Just finished installing the navigation system into my vehicle.

The monitor is Alpine TME-M790
The Navigation system is Alpine NVE-N851A

 

Here is another picture of the system closed.

 

Another Picture

 

Too bad it covers the radio and HVAC controls when the screen is open. But I must say, wow, that is one clean installation of the head unit. Very nice. I see you had to relocate the heated seats and by the look of the buttons you must have a 2000 RX. Is your RX AWD? Mine is FWD, and if I did that to my heated seat buttons then my TRAC button would be inaccessible.

 

LexRX,


I have 1999 AWD.


Do you have heated seats on your car?

If yes, I think it's still possible to fit three buttons on this panel. The size of the panel at the bottom is 5.75''. The size of one button is 1.75". So it should be fine.

 

Thats one NICE install keep up the good work. How does it put out sound?

 

LeXusBoy,


Monitor TME-M790 has builtin speaker - it sounds good and clear but not as good as car audio. The system has a mute output as well, so when the system talk the radio is muted.

 

Yeah, I have the heated seats too. The TRAC button would certainly fit on that panel - how did you make it?

 

sweet setup man!! thast nice hehe, how much did you pay for that unit, and for installation also

 

spinteews,

I have bought the monitor from e-Bay for $1000 + shipping

I have bought the nav. system from e-Bay as well for $1050 + shpping.


I did the setup myself.
I have paid $50 for monitor wiring, but I did wiring for the navigation system myself, so it cost me about $50 for tools and materials.

 

LexRX,

I have made a panel from the peice of plastic taken from the sunroof deflector and then I have put wood trim piece I have bough for $5 from local shop (they had leftovers from the full woodtrim kits). I have used B&D rootary tool with flex shaft to make those pieces into the right shape.

I will post a picture of the back side of the panel tonight.

 

Slavik,

Real nice install! I have a '01 RX with NAV, so
I'm only interested in the monitor for playing DVDs
and/or hooking up to a camcorder. The Alpine
screen is perfect.

Does the monitor have to be retracted before shifting
into P or R positions?

Thanks!


Bob

 

sleepybobcat,


You are right, the monitor will only come out in N.
Another thing you have to know about the monitor is that monitor is not showing video while you are driving. It is connected to parking brake and foot brake and special combination of presses and releases have to be done to switch to vidio input (on the monitor). The bypass black box avalable on the internet. This black box will reproduce the sequence of foot and parking brake signals to the monitor and you can watch video then. Otherwise there is a warning: "The picture is off for you safety" only in vidio mode (not in navigation).

It's sad that lexus has restricted people from watching DVD while driving as well as not installing video input for the system - especially the japanize model of this car cames with it. (I presume you know that you can watch DVD while you are in Park mode by replacing the navigtion DVD disk with regular DVD disk)


Best Regards

 

slavik,

Thanks for the reply! I guess I'll just have to be
careful not to put the gear shift past N when the
screen is out... Yes, I'm aware that a black box
needed... However, a local installer at Myer Emco said
he could defeat it himself... I'm going to check it out.

As for the stock DVD Nav system in my '01 RX, it
does NOT play movie DVDS. I've tried a few times
and nothing happens... The only Lexus that
allows this appears to be the LX470. I tried it
on a dealer's LX470, the picture is great...

I never did figure out why Lexus(and other car
manufacturers) have TV or DVD capability in all
their cars in Japan, Germany and most parts of the
world, but not for the US... probably some DOT
rules...

 

sleepybobcat,

You can even put the gear in R (no problems) or P (if the monitor is straight and not turned towards the driver or the passenger) when the monitor is retracted. The only thing you can NOT do is to retract or hide it into the dash when you are in P or R positions.

I thought you can play DVD with RX300 navigation system - I think you should post a thread and ask people if someone actually did and ask for directions if they did.

I did the wiring for the monitor with local installer and he also has tried to bypass the system but after 2.5 hours of trying he end up connecting everything as it suppose to be connected.

Here is the sequence from the alpine manual:

"1. Push the foot brake to the bring your vehicel to a complete stop at a save location. Engage the parking brak.
2. Kepp pushing the foot brake and release the parking brake once then engage it again.
3. While the parking brake is being engaged the second time, release the foot brake."

I don't think there is a way you connect the monitor to the car so you can watch movies with out performing the sequence.

I can point you to the place where you can get the bypass black box for about $50 if you intrested. The price on the eBay is about $75-$90.


Regards