# Can Honda Odyssey RB3 Internavi be Replaced?



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

Hi all, my first post and hopefully in the right place!
I’ve got a Japan import Odyssey 2009 RB3 here in New Zealand, similar to the Australian model but also has the Internavi Premium club built in screen, audio controls and multi function joystick. Of course it’s in Japanese…

most car audio shops here told me the air con runs through the head unit and it can’t be changed but I’ve seen a fair few mods (Malaysia, Australia) that seem to keep all its functions. Is this true?
Can anyone shed some light on whether I can get an aftermarket CarPlay head unit e.g pioneer or kenwood?


----------



## Dm0 (5 mo ago)

Kia ora!

I've been running a 2008 RB3 Odyssey Absolute with exactly the same dash for about five years now and have been relatively content with a BT adaptor to the head unit but had always intended to dig in a bit deeper.
Of course, as you know, details on our models are pretty scant - especially with the recessed screen (have always wondered whether the Aussie DIN mount was trivially compatible?)

Anyway, another half-effort google today lead me to your posts and so I was wondering how you got on with your conversion?


----------



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

Dm0 said:


> Kia ora!
> 
> I've been running a 2008 RB3 Odyssey Absolute with exactly the same dash for about five years now and have been relatively content with a BT adaptor to the head unit but had always intended to dig in a bit deeper.
> Of course, as you know, details on our models are pretty scant - especially with the recessed screen (have always wondered whether the Aussie DIN mount was trivially compatible?)
> ...


Kia Ora 
I’ve been elusive lately but I’ve ordered an Android head unit with a custom harness and a canbus controller from a mechanic in Malaysia, I’m just waiting for it to arrive, I’ll be setting up a lil video of the process if that helps


----------



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

Dm0 said:


> Kia ora!
> 
> I've been running a 2008 RB3 Odyssey Absolute with exactly the same dash for about five years now and have been relatively content with a BT adaptor to the head unit but had always intended to dig in a bit deeper.
> Of course, as you know, details on our models are pretty scant - especially with the recessed screen (have always wondered whether the Aussie DIN mount was trivially compatible?)
> ...


Sorry for the ice age between posts, between EMS post and work I only managed to get the head unit in yesterday. Yup it’s working really well but it’s an utter bastard to get installed.
The main issue is how tight the bottom head unit and cabling sit. However, carplay (also android auto I assume but haven’t confirmed) cameras, air con and steering wheel controls work like a charm.
It’s 90% plug and play, just three cables that need cutting and rerouting to the custom harness. I’ll post some photos later on


----------



## dubz (4 mo ago)

Following with interest here Wolfman, I also have Odyssey RB3 and spent ages scouring the net and could never find a decent harness.

Seems like the internavi factory unit has an external amp, from what I've seen of the people who managed to get it working on Rb1 absolute you can either bypass the external amp (as the android unit has integrated amp) or use lineout from android headunit and still use the amp.

Does the harness you have just have one 24pin connector or are there multiple connectors ?

Also from my reading the steering wheel buttons are analog buttons i.e not canbus tho the odyssey has K-line protocol which could potentially be used to show open door etc, on the head unit.

Be very interested to see some pics of your harness if you have any.


----------



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

dubz said:


> Following with interest here Wolfman, I also have Odyssey RB3 and spent ages scouring the net and could never find a decent harness.
> 
> Seems like the internavi factory unit has an external amp, from what I've seen of the people who managed to get it working on Rb1 absolute you can either bypass the external amp (as the android unit has integrated amp) or use lineout from android headunit and still use the amp.
> 
> ...


----------



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

Only got one **** of the unit and harness before I got it in there, with work being what it is lately I’ve been a bit scrambled…
Took me a while to figure out how to get the trim out and get the harness connections in due to how packed things are in there but so far it works really well

here’s a shot of the HU before I stuck it in


----------



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

Also,


----------



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

Seems to work through the BT (but I’m keeping ears open for a wired solution) which has about 1-2 beats of lag on music, haven’t tried the phone yet, maps is pretty solid too


----------



## dubz (4 mo ago)

Looks good !

So there was no canbus decoder box?

Do any other buttons work other than the ones on the steering wheel ?


----------



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

There is a canbus, sits snuggly in the dash above the speedo.
The audio controls on the dash don’t work other than for the original amp.
Air con, camera selection button work all good. I’ve mapped the camera to the back button on the steering wheel, from there I select the camera I want from the dash.

If there’s no way to get the audio controls working, I might check compatibility between the Aussie air con dash and the JDM RB3, if that can work then we can get the joystick and the audio control section for a tidier dash look

Like this [Used]A/C & Heater Control panel HONDA Odyssey 2010 DBA-RB3 - BE FORWARD Auto Parts


----------



## dubz (4 mo ago)

Yeah I think those other controls would be analog so would have connect to the key1, key2 wires on the headunit but they are probably already taken up with the steering wheel controls.

I think the heater control panel probably would be compatible, I agree looks cleaner but I actually kind of like the fact that I have Kanji all over the place !

Interesting on the canbus, that must convert the k-line protocol to canbus.

Do you know what the wires were that were cut ? I'm guessing maybe one of them is the amp control on/off signal as the amp is probably now integrated into the headunit.


----------



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

Well, Wei was pretty firm about not touching any of the sockets associated with the stereo/air con controls so I’m guessing they’re directly tied to the amp and ECU somehow. Apparently any other head unit would immediately kill the air con. Probably merits a bit more research there

I think you’re bang on with the canbus

I like the kanji too but the extra dead controls are annoying now because I keep reaching for them lol

I had to cut and reroute 3 wires which I believe were part of the steering wheel controls. I have a horrid suspicion I might have popped the ground off when I was putting the head unit back in so probably gonna go back in there on the weekend and have a good look, I’ll grab some photos this time


----------



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

Well it looks like cleaner dash might be trickier than I thought, the replacement air cons are different but may be modular so you ossicle switch, however it would get in the way of the joystick which is attached to the camera button. Chances are it would teauire the bottom trim from the Aussie unit which doesn’t have a camera button so not sure if I can get that lower trim to work or if it would fit around the head unit. All quite tricky really…


----------



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

TheWolfman said:


> Well it looks like cleaner dash might be trickier than I thought, the replacement air cons are different but may be modular so you ossicle switch, however it would get in the way of the joystick which is attached to the camera button. Chances are it would teauire the bottom trim from the Aussie unit which doesn’t have a camera button so not sure if I can get that lower trim to work or if it would fit around the head unit. All quite tricky really…





dubz said:


> Yeah I think those other controls would be analog so would have connect to the key1, key2 wires on the headunit but they are probably already taken up with the steering wheel controls.
> 
> I think the heater control panel probably would be compatible, I agree looks cleaner but I actually kind of like the fact that I have Kanji all over the place !
> 
> ...


I got some photos today while I was doing some tidying up around the trim


----------



## dubz (4 mo ago)

Do you have 360 cam ? I think a couple of those spliced in wires are for that.

Do you think it's still using the factory amp and it's line out of the android or do you think it's using audio chip on the android straight into the speakers ? most android units have an amp control signal wire that could be used to switch on the factory amp


----------



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

dubz said:


> Do you have 360 cam ? I think a couple of those spliced in wires are for that.
> 
> Do you think it's still using the factory amp and it's line out of the android or do you think it's using audio chip on the android straight into the speakers ? most android units have an amp control signal wire that could be used to switch on the factory amp


Yup, full 360 and working well too

I’m pretty sure it’s outputting to the factory amp but I’m not 100% certain. What I can tell you is that audio quality even through Bluetooth is a lot better than stock, this is even before I tweaked eq in the low mids (250-320) to tidy up some boxiness and rolled off some harshness is the highs. I’ve run an rca off the android head unit audio outs to the back just in case I go for a DSP, there’s an optical out in there too but I haven’t given that one much thought at present


----------



## dubz (4 mo ago)

I guess the old unit still requires power because it's all tied in with the AC, some engineer at Honda owes us all some apologies !!

Looks like one more spliced wire in the first pic, thick black wire, is that power or just a ground ?


----------



## TheWolfman (6 mo ago)

TheWolfman said:


> Yup, full 360 and working well too
> 
> I’m pretty sure it’s outputting to the factory amp but I’m not 100% certain. What I can tell you is that audio quality even through Bluetooth is a lot better than stock, this is even before I tweaked eq in the low mids (250-320) to tidy up some boxiness and rolled off some harshness is the highs. I’ve run an rca off the android head unit audio outs to the back just in case I go for a DSP, there’s an optical out in there too but I haven’t given that one much thought at present





dubz said:


> I guess the old unit still requires power because it's all tied in with the AC, some engineer at Honda owes us all some apologies !!
> 
> Looks like one more spliced wire in the first pic, thick black wire, is that power or just a ground ?


yeah it seems so, according to Wei, there are 3 types of JDM RB3, at least one has a dual heater, eg heater switches are both up arrow red down arrow blue instead of one like that and one for fan control. What I can see is that the stereo control unit is modular and seems to come out. 
Mine has 5 sockets, two on heater, two on stereo control and one for hazards. 
There may be hope that the control unit comes out and a cover can go over the hole but it might be a custom fab jobbie, I haven’t seen anything like that so maybe we can find someone here who can shed some light on the matter


----------



## dubz (4 mo ago)

Hope everything is still working well for you !

I've just bought an android headunit but I'm going to have to sort the harness myself and do some custom wiring,I think I can figure most of it out except the canbus.

Do you have any pics or ideas on the canbus wiring ?


----------



## NZRB3 (2 mo ago)

Hi. I'm in NZ. Have a Honda Odyssey Absolute 2009 RB3. Want to upgrade to Apple Carplay system. Local installer were going to install for me until they worked out they couldn't use the RB2 head unit system they stock because it has analog connectors verses the digital connectors on the RB3. Can anyone recommend an Apple Carplay capable head unit - where to buy it and things to take into account for my car?

Edit: Do you have a link for the place you bought yours from in Malaysia?


----------



## mohdhair (2 mo ago)

hi wolfman...if u dont mind..may i know from which store u buy the set of android player and wiring...is it sato bangi or smart car garage? or other?


----------



## emmi.nischal (2 mo ago)

Anymore photos of the custom harness made by the Malaysia mechanic ?


----------

