Android Head Unit Reboot Switch

[The_Saint]

I have an Android Xtrons 9" head unit that features-wise I am very happy with, it is the previous iteration of this model http://xtrons.co.uk/pe98mtvpl-andro...lay-custom-fit-for-volkswagen-seat-skoda.html
It has one flaw, namely at least once a week it locks up and becomes unresponsive, when this happens I go under the bonnet, pull out the 15 Amp fuse F8 and replace. The reason I do this is that the hardware reset on the front never does anything, nor does switching off at the power button or turning off the car.
The reason I believe is that the curious electrical system is essentially permanently live and the unit never really switches off in normal operation.

So, after all that - my question - does anyone have a better solution than my idea to take out the unit, find the live wires that feed the head unit via a Connects2 adaptor, discover the key live wire, cut it and wire in a switch?
I understand that I shouldn't be having to do this but none of the alternatives e.g. haggling with Xtrons, buying a different unit at greater cost with inferior features etc are very appealing. The least appealing of all would be to buy one of the absolutely awful standard Seat/VW units, I would seriously prefer nothing to that.

 

[R3k1355]

I had a similar issue in my old Ibiza.
Swap the Permanent live and switched live wires over, it won't stop it crashing but it will power off properly when you turn off the ignition.

It's probably crashing because an App is misbehaving, sometimes the bundled apps aren't well written and randomly hang.
Might be able to find an error log or something that can help?? I'm not very good at Android diagnostics tho.

 

[The_Saint]

Thanks, that is a very good suggestion as the cold bootup doesn't actually take that long, would it also work if I simply connected the permanent live to the switched live without swapping or would I lose settings on powerdown ?
As for what causes it, I haven't spotted an obvious pattern but I would suspect the DAB dongle and associated software although I have recently changed to use the far superior DAB-Z app and this hasn't led to any changes I have spotted.

 

[The_Saint]

On balance I decided that I didn't want the unit cold-starting every time so I went with my switch option, will have to find a decent and unobtrusive place to mount it. Not unexpectedly Sod's Law has applied and I haven't had the unit lock up in the 10 days or so I have had the switch in place.

 

[stephen]

I have a 8inch xtrons with an Octa in it
Very good. For gets radio stations every once in a while

And can’t get the rear camera to kick in

 

[The_Saint]

Is that the conventional radio tuner app or the DAB one ? The supplied DAB app is pretty awful and as I said above I use the far better DAB-Z app

 

[R3k1355]

And can’t get the rear camera to kick in

Does it need wiring into the rear light switch or something?

 

[stephen]

Is that the conventional radio tuner app or the DAB one ? The supplied DAB app is pretty awful and as I said above I use the far better DAB-Z app

The standard radio on it. Just the odd time. Last for a while. Then it wipes itself

Does it need wiring into the rear light switch or something?

I tired that and no joy. There is 3 wires at the reverse light wasn’t sure which was what. One thick brown two smaller greys
So tried having It straight of the power and still no joy

So ordered a new camera just incase


I do like the radio
Not as good as a standard radio.
Got dab to. National stations are pretty good. Local station can’t listen to at all. Also use dabz

 

[stephen]

Radio solved
Saved the stations to 7 to 12
Instead of 1 to 6
Silly me