• Welcome to the ElgrandOC forum.

    You will find that the majority of the forum is locked, but do not worry. You can unlock more content by registering to the forum completely free. Sign up is automatic, does not require email confirmation and is instant. Feel free to browse through the sections to see what topics have been covered before you register.
    You can register for an account by CLICKING HERE

    Once you have registered, you will unlock more of the forum content. You will not unlock all of the content until you have reached 10 posts. This is to give you an opportunity to chat to existing members and help to integrate you into the forum community.
    We are a friendly and helpful community and there is a wealth of infomation contained within the forum. Please feel free to register, introduce yourself and get to know your fellow members.

    Feel free to look at the Frequently Asked Questions section, the Meets/Events section and the Competition Section without having to register.
    We look forward to getting to know you and help you with any questions or problemd you have with your Elgrand.

Can I convert the screens to English?

It does seem like a good set up so far but as I have only had it since Friday I haven't had a proper crack at it.....yet I'm not worried about the sat nav as I prefer to use my phone anyway. Just the radio and other stuff I want to sort out.... Is there any band expander you would recommend or are they all the same sort of thing??
 
Just got confirmation that my parking brake bypass is coming early next week from Japan, and have ordered that CarPlay unit from InCarTec. Can't wait to get this installed! Is it obvious which fuses to tap for the permanent live and ignition live feeds? Haven't actually opened up that little fuse box yet, but i'm guessing it's probably going to be in Japanese when I do, so any advice to save me fiddling around for ages trying to work it out would be great. I'm guessing you just grounded it to something under the seat?
Yea connects via RCA sockets and resolution is limited by the existing screen but its good enough. I use it with Apple Carplay and I am happy with it. I fitted two additional USB sockets to my dash, one is for the phone connection to the Cartizan unit and the second is for a memory stick connection. I’m currently using a hard disk drive full of my music.
I fitted the unit In the footwell under the drivers seat area. It requires an Ignition controlled 12v feed and a permanent 12 v feed. My Elgrand is a series 2 and as I don’t use the cigarette lighter point I stuck the joystick controller to an old cigarette lighter to USB adapter and plugged that into the cigarette lighter. No electrical connection but ideal spot for the joystick control. I also fitted a wiring mod bought from Amazon Japan that allows the screen to operate when the handbrake is off.
Hope this helps.
I bought some piggy back mini fuse holders and tapped off the fuse box behind the little drop down draw under the steering wheel which does mean removing the lower panel. This is quite easy to do, remove four bolts that hold the bonnet pull and filler pull In place and then pull the panel off. I ran the power feeds behind the kick panel down into the foot well space. I bought two usb extension leads with panel mount sockets, ran the cables the same way and fitted these to two of the switch blanks to the left of the steering wheel. I also drilled a small hole in another blank to take the joystick cable through.
The fitting of the Amazon JP cable means removing the glove box and pulling out the cable to the rear of the Nav unit and then fitting the mod cable. Bit tricky but it’s not too hard to remove the Nav unit if you can’t do it with it in place.
All sounds a bit intense but not that bad a job.
 
Just got confirmation that my parking brake bypass is coming early next week from Japan, and have ordered that CarPlay unit from InCarTec. Can't wait to get this installed! Is it obvious which fuses to tap for the permanent live and ignition live feeds? Haven't actually opened up that little fuse box yet, but i'm guessing it's probably going to be in Japanese when I do, so any advice to save me fiddling around for ages trying to work it out would be great. I'm guessing you just grounded it to something under the seat?
Will have a look later today at which fuses I tapped off. As an aside I also fitted one of those small flip up reversing camera screens. Mounted it to the right of the steering wheel on the dash. Quite handy as the resolution is better than the existing screen especially in bright sunlight.
 
So is everyone on this forum saying that there is no way of using the Aux RCA port in the back to connect anything to the screen to use it in English?? is the RCA port usable for anything?
 
You can use it but it needs a Japanese standard NTSC signal.
 
You can get a PAL to NTSC converter cheap on Amazon prime, output from DVD player, I have double din player in dash, through converter to the RCA port in back
 
You can get a PAL to NTSC converter cheap on Amazon prime, output from DVD player, I have double din player in dash, through converter to the RCA port in back
Yes my friend I have ordered one from eBay HDMI to AV PAL to NTSC converter that I saw some Australian use in a youtube video! and I ordered a 3 RCA to 3 RCA cable to connect the box to the RCA AUX port in the back of my Elgrand and a HDMI to lightning to plug my phone in! fingers crossed this works in my Elgrand I don't see why it wouldn't! I just wanted to try the cheaper plug in version first as the box was like £4 then once that is working (fingers crossed) I will look in to a more expensive wireless one but I don't think I will mind having to plug my phone in because I'm gunna have to access the phone for controls anyway!
 
Simple answer is no. The standard Elgrand In Car Entertainment hardware is designed for use in Japan only. The Sat Nav is for Japan only, the menu's are all in Japanese, and no, there is no way to convert them to English.

I believe the later S3 E51's and the E52's have a solution available, but I'm not too clued up on it.

You can either learn to live with Radio 2, no sat nav, and managing with the standard set up, or you can apply some of the work arounds/solutions to resolve this.

The simplest method, but only available to those with the AV pack (meaning you have Audio/Video inputs on the drivers side in the rear door card) is to get an external DVD player that you can set to output in NTSC (UK is PAL) format, and then whatever you play will come through the screens.

For those who don't have the AV pack, or want something a little more permanent, you will need to look into replacing the standard head unit.

There are guides in the "how To" section that will talk you through replacing both E50 and E51 hardware for UK spec (or local spec whatever country you're in) including wiring requirements, things you'll need, etc.
Thanks for the info
 
Yes my friend I have ordered one from eBay HDMI to AV PAL to NTSC converter that I saw some Australian use in a youtube video! and I ordered a 3 RCA to 3 RCA cable to connect the box to the RCA AUX port in the back of my Elgrand and a HDMI to lightning to plug my phone in! fingers crossed this works in my Elgrand I don't see why it wouldn't! I just wanted to try the cheaper plug in version first as the box was like £4 then once that is working (fingers crossed) I will look in to a more expensive wireless one but I don't think I will mind having to plug my phone in because I'm gunna have to access the phone for controls anyway!
So this didn’t work straight away! For weeks I just kept tryin again and gettin frustrated that it wasn’t working, until I went in to the menu and must of temporarily learnt Japanese for a minute and found In The menu some switches to turn it on and then to turn it in to full screen as it had black down the sides, now I can’t remember how I did it but I’m gunna figure it out again so I can make a video for future peoples! 😂🙏🏼
 
Now I just need to get the handbrake bipass done so I can actually use the screens and my phone whilst using the car! I’ve seen the template/diagram kind of explaining how to do it but if anyone has some full instructions that would be great!! My dvd is in the centre at the bottom of my 03 Rider Autech! I guess I should just get down there and start undoin screws till it starts comin out hahah
 
I've got a 2004 Elgrand hiwaystar how do I know what it is E50 E 51?
 
It's on the VIN plate.
 
Really useful thread seems like a common problem. Seems there is company in NZ that decodes the unit or something and the translation is done via a set of files rather than physical swap of the unit..I am investigating further
 
Really useful thread seems like a common problem. Seems there is company in NZ that decodes the unit or something and the translation is done via a set of files rather than physical swap of the unit..I am investigating further
Yes, but this solution doesn't include navi maps, voice recognition and voice guidance in English, time zone, etc, but our solution has it :)
 
Back
Top