Roof Mounting DVD player to New VX

[JohnnyV Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close JohnnyV]

Re: Roof Mounting DVD player to New VX

Hi John
This is one other reason I decided to go with the head rests, most of the time I have them pulled out. I pulled a bit of string through the chrome pipe on the original headrests, then tie the string to the end of the little plugs which the new monitors plug into. I then push the plug down into the seat and reinstall the orginal headrests. Easily done as they just slide in and out. When we go on a big trip pull back out, plug back in and done, sanity for a long drive.
Peter

Hi Peter,

This sounds like a great idea, l know what you mean for the long haul drives, are you able to post some detailed pics of the set up and how you fed the wiring down the seats considring the seats have air bags, how did you manage this one.

Thanks again for the info, this site is fantastic..
Regards
John

[njclifford Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close njclifford]

Re: Roof Mounting DVD player to New VX

Howdy,

I have done countless research on these and there are a few places in China that do 2 x 9" for around $400 delivered. They come with games, DVD each, SD, USB, wireless controller.... can also run off each other, or hook up as slaves to a head unit.

Plan is to hook the Kenwood unit up to them, then can watch a multitude of combinations. Best thing about the Kenwood is that you can split the sound output - so FRONT speakers can have the iPod, and REAR speakers can get the DVD!!!

Of course the REAR has the subwoofer so can be annoying when the bass is to the movie and not the music!!!

When I get the head rests will post install pics.

[lc120_man Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close lc120_man]

Re: Roof Mounting DVD player to New VX

Got one of thouse chineese DVD Players similar to this - http://www.cnbuynet.com/104-inch-roof-m ... p-931.html
in my car for about a year now. The issue with them if you put one in you have to leave it there when you sell the car otherwise there are will be visible
holes in the roof space. The DVD comes with parking lights, however the one I got does not work with prado's auto lights off feature properly...

I'll see if I can take a few pics over the weekend.

Cheers,

Stan

[lissted Member Find all posts View Profile Close lissted]

Re: Roof Mounting DVD player to New VX

We had put the head rest DVD players in our prado but have now removed them. We had a problem with both of them with a dark screen and the other had a noise when the disk was playing. I must admit they were Option Audio brand (Brisbane based) and I called them and discussed we had problems with them. After two days they replied to me and said they would replace them no worries but I asked if they could change it to a roof mounted one and they did that for me. Very good to see a company backing up it's warranty so well.

The other day I installed the roof mount myself. Not a to bigger job, 4 hours I guess. There was alot of measuring and remeasuring before I cut the hood lining!!! This must be done in the 150 as the rear light is to far back to put it in this place. Hole is cut now so it just gets sold with the car when the time comes!!! Below are some pics I took along the way and some instuctions.

1. Remove grab handles. Pull it down and you see a cover which you remove. Remove the spung loaded clip which holds the handle in place with a pair of pointy nose pliers. Once out out the handle just pulls off.



2. Pull down the door rubbers and pull them down to the sill plates. Just get hold of it and give it a good yank. Then remove the front cover from A pillar, next to the edge of the front screen. Undo the grab handle and then pull the panel up. There are only clips into the top of the dash.



3. Remove panels for centre B pilar. Pull out on the bottom one first. This will come off easily. At the bottom of the top panel there is a 8mm bolt holding the bottom of this panel in place. The top of this panel has to be pulled off a clip at the very top near the hood lining. Unclip it and the panel will come away. It won't come all the way off because of the seat belts. No need to remove these as we just need the get the panel off the hood lining.



4. Hold the DVD player in place and put tape front & back. Look above the hood lining and make sure there is at least one roof bracing channels under where you need to cut out the hood lining. Mark centre across the car. Mark centre on the steel fitting plate. Hold in place and mark screw holes onto roof. Go 15mm outside these marks and mark out the rectangle to cut out.



5. Cut along the marks with a sharp stanley knife. :shock: :shock: :shock:



6. Run the wiring. I used a piece of stiff wire to feed from the cut out out to the side of the hood lining. Then run it along to the front and down the A pillar making sure it is inside the curtian airbags and in the clips going down the A pillar. Feed it under the dash and hook it up to where you would like. I hooked mine into my UHF wire I ran from accesories. The only wires that run from the DVD player are + & - (and a door light which I didn't hook up)



7. I then used a piece of 18mm ply I had cut out the same size as my cut out. I cut a 4mm rebate where the roof bracing was to keep the ply below the hood lining face. Drilled a hole for the wires in the same spot as the fitting plate and pulled the wires through and screwed the ply in place. Check and double check the length of the screws. Coat hooks don't look good on the roof of a car!!



8. Screwed the fitting plate in place making sure it was centre and square.



9. Plug in the plug. Use the 4 screw provided to screw the unit in place. I cut the length of the screws so they only just came trough the back of the fitting plate so it didn't put holes in the hood linging outside of the area I cut. Done. Reinstall rubbers and trim you removed.



Hope this helps anyone thinking about installing one.

Peter

[8608 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close 8608]

Re: Roof Mounting DVD player to New VX

is that the 11" OA unit?

i fitted mine quite differently. i tried to move mine as far forwards as i could to give a better viewing angle.

plus, i wasn't game enough to cut the headlining like you did, so i cam up with a different way to mount mine. if i ever need to, i can remove it and replace the factory light in its original position.

and is there a reason why you went for a black unit?

[lissted Member Find all posts View Profile Close lissted]

Re: Roof Mounting DVD player to New VX

In the 150 there are no interior lights at all in the area you would want it. The front lights are near the revision mirror and the one for the middle row of seats are above their heads. No choice but to cut a hole. For the $350 it cost happy to leave it there.

Yes it is the 11" Option Audio too. Do you have the same model? Are you happy with it so far? Looks good to me so far.

I didn't mind the black at all most of the dash and door trims are black in the car anyway. For that price too he only had black on the shelves!!

[8608 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close 8608]

Re: Roof Mounting DVD player to New VX

i keep forgetting you have a 150.

i got the 11" one also, and happy with it so far, as i just load up my USB stick with movies for the little sprog. hours of silence. i guess this is what they mean by silence is golden.

did you wire in the dome lights as well? i don't think they are bright enough for reading much, but its also a good thing that when they are on for the people in the back, the driver isn't distracted.

[lissted Member Find all posts View Profile Close lissted]

Re: Roof Mounting DVD player to New VX

I didn't even bother to wire it up. I spent 2 minutes looking for the door light switch and gave up. 6 wires running to an interior light!!! I couldn't even find one with a test light that runs a positive feed from the door switch that the dvd player wire requires. The light is still in the back anyway and you can press the button on the dvd player to turn its lights on if you want. Easier solution that having to put relays in the roof.

[roadblock Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close roadblock]

Re: Roof Mounting DVD player to New VX

In the 150 there are no interior lights at all in the area you would want it. The front lights are near the revision mirror and the one for the middle row of seats are above their heads. No choice but to cut a hole. For the $350 it cost happy to leave it there.

Yes it is the 11" Option Audio too. Do you have the same model? Are you happy with it so far? Looks good to me so far.

I didn't mind the black at all most of the dash and door trims are black in the car anyway. For that price too he only had black on the shelves!!

I bought a slightly larger roof mount DVD player before I got the car and now that I have it I have been too chicken to pull off the trims. Thanks so much to lissted for the detailed instructions. I might even have a chop at it myself now. Better still print out the instructions and get someone else to do it :wink:

Thanks again lissted for putting in the time and effort with the procedure.

Roadblock