Not another radio thread ... sorry

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/radio-head-unit-upgrade.497505/

 

I have been living (suffering) with the OEM head unit. The most annoying issue is the volume of the Bluetooth phone calls is so low. But when I turn the volume up when I am on the phone, the "PHONE CALL COMPLETED" announcement after I complete the call is so loud I am afraid they hear at the factory in Maranello. Does anyone know how to fix that?

 

Is there a way to add a reverse camera to the OEM head unit if the car was not spec'ed this way?

 

Your best bet would be to talk to the folks over at https://m.mygig-disk.com/ but dont get your hopes up but they seem to know more about these radios then most. There is indeed a plug on the back for a camera however but finding the harness and activating the feature will be the problem.

I’ve done some research into the origins of the radio since as many others have stated it’s the same radio as is in the Chrysler group vehicles. That is only sort of the case. While it’s true that the units are virtually identical in the hardware department the software is the limiting factor. And the early software is pretty buggy, but not a huge issue if you had a Chrysler, Dodge, or Jeep since the model of the radio was printed on the front of the radio you could just download the software update and install it via usb or burned cd to the unit and off you went. But I could find no updates for the Ferrari unit and no model indicator printed on the face of the unit.

So a little history on the Harmon-Becker unit, it appears in the Dodge Caliber in 2007, and was available in nearly everything by 2011. There were several versions, the 430, the 430N and the 730N being the premium version. There were several subsets of the radio that were printed on the front such as REN or RER.

But was the arrival in the Ferrari due to Ferrari sharing components with Chrysler? The short answer is no. When the California debut in 2008 and by FCC filing records it shows that Ferrari had already obtained contracts with Harmon-Becker prior to buying stake in Chrysler, hence why the units have different software. And even used command up to $1500 where the Chrysler units go for $300.

the units appeared across the Chrysler brand vehicles, in the VW Routan, Lances voyager, the Ferrari California and the Ferrari FF. Of all the vehicles only Chrysler group and the VW software updates are easily accessible.

As dated as the system is now when it debuted it was a huge step up from previous systems, by 2012 it was quite outdated but since Chrysler sold so many vehicles with the units they lasted in the dodge caravan until I believe 2020.

along with software bugs the earlier units (which most Ferrari units are) suffer from hard drive failure however newer models have much better hard drives and the my-gig guys also offer pretty good hard drives. I’d bet most of the issues in many people have are due to hard drive failures.

it’s also theoretically possible to install a Chrysler unit in a Ferrari however the splash screen and symbol on screen will show either a dodge, Chrysler or Jeep emblem.

 

I've been repairing and reverse engineering Chrysler Infotainment systems for about a decade. I've also worked on the Ferrari version and can probably answer most questions there. Still a few gaps on the deep details for the Ferrari side. I've done some work here and there with mygig-disk and we've collectively uncovered a lot of the inner workings of these products. Other companies have also made excellent strides. There are some interesting products out there you can use with these radios that can expand their capabilities and useful life without chopping up the car.

 

Covers someone who does this sort of thing in the UK. Haven’t used them but the video is good and they sounded pretty competent on the phone when I spoke to them

 

When I spoke to Ferrari Swindon about doing the smaller project last year they confirmed it was not possible to fit the new Ferrari apple car play stereo to a 2013 Cali. Despite the fact that it was available when the Cali T came out, which was just a few months later. I even said price wasn’t a problem but they still said no it wouldn’t work. Hence why I looked for other options above.

 

This might not be the exact thing you're looking for but there is a product that does screen mirroring from an android phone along with a host of other upgrades. It used to do apple but apple killed the compatibility many updates ago. Its made by a company called coastaetech.com and was originally developed for Chrysler radios. It also has the ability to add up to 4 camera views, run extra screens and you can effectively push any audio or video source to it that you want. It also overrides any kind of in motion blocks and activates many of the hidden features that are detected over the bus by the radio. Its spoofing some of the can bus data to accomplish that. Now they have made a lot of plugnplay products over the years that interface with the factory Chrysler radios and some are no longer in stock or listed on their site. I have no doubt these functions would transfer over to the Ferrari versions. I currently have a Ferrari radio and one of these lock pick products that I'm going to do some testing with. I don't think anyone has tried this before as far as I have found. So far I can access all the functions in the radio including steering wheel controls in a Grand Cherokee. This means the can bus data strings are the same and it should work. More on on that another time.

Another option is you could move to the BE6143 260845 radio that came in 2012-2014 FF. That is the updated version of the older BE6123 240495 radio. I'm not sure which one you have. The BE6143 has bluetooth music streaming, more stable and more recent software, larger HDD, the ability to use a dual band antenna, better handsfree voice recognition and has been made to resist heat issues internally where the other one failed a lot. The FF appears to have a black faceplate and the California the brushed charcoal colour. these could be swapped over without a lot of trouble. You would need an antenna adapter to combine the Sirius and nav antennas into the single yellow faker on the radio.

I also have the ability to bring the maps up in those units to about 2019 but really most people are using their phones these days. What id really like to do is get my hands on copies of the updates for those 2 radios.

 

Would sincerely appreciate your input in this thread:


https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/upgrading-2010-cali-headunit-with-another-chrysler-unit.656040/

We may be able to help each other!

 

@ FrancisK Well thanks for the lead on that thread. Interesting stuff for sure. I'd love to pick his brain on about 2 dozen different things as the technology is always in flux and even the radio vendors vary. I can really appreciate the amount of info he would have to know in a job like that.

My last post was supposed to say yellow FAKRA but spellcheck won that battle. No option to edit the post after a certain period?

 

Im just learning about these Ferrari versions so I don't have a lot documented on the software side between the two main variants just yet. Also, to complicate it a little more, there are sub variants for Middle East, Australia, South Africa and other places which are physically different internally, run different main software and also have different map sets and gracenotes data. Actually even the handsfree voice is different. I would also expect some DVD player region differences but I've never investigated if they're region locked or not. I have yet to construct a table of software versions for the various radio models. There would be an initial release version that will be on a small white sticker on top of the unit. Thats what it would be shipped with. You can verify the current software version by going into system information under "application". If its been updated before the sticker will be different than whats in the info section. I expect there would have been updates for the BE6123 radios into 2012. Id then expect updates to have been available for the BE6143 into 2015. On the Chrysler side thats when update support ended. I do know I CANNOT update the Ferrari radio with Chrysler software.

Right now I'm doing some parts swapping on Chrysler and Ferrari units to help create a compatible parts list for repairs. There are some that want to keep their cars original and being able to repair these radios from my extensive parts pool is the goal. Of course dealers are far and few and they replace things like radios wholesale vs repair. I have discovered that there are parts that certainly fit but don't function correctly. I really do need some Ferrari software update files to advance this project

 

Hi im in Dubai with a 201 cali and the head unit upon startup was grey a few moments later i hear a pop seemingly for the top speaker and the unit rebooted and the logo only came up nio buttons functioning etc I reset the cali with ground off reset and cleared codes checked fuses and unit wont boot what do u believe is the issue hard drive ? or something else really appreciate any support as No one knows here

 

My 2012 Cali new pioneer radio
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