[hgani]

I am in the process of finishing up my installation of the Jensen KVM68U which I "accidentally" won on www.ubid.com for $309.
I didn't take any pictures during the install because I spent most the time trying to figure out how to mount the unit which is very heavy to the roofline, but I'll try to give a couple of pointers.

First, before you start, decide on what you want to connect to the system and where you want to put them - this will determine where to run the wires and which side on the headliner to remove. Download Honda i-VES installation for instruction on how to remove trims.

You would need to fabricate a mounting bracket, the headliner is not strong enough to hold the weight of the unit. The gap between the headliner and roof support beam is about 3/8", the gap between the support beam and the roof is about the same. I don't recommend using self tapping screws to mount the unit directly to the suppor beam, you might penetrate the roof.

There is a cross beam above the door pillars the width of the car (about 20" behind the overhead storage) and a beam from the center of that cross beam to the rear of the vehicle, I'll call "vertical beam". (that's where Honda i-VES bracket is mounted to). You need to cut an opening from the intersection of the beams rearward about 2"x4" to prepare for the mounting bracket.
There is a 5/16" hole on the "vertical" beam right behind the cross beam, I installed a 1/4" Aluminum Threaded Nut Rivet into this hole and right behind it, there are series of oval slots. I fabricate a saddle bracket which mount into the slot 3" from the threaded rivet.

Right now, I am using a piece of 6"x10"x3/8" wood as my bracket, I will fabricate a metal one in the near future. The wood is mounted to the threaded rivet with a bolt and to the saddle bracket with a nut. The video unit is then screwed onto it with screws. The LCD has about +/- 45 degrees viewing angle, be sure you take it into consideration in placement.

I leave out the wiring because each person situation might be different.

Sorry for the long post, I hope this help.

------------------
Harry
'99 CS EX

 

[ndb]

My jensen lcd came today. I paid $340 for mine. I was looking at the honda instruction and planning on where to cut the headliner. I thought about removing it to see where the bars are, but maybe not.
That bar where the dorm lights mounted on goes across the van correct?. Besides what you said in your post, do you have any other tips?. tips on wiring will certainly help me too. I haven't thought about the wiring yet.
How's the picture/sound quality?. what player do you have?. I think i'm gonna get a PS2 for this. Game console/DVD player for $300, can't beat that!.
It'd be great if you can take some pictures. Well, i don't think i can wait that long. I'd certainly post some pics once i'm done.

 

[Lorax]

Can't wait to see pictures and get your opinions - what features do you like/dislike and would have bought the same screen or a different one if you were doing it over?

 

[rollie66]

I have had my screen for 1 week. Plan on installing soon. I am going to remove the headliner. I do not want to cut a large hole in the headliner alla the IVES system. I am going to fabricate a bracket and mount it to the roof supports/ The jensen unit only need to be screwed in in four places. The bottom is completly flat. The only hole that should be large is the wire hole. I feel as though I can keep this smaller than a quarter. I have purchased a playstation 2 as well. I really debated this choice. It entails mounting a powere inverter as well. I already have a ps2 in my sons room and I played movies while shaking the player.The unit is rock solid. I would actually like to mount it under the rear of the front passenger seat facing the passengers. There is plenty of room for the unit. I ordered an fm modulator from crutchfield for $55. If anyone has more comments or advice or pictures please post. I will post pictures of the complete install.

 

[rollie66]

Harry,
Could you please post the measurement of where you mounted the player and where the intersection of the columns is. I was thinking of mounting the unit a little forward of where the IVES sits. because the Jensen screen pivots forward while the IVES screen pivots backward. Also has anyone purchased diversity anntennae for the tuner and where have they mounted them. I feel if I have the headliner down I might as well install at the same time. Maybe on on each side rear window. Thanks to everyone for their input on this project. We all should be able to do quality installs at a fraction of the Honda price.

 

[rollie66]

Harry,
Could you please post the measurement of where you mounted the player and where the intersection of the columns is. I was thinking of mounting the unit a little forward of where the IVES sits. because the Jensen screen pivots forward while the IVES screen pivots backward. Also has anyone purchased diversity antennae for the tuner and where have they mounted them. I feel if I have the headliner down I might as well install at the same time. Maybe on on each side rear window. Thanks to everyone for their input on this project. We all should be able to do quality installs at a fraction of the Honda price.

 

[hgani]

Jensen LCD flip toward the rear, Honda LCD flips toward the front, so you want to mount it as far forward as possible. The cross beam is above the pillar where front seatbelts are.

I tested the unit prior to installing it, the picture quality is very good although the field of view is rather narrow. I don't think you can find anything better for the price range. Lanzar Audio is selling the same unit under its' name, they also have an 8" screen with the same style housing.

All my wires are installed toward the leftside, this is what I did:
- the 3 wires for the domelights are connected to the left middle maplight
- power wire (+) is hooked up to the front fuse panel, ground (-) is obtained at factory grounding point at the bottom pillar of driver seatbelt.
- the 2 antenna wires are brought to the jact storage area. (I don't have antenna yet)
- A/V input and Audio output is brought to the side panel where the left middle seatbelt is. I drilled 2 holes and installed Leviton RCA jacks, I'll go Radioshack for the 3.5mm stereo jack for the audio output.

No DVD player yet, I am tempted to buy a PS2, but my daughter only like "Pokemon" so PS2 may not be quite useful. I might hook up her Nintendo 64 or her Sega Dreamcast which she rarely plays.

The screen has 4:3 ratio, not quite suitable for DVD which uses 16:9 screen ratio.

------------------
Harry
'99 CS EX

 

[hgani]

The cross beam is about 20" behind the sunglass storage. I though about not cutting a large hole, but I would need to remove the entire headliner to install the bracket, too much work.

I've heard that even the best diversity antenna (about $200, yikes!) will not give you a good reception while the car is moving.

The back of my LCD is right where the opening of sliding doors, I'll take some pictures A.S.A.P, maybe Jim can post them in the Gallery.

------------------
Harry
'99 CS EX

 

[rollie66]

Thanks for the input. I have found that a quality 4:3 screen is more than adequate for dvd you just get the black band on the top and bottom. If you play vcr through the 16:9 screens the picture looks funny. The dolphin nintendo is coming out near the end of the year perhaps that would be a better bet for pokeman fanatics. I have found several anntenae at carstereoconnection.com How far did you remove the headliner? It sounds to me that you cut the small hole to install the bracket and just lowered the sides a little bit.

 

[jvennitti]

We had a video system, similar to the iVES, installed through the dealer. The diversity antennas are mounted on the two back-quarter windows. I can't give any feedback as to how the reception is while the vehicle is moving. However, when showing the vehicle to my in-laws I had the video system in the TV mode. My mother-in-law indicated that the vehicle was getting better reception than their roof antenna. For what that's worth. If I get the opportunity to try moving reception, I will post the results.

By the way, the Jensen product looks quite nice. I hadn't seen it when I was investigating different products. Though I am happy with our system, I may have made a different decision had I seen the product and these posts regarding installation and price prior to buying the vehicle.

------------------
Jeff

'01 SS EX

 

[hgani]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by rollie66:
Thanks for the input. I have found that a quality 4:3 screen is more than adequate for dvd you just get the black band on the top and bottom. If you play vcr through the 16:9 screens the picture looks funny. The dolphin nintendo is coming out near the end of the year perhaps that would be a better bet for pokeman fanatics. I have found several anntenae at carstereoconnection.com How far did you remove the headliner? It sounds to me that you cut the small hole to install the bracket and just lowered the sides a little bit.</font>

Unfortunately, Nintendo next generation is not a DVD system

I removed everything from the middle seatbelts forward, yet I still couldn't acces the mounting location. The headliner has a dome-liked shape.
I cut a good size T-shaped hole because I use wood as my bracket. If I use a metal bracket with inverted \_/ in the middle, I would be able to get away with 1"x4" for the bracket bolts/nut and 1" round hole for the wires.

------------------
Harry
'99 CS EX

 

[hgani]

The antenna that I was talking about is Santeca ME-9900:

The spec. can be found here: http://www.santeca.com/antennas/index.html

------------------
Harry
'99 CS EX

 

[rollie66]

sorry the dolphin will not play dvd, I was not aware of that fact. I am seriously considering returning my PS2 and waiting for the xbox in October. We already have one ps2 (I know the games can be played on both systems)However the xbox games can be played on any pc with a good video card. Etronics has a Mobile Hifi vcp made by pyle for $115 I think this is a good solution for the moment. I will install connectors as well so I can change the components. Maybe I can steal my sons PS2 every once in a while.

 

[exindenver]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by hgani:
I am in the process of finishing up my installation of the Jensen KVM68U which I "accidentally" won on www.ubid.com for $309.

</font>

OT
I can see how you "accidentally" won that on ubid. That ubid auction on the Jensen KVM68U is weird. The auctions for that seems to come out of nowhere. I usually see it when there is less than an hour left to go and then 2 hours later the same auction (at least I think it is the same auction) is still going. Unlike ebay, can't easily check for past prices item sold for. Put in a bid just so I can get a record of what the unit goes for and thought I almost won it when time expired just to find out over half hour later that the unit sold for $30 more. Are all the auctions on ubid weird like this?

 

[rollie66]

Like many auctions ubid wants no bids for a specified time before an auction is oover. I have seen many last minute frensies at ubid. They seem to auction at least 6 or more units a day. I ahve no idea where they are getting such a gret stock. Sometimes you see an auction with multiple units. Here they seem to be repeating the auction as soon as one is done and giving it a short life. Be patient I have bought what I consider many bargains from ubid.

here is a copy from their web site


Overtime Policy
Typically, auctions are over at their posted closing times.

However, if there are any bids within 10 minutes of the close of the auction (the "Going, Going, Gone!" period), it will be extended until there are no bids for 10 continuous minutes.
There is no limit to the number of times an auction can be extended. Therefore, uBid recommends that you check back often as an auction nears closing time

 

[hgani]

Yeah, I was killing time at work when it happened. That item comes up for bid every 2 hours or so, I bid for the same unit for $324 right before the one I won and was overbid by someone. But, when I tested the unit after I received it, I was glad I won. The picture quality is very good.

I took some pictures tonight and post it at fototime following Chuck, so feel free to browse around.

I'll take more pictures of the other stuffs that I installed on my Ody this weekend and I'll post them there too.

------------------
Harry
'99 Odyssey Pictures


[This message has been edited by hgani (edited 04-27-2001).]

 

[hip]

Nice Work Harry!!!
Looked at the Jensen and thought the housing looked a little too silver, but it appears to blend well in your installation. BTW, what type of head unit is that you have installed? I assume you have lost the use of the steering wheel controls?

 

[Jim F]

Any ideas why I have a problem with Fototime at home, but not at work? At home the pages don't come up at all. At work it's perfect. I first ran into this problem when I was downloading Chuck's pics for the ROSS installation page.

If anyone ever has project pics to donate, let me know!

------------------
Jim
'01 GG EX

 

[deliad]

Harry,

One question about the audio output on the Jensen unit. Does it support wireless headphones?

I dont think it is included in the kit you got on UBid.
Thanks,

 

[ckonarske]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Jim F:
Any ideas why I have a problem with Fototime at home, but not at work? At home the pages don't come up at all. At work it's perfect. I first ran into this problem when I was downloading Chuck's pics for the ROSS installation page.

If anyone ever has project pics to donate, let me know!

</font>

Jim, do you always have trouble with FT at home, or just sometimes? Does the site come up at all? As a last resort, their support is superb and usually pretty fast. Drop them a note if the site keeps having problems.

------------------
Chuck
'01 MB EX-NAV Pics and Projects

[This message has been edited by ckonarske (edited 04-27-2001).]