My first decent car, what are these gadgets?

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David321

234 posts

Master Geek

#289833 2-Oct-2021 10:33

Hi all,

I have only ever owned old cars (pre 200's) and have just bought a 2007 Nissan Dualis, its a very nice vehicle and I hope to be able to get familiar with it some time soon (having a 10 week old in the house means I have had time to drive it home and thats it).

I managed to snap a couple of pics of a couple of things before coming to work today thinking someone on here might be tell me what they are or can be used for.

1 - There is a button with a picture of a person sitting with an arrow going over his head, I have no idea what it does.

2 - The center console storage compartment has some sort of data port with a cord plugged into it, the other end of the cord has what looks to be a USB 3.0 micro. Any idea of what this is for and what I could do with it? The vehicle does have an inbuilt screen, maybe I could plug m S9 in with an adaptor and have some sort of co-functionality between the car and phone?

3 - The vehicle is fitted with what looks to be the factory radio, this also doubles as some sort of control for the screen mounted in the dash above it, I know I could take the radio out and replace with a head unit from NZ which would be better suited to work here in NZ (and have buttons in English), but if possible I don't really want to loose the fact the the vehicle screen and radio work together, even though the screen doubles as a touch screen it would be cool if there was a radio that also worked with the screen. The screen seems to have a lot of options built in but its all in Japanese. Is there some sort of system that could replace the radio and re-program or re-install the software on the in-built screen? Or am I better to get the radio replaced, and (if possible) have some new software loaded to the vehicle screen? Perhaps that is what that cord is for?

_David_

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Fred99

13684 posts

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#2788216 2-Oct-2021 12:35

There is a button with a picture of a person sitting with an arrow going over his head, I have no idea what it does.

Sunroof?

Maybe @RUKI in the Transport (cars, bikes and boats) forum can help - if it's possible to convert that system to English.

quickymart

8777 posts

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#2788221 2-Oct-2021 12:48

#3 - that's definitely the factory radio. Wife had one in her Nissan as well. She got it replaced with a Kenwood head unit so she could listen to the NZ stations and have options in English.

If you contact https://radio-waves.co.nz/ (the guy's name is Ian) he should be able to help you - I've used him in the past for installs and he knows his stuff.

Bung

4551 posts

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#2788222 2-Oct-2021 12:48

Nissan have special air flow button to direct air to rear seat when passenger's nappy is full. Part of this is true 😀

wellygary

6649 posts

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#2788230 2-Oct-2021 13:21

This appears to be the airflow button explainer... it directs air above the front passengers so they don’t feel to blown away

https://www.cars.com/articles/what-does-this-button-do-1420663161618/

Batman

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#2788231 2-Oct-2021 13:21

Bung: Nissan have special air flow button to direct air to rear seat when passenger's nappy is full. Part of this is true 😀

i almost believed you until i read the end of the sentence ...

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

Batman

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#2788233 2-Oct-2021 13:24

what can you put on the screen?

can you show the other end of the socket/port?

during level 4 i took apart the entire dash of both my jap imports and yeah found some weird ports that i cannot decipher.

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

Batman

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#2788244 2-Oct-2021 13:43

Bung: Nissan have special air flow button to direct air to rear seat when passenger's nappy is full. Part of this is true 😀

i think i've figured it out.

first you press the carwings button, the wings will extend out of the car.

then you press the arrow over the head button, and that is the button for take off/lift off.

one of those buttons with japanese words should mean eject/parachute. maybe it's the one with the arrow over the head.

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

vexxxboy

3830 posts

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#2788278 2-Oct-2021 14:53

be careful before you start pushing the Japanese language buttons on the radio, i did that and ended up on a screen with everything in Japanese and no clue how to exit it. it took a while lol.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Batman

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#2788283 2-Oct-2021 15:10

I just use Google translate camera live translation

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

1024kb

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#2788412 2-Oct-2021 20:46

Batman:
what can you put on the screen?

can you show the other end of the socket/port?

during level 4 i took apart the entire dash of both my jap imports and yeah found some weird ports that i cannot decipher.

This.

This is Geekzone in one post.

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mentalinc

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#2788419 2-Oct-2021 22:06

If it anit broke - don't fix it..

Geekzone = anit broke - fix it and see if it still work

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Bung

4551 posts

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#2788420 2-Oct-2021 22:19

Batman:
what can you put on the screen?

can you show the other end of the socket/port?

during level 4 i took apart the entire dash of both my jap imports and yeah found some weird ports that i cannot decipher.

JDM cars often have a connection for a Toll Collector.

halper86

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#2789218 4-Oct-2021 17:39

Congratulations on your new purchase!

+1 to what @Bung said, have see heaps of jap imports with toll readers/collectors.

The big screens are common in a lot of imports too as the previous owner may have been stuck in traffic and the screen can be a mini tv with the built in tuner. The screen is just the display for the radio/tv unit.

You may not need to get a new head unit if you don't need to, all you need is a band expander (if one already isn't installed). You just need to know the translations for the buttons.

Hope this helped at all :)

Jvipers2

38 posts

Geek

#2789232 4-Oct-2021 17:55

Easiest way to keep the original radio is to add a band extender to it so you can tune to NZ radio…

Does your Dualis cone with the kerb camera on the left (passenger side) side mirror? That screen can be kept for that, like a blind spot monitor…

If you need Bluetooth and all, the easiest is to then swap out the head unit as 80% of it’s capabilities are useless outside Japan..

The plug you show should connect to the car. There should be an end that looks like an old apple iphone/ipod connector…that connects to Docomo phones and will provide the carwings functionality…

The button, is for ventilation so the air doesn’t blow straight to the driver and front passenger’s face and hands…

David321

234 posts

Master Geek

#2789552 5-Oct-2021 08:25

Thanks for all the tips guys, so after a bit more playing around I have found the following, the built in screen has a reversing camera display that activates when the car is put into reverse. There is also a camera on the passenger side wing mirror that faces forwards, when a button on the radio is pushed this cameras display shows on the screen (very handy for parking).

I know that to get a decent radio in the car (with google maps and Bluetooth etc.) I need to either swap out either the built in screen or the factory radio, but I do not want to loose the functionality of using both of those cameras.

I know the most of these new flash double din head units can have the existing camera hooked into them, so maybe my best option is to replace the factory radio with one of these new head units and have the wing mirror hooked to it as an auxiliary, that way when I am reversing the cars factory screen will show the reversing camera and if I want to use the wing mirror camera I could do this through the new head unit?

also, when reversing I get yellow lines that move around in conjunction with the turning wheel, showing where I am heading on the camera, quite a cool feature, would I loose this feature if I replaced the factory head unit? I don't think it would but i actually have no idea.

_David_

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