2017+ BRZ and Maestro RR
 

After going through the very cumbersome process of modifying the Maestro RR TO1 (previously recommended) harness for my 2017 BRZ, iDatalink advised this MY and later are "more Subaru" and they are moving to the SU2 harness instead.

SO IF YOU ARE BUYING A MAESTRO RR FOR YOUR 2017+ BRZ, GET THE SU2 HARNESS

Much simpler installation (backup camera works with no modification) but not perfect. Notes so far (this is with a Pioneer AVH-2440NEX HU):

1) Flash the RR with the 2017 WRX no HK amp firmware (steering control layout is slightly different, but available buttons on BRZ worked fine for me).

2) The RR runs a brown/red CAN1H wire to pin 9 of the 28 pin harness. On the BRZ that pin is Amp Signal +12v (iDatalink says this is unique). I clipped the brown/red wire near the 18 pin RR harness and then it was the perfect length to twist together with the blue (antenna power/amp) and blue/white (radio amp signal) wires coming out of the RR. Then soldered those to the blue/white remote trigger wire coming out of the radio. With that it is providing amp and antenna power from the HU remote signal wire.

3) The track pack was not working with the BRZ firmware + TO1 harness, but is working with the WRX/SU2 combination.

4) TMPS data is not being displayed from the OBD now, waiting to hear back from iDatalink on that. (It was working with BRZ/TO1 combo.)

5) iDatalink recommended connecting the HU parking brake wire to the RR parking brake wire even though that does not go to pin 15 on the 28 pin harness which is brake on the BRZ. This did not work. Waiting to hear from iDatalink if they think firmware will fix this or if I should try running the HU brake wire directly to pin 15 (this worked on the TO1 harness).

6) The TO1 harness was drawing some power through the power antenna amp wire even with the car off. iDatalink says this is not an issue with the SU2 and connecting directly to the HU remote signal wire (makes sense). I will measure voltage the next couple days to be sure it's not drawing power.

7) On both firmware/harness combinations only certain data is available to be displayed in certain gauge positions (e.g. top left only offers MPH and 0-60). iDatalink was surprised/confused by this. I'm waiting on a solution for that since the WRZ/SU2 change did not affect that.

Well it looks like I’ve come across my first issue with this on my 2016 BRZ. I also have the 2440NEX. After you mentioned the battery issue sure enough one day my car wouldn’t start. Luckily I still had my portable jump starter from my camping trips and it jump started the car no problem. Unfortunately this happened again a few days later. Now I’m seriously thinking about cutting or de-pinning that power antenna wire you mentioned (blue I think) to see if that fixes any future drainage. If that doesn’t work I wonder if the SU2 harness will work even though my car is a 2016 and yours is a 2017. One thing I haven’t tried yet is updating the firmware on both the HU and the Maestro RR to see if that makes any difference.


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Note when I pulled the pin out (it's pretty easy if you stick a sewing pin in there, then it can be easily replaced) my FM reception was pretty much useless. It's a blue wire going to pin 8 of the RR green 10 pin plug. Theoretically you could connect that RR blue wire with the blue/white amp/remote signal wire to get power to the antenna amp, but iDatalink routes their wires oddly and changes functions with firmware so it's not necessarily that obvious. They did not confirm for me if that would work, just suggested I go to the SU2 harness.


Do you have steering wheel controls on the 2016? The pinout I have for the OEM 28pin harness show those as blank whereas they are SWC on my 2017. Other than that everything seemed the same.

No, I do not have SWC. I believe that started with the 2017 models and onward. Also, I don’t even listen to FM or AM radio. I usually just use apps on my iPhone through Apple CarPlay. Will it hurt just to have the antenna disconnected? Or does the antenna have other functions?




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Only thing it seemed to affect for me was radio reception.

iDatalink has updated the firmware to 1.4 and TPMS now works with the SU2 harness. Interestingly they are pulling the from the CAN bus so might be possible to use the CAN plug behind the radio on the right instead of OBD? iDatalink wouldn't confirm this.



According to iDatalink newer version of the SU2 harness have been rewired to properly provide amp power without splicing into the brown/red wire that's feeding to Pin 9 near the 18 pin RR harness.

I was wondering if you recommend the Maestro RR or would stay away from it? I am considering getting it with my radio when i upgrade it.

Initial installation in 2017 BRZ was a pain, but they seem to have caught up with hardware and firmware.
Once installed performance is great. Steering wheel controls all work, including long press shortcuts to the RR screens. Two pages of 5 gauges to display what you want. Separate screen with TPMS data.

Real question is whether you’re actually going to use the gauges. For me it wasn’t that much more than another SWC system, TPMS is useful and some of the gauges could be useful at the track. But most of the time it’s just a fun toy. ;-)

Thank you for the information. That sounds just the ticket. What kind of"gauges" do you get? These long press commands you mention, are they programmable functions through the RR?

- MPH
- 0-60
- RPM
- Throttle Plate
- Timing
- Transmission Temp
- Intake Air Temp
- Intake Air Manifold Pressure
- Mass Air Flow
- 1/4 mi
- Braking Distance
- Boost/Vacuum (X unavail)
- Distance to empty
- Coolant Temp
- Engine Load
- Oil Temp
- EGT
- External Air Temp
- Fuel Level
- Fuel Pressure (X unavail)
- MPG


Try the demo here to see the SWC programming:
http://maestro.idatalink.com/weblink/demo/demo-rr

With the Maestro RR i was able to get the SWC to work for the track selection, volume, source, however I could not get the SWC bluetooth phone controls (accept/hang up) to work. Did anyone have any luck with this?

They work fine for me, but they've gone through a few hardware/software revisions for our 2017s - what are you using?
Latest (and what I'm using) is SU2 harness, 2017 BRZ model, and ADS-RR(SR)-SUB2-DS (512) (1.4) firmware. Prior firmware had some issues.

2017 BRZ Prem. Limited

I just installed a Maestro RR using the SU2 harness to a Pioneer 2300NEX. My issue is the sound quality. The sound is very muted almost mono. I followed the Maestro instructions regarding the amp power wire. What else could be causing this?


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I'm not sure what the current SU2 instructions say since I got mine before they updated for the BRZ, but I ended up clipping the brown/red wire that's feeding to Pin 9 near the 18 pin RR harness and then it was the perfect length to twist together with the blue and blue/white wires coming out of the RR. Then soldered those to the blue/white remote trigger wire coming out of the radio. With that I have amp and antenna power.*