2013 Nissan Frontier Rockford Fosgate Joying Head Unit Replacement

[@greggschwabauer6241]

I spent hours working out exactly what you’ve described here for my 2009 Xterra, although I’m going to be using the PAC ROEM-NIS2 interface instead. I really need to buy you a coffee.

[@daveball3081]

I'm glad it was helpful! I think some of the newer Joying head units have 5v preamp outputs. If so, they *may* be a better connection to the Rockford Fosgate amp. However, I have not tested them! Also, the Rockford Fosgate amp is kinda noisy (steady hiss) when turned on. I don't know that a lower noise source (such as 5v RCA) would make any noticeable difference.

[@greggschwabauer6241]

@@daveball3081 I mean, it’s an Xterra. Rumbles like an old station wagon as it is.

[@sosodave4192]

now that you've got your head unit in, I would love to see a walkthrough of all of its different features.

[@ELEVOPR]

He said he was not a KZbinr, I think he meant it, Two years later and no Demo 😂

[@destinationoverland2831]

This was HUGE!! Thank you so much for making this video. Everyone forgets about the Nissan Frontier and Xterra. I just received my Joying head unit and you saved me a lot of heart ache By providing all the harnesses and intel.

[@daveball3081]

Please remember that my system was the factory, Rockford-Fosgate system. Nissan included several other options and they have different harnesses.

[@destinationoverland2831]

@@daveball3081 I also have the Rockford-Fosgate system.

[@destinationoverland2831]

@@daveball3081 So. I wired up the steering wheel controls wires from the Amazon harness to the Joying harness. But they are not doing anything. Is there a trick to get them to work?

[@sosodave4192]

when I saw the wire for the vehicle speed sensor, I did not imagine that it was used for GPS, but instead assumed that it was there to increase the volume of the stereo as the vehicle speed increased. also, when it comes time to upgrade your backup camera, you might as well spend a little extra money and get one that acts as a travel camera as well as a backup camera so that you have a record of the vehicle behind you rear-ending you.

[@daveball3081]

The tricky bit about the back-up camera - it needs to be in the tailgate of my pick-up so I can see the hitch. I know some folks have found higher resolution cameras that will fit into the existing, factory housing.

[@aaron7195]

Thanks for the vid. It inspired me to do the same in my 2018 frontier pro4x. For anyone reading made sure you hook up the blue/white amp power to Red Power. Took me a bit to figure that out when my sound wasn't working. Still trying to track down my reverse signal wire so I can get the back up camera working.

[@daveball3081]

Hey Aaron - I believe that the orange wire on the Joying harness connects to the red wire on the backup camera harness. smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N3Z23VG/

[@dannyflames9028]

thanks for your in put so i bought the same radio and like so far in my frontier to reboot the radio all you need to do is pull down from the top and you will see the reboot button on the right

[@bellaphone5719]

Fosgate amp and speaker are top notch but head unit not so much

[@bjnslc]

I replaced the same Rockford Fosgate unit with an Atoto S8. I also used the Scosche SLC-4 to hook up to the amp. But from what I read on the Xterra forums I didn't need that hassle and an extra device to hook up to the amp. Others have connected to the Atoto pre-outs directly to the amp. I don't know the Atoto pre-out voltage off the top of my head. I had the same microphone issue and the Atoto's microphone is terrible. There's a really lousy one built into the head unit. I have an eternal wired one mounted up by my rear view mirror, but it's not good. I run my Atoto while driving with my phone in hotspot mode.

[@daveball3081]

Many of the Android head units claim 2v RCA outputs. I found tests online that illustrate that the 2v output of the Joying head unit is, perhaps, wishful thinking. I've read that the Rockford Fosgate amp does better with 4v RCA levels. I have NOT tested this in my vehicle. I decided to just do the extra work to add the adapter from the speaker outputs. The Joying microphone has been fine - although I don't use it very often. I've used to for speech-to-text to transcribe SMS text messages - seems to work. I have the mic hooked onto the dash tray, pointed in my general direction. I don't use it often.

[@vintageveloce]

I'm about to do a very similar install in my 2014 Nissan Xterra with Rockford Fosgate Stereo and Nav. I am fairly certain everything is the same in my truck and 2013 Frontier. Some comments: 1) I bought the same harness. The VSS wire is on the wrong pin on the "Upgraded Version of The Metra 70-7552" you link to on Amazon. This ends up not mattering because your and my replacement head units don't use this wire anyway. Note the stock Nissan head unit likely uses this signal for the speed sensitive volume, I do not think it is used for navigation. If someone gets a head unit that needs VSS, I suspect this harness would need that pin corrected to work. 2) The stock microphone in the Xterra (and I am sure the Frontier) is a powered mic that is hard wired to the head unit, not bluetooth. It is shown on the Service manual schematic. I don't think the backup camera harness you bought includes those signals, but it's likely possible to add them. 3) Great and helpful video, thank you!

[@daveball3081]

If you get the OEM microphone figured out, I'd love to hear more!

[@vintageveloce]

@@daveball3081 I'm considering the Axxess AXBUCS-NI246V harness which appears to be wired for the AUX connector for the console between the seats, and also has the 3 wires that go to the powered mic in the ceiling. It's not clear the OEM powered (5V) mic would be compatible with anything besides the OEM radio. But maybe you could use the wires, unpowered, to put a different mike in the ceiling. Note this NI246V harness contains wires for steering wheel controls that are not for our vehicles.

[@daveball3081]

@@vintageveloce I did lose the OEM line-in jack - it might be an interesting "fix." Which wires go to the microphone in the roof of the truck? I suspect the mic is a tiny condenser that needs the 6v feed to operate. I bet the return audio from the mic is pretty standard. It would be nice to get that enabled again. Let me know what you find out. As for the VSS - I believe it was used by the Rockford Fosgate head-unit to provide continuing navigation when GPS signals were lost. In an underground parking garage or between high-rise buildings, for example. I was driving through Seattle this week when the Joying navigation lost the GPS signal and the navigation paused until the GPS signals were acquired again. With the OEM head unit, the navigation would continue using the VSS input.

[@alexpettit3265]

This was phenomenally helpful! Thank you!

[@BlazzinTech]

Dave! I too have a pro4x and am set to install my new HU… my only question. The CRTNN01 has a Red Reverse Signal wire that I can’t seem to figure out where to connect on the wiring kit (RDDS from Amazon) where did you connect yours? Thanks

[@daveball3081]

Hey BlazzinTech - The Red Reverse signal wire on the camera harness is used to tell the Joying head unit to show the reverse camera on the screen. The red wires from the camera harness connect to the ORANGE (BACK) wire on the Joying harness. This works great in my truck to automatically flip the display to the reverse camera whenever I put the truck in reverse - exactly as you'd expect.

[@edwin_.8421]

Do you have any idea if I can change the orange lights in the head unit to blue? I’ve been trying to look everywhere but i cant find anything.

[@destinationoverland2831]

You said you soldered the steering wheel wires from the harness in the link provided to the factory steering wheel wires. Would you be able to tell me which wires those are and what color they are.? Its the final phase to my install but I'm not having any luck with the steering wheel controls. Sorry for being such a pest.

[@brunoflerin4572]

Can you make a video with the actual installation I want to put a joying in my trunk

[@daveball3081]

Would you like to see the "behind the radio" pictures? How the radio is mounted? What would be most helpful?

[@slingbad1]

How the head unit is mounted pics would be awesome

[@irwinjimenez]

I love the details that you give for this write-up, which I've been wanting to do on my 2013 Xterra PRO-4X also. The question I have is this: where did you find all this research information on the OEM Rockford Fosgate head unit?

[@daveball3081]

Thanks for the comment. I did a great deal of digging around the Internet to find the details on the Rockford Fosgate head unit as well as reading through schematics of the installation online.

[@vascobautista2175]

Awesome video! I bought the same harness and oea-4 for my 2012 nissan frontier and I've been able to connect everything essentially the same but i can't figure out these two bits: 1. On the joying harness where did you connect the orange and black (amp cont) wire? 2. On the RDBS there are 3 black wires. 2 that are on the sam SWC wire that mentions ground and 1 that actually looks like the real ground wire Thanks in advance for any help.

[@daveball3081]

As I recall, the BLUE/WHITE wire on the Metra harness is the "Amplifier Turn On" wire. The Joying ORANGE/BLACK wire has the same purpose - send a signal to the amplifier to turn on. In our case, it turns on the Rockford Fosgate amplifier under the front seat. Good question on the grounds - as I recall, there were a couple of different grounds on the harness. There was also at least one that was harder to determine (I think it was gray and black). I'm pretty sure I combined the grounds.

[@jimmykelly2809]

Quick question is the 10.5 actually 10.5 dimension across? Or is it from top edge to bottom edge like a tv? Also what’s the side to side dimension. Thanks

[@daveball3081]

The unit's screen is 10.5 inches diagonally. It was measured just like other displays, like TVs. It's about 10 inches wide and about six inches tall. You can find more about this specific radio here: www.joyingauto.com/joying-newest-arrival-10-5-inch-double-din-car-navigation-system-with-android-auto-carplay.html

[@ThePaulXyZ]

First who let the journalist near the soldering pencil unsupervised and two, did you remember to put the plug shell on first before soldering the connections to the wires???

[@daveball3081]

This is the love old Navy buddies share... HA!

[@sosodave4192]

I just found this video. Yay!

[@destinationoverland2831]

Has anyone figured out the Steering Wheel controls yet? I'm using the Wire harness from the link provided. Thank you.

[@daveball3081]

I haven't looked into the dash, but I think I connected the wires like this: Green wire with a label on the HARNESS ADAPTER to Brown wire on the JOYING HARNESS Blue wire with a label on the HARNESS ADAPTER to Pink wire on the JOYING HARNESS

[@destinationoverland2831]

@@daveball3081 and the red wire went with all the other red wires and the black ground wire went with the other black ground wires?

[@destinationoverland2831]

@@daveball3081 yep that’s how I got mine wired up. But it still doesn’t work. Do I need to do anything differently with the black and red wires that were labeled with the green and blue wires?

[@nmaxfield02]

This is a great video. On the 20-pin Headunit/Radio Wiring Harness, where did you connect the 12v and ground for the SWC? I thought I could skip out on wiring those but apparently not. My controlls don't seem to work with the Android Steering wheel controls programming screen.

[@daveball3081]

Hi Nate - I'm pretty sure that I connected the steering wheel harness DC + to the ACC power (Red on the Joying harness) and the ground to the common ground (Black). Did you connect both of the signal cables from the Nissan harness adapter to KEY1 and KEY2 of the Joying harness?

[@brunoflerin4572]

There are two harnesses behind the stock radio which one did you use?

[@daveball3081]

Both - one is the primary wiring harness, the other is the connection for the back-up camera.

[@jeremycordova5995]

Thank you for the video! Quick question though: Where did you wire the blue/white wire on the joying harness that said "brake" to? I assume it goes to the same place as the orange wire that said "back" (which is to the backup camera harness) but I am still unsure. Any help is appreciated!

[@daveball3081]

Brake is separate from the Backup camera control. Brake is used as a safety feature for video playback. It is typically attached to the handbrake circuit so that videos cannot be played unless the handbrake is set. I did NOT connect the brake wire - I did not want to use the lock-out for video playback.

[@jeremycordova5995]

Thank you very much, that makes perfect sense! As a side note, your response time is also amazing. Have a good one, and again, thank you for making this project attainable for myself and many others!

[@destinationoverland2831]

Did you use the universal wiring harness that came with the Joying head unit and cut the black double plug off to connect it to the harness in the link Amazon link you provided? There are two white plugs on the back of the Fosgate head unit that came out of the truck. What plug do I connect this new harness to? The top or bottom plug? Or does it matter? Having trouble finding a video that shows this. Thank you.

[@daveball3081]

Let me dig into my system to get you an answer

[@daveball3081]

As I performed this installation two years ago, I'll do my best to remember: 1. Not sure about the black double plug - I treated solid-black wires as grounds. Note that there is black+grey and grey - they are speaker wires. 2. Two harness adapters are needed to connect the factory wiring to the Joying head unit. One harness is for most of the functionality (sound, illumination, amplifier trigger, steering wheel controls, etc). The other harness is for the backup camera. The sockets on the factory wiring are unique in their shape and pin count. Backup camera harness has fewer wires and is a different shape.

[@destinationoverland2831]

Sorry for all the questions. You are being very helpful though so thank you!! Did you lump all the black ground wires together and all the solid red wires together? Did you use the solid orange wire that says BACK on it? The wiring harness from your link did not come with the color meanings and it does not have a orange BACK wire included with it. Probably don’t need it because I believe it’s a dimmer wire. Not sure. Thank you again for your replies. 😊

[@daveball3081]

@@destinationoverland2831 I don't mind the questions one bit - keep them coming! The color codes for the wiring are included in the description on the Amazon page: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S9J952H/ Scroll down into the product information and you'll see the descriptions of the color codes. I'd add them to my reply if KZbin allowed me to attach an image. I did connect the Orange Illumination wire. Note that the illumination wire will not dynamically adjust the Joying display as you adjust the dash light brightness. However, when your headlights/parking lights are turned on, a signal is applied to the Orange Illumination wire that tells the Joying unit to switch to night mode. The brightness of the Joying display in night mode is configured in the Joying menus.

[@destinationoverland2831]

Did you use the orange wire with the black stripe that says amp?

[@sosodave4192]

sorry to spam with all these questions but do you happen to know what the nits are on your screen? the unit looks very good, but I'm going to need something very bright to be daylight readable in a convertible.

[@daveball3081]

Not sure how bright the screen is - I have it at about half-brightness in my truck, seems great. If anything, I can't get it dark enough at night. With the nighttime setting as zero, the screen is still too bright for my taste.

[@sosodave4192]

that's actually an easier problem to fix than you might imagine. I am willing to bet that you can find a tinted overlay that will still allow the touchscreen to work and that would restrict the brightness considerably, since you only have it running at half power anyway.

[@josephgrumney8559]

Do you know if this set up would work for a 2013 xterra? I have the lcd not the Rockford setup.

[@daveball3081]

I bet that the non-Rockford system is different from the Rockford system for wiring. For example, the Rockford system has a separate amplifier under the passenger seat - not sure that the LCD system is the same.

[@bjnslc]

I installed an Atoto S8 Android head unit into my 2013 Xterra Pro-4X that has the identical Rockford Fosgate unit shown here. If you have the same RF system, then you'll also have the same amplifier connection as in Daves's Frontier. I also couldn't find an adapter to connect the ceiling microphone and I also used a Scosche line level unit (blue one) to make my amp connection.

[@topjimmy1984vh]

I have a 2013 Frontier with the RockfordFosgate but I've ordered (2) different back-up camera harnesses and neither seem to fit or match up... the harnesses I've ordered are too small compared to the harness in the truck I'm trying to plug it into... did you have any issues like this?

[@daveball3081]

This is the harness I used with my truck: smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N3Z23VG/ Seeing the stock camera, scaled up on a 10.5" screen, reveals how low the resolution of the stock camera is. The stock camera is better than not having a camera - but I'm thinking about replacing the stock camera to get higher resolution.

[@topjimmy1984vh]

@@daveball3081 I really appreciate you taking the time to reply... maybe it was something I did wrong or they sent me the wrong harness. I ordered everything exactly as you had listed. Out of curiosity, how'd you determine to : a) buy that Scoche thing to deal with the factory amp and b) how'd you figure out how to make the proper adjustments? Thank you!

[@topjimmy1984vh]

@@daveball3081 I agree on the resolution, it's not great even on the factory screen size, but I like the placement of the camera, so I'll keep it til it breaks... I'm old-school, I still use a rear-view mirror lol

[@dannyflames9028]

my radio is a Panasonic and i cant find a plug to fit for the back up cam. they all too small

[@felixlapitan6784]

is there any alternative on scosche? it's not available in Amazon canada

[@daveball3081]

Hi Felix - Not that I'm aware of. I'm just a nerd - no deep knowledge here!

[@reyesromero7121]

how about an actual video of it in action

[@daveball3081]

I have this on my list "to do" - I'd like to make something where the video is good.

[@guillermoibarra6445]

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