[altrees]

My ‘17 Boxster S was not originally optioned with Car Play. I asked about a OEM retrofit at the dealer and they said it would be $5K+ (?!). I decided on installing an aftermarket CarPlay / Android Auto module from Naviplus. There are some other aftermarket units on the market that have full Android (ROiK-4G / ROiK-MIB2) but I’m worried that the hardware and Android version will get outdated quickly. The kit I got acts as a client, so in theory, it should be more future proof. Besides, I don't really need or want full Android running on my dash. I prefer the OEM like functionality of Android Auto / Car Play.

As far as functionality goes, it integrates well into the PCM and retains all the OEM functionality. The module plays audio through the car’s speakers using PCM AUX input. Since I always use this while driving, I just leave SOURCE set to AUX. You are still able to select other sources while the module is active. In order to switch the video output, all you need to do is press the NAV button for ~1s. The touch screen works with Android Auto / Car Play. The back up cam switches automatically when in reverse, as normal. I was really pleased since this is a piggyback on top of the PCM and everything is completely reversible.

I used this kit from Naviplus:
Porsche PCM 4.0 Integrated Apple CarPlay & Android Auto Upgrade Package

You can probably find it from other distributors as well but it’s made by KAP.
(MODERATOR NOTE: The KAP website was flagged as a spam source and has been removed. Visit it at your own risk.)

I ordered from Naviplus because they were responsive to emails both pre and post sale. Their kit contained everything that was needed. The only modification I needed to make was splicing additional wire onto the power / ground cables to extend them, due to where I placed the modules. I ended up paying $690 USD including shipping, since I opted for the wireless Car Play function. The kit arrived from Australia via DHL in around 5 days to California.

Components

1. Wire harness
2. 4G-HIGHEND module
3. Fuse tap + 10 amp fuse
4. Stereo RCA male to AUX pins
5. USB extension for socket
6. LVDS cable
7. Car Play / Android Auto module
8. Antennas
9. OSD controller
10. Microphone
11. HDMI cable

The wiring harness is fairly straightforward, since the connectors won’t let you plug things into the wrong place.

 

[altrees]

Install (1/2)
Here's an idea of where I ended up locating everything.

1. I used this guide from @hkginlax: Android Module Added
   They are installing the ROiK-MIB2 but the process is essentially the same. I would recommend reading it before you start.
   Additionally, you can read the KAP documentation for the kit on the company's website.
   (MODERATOR NOTE: The KAP website was flagged as a spam source and has been removed. Visit it at your own risk.)
   
   
2. For my install, I needed to extend the power / ground wires in order for them to reach the passenger fuse box and grounding bolt. If you also need to do this, now would be a good time to splice on the additional wire before installing the wire harness. I don't know exactly how much additional length I added since I added a lot and cut it to length once it was installed in the car.
   
   
3. My car is equipped with PDK. In order to get the PCM out, I had to put the car into neutral in order to have enough room between the PCM and gear shift. Next, to be safe, I disconnected the battery. Pop the frunk, remove the plastic cover and disconnect and tape the negative terminal. I think you will need a 10mm socket. Warning: Once you disconnect the battery, do not close the frunk!
   
   
4. Remove the center console trim. You can follow this guide: NM400 Instructions. Ignore the first step, you should be able to start with step two. Starting from the back, you can use a trim tool to pry the side panels; they are held in place with clips. Work your way towards the PCM and once you have released all the clips, pull straight backwards away from the PCM. You can also watch this Youtube video. Ignore the 2nd half of the video where they remove the bolt. Be careful! There's a clip on the side panel that's easy to break if you don't pull straight back from the PCM.
   
5. Next you will need a T25 Torx bit to remove the 4 screws holding the PCM in place. Again, refer to the Numeric Racing guide linked above. The top 2 screws have a plastic clip in the way. You can simply pull it out towards you. Once the screws are removed, pull towards you and the PCM will slide out. I suggest having some thick blankets on the passenger seat to give a place to lay down the PCM.
   
   
6. Before we forget, you need to set the dip switches on the 4G-HIGHEND module. 1 and 7 should be up, while the others are down.
   
7. The end result of your wiring will look like this.
   
   
   For the next few steps, I’m stealing the pics / instructions from hkginlax’s thread.
   
   

   Once the PCM assembly is removed, find the LVDS cable which connects between the touch screen and the PCM. Start from the touch screen, the LVDS cable is the upper one (see arrow).
   

   Following the cable from the touch screen down to the PCM, there should be a green connector on the other end. Disconnect the green connector from the PCM.
   

   Connect the green end of the cable to the LCD-OUT port on the 4G-HIGHEND module. The other end should remain connected to the touch screen.
   With the LVDS cable that came with the kit, connect one end into the LCD-IN port on the 4G-HIGHEND module and the other onto the PCM where the OEM cable was originally connected (the circled port in the picture above).
   
   

8. Next we need to disconnect the Porsche CAN cable. The CAN cable is housed with a group of connectors in one holder, which is located at the back of the PCM.
   

   Disconnect the cable group holder from the PCM by pulling the lever at the bottom of the holder.
   

   With the holder out, identify the grey color CAN connector in the middle of the group.
   

   Remove the CAN connector from the group holder by lifting the tap at the upper edge of the CAN connector.
   

   
   

   Plug in the CAN connector from the car into the wiring harness. Plug the other end of the wiring harness back into the group holder.
   
9. You can use the provided audio harness (Stereo RCA -> pins) to connect to the PCM aux input directly. I chose to skip this step and use a RCA -> 3.5mm adapter to connect to the input in the glove box. This is less clean, but easier to remove in the future. I believe the pins are TE Connectivity MQS so there is a two step process to remove the pins. You can probably Google the right way to remove them.
   
10. Put the group holder back into the PCM, and that should be it for PCM related wiring.
    
    
11. Connect the microphone to the harness. I ran this from behind the PCM to the driver’s footwell area and up the steering column. It’s not too noticeable and seems to work well enough with voice commands.
    
    
12. Next connect the OSD controller to the PROGRAM port, wiring harness to the POWER/CAN port and one end of the HDMI on the 4G-HIGHEND module. Now you will need to pass the wiring harness and HDMI cable to the passenger side. I ran the cables through a hole behind where the PCM sits and underneath the glove box.
    
    
    
13. Connect the other end of the wiring harness and HDMI cable to the Car Play / Android Auto module. Attach the antennas.
    
    
14. Since I did not connect audio to the PCM directly, I bought a stereo RCA to 3.5mm cable and ran it from the wiring harness to the glove box aux input. I was able to tuck this cable into the side center console trim.
    
    
15. Connect the ground wire to the car’s body. If you pull back the carpet in the passenger side foot well, towards the fuse box you should see a grounding bolt you can use. I used the fuse tap in the kit and added it to slot D4 in the passenger side fuse box. It’s a switched fuse used for automated cruise control, which my car does not have. In the hkginlax install thread, they used B3, which you could look into using as well.
    
    
    
16. The Car Play / Android module and all of its wires can be hidden behind the passenger foot well foam. From the top edge you can simply pull it back (the same foam piece that you pulled back to access the grounding bolt, just pull more) and there is a large enough space to hide everything. This should be fine since there are already other wire harnesses back there.
    

 

[altrees]

Install (2/2)

1. Reconnect your battery. Switch ignition on and hopefully nothing blows up. To get to the new interface, hold down the NAV button on the PCM for ~1s. To get audio output, set SOURCE on PCM to AUX.
   
   
2. There are a few settings that might need to be changed. Use the OSD controller to bring up the menu.
   1. Set: CONFIG > NAVI-RGB > DIGITAL. This configures the display output. There are other options, and they seem to work too. I just left it at DIGITAL but let me know if something else works better.
   2. Set: OPTION > NAVI COM > FINE. This configures touch input. This setting is from trial and error, so please update if you find something better.
   3. Calibrate touch: UTILITY > CALIBRATION > EXECUTE. Touch the crosses.
      
3. Exit the OSD menu. On home screen hold down anywhere on the screen for ~5s. This will launch another touch calibration. Again, just press the crosses.
   
   
   
4. At this point, you can either plug in your Android phone, or touch the Bluetooth icon to pair with your iPhone. In either case, upon successful connection, Android Auto or Car Play should start automatically. If not, you can scroll on the interface to “Settings” and set automatic launch there.
   
   
5. Once you’ve verified that everything is hooked up correctly, you can slide the PCM back into place. I used a small amount of double sided tape to hold the 4G-HIGHEND module in place so it doesn’t slide around. Put the Torx screws back in and you can reattach the driver’s side console trim.
   
   
6. The kit comes with a USB extension and socket you can use to replace the OEM 12v socket in the center console storage. I opted not to install it, since it seemed like a hassle to figure out how to get the center console storage removed, and I wanted things to be easily reversible back to OEM. However, it would be great if someone figured out how to remove it and posted instructions!
   
   Instead, I ran a USB-C cable underneath the console side trim to the center console storage area. When the lid is down, you can’t see it. When I’m driving, I just plug my phone in and leave it there. If you are an iPhone user, you can connect wirelessly so you might not even want to run a USB cable at all.
   
   
   
7. Pop the passenger side trim back on and the install is finished!
   

Notes

• Maps on Android Auto would not update location when my phone’s screen was off. This was due to battery saving settings on my phone. Originally I was on “battery saver” and once I set it back to normal, the issue went away.
• My phone’s USB-C port is at the bottom. If I used a regular cable, I would have to bend it in order to lay my phone flat. I got an Anker 180° bend cable that helps with this:
  USB Type C Cable
• At least on Android, I did not pair my phone to the new interface’s Bluetooth. I haven’t really tested with voice calls yet. Ideally, I want to leave my phone connected to the Porsche PCM’s Bluetooth so voice calls work as normal there, since voice calls through Android Auto use the kit’s microphone, which isn’t as good. Additionally, SOURCE needs to be on AUX for sound output, so I just want to retain as much OEM functionality as possible.
• Charging works, but it seems pretty slow. It’s probably only outputting 0.5a or something.
• Wireless is for Car Play only. In theory, I hope that means it meets hardware requirements for wireless Android Auto as well, and a firmware update will be all that’s needed in the future. There’s currently a unofficial hack on this XDA Developers Forum thread to get it working if you’re interested.

(MODERATOR NOTE: This forum is full of dubious links (any dev forum will be). Visit at your own risk.)

 

[TK718]

Thanks for the detailed write-up and pics! Looking forward to hearing how the BT phone connection works. If your phone can be connected through BT for calls and aux for everything else, I'm pretty certain this will be the way to go for me.

Thanks for being the guinea pig on this install. Looks clean and tidy!

 

[hkginlax]

Nice instruction! Way better than mine.

 

[Westcoaster]

@altrees Awesome job, great info here for either type of installation,!

 

[altrees]

Thanks for the detailed write-up and pics! Looking forward to hearing how the BT phone connection works. If your phone can be connected through BT for calls and aux for everything else, I'm pretty certain this will be the way to go for me.

Thanks for being the guinea pig on this install. Looks clean and tidy!

My Android phone is connected using usb-c and Android Auto audio outputs over AUX. My phone is also connected to the PCM using bluetooth and phone calls still work there. This works for me on a Samsung S8, but no guarantees this works for all setups. Also, this probably won't work for a wireless Car Play connection, since the iPhone connects to the new module's bluetooth and I don't think it can connect to that and the PCM bluetooth at the same time. Not sure about wired Car Play though.

 

[TK718]

My Android phone is connected using usb-c and Android Auto audio outputs over AUX. My phone is also connected to the PCM using bluetooth and phone calls still work there. This works for me on a Samsung S8, but no guarantees this works for all setups.

Sounds very encouraging - thanks!

 

[MonyxYYZ]

Hey,

With respect to the USB-C cable you ran inside your side trim to your console -

It looks like you have some kind of extender when zooming in on the picture. Any particular reason for that? Also, the Anker cable you linked only comes in a 3' length. Without the extender do you believe that cable would be long enough to reach console from the glovebox (via the trim)?

 

[altrees]

Hey,

With respect to the USB-C cable you ran inside your side trim to your console -

It looks like you have some kind of extender when zooming in on the picture. Any particular reason for that? Also, the Anker cable you linked only comes in a 3' length. Without the extender do you believe that cable would be long enough to reach console from the glovebox (via the trim)?

There's no extender, it's actually plugging into the kit's wire harness. So it's Netplay i30/Kplay module -> wire harness -> usb cable -> phone. The 3' Anker cable worked for me. Why do you need to run the cable to the glovebox?

edit: oh, I saw in a different thread you were trying the software only UniChip solution. My guess is that 3' might be too short to be able to route to glovebox and be able to hide everything cleanly in trim.

 

[MonyxYYZ]

Yeah exactly - I went the UniChip route which means I have to plug into the glovebox, which for some reason I thought you were still doing but that wouldn't make sense now that I think about it haha.

Thanks for the info though!

 

[shappy]

I have a question with regards to phone functionality while using AA.

When this kit is up and running with AA active, can I still use my phone for other functions? The reason I ask is because I use my phone to run the JBV1 application that interfaces with my Valentine One radar detector. I usually have this application running in the foreground of my phone while I am driving. Will I still be able to use this app while also running AA on the PCM interface?

 

[Speedster_shot]

I have a 2018 Panamera that is still under warranty. Does this modification void the warranty for the PCM?