems, then straight into system and check for updates, both software and firmware updates where available so I pressed update firmware over the air, once pressed screen went black with lines (see pic) and full thing died. Waited and waited then turned off ignition and turned back on several times.... Nothing. Felt like crying 😢 £515 just bricked, or so I thought.

Rang the carputershop but the tech guy wasn't available til tomorrow, I thought I can't just leave my car in bits all night so decided to try and fix it myself as although my manual mechanical/audio hardware skills are fairly **** I am a qualified IT pro from my college days so software is quite easy for me. 

So after some Internet searching various YouTube vids and forum posts I managed to gather some information relating to downloading a single file from the grom website which you put into a USB stick formatted to FAT32 and put the solitary file on it. Disconnected the unit from mains and video, put USB into it, then plugged just the power cord in, waited few seconds and USB light went off, apparently this resets to factory. 

So then removed USB stick and plugged all back in, cycled ignition and boom, it was back from the dead like Jon Snow. 

My initial concerns where though that the download file for the reset on the official GROM website only says for VLINE 1, but mine was a VLINE 2 so I was curious if this would make a difference to what software version I would be getting. Anyway once back alive I decided try again but this time I updated the system software FIRST before the firmware, not sure if this made much difference but this time both updated over the air via WiFi with no issues and after checking the info in the system im running android 8.1 fully up to date. Phew! 

Next then was routing antenna and mic, this was easier than expected. Using plastic prying tools I pulled off the plastic trim to the left of the glove box and traced the antenna wire through that up into the side felt material window pillar and mounted on top of dash near bottom of window pillar, the wire is wedged tightly so didn't even need to stick it down as its quite rigid. The mic wire I went the same route only this time going further up past the bottom of the pillar where the antenna sat and upto the roof prying as I went, along the roof felt trim right over to the driver side pillar and just left it to hang/sit at the top of my driver side felt pillar, again the wire is tucked tight so remains in place quite rigid (see pic) . After that I replaced the plastic trim to the left of the glove box (see pic) and shut glove box with the two wires causing no obstruction to the closure and opening of the glove box. I couldn't get that bit of plastic I ripped from the top of the glove box back in place but wanted it there to prevent any excess heat from the heater leaking in and over heating the unit, so I just used a screw to re attach it to the top of the glove box with enough play to allow the wiring to feed through unharmed. 

Once done I re assembled all the main components, air vent, Ash tray, head unit, and I must say everything looks near enough factory fitted, you wouldn't know anything was there. I'm really proud of myself I never thought I had it in me. I even have some red trim which goes around the unit which I managed to wedge back in, so yeah very pleased. 

 

Now next then onto using it, at first was bit temperamental as I downloaded Google apps or gapps as they call them, and the first installation something went wrong and after I created a new Google account especially for the lexus it kept saying Google services needs updating before you can use Google apps, trouble is it wouldn't let me sign into Google play store to update services so eventually after pressing system reboot in settings it landed me on a recovery screen with options to install, reboot, factory reset and something else I can't remember. After trying reboot a few times to no avail I went for factory reset. Luckily it resets back to 8.1 with all updates intact. So I then went back to the download gapps section and this time it seemed to take longer and download differently, which from experience I know is a good sign. Plus once installed instead of creating a new account I just signed in with the one that I had created before the crash. And now it all seems to be working fine, YouTube works, chrome, even a dodgy live sports streaming app I use works perfectly. So after teething problems I'm delighted with it, but it's only been a few hours so I can't pass judgement just yet let's see how it performs. 

I wrote this reply to possibly help others who may have experienced the same issues and rather then sending the box back can do the reset method I did. I will help anyone who asks as best I can and if anyone would like any pictures other than the ones I have posted or a short YouTube video showing inside the glove box and the wiring feed I used I can produce upon request if it helps anyone. Also I'm based in Doncaster South Yorkshire so if you need a helping hand and I'm free hit me up. 

 

For those who already have this installed however might I ask has anyone used the agama car launcher without problems? I'm considering purchasing that as opposed to the standard launcher and it looks like a kids tablet rather than a sophisticated piece of car tech. 

 

 

 

[BillNick]

Do you think the GPS antenna would work if was stuck to the underside of the dash surface out of sight?

[baviaannl]

58 minutes ago, Billnick said:

Do you think the GPS antenna would work if was stuck to the underside of the dash surface out of sight?

I don't think that would work very well, seem to remember someone on the US forum tried this and found the satellite acquisition period to take around 5 minutes!

[Odysseus]

Great write up! Thanks for taking the time to post and I’m positive this would help others in a similar position. Good on you.

But dude, what’s going on with the red/pink steering wheel and mess of charging cables?!? [emoji33][emoji846]


Sent from my Iphone using Tapatalk

[Mrconwaytwitty]

38 minutes ago, Odysseus said:

Great write up! Thanks for taking the time to post and I’m positive this would help others in a similar position. Good on you.

But dude, what’s going on with the red/pink steering wheel and mess of charging cables?!?


Sent from my Iphone using Tapatalk

Haha cheers mate 

It looks pink but that's just the light it's red to match interior trim just to my own taste. 

 

The charging cables are a neccassary evil, FAST charger for mobile USB type C, charger for vape pen my mini USB, interior mirror dash cam cable and I have a external Battery charger running so yeah no choice lol

[BillNick]

Hi guys & girls,

Finally got around to installing the VLINE2 this weekend. Bagged it 2nd hand from fellow member Graham Webster (if he is here many thanks indeed, smooth transaction with an honest member).

Install was easy and I would recommend having a stab yourself if you are competent around your motor etc. I am a bit of a perfectionist so wanted all cables neatly tucked away, tied up no unnecessary slack etc etc. Removed the stereo as required but also decided to remove the glove box too to get better access to the roof of it where I decided to route all of the cables. Initially a bit scary as you will see from the pictures but worth the effort when it's all done and tucked away invisible.

Removing the stereo is very easy, plenty of YouTube videos to help you with that.

Glove box comes out with 5 black screws, 3 across the top of inside the lid, and two on each bottom corner just behind the air bag trim by the passengers knees. I actually ended up removing the passenger knee air back bracket as the bottom of the glove box is popped into it and I couldn't see a way of releasing it without risking a breakage. Was a lot easier to put it all back in place that way too. Remember to disconnect the Battery before doing all of this as you are playing around with air bags!!

If you feel inside the roof of your glove box you will feel it has a ledge in it, and the roof is slightly lower on the stereo side of the glove box. I cut a hole in vertical part of this ledge (which is about 25mm) so that the GROM cables coming in from the stereo pop straight through from that direction. Also, with the unit placed on top of the little plastic shelf inside the glove box the cables are invisible to a passenger when looking into the glove box from the passenger seat. I took up all of the slack on the video and power cables and left them to rest on top of the glove box roof with only enough to reach the unit coming through.

GPS and Mic enter the same hole but from the other direction first. I took those up to the passenger A pillar via the corner air vent which you can see removed in the pics. The GPS sits nicely in the corner of the dash and the mic cable i took all the way up the A pillar, along the front edge of the roof liner, over to the top of the drivers A pillar where it is mounted. I did want to put it somewhere near the dome light in the centre but couldn't figure out how to fix it in place without cutting or drilling etc - which I didn't want to do in case I remove the GROM before selling the car.

Unit booted up first time. Be sure to boot it up before you put all your trim and dash back in case something is wrong. I installed the new firmware via the SD Card so am now running 8.1. Though I cant comment on its performance vs 5.1 as I didn't even look through the unit before doing the upgrade. Was easy to do though, just gotta be careful with the SD card as I initially lost mine inside the unit and had to unscrew the metal casing to retrieve it. Oops.

Anyways, so far I am really pleased with it. Got apple CarPlay working too which is mainly what I bought it for but also impressed with the Google Apps available to use on VLINE itself. I plan to have a right good play with it both driving and now, also going to get a new launcher as I think there are much better ones available then the GROM stock launcher.

Couple of initial observations however - When I test called my wife, she said that she could hear whatever she said in echo which doesnt happen when we talk via the Lexus OEM phone. Anyone else experience this? Can anything be done in the settings maybe? Turn the mic down or something?

2nd, the video posted above shows the widget shortcuts on the right hand side of the screen....I have fully updated my unit and it's still on the left. Any ideas?

Very happy to help anyone that wants support with their install and those of you that contacted me about borrowing the upgrade for 8.1, please DM me and we can arrange you coming to my house. It only takes about 15 mins max. I dont ask for anything in return, but if you do drive and ISF, I'd quite like a quick go round the the block please 😄

Cheers, Bill

[Mrconwaytwitty]

Nice write up mate glad you got it installed.

Re your sound issue I personally use the lexus Bluetooth audio as seems to work fine and I haven't tried the vline one. 

If your after a different launcher I made a quick YouTube video which gives a little demo of it, excuse the cables in car lol 

 

 

[Texas]

Prob not the best place for this ( I should start a new thread really!) but hopefully lots of VL2 users are reading this!

Has anyone fitted internal tpms sensors and managed to use a tpms app on their VL2 instead of a phone to view tyre pressures? I have seen small displays that come with the internal sensors but don’t really want to go down that route. 

I have not asked about this on the US owners forum where there are plenty more VL2 users but as most US cars have got TPMS as standard don’t expect any need for what I’m asking!

paul m

[BillNick]

No I haven't but....the VLINE2 is just like an android tablet placed into your OEM screen and it has Bluetooth also, so I can't think of any reason why you could do this.

Do you have a link to a TPMS kit that you would recommend?

[mr2lad]

Just noticed your post @Billnick yes I’m on here, glad your happy with the vline V2 system , totally transform infotainment from the old OEM bland look to more newer futuristic look

[Texas]

On 7/26/2019 at 4:35 PM, Billnick said:

No I haven't but....the VLINE2 is just like an android tablet placed into your OEM screen and it has bluetooth also, so I can't think of any reason why you could do this.

Do you have a link to a TPMS kit that you would recommend?

That’s what I sort of wanted to hear but was hoping I wasn’t gonna be the first on here to attempt doing this. I need to re-furb my alloy wheels as the lacquer is coming away big time on the inside and was gonna try and ‘kill two birds with one stone’ sort of thing while the tyres were off the rims!

I Cant really recommend any particular TPMS kit to use at this moment in time but all the aftermarket interior sensor kits I could find came from the Far East so bit of a gamble really, not what you want for all four valves on yer 250! Some of the postage times on FleaBay are Upto Sep 21st ! Still trawling through the ads to try and find the ones with the largest size batteries fitted and therefore prob longest lasting operation time, but I did read somewhere ( can’t find it now !) there were  some that shut down to save Battery life after a period of no rotation.

paul m,

[BillNick]

That last bit about shutdown upon zero rotation is smart. I agree with you about ordering from china via eBay, doesn't fill your boots with confidence.

If you do find a decent kit and its affordable, I will be interested.