Rear Screen for Legacy S/X Project

I am trying to make one of those aftermarket rear screens available for 3/Y work in legacy S/X cars. I want one of these so that rear passengers can control AC as well as car music when needed.

I am gonna try my hand by getting the cheapest screen available so that in case all of this fails, the financial lose isn't that big: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005431406178.html

There are 2 parts to this challenge. The first and main one is to get the connection from screen to car right, and of course whether or not the software in the screen will detect and work with MCU2 in legacy S/X cars once it's powered on.

If this part works, then I can remove the screen part from the trim piece and 3D print my own frame/trim piece around it to fit on the backside of the center console.

Now I have a 2017 Model X with MCU2. I have a blue 20-pin Tesla connector below the cubby area that looks like this:

Now these aftermarket screens which are designed for 3/Y come with two types of cable harness depending on which year the 3/Y was manufactured. The early 2018 3's have a 20-pin connector while the 2019+ 3/Y have a 26-pin connector. I am gonna go with early 2018 3's connector but I am not sure the pins inside 3's 20-pin connector and my legacy X's 20-pin connector would be same? if they are not same, can I do something so that pin configuration can match? is there anyone here who has any experience in this that can guide me in the right direction?

I asked the seller on AliExpress and he wasn't sure as well, he said he will send me the following harness, which again was designed for 2018 3 in mind:

I would like the community to come together on this here and share in their thoughts below so that we can make a viable solution for legacy S/X cars as at this point I don't see any aftermarket solution coming for these cars. Will also be great if early Model 3 2018 owners can share how the connector on their car looks like, which can be found under a trim panel below the rear AC vents.

 

[pepi101]

Eagerly awaiting for a rear entertainment for a 2018 Model X

 

[sabor]

Any updates on this?

 

[lit af]

so i purchased a 2022 center console and would love to retro fit it into the 2018 model x anyone have any idea how it can be done? even if it just mirrors the front screen

 

[Abraham Wilson]

Bump

 

[Mike Slane]

I am trying to make one of those aftermarket rear screens available for 3/Y work in legacy S/X cars. I want one of these so that rear passengers can control AC as well as car music when needed.

I am gonna try my hand by getting the cheapest screen available so that in case all of this fails, the financial lose isn't that big: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005431406178.html

There are 2 parts to this challenge. The first and main one is to get the connection from screen to car right, and of course whether or not the software in the screen will detect and work with MCU2 in legacy S/X cars once it's powered on.

If this part works, then I can remove the screen part from the trim piece and 3D print my own frame/trim piece around it to fit on the backside of the center console.

Now I have a 2017 Model X with MCU2. I have a blue 20-pin Tesla connector below the cubby area that looks like this:

View attachment 952054

Now these aftermarket screens which are designed for 3/Y come with two types of cable harness depending on which year the 3/Y was manufactured. The early 2018 3's have a 20-pin connector while the 2019+ 3/Y have a 26-pin connector. I am gonna go with early 2018 3's connector but I am not sure the pins inside 3's 20-pin connector and my legacy X's 20-pin connector would be same? if they are not same, can I do something so that pin configuration can match? is there anyone here who has any experience in this that can guide me in the right direction?

I asked the seller on AliExpress and he wasn't sure as well, he said he will send me the following harness, which again was designed for 2018 3 in mind:

View attachment 952059

View attachment 952060

I would like the community to come together on this here and share in their thoughts below so that we can make a viable solution for legacy S/X cars as at this point I don't see any aftermarket solution coming for these cars. Will also be great if early Model 3 2018 owners can share how the connector on their car looks like, which can be found under a trim panel below the rear AC vents.

Make it a reality please! 2019 X and this is the one thing that I wish I had

 

[Robert Fowler]

I have a 2017 MS that I would love to put a rear screen with similar functionality. I've started to make a list possible ways to do this.

My thought is to load a rasberry pi(Model 4?) with software (Maybe Tesberry) that can read, and replay Can Bus messages for a 2017 MS and also has a GUI that can be modified to run on a touchscreen. Then hook up the touchscreen to the rasberry pi and make a custom mount. I think this might be the Can Bus DBC file for the Model S, but not sure what years. It was uploaded 5 years ago and has entries like this: "SG_ GTW_rearLeftSeatHeaterOn: 21|1@1+ (1,0) [0|0] "" X"

The tesberry page lists the hardware needed, but I haven't started sourcing it yet.

I think it will need to read CAN BUS 4 - Body Fault Tolerant or BFT according to the service manual, which has the RCCM (Remote Climate Control Module) and PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) Air Heater. This is the tesla circuit diagram including the CAN BUS. I think you have to login with your normal Tesla account to view the manuals and diagrams.

That is all I've found so far.... still searching.

 

[taimurasad]

I have a 2017 MS that I would love to put a rear screen with similar functionality. I've started to make a list possible ways to do this.

My thought is to load a rasberry pi(Model 4?) with software (Maybe Tesberry) that can read, and replay Can Bus messages for a 2017 MS and also has a GUI that can be modified to run on a touchscreen. Then hook up the touchscreen to the rasberry pi and make a custom mount. I think this might be the Can Bus DBC file for the Model S, but not sure what years. It was uploaded 5 years ago and has entries like this: "SG_ GTW_rearLeftSeatHeaterOn: 21|1@1+ (1,0) [0|0] "" X"

The tesberry page lists the hardware needed, but I haven't started sourcing it yet.

I think it will need to read CAN BUS 4 - Body Fault Tolerant or BFT according to the service manual, which has the RCCM (Remote Climate Control Module) and PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) Air Heater. This is the tesla circuit diagram including the CAN BUS. I think you have to login with your normal Tesla account to view the manuals and diagrams.

That is all I've found so far.... still searching.

Looks like you have been able to progress more on this than I did. Great job. Hope you succeed in making this work!

 

[Astura Phoenix]

Came across this thread kinda by chance (I didn't even know the newer S's had rear screens...), but are web-based solutions out of scope for this discussion?

I can share more details if people are interested, but it'd need a lot of TLC before onboarding with it becomes easy.

 

[Lectric_Agent]

Came across this thread kinda by chance (I didn't even know the newer S's had rear screens...), but are web-based solutions out of scope for this discussion?

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View attachment 1018414View attachment 1018415

I can share more details if people are interested, but it'd need a lot of TLC before onboarding with it becomes easy.

Wow where’d you find those images? I’ve never seen that setup before

Do u have any more info on those screen mounts?

 

[Astura Phoenix]

Wow where’d you find those images? I’ve never seen that setup before

Do u have any more info on those screen mounts?

They're my rideshare setup. (Sorry for the wording; when I said "Came across this thread...", I meant this thread here, about legacy S/X rear screens.)

I can share the STL for the mounts (attached) and... links to the cloud files? Not entirely sure how collaboration works with Autodesk 360 Fusion. However, they'll likely need to be modified to be useful to anyone else. They're sized specifically for Amazon HD 10 5th gen tablets (from 2015); the dimensions seem to have changed slightly in newer tablets.

Rear: Fusion
Front (untested): Fusion

They were printed by 3DPNxt through craftcloud3d.com for $102.31 + shipping (SLS Nylon PA12).

There are other areas where they could use some iteration:

• I gave the enclosure part too much free play, so I ended up having to wrap the "teeth" in some rubber to keep the tablets from fallout out or rattling around.
• There's not enough space for an extra battery behind the tablets or an angled USB cable on the side.
• The geometry isn't an exact fit where the leather of the seat meets the plastic seatback.
• There's some warping.

The mounts are held onto the seat by sheet plastic pieces that stick into the seams where the leather of the seat meets the plastic seatback. The end is rolled twice to keep it in. I ended up using a sheet of polypropylene I had originally bought for a different purpose.

Here's a closeup of one of the left ones:

I didn't end up trying to mount the front enclosure at all (for the front passenger seat) as I... kept bricking the tablets I tried to root for that seat. But, in the meantime the slits where the sheet plastic was supposed to go through have warped a lot; they could probably use more support.

 

[taimurasad]

Came across this thread kinda by chance (I didn't even know the newer S's had rear screens...), but are web-based solutions out of scope for this discussion?

View attachment 1018412View attachment 1018410
View attachment 1018414View attachment 1018415

I can share more details if people are interested, but it'd need a lot of TLC before onboarding with it becomes easy.

Wish it was possible to mount this on back of center console and there was some kind of car control (AC, music) possible through it. I bet you can technically achieve it by installing Tesla Android app on these but it won't be as clean.

 

[Astura Phoenix]

Wish it was possible to mount this on back of center console and there was some kind of car control (AC, music) possible through it. I bet you can technically achieve it by installing Tesla Android app on these but it won't be as clean.

(Sorry, my reply to @Lectric_Agent is blocked on moderator approval...)

Yep, these are talking to the vehicle via the Tesla API through a server app on a phone hotspot, and controlling music through Spotify Connect. It's very much a web-based solution, so it requires WAN connectivity, but that actually hasn't been an issue... yet. Maybe once. There's also plenty of latency, especially in the vehicle-to-tablet direction, which requires rate-limited polling due to the interesting information not being surfaced through the streaming APIs. But, the feedback from passengers seems to be that it's way better than nothing.

 

[taimurasad]

(Sorry, my reply to @Lectric_Agent is blocked on moderator approval...)

Yep, these are talking to the vehicle via the Tesla API through a server app on a phone hotspot, and controlling music through Spotify Connect. It's very much a web-based solution, so it requires WAN connectivity, but that actually hasn't been an issue... yet. Maybe once. There's also plenty of latency, especially in the vehicle-to-tablet direction, which requires rate-limited polling due to the interesting information not being surfaced through the streaming APIs. But, the feedback from passengers seems to be that it's way better than nothing.

do you have any link to this product?

 

[Astura Phoenix]

do you have any link to this product?

It's not a product, and it would probably require quite a bit of work for it to be useful to anyone else. Let me try linking to the models for the enclosures again; more details would be in the reply still awaiting moderator approval.

Rear enclosure: Fusion
Front enclosure (untested): Fusion
Source code (Android-only): GitHub - AsturaPhoenix/ride: Rideshare passenger tablets

The mounts are specifically sized for Amazon Fire HD 10 5th gen tablets. This is because those happen to be the tablets I bought way back when I first wanted to do this. The dimensions seem to have changed slightly on newer tablets in the same product line.

The source code needs a lot more documentation and work to be generally useful.

Regarding the source code:

The driver app coordinates and controls the tablets, and is intended for the rideshare use case where the tablets need to be turned on and off to save power. This is probably less useful for general use. The driver app is Android-only for now due to at least two features:

• Runs a server in the background, which I hear iOS doesn't like to allow.
• Displays a control overlay while the app is in the background; this is probably fine on iOS but I haven't implemented it because I don't have an iPhone.

I would recommend mirroring the controls to the car screen via the TeslaMirror app.

The passenger app is an Android launcher specifically designed for rooted Amazon Fire HD 10 5th gen tablets:

• Android API level 22, which is quite old.
• Some quirks of the Fire OS, including for example not having a UI to approve homescreen widgets, for which a rooted command is used as a workaround.

The passenger app is also probably more locked down than would be desired for non-rideshare usage.