i30 Owners Club

Quality Japanese CarPlay aftermarket unit (Axis AX-1870CP) - $299 (yes!) and self-installed for unde

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Offline aranciataoz

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Just wanted to bring to Aust members’ attention, an incredible deal I’ve had the privilege of taking advantage of ... sourcing and self-installing a quality CarPlay unit to replace our glitchy GD-01 unit in our 2013 GD i30 Tourer CRDi:

https://www.bankstownsound.com.au/product/axis-ax1870cp/

Up to this point it would have to have been 2 years of planning research on my part as I umm’d and aah’d over splurging for a starting brand name aftermarket head unit like Kenwood or Sony or Pioneer - while their base models are often on sale for about $400, what held me back was most HU’s still required a steering control module-equipped harness which in itself is about $100, in addition to the double DIN fascia and primary and secondary Hyundai-ISO conversion cables. By the time it was all added up, I’d be spending $550-600+ in total.

Anyway I recently found out this lesser known brand Axis was otherwise well known in industry as a supplier of much equipment, including these head units of which they are apparently just branching out in the own name these days. After checking it out and reading reviews, I figured it’s worth giving it a go as not only was it on sale for about $378-399 a week before Christmas, what drew me to this unit was:

- it used the standard ISO connector ie. no need for extra cost and sometimes space-challenge hassle of trying to fit the extra secondary harness conversion cable (eg. Pioneer socket to ISO socket, so it could connect to the Hyundai/ISO primary harness).

- this Axis unit had self-learning capability of the car’s steering remote buttons - basically what some of the old Kenwood units used to offer. In other words, no need for the $100 harness with the SCW module.

- Japanese design - OK I can tell it would be made in China (it is), but from the reviews I read, I could see the user interface would be more in line with OEM quality than a cheap nasty Chinese UI (which for the record I had installed one of these in my dad’s old Camry just a month ago - incredible the CarPlay worked but gee the UI was like playing 80’s Space Invaders on an Atari ...)

In terms of all the install cables required, I just went to the Aerpro site for the i30 GD:
https://aerpro.com/vehicles/hyundai/hyundai-i30-2012-2016-gd-gd2#-

What I did end up getting:

- Aerpro APP087 primary harness for Hyundai-ISO conversion
- Aerpro FP8120 double DIN fascia - there is the FP8057 as well with metal mounting brackets instead of the plastic brackets in the FP8120, but I found the plastic ones were just fine ... saved $50 there too.
- Aerpro APUNIPL2 self learning patch cable - you basically use this to patch/splice the Axis head unit's 2 steering wheel wires into the 2 two steering button wires in the Hyundai harness (more details below)

What I didn't bother getting as these weren't needed:

- Aerpro APA47 antenna adapter, as the GD-01 unit uses a standard antenna plug
- Aerpro CHHY8C or APUNISW2 or APUNISW5 steering wheel cables, given this Axis head unit had self-learning steering wheel capabilities as discussed previously

What I COULD have got, but I didn't bother for now:

- Aerpro APHYUSB4 - this is to retain the Hyundai USB socket in front of the gear lever (bottom of centre console), but to save $100 I thought I'd just plug my iPhone directly into the new Axis head unit's USB socket instead - this is all personal preference of course.

So how did my install go? An absolute breeze, after the following YouTube video in particular which spelt out so well how to remove all the required panels on the GD i30:



This other YouTube video also helped with the programming of the steering wheel buttons of the Axis unit:


Above all, thanks to you guys, this Hyundai pin out for the GD-01 was especially super helpful to identify the two wires to tap into for the steering wheel controls:

https://www.i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=34561.0

Another steering wheel control/programming resource I found helpful was from Kenwood, because it appears their older units utilised this same method of Axis to tap into the car harness' two steering wheel button wires - what this confirmed was Hyundai's two wires did indeed line up with the GD-01's pin out diagram:

https://www.kenwood.com/au/car/visual_navigation/oem/

The two minor snags I initially encountered were:

- head unit settings like time and equaliser would not retain after the ignition was switched off ... a quick call to this retailer and I was advised to simply switch the yellow (constant voltage) and red (ignition) wires on the primary Hyundai-ISO harness bcoz this particular Axis unit somehow had its wires built the other way round. As the 3 power wires (red yellow black) of the primary harness (Aerpro) was plugged-interchangeable, a quick swap of the red and yellow wires solved this issue.

- there was no AM reception. Googling it revealed that the Axis head unit’s “P-CONT” blue output wire, which would otherwise be the 12v trigger cable for an amp, needed to be plugged/spliced into the Hyundai harness’ “Remote Antenna” wire (this wire is blue after all so I suppose that was a clue...), because this 12v output powers the car’s AM amplifier ... again, a quick splice and the AM reception was good as gold .

The end result has been incredible - with the black gloss Aerpro fascia almost matching perfectly to the rest of the i30’s gloss black console, and the fact the Axis head unit’s small lettered model details on the bottom of the front screen is actually obscured by the Aerpro fascia, you’d swear this unit was part of the car when it rolled off the factory production line ...

What about the performance of the unit? The sound quality is good, definitely better than the original GD-01 unit (I’ve retained the car’s original speakers as they weren’t bad). The supposedly capacitive touchscreen is not as responsive as I would like, but it’s not a dealbreaker. Bottomline is just having CarPlay in the car now ... oh my, has it transformed our enjoyment of driving this car ... my wife is thrilled at being able to not only have Google Maps or Waze on the big screen now, but also the artist and song details on her favourite radio app (Hope1032 if u really need to know ).

Check out the photos below ...

While I was kinda bummed when I found out in on Boxing Day that this Axis unit had been further discounted (down to an unheard of $299 for a quality CarPlay unit!!!), I looked on the bright side and simply jumped at the chance to upgrade the head unit in my other car too ...








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Offline Dazzler

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Offline aranciataoz

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Just wanted to give a quick update ... so so happy with this CarPlay (Android Auto also available after decoding).

It’s amazing how a multimedia unit with new functionality can extend the desirability of the car in terms of hanging on to it given mechanically it can’t be faulted ... let’s face it, so often these days we desire the new mod cons of a car as much as the upgrade for mechanical reasons - if the latter already ticks your box via your current vehicle, it may just be the case of upgrading your head unit if say (like us), you rely so much on seamless Internet radio and especially Waze/Google Maps ... worth the upgrade, this Axis unit!


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Offline sn

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A warning for anyone wanting to use the AERPRO APHYUSB4 adaptor - to keep the usb-ipod-aux socket working,

I have just started doing the identical head unit swap, but wanted the remote sockets to work, so purchased the extra cable as described.

But - I have hit a few stumbling blocks!
 
-the circuit board was too wide to fit in the housing [carefully sanded the sides back a bit]
-the circuit board is too thick to slide easily into the housing's tracks - [not much I can do about this]
-the circuit board when pushed fully home is protruding too far to allow the facia to click back into place without stressing the side retaining clips.

Now I cant get the ruddy circuit board out / well...I probably could - but don't want to damage anything

I have sent messages to AERPRO asking for assistance - yet to hear back.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2021, 07:33:50 by sn »
  • 2013 gd wagon, petrol /auto


Offline sn

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Supercheap gave me a full refund for the APHYUSB4 adaptor cable, which I was happy with,

However, the head unit started playing up - volume was doing whatever it wanted - whenever it wanted, my theory was a dodgy amplifier or something along those lines.
Tried doing resets, even as far as leaving the battery disconnected overnight but it made no difference.

Strathfields gave me a refund for the dodgy Axis head unit,
I chipped in a bit extra and bought a Sony XAV-AX3000 head unit which went in easy and is a huge improvement on the original GD1 head unit.
A bonus with this head unit is that the back of the unit is very compact, leaving heaps of room for adaptor cables to be bundled up.

I disconnected the original remote USB-IPOD-AUX cartridge from the console underneath the a/c controls, and fitted the Sony's remote USB into the space left, using a piece of mdf cut to fit and painted matt black.

To keep the steering wheel controls meant shelling out for the adaptor cable - but now everything works as I want it!!
  • 2013 gd wagon, petrol /auto


Offline lemerv

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@aranciataoz I know this is an old post but hoping you can shed some light on this:

Quote
Aerpro APUNIPL2 self learning patch cable - you basically use this to patch/splice the Axis head unit's 2 steering wheel wires into the 2 two steering button wires in the Hyundai harness (more details below)

By reading the manual for the axis (https://audioxtra.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/AX1870CP-Instruction-Manual_MASTER.pdf) and looking at the APUNIPL2 it seems like I should be able to use the 3.5mm jack plug? But I'm not sure.

What did you mean by "the head units two steering wheel wires"?

Similarly, for the two steering button wires on the Hyundai harness, is that wires 22 and 35 on here: :link: GD & GD-01 Headunit Pinout

Thanks
  • 2022 i30 5d Hatch, Petrol 1.6lt Auto and a 2014 GD 5d Hatch, Petrol 1.6lt, Auto


Offline aranciataoz

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@aranciataoz I know this is an old post but hoping you can shed some light on this:

Quote
Aerpro APUNIPL2 self learning patch cable - you basically use this to patch/splice the Axis head unit's 2 steering wheel wires into the 2 two steering button wires in the Hyundai harness (more details below)

By reading the manual for the axis (https://audioxtra.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/AX1870CP-Instruction-Manual_MASTER.pdf) and looking at the APUNIPL2 it seems like I should be able to use the 3.5mm jack plug? But I'm not sure.

What did you mean by "the head units two steering wheel wires"?

Similarly, for the two steering button wires on the Hyundai harness, is that wires 22 and 35 on here: :link: GD & GD-01 Headunit Pinout

Thanks
Sorry I really can’t recall how this is all setup, but as per the feedback from a number of other members here trying to install this unit after I did, my suggestion is if you haven’t yet bought the unit, stump up a bit more money and stick to even the basic Sony unit - by that I mean yes you will need a steering wheel adaptor but everything will work.

While I don’t regret installing the Axis and am generally still very happy with it, I still encounter problems with the steering volume buttons not working properly from time to time - both up and down volume buttons end up decreasing the unit’s volume - yep, annoying as it distracts from the driving because either the CarPlay mode has to be exited before retrying, or unplugging of the phone, or sometimes even restart of the car required to really flush out whatever cache issue has caused the unit to go poopy on not communicating with the steering wheel buttons. The whole idea of tue steering wheel buttons is so you can focus on the road! This glitch happens once a month or two (on average we probably use the CarPlay 3 to 5 times a week) - it’s an annoying enough frequency. Stick to the big Japanese head unit brands I say.


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Offline lemerv

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Thanks for the reply. All good I haven't bought it yet but sounds like maybe best to go for a brand-name unit as you say. Back to the drawing board!

Thanks again.
  • 2022 i30 5d Hatch, Petrol 1.6lt Auto and a 2014 GD 5d Hatch, Petrol 1.6lt, Auto


Offline aranciataoz

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Thanks for the reply. All good I haven't bought it yet but sounds like maybe best to go for a brand-name unit as you say. Back to the drawing board!

Thanks again.
Yeah at the end of the day an extra $100-$200 it's really buying peace-of-mind and especially imparting a better experience overall, especially from a safety perspective - fiddling with a head unit whilst driving really can be just as distracting as being on your phone. You want to set it, and forget it, and only interact with it when you have to, not when it mucks up. Often the brand name units are not that much money - take this current sale for instance:

:link: www.strathfieldcarradios.com.au

Often we splurge on so many other things that add up so much more that in cases like these it's far better better to spend a little more for a proper INVESTMENT.

Good luck!


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