Kenwood DNX9980 & Cameras Installed
 

So I was just too damn busy to do the install myself (still have a lot of work on the Camaro to finish before the weather gets nice). I went to Car Toys and bought the first unit they got after haggling on price for a while.

The install went well and I really like the HU and all the functionality that's built in. I was very pleasantly surprised by how well the voice recognition works. (I used a wallpaper law2004 posted as my background)
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The Ecoroute function with the Garmin adapter gives you the ability to display info from the OBDII port although it is fairly slow in updating.
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Some of the gauges don't always display a value for some reason and I have contacted Kenwood so they will look into it. If anyone else has this problem (see picture below), please respond and also let Kenwood tech support know about it since when I called I was the first person calling them with an issue on this unit.....it had only been released for 2 days.
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I had them install the Kenwood CMOS300 as the backup camera and I also had them install a CMOS200 as a forward camera to keep me from ruining my front spoiler against parking curbs. They work amazingly well and all you have to do is press the voice button and say "front camera" or "rear camera" and they come up instantly.
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The voice activation button was placed in what I believe to be the perfect position on the side of the console.

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They only thing I am not too thrilled about is how far the unit sticks out of the dash. I asked the installer if it could be moved into the dash further but he said there was enough room behind it to push it back further. I don't know if this is true or not and if anyone has side view pictures of a 9980 or 9960 installed, please post them.
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It can be pushed farther back trust I had the same issue and my installer was able to push it back farther but you need the metra dash kit.

The Ecoroute should be hot. Do you like it? I can't say how nice the cmos300 is for changing lanes while driving. The multi view is awesome. Good choice.

Awesome, I've got the 9960 and it sticks out a little.
I would think to recess the unit farther, you would probably need to modify the mounting brackets a little. You'd have to make the holes oblong to move it back.
It would be a whole lot easier to recess in the 370 than it was in my 350 due to the way the unit mounts.

I haven't used it a whole lot yet but I hope they get the communication issue worked out. The cameras are absolutely perfect.

Just how slow it the engine interface? What other functions can it monitor?

On average, it seems to update once or twice a second but sometimes it pauses for several seconds. It also seems like there is a delay in the data compared to real time.....as an example if I rev the engine quickly to 4K and back to idle, the engine will be back down to idle before the gauge begins its climb. I'm hoping it gets better when they update the software to fix the other display issue. It can also monitor engine load percent, battery voltage and throttle position.....that's all I can remember right now.

Come on now......nobody has a picture of a Kenwood 9960 or 9980 installed so I can see if it sticks out of the dash as much as mine.

I'll get you a pic of my 9960 tomorrow. I spaced it today.

9980 EcoRoute
 

Can you clear engine codes?

9960 pic. Don't mind the dust.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...a/1a5cabdc.jpg

Thanks for the pic!! It looks like it sticks out of the dash about the same amount that mine does. I was expecting it to be a lot more flush and when I asked the installer to move it back more, he said he couldn't because there wasn't enough clearance. I was hoping I could prove him wrong with a pic, but it looks like he may be right.

Supposedly you can, but I wont know unless I get a code.....hopefully not anytime soon.

Great photos man, I am still trying to decide on which headunit to go with. Thanks alot for sharing this though.

No problem. Sometime in the next month, I'm going to be pulling out my console, so I'll take a look and see if there's any room to move it back. It wouldn't take much.

If you or your installer have enough patience you can drill new holes in the brackets and move it back some.

Well, I'm beginning to lose patience with Kenwood. Car Toys has tried swapping the Ecoroute module but it still has problems connecting with the head-unit about 25% of the time and some of the gauges still only display randomly (coolant temp, timing advance, battery voltage). They want to try replacing the head-unit but I hate to have my dash taken apart again if this is just a software/firmware problem since it will probably eventually be fixed with a software upgrade.

Does anyone have one of the new Kenwood units using the Ecoroute HD function without issue?

maybe you can ask around on the kenwood forums, as there's a section dedicated to this hu, or also ask around on diymobileaudio.com

I have a picture of my head unit and it sits back farther than that. I'll post it tomorrow.

I just posted on Kenwwod forums also (thanks for reminding me) but the reason I am asking here first is because I'm thinking that the gauge display issue might be specific to Nissan or even to our Z's due to the specific communication protocol in the OBDII layer. It looks like other users on the Kenwwod forums are experiencing the issue with not connecting 25% of the time so Kenwood has a software/firmware problem.

Thanks a lot, I would greatly appreciate it.

just ordered this HU, any updates?

I got a call from a senior tech at Kenwood last week to let me know they acknowledge that there indeed is a problem with communication between the HU and the ecoroute module and their engineering group is looking into it. Hopefully they will have a firmware update for it in the near future.

CMOS-300: It's really only good for parking, not so much changing lanes. It has such a wide view that if someone is one lane over, they look soooo far away, but could be right next to you. At night, it's also not so useful when driving because all you see are lights that are blown out and not the road. The license plate lights usually ruin any other visibility you might have had.

Here is the promised picture of my 9960. It does sit farther back. Talk to your installer, he needs to use the metra dash kit if you want it to sit back farther. As stated earlier by Tree, excuse the dust.

Here is the 9980 installed with the Metra Kit. Sorry for the poor picture. let me know if you want another view.

This is what I did with my Sony. It was sticking out just like yours and know its flush

I love the install, the front camera and back camera were done very well, me personally I'd just do the back camera, the front camera is a little over kill, but it does say BALLER status all over it though.:tup:

Thanks for the pic....We pulled it and moved it as far back as possible and it came out just about perfect.
Here are the before and after pics.....quite a difference. I'm perfectly happy with the install. I wish Kenwood would fix the gauge display problem with the ecoroute module but they said that they won't be looking into it. Apparently it works fine with most vehicles but I can't get it to work right with the Z and noone else on here seems to have one so I can verify if it is a problem with all Z's.


http://www.the370z.com/members/68cam...-4338-copy.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/68cam...-4845-copy.jpg

Big difference! looks great. That was worth the extra effort!

:iagree: Huge difference, it looks really sharp!

That looks very clean! I wonder for us with touring Bose with voice button built in the steering wheel if we can use that with this HU? Can someone please confirm this? Many thanks.

What did you do to move it back that far?

If I remember right it just a matter of loosening everything up and pushing the mount and HU in as far as possible and hold it there while tightening up the screws.

And which dash kit are you using?

It's the Metra kit. We used part number 99-7607B.