Hansshow Audio Upgrade? (SR+)

[Zacster]

While I sometimes think maybe I should have gotton the LR because of the audio and the faster charging, the extra $9k is actually a lot more money. At this point I have yet to take my SR+ on a long enough trip where I need 2 charges along the way and unless I decide to drive cross country as I did with my daughter's car I don't think the extra range is necessary for my regular use. I'm retired and have all the time in the world right now so charge time isn't an issue either. The only thing left is the audio. I think the SR+ audio is severely lacking. It sounds good when you turn it on but when you go through a playlist you start to hear how only certain music sounds good and other music is distinctly bad. It is a telling sign that I don't immediately turn on music in the car when I get in, and an even more telling sign that more than once I've turned it off because I found the sound fatiguing.

Now I'd also ask the question: Is the full premium sound system in the LR really good? It is after all still using the same drivers as my SR+, just with additional speakers too, and the subwoofer. Some people say it is the best they've ever had in a car while others say that those same people have never heard what GOOD sound is like. As a home audiophile I can say the SR+ doesn't even begin to sound good. I have little speakers in front of me right now on my computer table that sound better than the SR+. I once used them in my minivan for a trip and was suitably impressed.

 

[amorris]

I think even the LR does sound better but it still leaves things to be desired. Like you said the drivers are all the same. I’m pretty sure they detuned the DSP on the SR quite a bit. Swapping out my factory drivers for audiofrog GB series and adding a DSP really woke it all up, but it’s not cheap. Just adding a DSP and sub would probably do wonders on stock drivers.

 

[bo3bdar]

While I sometimes think maybe I should have gotton the LR because of the audio and the faster charging, the extra $9k is actually a lot more money. At this point I have yet to take my SR+ on a long enough trip where I need 2 charges along the way and unless I decide to drive cross country as I did with my daughter's car I don't think the extra range is necessary for my regular use. I'm retired and have all the time in the world right now so charge time isn't an issue either. The only thing left is the audio. I think the SR+ audio is severely lacking. It sounds good when you turn it on but when you go through a playlist you start to hear how only certain music sounds good and other music is distinctly bad. It is a telling sign that I don't immediately turn on music in the car when I get in, and an even more telling sign that more than once I've turned it off because I found the sound fatiguing.

Now I'd also ask the question: Is the full premium sound system in the LR really good? It is after all still using the same drivers as my SR+, just with additional speakers too, and the subwoofer. Some people say it is the best they've ever had in a car while others say that those same people have never heard what GOOD sound is like. As a home audiophile I can say the SR+ doesn't even begin to sound good. I have little speakers in front of me right now on my computer table that sound better than the SR+. I once used them in my minivan for a trip and was suitably impressed.

The audio in the LR is truly good. Amazing quality. I think you can do better with a DSP, but for an OEM system the LR premium audio is probably the best on the market for any car. See this blog post for a rundown on how it's designed, and what he found when profiling it.

Tesla Model 3 Stereo - Part 9: Summary and Lessons Learned

Blog about various hobby and engineering projects including mechanical, electrical, and software

www.travisllado.com

The SR audio is not that great. I think the loss of the subwoofer and the tweeters is pretty significant, but also they've tuned the stereo badly for the remaining speakers. I have the same problem of getting fatigue after listening for awhile. My best guess here at the moment is that they either tried to tune it as best they could for the missing components, or they've tuned it deliberately for the heavy bass and spoken word of hip-hop.

I'm going to add more details in a different thread, but I've been profiling my SR speaker setup and trying to see if I can improve it using the built in EQ. It works to an extent, you can make it sound far better by tuning the EQ.

As an experiment, try setting your EQ like this picture.

This sets the EQ to produce a flatter frequency response as tested using a RTA. The actual settings: 4.5,-4.0, 0.0, 2.0, 3.5 And this produces a nearly flat frequency response when tested with pink noise. You may or may not like this, the highs might be too bright depending upon taste. And there is a lot of discussion as to whether flat is actually what you want. People go around and around on this, but my take is really simple- start with it at flat as a baseline, then tweak it to suit.

The key element that improves the audio is to deemphasize the low mids on the second slider. The others are more to taste.

This EQ setting is measured as being more accurate, and I also like the audio far, far better with these settings. I'll be curious if you find it helps.

 

[Zacster]

The audio in the LR is truly good. Amazing quality. I think you can do better with a DSP, but for an OEM system the LR premium audio is probably the best on the market for any car. See this blog post for a rundown on how it's designed, and what he found when profiling it.

Tesla Model 3 Stereo - Part 9: Summary and Lessons Learned

Blog about various hobby and engineering projects including mechanical, electrical, and software

www.travisllado.com

The SR audio is not that great. I think the loss of the subwoofer and the tweeters is pretty significant, but also they've tuned the stereo badly for the remaining speakers. I have the same problem of getting fatigue after listening for awhile. My best guess here at the moment is that they either tried to tune it as best they could for the missing components, or they've tuned it deliberately for the heavy bass and spoken word of hip-hop.

I'm going to add more details in a different thread, but I've been profiling my SR speaker setup and trying to see if I can improve it using the built in EQ. It works to an extent, you can make it sound far better by tuning the EQ.

As an experiment, try setting your EQ like this picture.


View attachment 685281


This sets the EQ to produce a flatter frequency response as tested using a RTA. The actual settings: 4.5,-4.0, 0.0, 2.0, 3.5 And this produces a nearly flat frequency response when tested with pink noise. You may or may not like this, the highs might be too bright depending upon taste. And there is a lot of discussion as to whether flat is actually what you want. People go around and around on this, but my take is really simple- start with it at flat as a baseline, then tweak it to suit.

The key element that improves the audio is to deemphasize the low mids on the second slider. The others are more to taste.

This EQ setting is measured as being more accurate, and I also like the audio far, far better with these settings. I'll be curious if you find it helps.

This is worth a try since it won't take more than a few seconds to do. I've thought about replacing the drivers with the Focal ISU200 for the doors and Infinity 4032 for the dash, but I don't see myself taking apart the door/dash quite yet in my new car. If I did that I'd also connect up the tweeters while it is open, maybe use the Focal tweeters.

I'd rather have a mediocre system that is easily replaced than what I have now.

 

[badiban]

Did anyone see this thread on Reddit?

https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaLounge/comments/oyr30f

Wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. This is pretty concerning if true.

 

[bo3bdar]

Did anyone see this thread on Reddit?

https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaLounge/comments/oyr30f

Wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. This is pretty concerning if true.

Had not seen that thread, thanks for posting. Having read through hundreds of pages of people's experiences with audio upgrades, I think the basic conclusion that the Hansshow setup is poor. I don't think it's necessarily a deal breaker, but I do think their engineering is crappy and they go with "seems to work" not by a good design. They aren't the only ones to do this, the NVX subwoofer addition uses the same approach of using a smallish amplifier to hopefully not trigger the inrush current protection. I think the NVX is probably OK, but it's worth noting it has the same basic flaw of no circuit protection.

My best guess here is that this worked for the guy on Reddit originally, because his 12V battery was in better shape. As it degrades over time, it has less charge of course, and when the system is powered on, that battery is providing at least some of the in-rush current to the amp. My guess is that at some point it got to low, so that it triggers the in-rush current protection. The Tesla thinks there is a short at the penthouse, and goes into protection. It looks like Tesla replaced his 12V battery under warranty, but he got the fault again. I can't explain why the new 12V battery would fail.

In any case, my impression is that the F version of the Hansshow audio upgrade is not necessarily more problematic, this is the first report I've run across for having it fail in the field, and I've read this entire thread front to back, and everything else that Google coughs up. If you do get this 12V fault, I would immediately put in the resistor+relay fix for powering things from the penthouse. But otherwise I would not worry about it, because it's not going to cause permanent damage.

 

[kiNGng3]

Did anyone see this thread on Reddit?

https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaLounge/comments/oyr30f

Wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. This is pretty concerning if true.

Honestly this is par for the course for Hansshow support and after sales support.

 

[swan]

I have a version F kit for my July 2021 SR+. I was going to get a shop to install this for me since I don't have the skills or tools to install it. Is there anything I can / should tell the shop to include while installing this? Perhaps include a resistor+relay to avoid the problems above?

Thanks for any tips in advance!

 

[bo3bdar]

I have a version F kit for my July 2021 SR+. I was going to get a shop to install this for me since I don't have the skills or tools to install it. Is there anything I can / should tell the shop to include while installing this? Perhaps include a resistor+relay to avoid the problems above?

Thanks for any tips in advance!

If you are going to have an installer do the work, I think your best bet would be to have them run the power from the front 12V battery instead of the penthouse 12V under the seat. As audio installers, this will be business as usual for them, super easy, barely an inconvenience. It'll be thick 8 AWG wire, which will cost you a bit more.

The reason to go that route is that way you avoid any questions from Tesla if it ever goes south. If it's connected to the main 12V battery, they won't second guess any failures, because that's expected for after market stereos. It seems to me it's worth the added cost for wire and install.

The only drawback from connecting to main 12V is that the stereo needs to shut completely off and not drain the 12V when the car is asleep. I don't know off-hand whether it will power off automatically, or whether you need a power-on signal wire. Would be worth double checking with Hansshow how that might work.

 

[swan]

If you are going to have an installer do the work, I think your best bet would be to have them run the power from the front 12V battery instead of the penthouse 12V under the seat. As audio installers, this will be business as usual for them, super easy, barely an inconvenience. It'll be thick 8 AWG wire, which will cost you a bit more.

The reason to go that route is that way you avoid any questions from Tesla if it ever goes south. If it's connected to the main 12V battery, they won't second guess any failures, because that's expected for after market stereos. It seems to me it's worth the added cost for wire and install.

The only drawback from connecting to main 12V is that the stereo needs to shut completely off and not drain the 12V when the car is asleep. I don't know off-hand whether it will power off automatically, or whether you need a power-on signal wire. Would be worth double checking with Hansshow how that might work.

Awesome thank you! Just to confirm, it's possible that when the car goes to sleep, the stereo (DSP etc) could still be on which would drain the power and that a power-on signal wire would prevent that from happening? Might just be a good idea to have that put in while it's all apart anyways.

Would sentry mode being on also trigger the stereo to stay on?

Thanks for the input!

 

[bo3bdar]

Awesome thank you! Just to confirm, it's possible that when the car goes to sleep, the stereo (DSP etc) could still be on which would drain the power and that a power-on signal wire would prevent that from happening? Might just be a good idea to have that put in while it's all apart anyways.

Would sentry mode being on also trigger the stereo to stay on?

Thanks for the input!

Sorry, looks like I'm wrong there. I've been trying to understand the best place to get 12V, and it's more complicated than I'd expect. I can't edit that post for some reason, otherwise I'd delete that.

Here is a post where a guy had a dashcam directly wired to the 12V, and Tesla specifically said it was invalid, after he took it in for 'service needed'.

https://forums.tesla.com/discussion/95019/dashcam-always-on-install

And here is a post where he says the power controller actually audits the 12V battery, so if you go direct to the battery it can't see that drain and gets out of sync with what the battery actually needs. I don't know how he knows this, or if it's correct. But apparently this is how the car determines when the 12V needs to be replaced.

12v battery issues with aftermarket subwoofer amp. Not covered under warranty PSA.

Anyone with an aftermarket subwoofer and amp have any issues with their 12v battery? I got a warning message about the 12v battery and that service is required. I took it to the service center and later told me that the battery is not covered under warranty due to the aftermarket subwoofer. They...

teslamotorsclub.com

This is not academic for me, I'm adding an after market stereo and am trying to understand where best to connect also.

The Hansshow install video on their website shows them connecting to a 12V just to the right of the MCU. That's a super cramped hard to get to spot, but maybe the reason they use that is to be on the audited side of the 12V charging circuit. Another video from a tesla enthusiast just used the penthouse 12V for his install, and has not reported errors.

I'll keep doing research, but at the moment it seems like Travis' approach using the relay+resistor is the most reliable. If I get anything definitive, I'll report back.

 

[swan]

Sorry, looks like I'm wrong there. I've been trying to understand the best place to get 12V, and it's more complicated than I'd expect. I can't edit that post for some reason, otherwise I'd delete that.

Here is a post where a guy had a dashcam directly wired to the 12V, and Tesla specifically said it was invalid, after he took it in for 'service needed'.

https://forums.tesla.com/discussion/95019/dashcam-always-on-install

And here is a post where he says the power controller actually audits the 12V battery, so if you go direct to the battery it can't see that drain and gets out of sync with what the battery actually needs. I don't know how he knows this, or if it's correct. But apparently this is how the car determines when the 12V needs to be replaced.

12v battery issues with aftermarket subwoofer amp. Not covered under warranty PSA.

Anyone with an aftermarket subwoofer and amp have any issues with their 12v battery? I got a warning message about the 12v battery and that service is required. I took it to the service center and later told me that the battery is not covered under warranty due to the aftermarket subwoofer. They...

teslamotorsclub.com

This is not academic for me, I'm adding an after market stereo and am trying to understand where best to connect also.

The Hansshow install video on their website shows them connecting to a 12V just to the right of the MCU. That's a super cramped hard to get to spot, but maybe the reason they use that is to be on the audited side of the 12V charging circuit. Another video from a tesla enthusiast just used the penthouse 12V for his install, and has not reported errors.

I'll keep doing research, but at the moment it seems like Travis' approach using the relay+resistor is the most reliable. If I get anything definitive, I'll report back.

Thanks for all your help on this. I saw those posts last night as well about going directly to the 12v battery and thought, this may not work well either. Definitely a head-scratcher on that the best approach is and admittedly, I don't fully understand it. I just don't want to deal with service issues after installation and be more out of pocket.

 

[bo3bdar]

Thanks for all your help on this. I saw those posts last night as well about going directly to the 12v battery and thought, this may not work well either. Definitely a head-scratcher on that the best approach is and admittedly, I don't fully understand it. I just don't want to deal with service issues after installation and be more out of pocket.

I'm the same, I just want to minimize any impact on the car or the software, and avoid getting errors that might cause service problems. It'd be really nice if Tesla would just recognize that we are going to legally add stuff to our cars and provide guidance for best practice.

The measurement/auditing of the 12V battery is a real surprise to me, I don't think that exists in any other car, not even other Teslas. It seems like it's not a terrible idea, it's trying to give you an early warning for 12V end-of-life, when you don't have something like cranking amps going slow to let know. Most cars and test systems just use voltage as the metric, not this more sophisticated coulomb auditing.

I'm an EE, so I understand all the stuff top to bottom, but there are things here that are secret and Tesla refuses to give recommendations, so it's not strictly a technical problem. There are also conflicting responses from Tesla SC people- the Reddit posts says that SC said they should use the front 12V connection, the guy with the radar detector's SC said using the 12V battery was not acceptable. It seems like Tesla's official position is- don't modify the glorious gem we have bequeathed upon you. The lack of options is the part of Tesla that really grinds my gears. If they'd offered the premium audio for even an outrageous $3K, I would have bought.


One thing that I'm currently studying is maybe using the cigarette lighter socket in the console. That is the only spot that is currently recommended by Tesla for aftermarket power, and thus is worth a look. IIRC it can only support maybe 6 amps, but that might be OK.

 

[bo3bdar]

The Reddit post I cannot quite explain. The connection there is reported to be via the penthouse 12V, and the amp+dsp that Hansshow uses is pretty modest in terms of power consumption. I would not expect it to cause any inrush current problems. It's worth noting those errors are maybe different than what he reported. Other amps use the penthouse 12V in the same way, both Todd's amp replacement and NVX boost box subwoofer use small d-class amps without a relay off the penthouse 12v, and I have not seen any reports of problems. Maybe @todd2fst4u can let us know if he has had any reports.

Reddit poster's car had a bad 12V front battery. At least that is what the SC replaced. Not at all unusual for a 2019 car to have a bad battery, they apparently only last 2 years or so in general. The error messages that he reports are not clear because he didn't quote them or show a screen shot. The penthouse errors are "Car needs service", "Unable to charge", "Unable to drive", "Cannot maintain vehicle power". As seen at Travis's blog:

Errors for the 12V up front failing are like this:

Redditor's errors are paraphrased "errors about my 12v system and it can't be driven". "error saying that I couldn't charge to 100% and my car actually failed to charge at all" Those sound like the penthouse errors, not the ones for the up front 12V. Maybe. Probably.


Not a surprise to get 12V errors after 2 years. Not induced or made worse by the F series Hansshow amp, just normal Model 3 weak design there. The part I cannot quite understand is why the second battery gave him the same error. After replacement it should have been fine.

However, if I assume that he is actually reporting penthouse errors instead, that would be consistent with his experience, as in, a second 12V battery was not the right solution from the SC and did not match the error mode. But that implies the SC did the job wrong. Not impossible, but is that likely?

My best theory is that the Hansshow is right at the edge of working in terms of inrush current, and that after his 12V battery got tired, the combination of charging that battery plus the inrush fired off the original errors. Then after the battery was replaced, it might not have been fully charged, and need extra current as well, and still overload the penthouse startup. Hansshow could also have an internal fault causing higher drain. Could also be the DC-DC converter failing, there are reports of that happening.


Can't know with the info we have I don't think, but I do think it strongly suggests that the resistor+relay would alleviate any concern for this setup.

Travis's analysis and design is the best I've seen, he's got some real engineering chops, so I put his information at higher bar than anyone else. Even higher than any Tesla SC stories or reports. It's really only the inrush current that causes problems at the penthouse, and I feel like that is fairly well understood at this point.

Also, the 12V penthouse can provide a lot of power, far, far beyond what the Hansshow or any external amp might need. On the order of 150 amps, enough to power your house, literally. Here's a guy who setup a 2KW inverter off the penthouse for emergency power.

How many amps can you get from the 12V system for emergency situations?

Here's what I did: I used this 2000W pure sine wave inverter: https://www.amazon.com/SUDOKEJI-Inverter-2000W-Display-Outlets/dp/B07RWHN22W/ref=sr_1_1 200A 12V relay: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MYPTVJD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 100W 1.8Ohm...

teslamotorsclub.com

And another guy using the relay+resistor approach for an 800W amplifier.

Aftermarket Sub-woofer Amplifier Installation using DC-DC +12v Power Source

I have identified the cause of the "Cannot Maintain Vehicle Power" error when installing aftermarket amplifiers and drawing power from the CD-CD terminal under the rear seat. The cause is the DC-DC converter tripping when first powering on and trying to charge up the large input capacitors...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[swan]

That is some in-depth diagnosis!! I haven't seen the Hansshow instructions yet but I think I read off-hand that they suggest using the penthouse. Is the penthouse the one under the rear passenger seat?

Sounds like there are 2 options but I could be wrong:

1. adding resistor+relay at the Penthouse
2. adding resistor+relay at the 12v battery

Of these, which one would you go with?

 

[bo3bdar]

That is some in-depth diagnosis!! I haven't seen the Hansshow instructions yet but I think I read off-hand that they suggest using the penthouse. Is the penthouse the one under the rear passenger seat?

Sounds like there are 2 options but I could be wrong:

1. adding resistor+relay at the Penthouse
2. adding resistor+relay at the 12v battery

Of these, which one would you go with?

To be honest, I can't really tell. The internet is often hard to get a straight answer, and the conflicting info about the front 12V battery makes it unclear. One of the two SC techs I quoted above is wrong- which one? Is there in fact a monitoring/auditing system on the 12V system, or not? Lots of people just make sh*t up and then it becomes the observed wisdom. The people who referenced this mystical coulomb auditing system didn't provide any links.

You have any idea how to contact an SC for advice? It'd really be nice to have them say that front 12V should be OK for example.

There aren't a particularly large number of failures reported either way. Lots of dead batteries, but very few links/post/youtube I can dig up for people with aftermarket stuff that was possibly implicated. That tells me that regardless of which way you go, it's actually not likely to be a problem.


Penthouse 12V is the one under the rear seat, that comes directly from the DC-DC converter. It recharges the front 12V battery through some mechanism and path that I haven't been able to determine. There does seem to be some sort of a limiter/tool/circuit there, because marcmerlin who setup the 2kw inverter said that if he connected directly to the 12V front battery that it would slowly drain the battery. Any drain over a few amps would drain the 12V battery. That's significant, because it might be related to the other handful of failures. If we hook a honking 800W subwoofer to that front 12V battery and crank the stereo, I'm not sure we can guarantee that we don't just draw too many amps for it to handle. That doesn't make sense for a radar detector or dash cam, but maybe.


My opinion is not worth very much- I've only done internet research, and have not added these parts to my car and seen how they work in real life. So keep in mind I could be misled, just like above. But I'll answer as best I can.

If you have a return window for the F Hansshow, I'd return that, and buy the @todd2fst4u amp and subwoofer setup instead. Todd uses a Class D Alpine amp, and the Hansshow is a class AB amp, which in theory sounds better, but also draws more power.

If you can't return it, I'd go with the penthouse 12V with a resistor+relay as a safety measure. Hansshow recommends penthouse connection and claims there will be no problem. I believe that if we use a relay+resistor to slowly power up that we won't ever get warning messages, because the actual power it can provide is like 10x what we actually expect to use.

I would pass on the front 12V for now, regardless of resistor+relay because it's just not clear what the actual state is there, and it's already a weak link in these cars.

My 2 cents. if I come up with anything more solid, either way, I'll post here.

 

[swan]

To be honest, I can't really tell. The internet is often hard to get a straight answer, and the conflicting info about the front 12V battery makes it unclear. One of the two SC techs I quoted above is wrong- which one? Is there in fact a monitoring/auditing system on the 12V system, or not? Lots of people just make sh*t up and then it becomes the observed wisdom. The people who referenced this mystical coulomb auditing system didn't provide any links.

You have any idea how to contact an SC for advice? It'd really be nice to have them say that front 12V should be OK for example.

There aren't a particularly large number of failures reported either way. Lots of dead batteries, but very few links/post/youtube I can dig up for people with aftermarket stuff that was possibly implicated. That tells me that regardless of which way you go, it's actually not likely to be a problem.


Penthouse 12V is the one under the rear seat, that comes directly from the DC-DC converter. It recharges the front 12V battery through some mechanism and path that I haven't been able to determine. There does seem to be some sort of a limiter/tool/circuit there, because marcmerlin who setup the 2kw inverter said that if he connected directly to the 12V front battery that it would slowly drain the battery. Any drain over a few amps would drain the 12V battery. That's significant, because it might be related to the other handful of failures. If we hook a honking 800W subwoofer to that front 12V battery and crank the stereo, I'm not sure we can guarantee that we don't just draw too many amps for it to handle. That doesn't make sense for a radar detector or dash cam, but maybe.


My opinion is not worth very much- I've only done internet research, and have not added these parts to my car and seen how they work in real life. So keep in mind I could be misled, just like above. But I'll answer as best I can.

If you have a return window for the F Hansshow, I'd return that, and buy the @todd2fst4u amp and subwoofer setup instead. Todd uses a Class D Alpine amp, and the Hansshow is a class AB amp, which in theory sounds better, but also draws more power.

If you can't return it, I'd go with the penthouse 12V with a resistor+relay as a safety measure. Hansshow recommends penthouse connection and claims there will be no problem. I believe that if we use a relay+resistor to slowly power up that we won't ever get warning messages, because the actual power it can provide is like 10x what we actually expect to use.

I would pass on the front 12V for now, regardless of resistor+relay because it's just not clear what the actual state is there, and it's already a weak link in these cars.

My 2 cents. if I come up with anything more solid, either way, I'll post here.

Thanks!

I know a couple of places have installed that Hansshow kit for some people in the area. I've been trying to reach out to the shops and the people that got them installed to see how they did it and if they've run into any issues. Some of the posts from the local group go back a couple of years so things may have changed with the cars themselves and we definitely know that Hansshow has changed things so the accuracy of those results may skew results. But could be another data point to go on.

 

[swan]

One person got back to me and said it's been good for them minus the part where the sub doesn't work at all. He's been back and forth with Hansshow for months now, and have numerous times repeated the instructions that don't work. That doesn't bode well but he did say that the upgrade in sound is there. I'm assuming it was installed on the penthouse but if the sub isn't working, I'm not sure if that really tells me that much. Is there any draw from the penthouse if the sub isn't working?

My version F kit is arriving next week. I'm mildly excited but also worried.

 

[swan]

To be honest, I can't really tell. The internet is often hard to get a straight answer, and the conflicting info about the front 12V battery makes it unclear. One of the two SC techs I quoted above is wrong- which one? Is there in fact a monitoring/auditing system on the 12V system, or not? Lots of people just make sh*t up and then it becomes the observed wisdom. The people who referenced this mystical coulomb auditing system didn't provide any links.

You have any idea how to contact an SC for advice? It'd really be nice to have them say that front 12V should be OK for example.

There aren't a particularly large number of failures reported either way. Lots of dead batteries, but very few links/post/youtube I can dig up for people with aftermarket stuff that was possibly implicated. That tells me that regardless of which way you go, it's actually not likely to be a problem.


Penthouse 12V is the one under the rear seat, that comes directly from the DC-DC converter. It recharges the front 12V battery through some mechanism and path that I haven't been able to determine. There does seem to be some sort of a limiter/tool/circuit there, because marcmerlin who setup the 2kw inverter said that if he connected directly to the 12V front battery that it would slowly drain the battery. Any drain over a few amps would drain the 12V battery. That's significant, because it might be related to the other handful of failures. If we hook a honking 800W subwoofer to that front 12V battery and crank the stereo, I'm not sure we can guarantee that we don't just draw too many amps for it to handle. That doesn't make sense for a radar detector or dash cam, but maybe.


My opinion is not worth very much- I've only done internet research, and have not added these parts to my car and seen how they work in real life. So keep in mind I could be misled, just like above. But I'll answer as best I can.

If you have a return window for the F Hansshow, I'd return that, and buy the @todd2fst4u amp and subwoofer setup instead. Todd uses a Class D Alpine amp, and the Hansshow is a class AB amp, which in theory sounds better, but also draws more power.

If you can't return it, I'd go with the penthouse 12V with a resistor+relay as a safety measure. Hansshow recommends penthouse connection and claims there will be no problem. I believe that if we use a relay+resistor to slowly power up that we won't ever get warning messages, because the actual power it can provide is like 10x what we actually expect to use.

I would pass on the front 12V for now, regardless of resistor+relay because it's just not clear what the actual state is there, and it's already a weak link in these cars.

My 2 cents. if I come up with anything more solid, either way, I'll post here.

Got some feedback to share.

I got in contact with one of the authorized installers not far from me. He's installed over 50 of the Hansshow kits and has also done an NVX kit install. With the Hansshow, he's always used the penthouse as the power source and hasn't been an issue for them. I would use him to install my kit but he's a ferry ride away which adds $150 in round trip costs just to get there.

A local shop has quoted me $450 CAD to get the kit installed and that's based on the price they charged someone else to have that same kit installed. Again, they just followed the instructions (which I assume is the penthouse - my kit has no instructions) and that customer hasn't gotten back to them with any issues.

One owner a couple of hours away had a shop install, penthouse location and hasn't had any issues either except the sub doesn't work at all. Shops not sure why, Hansshow's support has been an obvious miss here sending the same troubleshooting tips over and over. He's not sure if he's got a defective sub or if the shop didn't wire it up properly. I'd assume that the shop did wire it up correctly since everything else works and that Hansshow sub is just not working correctly. But no power issues but if the sub isn't even working, there's probably little to no draw even happening.

And finally, a local owner as installed aftermarket kit himself directly to the 12v battery in the front. Been using it for 2+ years now and seemingly his amps and subs are more powerful than the Hansshow kit.

All in all, I still don't know where I stand but based on the information, my best guess is that the reports of electrical problems are more isolated and not very common. People very rarely report successful installs and that they haven't had issues.

 

[Swamprat96]

Got some feedback to share.

I got in contact with one of the authorized installers not far from me. He's installed over 50 of the Hansshow kits and has also done an NVX kit install. With the Hansshow, he's always used the penthouse as the power source and hasn't been an issue for them. I would use him to install my kit but he's a ferry ride away which adds $150 in round trip costs just to get there.

A local shop has quoted me $450 CAD to get the kit installed and that's based on the price they charged someone else to have that same kit installed. Again, they just followed the instructions (which I assume is the penthouse - my kit has no instructions) and that customer hasn't gotten back to them with any issues.

One owner a couple of hours away had a shop install, penthouse location and hasn't had any issues either except the sub doesn't work at all. Shops not sure why, Hansshow's support has been an obvious miss here sending the same troubleshooting tips over and over. He's not sure if he's got a defective sub or if the shop didn't wire it up properly. I'd assume that the shop did wire it up correctly since everything else works and that Hansshow sub is just not working correctly. But no power issues but if the sub isn't even working, there's probably little to no draw even happening.

And finally, a local owner as installed aftermarket kit himself directly to the 12v battery in the front. Been using it for 2+ years now and seemingly his amps and subs are more powerful than the Hansshow kit.

All in all, I still don't know where I stand but based on the information, my best guess is that the reports of electrical problems are more isolated and not very common. People very rarely report successful installs and that they haven't had issues.

I've had no issues using Todd's method of the alpine amp plus the hansshow harness. Connected to the penthouse and coming up to a year