Installing double DIN Stereo / GPS / DVD / Ipod / Wireless Camera in 2010 Mazda5

I would like to share my experience in installing aftermarket unit in 2010 Mazda 5 sport. As my budget was tight, I searched in the internet and found following places so that I can to do this job less than $350 (boom06). Let me list the items I bought and their prices (including shipping in December 2011) for your reference.

1. After market unit w/ AM FM Stereo, GPS (Navigation), DVD, Ipod, Camera, TV, SD, USB (one year warranty) ($240):
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

2. Metra 70 7509, double DIN dash kit ($25):
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_120997509/Mazda-5-In-dash-Receiver-Kit.html?tp=3121

3. Metra 70-7903 wire harness connector (2 x $5):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

4. Rear view camera for Mazda 5 ($20):
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

5. Audiovox ACA300 Wireless Monitor/Back-Up Camera Transmitter/Receiver Kit ($33) :
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

7. Posi car stereo wire connectors ($7):
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_669PP500/Posi-Products-Car-Stereo-Connector-Kit.html?tp=990

Preparation of wire harness:
"If you want do it cheap, you have to do lot of stuff by yourself". One of the hardest thing was the preparation of wire harness connector. Metra 70-7903 comes with only 13 wires (8 wires for 4 speakers, +12V, GND, ACC (ignition), illumination and antenna) You need two extra wires for steering wheel control (Steering wheel control 1 and steering wheel control 2 in the diagram). So I bought two wire harness connectors and broke one connector apart (This is very hard. You need a hacksaw blade) and got 2 wires with correct connecting pins. I carefully inserted those two wires to other wire harness connector and put a little bit of glue.

Connecting wire harness:
I used attached diagram and after market unit documentation to do the connection. Those posi connectors eliminate the time consuming soldering. 2010 Mazda 5 has a separate antenna wire. So I didn't use the antenna wire (1H) in the harness.

Wireless backup camera:
Running wires from back to front is not easy. I decided to use wireless transmitter/receiver unit. Audiovox wireless receiver is connected to the “Camera In” of the unit. +12V is connected to ACC and GND to GND of the unit. That means transmitter is not working when ignition is off. Then, backup camera is connected to the Audiovox transmitter unit. +12V and GND wires of the camera and the transmitter are connected to the back up light

Uninstalling factory unit:
This wonderful video shows how to remove plastic panels to reach the factory unit. I am really thankful to them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGwBQPywHO8
In addition to panels removed in above video, I removed the top plastic cover with the LCD display. Then I drilled a small hole (1/8”) at the edge of the plastic to pass the GPS antenna wire. I set the GPS antenna unit on top of the dash board. If you don’t like to drill or expose GPS antenna, you can glue GPS antenna to the bottom of that plastic cover.

Other important info:
I ran the Ipod cable down to the carpet and kept one and half feet wire exposed. I pushed all wires into one side (there are plenty of space), before pushing the unit in. I am not fully satisfied with the color of the Metra cover. It is is lighter than existing silver color. Once I installed it looks like a new modification. I am thinking of spraying black paint on it.

Yes! I did it for less than $350. (dance) I will post pictures soon!

Let us know how it goes.

I've put in Pioneer X920-bt. Love the unit but took some time to install and run the wires. Plan ahead!!! in mine, the place where the stock GPS is, is hollow, so I was able to hide a lot of wires and extras there (I've also intalled a unit to keep my stock steering wheel controls).

When you get the unit, check all the wires and plan ahead how you will run them.

I'm particularly interested in that camera, post some pics if you can. My next step is the camera, but I've read mixed reviews on many and haven't committed to one (or if anyone could suggest a good camera that fits and works, would be great)

Good luck with the instal

I'll post pictures one of these days.

I know it is over your budget, but one of these would have made installations a bit easier.

https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

Although I like the looks of the Ebay offering, the fact that they labeled the Menu button "Meun" makes it a No-Go for me...

I thought about that model too. It seems to be good. But I decided not to buy because of that typo: "Meun".

As I mentioned earlier, I removed the Metra cover and painted it in black (Black flat spray paint: $4.58). Before painting, I sanded the surface to remove existing paint. Please see attached pictures.

I programed steering wheel controls in following manner.
Vol +: Increase volume
Vol - : Decrease volume
Mute: Mute
Mode: Change modes
/\ : Answer Bluetooth phone calls
\/ : End Bluetooth phone calls.

Now, I can use steering wheel control buttons to answer my phone calls. Using those two buttons for hands free operation of my cell phone is better than using it for scanning radio channels. (Note: I am not a great radio fan. I am not using steering wheel radio scan buttons frequently.)

Great write up!! I want one, I wonder if you could hookup and OBDII reader to it and read codes, etc! That would be awesome!

I am not sure about it. This unit doesn't have any connections to the CAN bus.
This unit comes with a USB port and a SD card reader port.

Looking at the pics, there seems to be a gap between the dash kit and dash. Also the HVAC buttons seem to be recessed a tad, are you sure it is mounted correctly?

Also looks like the trim plate for the radio is not installed, does it not fit with the dash kit??

Looks like a lot of the suppliers have fixed the "Meun" button, and they seem to be running win CE6.0. Looks viable now.

http://i00.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/324410254/CAR_DVD_gps_for_mazda_5.jpg

looks good

Good job on the instal. How do you like the quality of it? How is the camera quality? Can you post some pics with images?

thanks

Looks like this one is fixed. I'm curious about long term reliability though.....

https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

twintrbo said:

Looks like this one is fixed. I'm curious about long term reliability though.....

https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

Click to expand...

This is tempting since I am a fan of the OEM look. I don't know CE capabilities but can it support drivers for external add-on devices, like wifi, keyboard/mouse, etc.? Does it have a browser and can it support Java or HTML5? Can you tether a smartphone? This is quite reasonable for the price. Only thing missing is VGA support but that's probably asking too much at this price.


EDIT: Quick search points to being able to tether and support HTML5 on CE 6.0 (is this the same as Windows Mobile??). This is very tempting but yet another expensive and more time learing about CE... Maybe not.

belleth said:

Good job on the instal. How do you like the quality of it? How is the camera quality? Can you post some pics with images?

thanks

Click to expand...

Here are some of pics.

Quality is good. But sometimes I get interference signal. Before finalizing the location of the transmitter, I turned on the system to see the quality of the image. Then, I realized that the orientation of the transmitter is critical. I found the best orientation and used Velcro strips to attach the transmitter to theliftgate. If you want to get a quality signal without any interference, you have to run wires to the front.

Installing camera: I removed the existing lamp cover to install this rear view camera. It does not come with a waterproof seal. One of the downside of this camera plate is it comes with two unnecessary openings. So I got a sticky sponge tape and covered openings and made it waterproof. This camera not the best. It doesn't have infrared LEDs. So you cannot see much in the dark.

golftango said:

Looking at the pics, there seems to be a gap between the dash kit and dash. Also the HVAC buttons seem to be recessed a tad, are you sure it is mounted correctly?

Click to expand...

Yes! it was mounted correctly. Metra cover is not fitting really well. But that is the only available cover in the market (Scosche cover doesn't work for this double DIN unit)

was98strat said:

Also looks like the trim plate for the radio is not installed, does it not fit with the dash kit??

Click to expand...

Trim plate for the unit doesn't fit to the Metra cover