The original Nav display on our LR3 was just something we used to check the suspension with using the 4x4 screen. There are new roads almost every day here in Dubai so the nav maps expired years ago.

Having seen a few Ipad Mini’s fitted in place of the nav display and with Google Maps and Waze being up to date I thought I would have a go at fitting an iPad mini.






Actually, I was going to delay this, our LR3 has a leaking AC Evaporator which needs replacing, some of you will know that means 2 days in the workshop and a lot of money as they have to remove the entire LR3 dashboard! At that point I would have removed the old Nav unit and looped the MOST fibres, then made a proper bracket for the iPad – I will still do that when the time comes.

A quick note about the iPad Mini. I am using an iPad Mini 2 which has a SIM card slot (i.e.: Wifi plus Cellular Data spec) you need the iPad with cellular data as these models are the only ones with a built in GPS system which you really need for Google Maps. I put a SIM in with a cheap Data package (1GB per day) and so far it’s OK, I can even watch YouTube when I am waiting in the car. The iPad Mini 2 onwards has the higher resolution Retina screen too.




In the meantime I wanted to attach the iPad literally to the face of the old Nav unit. The best solution I found was to make up a sort of mounting platform using 10mm Foamboard. The foamboard can be put right on top of the touch screen, it will not affect it, there won’t be any constant selections made on the screen, the foam board is inert. The end result here looks crude but it works and under the back tape its quite neat!




First, I tried using a self adhesive magnetic strip I bought in ACE to hold the iPad against the foamboard, but despite the label saying “Extra Strong Magnet” it had all the strength of a wet tissue, so plan B was to use Velcro. I had some Velcro from an earlier project but this was a really heavy duty Velcro, so I just attached two very small patches to the back of the iPad but even so, it grips like a woman giving birth and is a bit difficult to tear it away!


To connect the power I found a very small right angled Lightning connector which is perfect, and used a standard 3.5mm jack connector to feed into the AUX socket on the LR3.


It works well. There is a slight issue with Dubai being so dammed hot even in the winter, the iPad can overheat if left in the car all day, until it cools down again. I changed the angle to what you see, first time I had it on a slope to match the slope of the vents, but the sunlight kept hitting it, so this more upright angle is better.







Oh, and playing the music from the iPad through the LR3’s Harman Kardon hifi system is amazing! But when you turn off the engine, the volume of the Harman Kardon drops by half automatically, I wish I could change that!

 

Oops, replied to the wrong thread.

 

You could go in behind the original nav screen and drill a hole in one of the ac ducts. Run a 15mm hose from there to the platform in front of the old nav screen to provide cold air to the back of the iPad. Also turn off or disconnect the old screen to stop it producing heat.