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.*

I called tech support, they think it’s because I’m using the BNC connections vs splicing into the new HU wire harness. I assumed that since my BRZ has a factory Amp I would use the BNC connections.


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2017+ BRZ and Maestro RR
 

Okay so my issue was using the BNC connections in the iDatalink harness, apparently those connections do not provide enough power to the amp. I cut the BNC connections off and wired direct to the Pioneer main harness. All is good. Before it sounded like pillows were covering the speakers.


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I have mine wired to the CAN plug behind the radio/glove box and all of the gauges as well as the TPMS works. I needed the OBD plug available for the ECUtek since I'm boosted. I haven't ever been able to get the track package to work on my head unit.

I'm getting OBD connection issues now so wondering if a wire from the CAN came loose...

I believe my track pack started working when I switched from the TO1 to the SU2 harness. (And be sure you double tap the brake to initiate the track pack recording.)

Any updates on this thread? Interested in hearing is issues have been resolved yet.


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I soldered (vs. the plug I stole from my kid's Arduino) the connecting wires to the CAN behind the radio and OBD data has been fine. Track pack has always worked since SU2 and updated firmware.

2017+ BRZ and Maestro RR
 

Hey there. This might be a dumb question but was your backup camera originally displaying the rear view mirror? I literally have the same setup as you but can't get the backup camera to display on the HU. Mines still displays in the mirror. I also had mines wired up by Crutchfield.

Howzit from a Kaneohe boy...
Nope, Maestro yellow RCA video plug goes into the back of the HU and BU camera displays on the HU. Seems like that would take some work and wire crossing to get it on the mirror!

Hooo howzit brah! Just confirming did your BU camera display in the mirror before? Or was it displaying in the stock HU? I'm trying to figure out where my wiring went wrong. You'd think Crutchfield would be more helpful since they wired it up for me but they don't know why either. I've been told it's better if I just by another BU camera and wire it up to the HU. [emoji1688]


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Never displayed in the rearview (didn't even know it could - did that in a different car but after market mirror), always displayed in stock HU.

I briefly looked at swapping out the BU camera when I thought I'd lose my guidelines with new HU...looked like a pain in the twins. (Did it previously in two other cars that didn't have cameras at all.) Don't see how that could be easier - especially since you'd have to run a new wire through the car if the current is wired up odd.

Pretty straightforward - camera wire goes to Maestro goes to HU...

Right on thanks for the info!


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Hello, did you find a solution for this? I'm planning on doing the same with Crutchfield. Thanks!

No unfortunately... The last time I spoke to tech support was in January and the choices then were to splice the signal wires at the mirror with a video RCA or buy a new camera and wire like you would normally. I watched a video on YouTube about the the whole splicing route and yeah I'm not confident in doing that. So I deal with the backup camera displaying in the mirror. [emoji24] Lmk if you find another way!


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I have a Pioneer Avh-2550 and the steering wheel controls stop working if I use any of the physical buttons on the head unit. Turning on and off the car gets them working again. Is this happening to anyone else?

Odd. Don’t have that issue on mine (although admittedly I don’t use the physical buttons much).

That is weird. I can use both set of buttons no problem. I know on certain screens the steering wheel buttons dont work. Like the settings screen or EQ screen, you have use to the buttons on the HU.


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pardon me late on the convo, though been following, I just got a kenwoods dnx695s and maestro rr, also t01 and also sub02 adaptors well it seems I have better functionality with the t01 though I don't really have an option to flash the maestro rr, well I am having an issue, and that is it isn't wanting to display the oil temp or trans temp (they are x'd out/greyed) now I am lost as I have seen these cars with the ability to show that on the gauges as well as it was mentioned in the first page, but idk what the deal is here, I have updated the head units firmware and still the same, also idk if this is effecting it, but I am on ecutek with racerom, anyone have some advice, I really bought this for those 2 gages, I mean the tire temp is real nice, but really want the oil/trans oil temps

Holy Moses that is a lot of commas. What do you mean you “don’t really have an option to flash the Maestro RR”? It’s important to use the proper firmware on the RR for the specific head unit/vehicle combination that applies to your install. I haven’t heard of anybody else having trouble seeing the gauges that you are referring to, but I only have experience with the Pioneer head unit. I would recommend contacting idatalink support to see if they can advise as to why specific gauges might not be working... but it seems possible that your ecutek could have something to do with it.

This thread has been very useful to me. I just bought a 2017 BRZ this month and I am going to tackle a Pioneer AVIC-W8500NEX install this weekend (with the Maestro RR and SU2 harness). My understanding of the factory amp is that it only powers the front speakers and not the rears. If I am correct in this understanding, should I wire the front two speakers to the front amp outputs on the Pioneer harness and the rear two speakers to the speaker lead outputs (opposed to the rear amp outputs on the Pioneer harness)? Everything else on the Maestro RR install instructions seem to make sense to me. Thanks for any input you can provide.

That's correct, the speakers all wires the same with or without the amp, you just need to wire the "turn on" signal wire to the stock amp or you'll get no sound from the door speakers.


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Thanks for the response. I understand the need to wire the turn on signal, but thanks for the reminder. To expand on my concern/question; if I wire all four speakers to the "speaker level" outputs (opposed to the amplifier outputs) will the signal going to the factory amp be over amplified and cause the door speakers to be too loud?
Thanks!

After some more research, it appears as if the factory amp can handle speaker level outputs.

Hey guys just wanted to chime in and say that if anyone was wondering how the Maestro RR works in the BRZs without steering wheel controls (2016 and earlier) it does in fact work. I have a 2016 Limited MT with OEM Audio+ 500Q sound system and the Pioneer AVH-2440NEX head unit. I used the TO1 wiring harnesses and unfortunately I don’t know any more of the specifics relating to the wiring because I had it done at a Best Buy since I already had their Total Tech Support membership which covers a lot of stuff including any auto installs at no additional cost. And if anything stops working or fails they fix it for free.


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Does anyone have a working oil temperature reading with the Maestro RR?

That's the reading that interested me the most for getting the Maestro RR but it's grayed out. I'm running a custom tune, but I've tried flashing back to stock and still the same.

I'm using the SU2 harness and firmware. Maybe try Toyota firmware?

My oil temp has always worked with TO1 harness and BRZ firmware and SU2 harness and WRX firmware. I haven't checked lately but maybe they have 2017+ firmware for SU2 now...?

Is your car tuned or stock?
Do you happen to know which calibration id?

I guess I'll hace to try the WRX firmware!

Thanks,

Eduardo