Installing 8.4 uConnect (actually doing it)

[gusa]

Hi Guys.

I'm facing the same issue originally posted by Mcgusto82.

After reading all the thread, the climate control problems when upgrading from 4.3 to 8.4 are related to the Auto Climate feature.

If you don't have the Auto feature on your car, when upgrading to 8.4 you will face the described issue. (buttons on the bezel not working and when changing the temperature over the screen, it return to 22C)

How do you know if you have or not the Auto feature? Based on the climate bezel located below the screen.

I'm attaching some images so you can better understand.

Please see the central button. If you have it like the first image (only Off selection), means that your vehicle is not equipped with Auto Climate feature. If you have the second one, your car has Auto Climate support (in this case you can also have the splitted Off/Auto button without the SD hole/connector).

Said that...

Can anyone post the Part#  of the Temperature Control that we have to buy in order add the Auto Climate Feature to the vehicle?

And did anyone check this solution works?

Thanks!

[bramfrank]

You will need the ambient sensor, possibly to add a wire to the harness and for certain to add a sales code to the vehicle in addition to anything else.

[Ariel]

I upgraded my uconnect from 4.3 to 8.4,. But the problem is the temp control, it always return to 22C. Anyone can help me with this issue? 

[Saugie53]

To any that are interested I upgraded my wife's 2013 Journey SXT from the 4.3s without auto climate to the 8.4N about 2 years ago. The only issues with it are 1. If you have the rear climate controls you can no longer control them from the main screen. The rear climate control on the headliner behind the front seats still works to control the rear climate. 2. If you do not have auto climate (yes I installed the new lower climate control with auto button and SD slot) your climate display will always show 22 degrees Celsius next to the sliders, which after a while you dont even notice anymore and honestly the 4.3s didnt show the temperature so why should it matter if you know what the exact temperature its set at is. In my wife's Journey we can still control how hot or cold it gets by either pressing the temp up or down buttons on the hard buttons below the screen, or by touching the sliders and dragging up or down on the screen (the temp image will change while you drag the slider on the touch screen but as soon as you let go it reverts back to the 22 degrees but you can still feel the temperature get hotter or colder coming out of the vents). So if you do not have the auto climate everything still works like it should except for the fact that the display shows 22 the whole time.

 

That being said I still would like to try and get the auto climate working in her car because why not. Bramfrank have you done what you are telling other people about (adding the temp sensor and ambient sensor and flashing the sales code) and get it to work? The reason I ask is I found another forum where someone who has a charger which is the same radio as the journeys figured out there were a total of 4 different sensors plus maybe a module to add for the auto climate to work and his vehicle did not have the correct wiring for it so he even ran all the wires individually to connect the 4 sensors and when he went to the dealer to get them to add the correct sales code for the auto climate it would not take to his vehicle because Chrysler said his base body harness part number that was in his vehicle did not include auto climate so that sales code was not available in the list of sales code that could be added to his VIN... apparently the dealers can only activate certain sales codes depending on your "Base Body Wiring Harness" each body harness installed has a master sales code attached to it which determines the option sales codes that can be activated by your dealer, so if a sales code is not available to be added by the dealer the only other way is if Chrysler does it themselves in their "mother computer" and there is a very slim chance unless you know someone that they will do that. Now I know his vehicle was a SE trim so maybe a Journey SXT or something could have that sales code added but I have not heard of anyone yet who had done this and I have done a lot of research on it.

Edited January 13, 2018 by Saugie53

[Jim Smagata]

I was searching for upgrades that were affordable. I bought an aftermarket 8.4 with nav. Climate doesn't work, of course from the screen. BUT it seems that you can get a Programmer to tell the system to connect, you can. Here is the link: 

https://www.infotainment.com/products/dodge-auto-climate-control-programmer-c-acc?variant=5038963392548

 

It's a lot of money for one shot use, but maybe a bunch of us can chip in and share?

Oh, yes, you may have to get a new lower control unit with the split button in the center. I have one extra if anyone wants one. cheap.

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by Jim Smagata
omission

[Saugie53]

If you scroll down to the bottom of the page through the link you shared it says VIN locked OBD programmer...does that mean once the 1st person uses it on their car it locks only to that vin so nobody else can use it? Also sounds great if it works I'm assuming it just enables the sales code for auto climate but the only thing I don't understand is if your vehicle didn't come with auto climate then that means it didn't come with the cabin temp sensor under the dash or wiring for that and the other sensors that are needed so how could it enable auto temp if there's no sensor to tell it what the inside temp actually is...would deff be interested to find out more about this though if anyone has any info 

[bramfrank]

49 minutes ago, Saugie53 said:

If you scroll down to the bottom of the page through the link you shared it says VIN locked OBD programmer...does that mean once the 1st person uses it on their car it locks only to that vin so nobody else can use it? Also sounds great if it works I'm assuming it just enables the sales code for auto climate but the only thing I don't understand is if your vehicle didn't come with auto climate then that means it didn't come with the cabin temp sensor under the dash or wiring for that and the other sensors that are needed so how could it enable auto temp if there's no sensor to tell it what the inside temp actually is...would deff be interested to find out more about this though if anyone has any info 

 

You raise a very good point about the sensor - it won't be there if you are moving from manual air to auto.  And there is some weirdness with that installation in the video, though the Auto button does show - he never pressed it but (and I'm not going out to my vehicle to check) the aircon screen looks different than mine and at the end of the video the vehicle may display temperatures on the slider, but it does not show the settings on the top status line like mine does, which is shorter than on my vehicle, which came with the RE2 and I swapped the TGM for the RB5.

The text on their web site does explain, but in the video they only mention in passing, kind of brushing quickly past the fact that if you are upgrading from the 4.3 and don't have the S (Sirius) radio then you will need to add a working antenna for the GPS.

I can understand that, no different than the country code and the DRL code the factory programmer doesn't allow dealers to enable automatic air conditioning using their computers, but I wonder whether this programmer really does the job . . . . the air conditioner display screen looks quite different than the one in my vehicle - and without the proper ambient sensor, whether it really does work properly.

If they say the device is VIN locked, then yes, when you plug it in for the first time it will query the vehicle for the VIN and store it onboard and on subsequent uses will compare the VIN with that stored and will only work for that original vehicle;

I notice that they sell non-OEM backup cameras and supply the OBD programmer for that as well.  Note that the full OEM camera kit (the one that comes with the wiring harness) seems to cost about $265 - and a dealer will charge less than $135 to enable the backup camera sales code, making the OEM solution either the same price, or more cost effective.

[Bill@073]

On 10/5/2012 at 9:37 AM, BrilliantPSB said:

GREAT to know there is somebody else who did this and found the same problem !

check this video I made :

 

The screen commands for Temperature do not work. Only way I found to adjust temperature is by the red and blue buttons bellow.

If somebody knows a solution to this, much appreciated !

I installed the lower bezel aswell (with the SD slot) but the result is the same, temperature cant be adjusted on the screen...

What

[Bill@073]

I upgraded from the 4.3 screen and standard radio to a 8.4 screen, navigation multimedia radio and the auto climate bezel. Everything works except when you adjust the temperature on screen it reverts back to show 22 degrees celsius. The temperature settings still work but it always goes back to the middle 22 degrees. Infotainment shows a video and they plug a OBDGenie C-ACC in the obd slot just left & under the steering wheel for about 30 seconds until it's light turns green and that corrects the issue. But the OBDGenie costs $200 for one time use. A dealer can upgrade the climate OBD but I don't know what they charge. If you want you can add a temp. sensor and control the cabin temp. by setting it but it's not mandatory. If you want to prove it's working now just warm up the vehicle, turn on the AC and move the slider on the screen up. You will feel the warm coming through the vents, then move it down and feel the cool air. I did my whole package for $ 320. Cheap eh !

[Bill@073]

On 10/6/2017 at 5:07 PM, gusa said:

Hi Guys.

I'm facing the same issue originally posted by Mcgusto82.

After reading all the thread, the climate control problems when upgrading from 4.3 to 8.4 are related to the Auto Climate feature.

If you don't have the Auto feature on your car, when upgrading to 8.4 you will face the described issue. (buttons on the bezel not working and when changing the temperature over the screen, it return to 22C)

How do you know if you have or not the Auto feature? Based on the climate bezel located below the screen.

I'm attaching some images so you can better understand.

Please see the central button. If you have it like the first image (only Off selection), means that your vehicle is not equipped with Auto Climate feature. If you have the second one, your car has Auto Climate support (in this case you can also have the splitted Off/Auto button without the SD hole/connector).

Said that...

Can anyone post the Part#  of the Temperature Control that we have to buy in order add the Auto Climate Feature to the vehicle?

And did anyone check this solution works?

Thanks!

There are only two bezels for 2011 through 2018 Journeys. What you need to buy and install is a temperature sensor if you want to be able to set the cabin temp to a certain degree, say 73f, and the vehicle will turn on heat or AC as needed. If you don't want that convenience you need to upgrade the vehicle's can system to use and see the auto movement on screen with an OBDGenie C-ACC unit from Infotainment.com. It's a one time use devise. As for me as long as everything works I won't spend $ 200 for it. 

[Saugie53]

You need to do more then just add the temp sensor there are a total of 4 sensors plus wiring that is not installed in vehicles that do not have the auto climate (see my post a little ways back) plus you would need it flashed at the dealer...and we are not even sure the obdgenie will allow it to work without the sensors installed, all that might do is allow you to not have to go get it flashed at the dealer...other than that if your vehicle did not come with auto climate then the auto button wont do anything and when u use the on screen sliders the temp will always revert back to 22 but you should still feel the temp coming out of the vents change depending on if u use the sliders to make it hotter or colder

[Bill@073]

11 minutes ago, Saugie53 said:

You need to do more then just add the temp sensor there are a total of 4 sensors plus wiring that is not installed in vehicles that do not have the auto climate (see my post a little ways back) plus you would need it flashed at the dealer...and we are not even sure the obdgenie will allow it to work without the sensors installed, all that might do is allow you to not have to go get it flashed at the dealer...other than that if your vehicle did not come with auto climate then the auto button wont do anything and when u use the on screen sliders the temp will always revert back to 22 but you should still feel the temp coming out of the vents change depending on if u use the sliders to make it hotter or colder

Thanks Suagie53,

The website I looked at only showed one sensor being installed for the auto feature. infotainment.com sells OEM radios and screens with the auto climate bezel. They have a video showing the entire process on YouTube. After everything is installed, except the sensors they plug in the OBDGenie, wait til it turns green and then adjust the slider temps and it works.

[Bill@073]

27 minutes ago, Saugie53 said:

You need to do more then just add the temp sensor there are a total of 4 sensors plus wiring that is not installed in vehicles that do not have the auto climate (see my post a little ways back) plus you would need it flashed at the dealer...and we are not even sure the obdgenie will allow it to work without the sensors installed, all that might do is allow you to not have to go get it flashed at the dealer...other than that if your vehicle did not come with auto climate then the auto button wont do anything and when u use the on screen sliders the temp will always revert back to 22 but you should still feel the temp coming out of the vents change depending on if u use the sliders to make it hotter or colder

Saugie, I found out about two sensors that are available at AutoZone, ambient temperature and humidity but what are the other two for ?

Thanks,

Bill

[Saugie53]

Yeah I'm sure they do show that but I have looked at extensive wiring diagrams on the tech connect website and it shows the temperature sensor wired in conjunction with the ambient light sensor the sun load sensor and one other sensor I can't think of off the top of my head right now in order for the auto climate to work how it should plus I don't know how you would add the temp sensor if the wiring wasn't there for it and I know for a fact it is not in the wiring harness for my wife's car I just added the  Uconnect hands-free Bluetooth to her car and none of that wiring was in her harness either I ended up buying a complete harness out of a 2016 Journey from a junkyard which had all the wiring I needed in it plus the wiring for the temp sensor and all other sensors I just don't know if I do even bother installing the wiring and sensors If the dealership would be able to still flash it or not

Edited July 10, 2018 by Saugie53

[Bill@073]

16 hours ago, Saugie53 said:

Yeah I'm sure they do show that but I have looked at extensive wiring diagrams on the tech connect website and it shows the temperature sensor wired in conjunction with the ambient light sensor the sun load sensor and one other sensor I can't think of off the top of my head right now in order for the auto climate to work how it should plus I don't know how you would add the temp sensor if the wiring wasn't there for it and I know for a fact it is not in the wiring harness for my wife's car I just added the  Uconnect hands-free Bluetooth to her car and none of that wiring was in her harness either I ended up buying a complete harness out of a 2016 Journey from a junkyard which had all the wiring I needed in it plus the wiring for the temp sensor and all other sensors I just don't know if I do even bother installing the wiring and sensors If the dealership would be able to still flash it or not

I helped my buddy install a Uconnect unit on his Journey similar to mine without the navigation or media radio and everything needed came with the wiring harness with the unit from infotainment.com. It was kind of expensive though. Power comes from the cigarette lighter with a split plug that plugged back into it. The hardest part was getting the wire for the mike up to the rear view mirror. I went the cheap route with a unit that plugs into the lighter from eBay for $ 20.

[Saugie53]

I saw that kit I just didn't see any reviews saying if it completely integrated with the rb5 or if it included the hands free button for the steering wheel...on my wife's car I took the 2016 junk yard harness and carefully separated all the wires I needed out of the main dash harness for the hands free to work and spliced together my own custom harness because none of the wires just go from the radio to the hands free module they are all integrated into a bunch of different locations in the harness so I had to one by one trace each wire, remove it from the connector it went to or cut it from the splice it was in, label it and then separate the wires I didn't need from each connector I needed and put them all together then either plugged the connectors in or find the splice locations in my wife's 13 journey and spliced them into that spot of her harness...needles to say it took me a while but Rhode Island just went hands free so by law she needed it and I didn't like how the mopar kit didn't integrate with the steering wheel buttons or the nav...now it's just like it came with it from the factory

Edited July 11, 2018 by Saugie53

[Bill@073]

21 hours ago, Saugie53 said:

I saw that kit I just didn't see any reviews saying if it completely integrated with the rb5 or if it included the hands free button for the steering wheel...on my wife's car I took the 2016 junk yard harness and carefully separated all the wires I needed out of the main dash harness for the hands free to work and spliced together my own custom harness because none of the wires just go from the radio to the hands free module they are all integrated into a bunch of different locations in the harness so I had to one by one trace each wire, remove it from the connector it went to or cut it from the splice it was in, label it and then separate the wires I didn't need from each connector I needed and put them all together then either plugged the connectors in or find the splice locations in my wife's 13 journey and spliced them into that spot of her harness...needles to say it took me a while but Rhode Island just went hands free so by law she needed it and I didn't like how the mopar kit didn't integrate with the steering wheel buttons or the nav...now it's just like it came with it from the factory

Saugie, the kit we installed has a separate button instead of the steering wheel one. but everything else works just like the factory installed unit. He did have to take it in for flashing to his VIN number before it would work. Like I said the hardest part was snaking the mike through to the middle of the windshield. My cheapo unit does about the same thing and the answer button is mounted on the steering column but they do sell a wireless one that mounts on the steering wheel. For my auto climate temperature settings to work I only need the # 55111178AC air temp sensor. The other sensors, sun, ambient temp., humidity and rain sensor will make the setting more accurate but are not mandatory for it to work. This is from someone who works in climate control at FCA Telemetrics. If I do add the sensor I have to either have the dealer upgrade it to my vin or buy the OBDGenie C-ACC unit and flash it myself. both will cost about the same.

Bill

[Bill@073]

On 4/6/2018 at 9:47 PM, bramfrank said:

 

You raise a very good point about the sensor - it won't be there if you are moving from manual air to auto.  And there is some weirdness with that installation in the video, though the Auto button does show - he never pressed it but (and I'm not going out to my vehicle to check) the aircon screen looks different than mine and at the end of the video the vehicle may display temperatures on the slider, but it does not show the settings on the top status line like mine does, which is shorter than on my vehicle, which came with the RE2 and I swapped the TGM for the RB5.

The text on their web site does explain, but in the video they only mention in passing, kind of brushing quickly past the fact that if you are upgrading from the 4.3 and don't have the S (Sirius) radio then you will need to add a working antenna for the GPS.

I can understand that, no different than the country code and the DRL code the factory programmer doesn't allow dealers to enable automatic air conditioning using their computers, but I wonder whether this programmer really does the job . . . . the air conditioner display screen looks quite different than the one in my vehicle - and without the proper ambient sensor, whether it really does work properly.

If they say the device is VIN locked, then yes, when you plug it in for the first time it will query the vehicle for the VIN and store it onboard and on subsequent uses will compare the VIN with that stored and will only work for that original vehicle;

I notice that they sell non-OEM backup cameras and supply the OBD programmer for that as well.  Note that the full OEM camera kit (the one that comes with the wiring harness) seems to cost about $265 - and a dealer will charge less than $135 to enable the backup camera sales code, making the OEM solution either the same price, or more cost effective.

Did you notice on infotainments web site they said you could request the OBDGenie to be programmed for up to 15 vehicles ? Probably costs more, but ??

[Ghost]

 

According to the YouTube video from ducati_996sps (Thanks that's a great real world Video that opens up the options for Head units and screens) you can use a RB6 Radio Head unit as the only difference is the RB6 has a Hard Drive built in.  I have a 2011 Journey R/T with 4.3 screen (currently acting up and I believe needs replacing) and my Journey has the auto HVAC (split dial) and Bluetooth and serius so I just ordered a RB6 Radio unit from a wrecked 2012 Charger on e-bay for under $100.   I have yet to find a 8.4 screen and Journey Bezel but will work on getting those items (probably from a scrap yard). I'm going to try and stay under $200 for the bezel and screen unit as my Journey is now nearing the end of it's life and I don't want to spend a bundle on it.    I don't care about the SD card slot so I am going to just keep my current lower controls.

 

Anyone have past success with the RB6 head unit - I've read that I may have an issue with needing an unlock code for a 2012 unit so I've asked the wrecker for the VIN from the vehicle.

 

I'll update as I progress.

 

Edited August 15, 2018 by Ghost

[Ghost]

On 7/11/2014 at 11:09 PM, ducati_996sps said:

Can you elaborate on the comment  "you do NOT need the VIN of the donor vehicle" - Is there a way to get the security code for a 2012+ donor radio unit without a trip to the dealer or paying some 3rd party to figure out the code?

Thanks 

 

On 4/6/2016 at 5:22 PM, bramfrank said:

The reason it 'worked like a charm' is because you already had automatic air. If you didn't have automatic air and you wanted it to work you would need to replace the ambient light/temperature sensor and have the appropriate sales code added.

And price depends on the provider. For a used one you will pay anywhere from $200 (a serious exception - a member here got his radio, the stack AND the screen for that money - but the vendor thought it wasn't a nav radio - and the buyer bought it based on the part number and his hunch was right) to as much as $1400 for the radio module alone (again I'm referring to a NAV radio). A new module is as much as $2400, depending on your dealer.

And just for the record, you do NOT need the VIN of the donor vehicle.

But I'm curious. According to your profile you have a 2016 Crossroad . . . . the Canadian Crossroad comes with the 8.4 as standard. Why did you have to upgrade?

 

[Bill@073]

3 hours ago, Ghost said:

 

 

I bought a different RB5 radio first and it was damaged but before I got a full refund I paid a company on eBay $7.50 for the anti theft code based on a friends advise and after the radio was repaired the code worked just fine, no problem. In the meanwhile I bought another nav/media RB5 radio on eBay for $ 110 and it works great. Just keep searching on eBay and you will get what you need. Don't worry about the temp showing 22c degrees on the screen. You can still adjust the temp on screen but it will show the 22c reading.

[Bill@073]

3 minutes ago, Bill@073 said:

I bought a different RB5 radio first and it was damaged but before I got a full refund I paid a company on eBay $7.50 for the anti theft code based on a friends advise and after the radio was repaired the code worked just fine, no problem. In the meanwhile I bought another nav/media RB5 radio on eBay for $ 110 and it works great. Just keep searching on eBay and you will get what you need. Don't worry about the temp showing 22c degrees on the screen. You can still adjust the temp on screen but it will show the 22c reading.

I forgot to mention take down the serial number from on top of the radio, that's all you need to get the code.

[bramfrank]

2 hours ago, Bill@073 said:

I forgot to mention take down the serial number from on top of the radio, that's all you need to get the code.

 

That, and the VIN of the vehicle you are installing the radio in.

[Bill@073]

15 hours ago, bramfrank said:

 

That, and the VIN of the vehicle you are installing the radio in.

If you buy the code on eBay all you need is the serial number from the radio, not the VIN. I did it and it took about six hours for them to get the code. It cost me about $ 6.56.

[Ghost]

Thanks for the heads up on E-bay codes for $7 I will look into that.  I've read some more and discovered that the numbers from the head unit and your vin create the code (basically a keygen) and some have gotten the dealerships to give it to them fro free.  Apparently there service guys just punch in the info on their system and it generates the code. 

 

In addition to the RB6 head unit from the 2012 charger I have shipping to me from a wrecker on Ebay ($63) I managed to grab a 2014 chrylser 300 8.4" screen from a wrecker off ebay today for $147.  I've got some requests for quotes in at a couple wreckers for the bezel - looks like it will be about $50-$75 shipped.  I did also find the temp control with the SD card slot for $32 from a wrecker on e-bay so I grabbed that as well for the low cost I'll get the SD functionality.

 

So all in with the new temp controls with SD slot I'm going to be at about $300 USD for upgrade from 4.3S to 8.4 with Nav.  -  crossing my fingers that it all works out.