iDatalink Maestro Rr Install

[TwinkE]

Today I finished the install of the Maestro Rr with my Kenwood DDX-794. It was pretty straightforward with only 7 wires needing to be connected.

 

Initial idea for using the Rr came from this thread on Nabisco.

 

I bought the Maestro Rr from Amazon along with an OBD2 Splitter.

It took me about 6 hours to program the stupid thing. Almost all the time was updating my wife's old windows laptop that was last updated in January of 2014. After that I still couldn't program it, the plugin for Internet Explorer couldn't talk to the Maestro. I switched to Chrome and used IE Tab, for some reason this allowed the plugin to talk to the Maestro and it programmed right the first time.

 

The splitter fits into the stock place with just a little bit of filing:

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258835&stc=1&d=1511739917

Bracket in place. The connectors on the ends of the splitter are different. This picture shows the end you should tap the wires on:

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258836&stc=1&d=1511739917

 

Tapping the OBD2 splitter. I don't have the strippers that stretch the insulator apart so I have to go old school and slice off the excess for tapping.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258837&stc=1&d=1511739917

All tapped out - The Brown/Red wire goes to the green wire on top, the Brown/Yellow goes to the green wire on the bottom

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258838&stc=1&d=1511739917

 

I used the harness from svxdc, so I connected the wires with black together.

Black/White -> Brown/Black

Purple/Red -> Brown/Red

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258839&stc=1&d=1511739917

 

The red wire isn't needed in this connector so I used a small screwdriver to push down on the metal connector and pull the wire out. Use the Gray/Red on the main Maestro harness for accessory power instead.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258840&stc=1&d=1511739917

 

I hooked in the Yellow and Black from the power connector and the Gray/Red from the Maestro harness into the stereo harness for power. I then taped the power/ground connections and Tesa taped the harness to look prettier.

 

Here are the harnesses taped and ready to go into the car(I Tesa taped the black/yellow Maestro wires when it was in the car).

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258841&stc=1&d=1511739917

Edited November 27, 2017 by TwinkE

[TwinkE]

I wasn't feeling particularly lucky, so I just routed all the connectors outside the console to test out everything and sync the Maestro to the Kenwood. I connected the Kenwood first, then the black Maestro to the Kenwood connector, then the main Maestro harness, then the Yellow/Black power to the Maestro.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258884&stc=1&d=1511744403

 

Turned the car on and everything appears to work

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258885&stc=1&d=1511744403

 

I'm not sure what would happen if I disconnected the Maestro from the Kenwood, so I just disconnected the OBD2 splitter and fished the wire across the drivers side to the fuse panel. I had to take the metal piece off under the steering wheel to get enough space to route the splitter, that was not fun since it's so bulky. I took the time to remove the microphone and button that integrates with the factory nav since I don't use that anymore.

 

I turned the car on, here's a picture of my gauges about a minute after starting

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258887&stc=1&d=1511744403

 

Gauges at idle after the car was warmed up

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258888&stc=1&d=1511744403

 

Second screen of gauges around the same time

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258889&stc=1&d=1511744403

 

Here's a crappy video of accelerating out of my neighborhood in Sport

http://twinke.com/maestro/07-Part_Throttle-Sport.mp4

 

Here's a video of accelerating uphill onto the highway in Sport#

http://twinke.com/maestro/08-WOT-Sport_Sharp.mp4

 

Here's my steering wheel control settings for anyone interested

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=258892&stc=1&d=1511746311

[Enlight]

Thanks for posting this up, TwinkE. I've been looking into head units that can integrate gauges as I'd rather have one screen that can integrate navigation, audio, and engine data. I was looking at Chinese Android head units and custom ROM's with BtSsm. Maestro looks like a cleaner option from more established brands, and you also get to benefit from their history in audio that the Chinese brands lack.

 

Could you elaborate on what gauges are available and what it's like to set them up on our Legacy's?

 

 

Edit: As I'm digging into this, I don't know whether this is viable on an '05. The website shows compatibility for only '07+ and I don't know what are the actual differences between '05-'06 and '07+.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Enlight

[TwinkE]

I didn't like the impression of hit or miss with the Chinese replacements and there wasn't one available for my 2007 at the time. The gauges are dependent on the model year of your car, 2007 was about the earliest available for the Legacy. Depending on the computer changes between the years, it could work and give you some data, but I wouldn't be able to tell you that right now.

 

I don't have the car anymore so I can't tell you all the gauges, but I put the most useful ones (in my opinion) on those screens. The center one is limited to a subset of all the gauges but I didn't find that restricting.

 

If you can find a used one, jump on it, otherwise try find one with a good return policy:)

[rhino6303]

I bet the reason it's 07+ is because it uses canbus to get data. On 05-06 vehicles the ecu data isn't sent over canbus.

[Enlight]

Yes, you're right. Mike from AZP said as much here:

The wiring harness and CAN issues really prevent the newer items from being installed into the 05-06 cars. I mean if you pulled the entire harness and basically swapped everything over and "electrically" the ecu thought it WAS the newer car it would work. We did that on an 02 RS we basically took it down to the frame and swapped over an 04 STi to it. As far as the STi ECU was concerned it was still in the original body.

Looks like it's back to research on the Android HU's.