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I retrofit MCU2, IC2, Tuner2, and FSD Computer into my HW2.0 Car

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Here's my story of my DIY HW2.0 retrofit for MCU2, IC2, TUNER2, and FSD Computer:

I want to begin this post by offering the most honest caveat I can: I do not encourage you to repeat anything I have done. In fact, now that Tesla is offering the MCU2 and FSD Computer retrofits officially, I highly recommend you go do that. MCU2 + FSD is wonderful. I am presenting this post to hopefully provide some guidance and entertainment to members of this great community – a place that I’ve found endlessly fun for the past several years during my Tesla ownership. I make no claims that the guidance offered below is correct or suited to your circumstances.

Towards the end of January, late one night while tinkering with my Tesla, I had a realization – I finally knew enough about the Model S/X hardware & software architecture to attempt one of the most involved retrofits I’ve ever done on a vehicle – an MCU2/IC2/Tuner2/APE3 retrofit into my HW2.0 MCU1 Model S. After a LOT of research, and with tons of help from others in this community (thank you to those that helped; you know who you are), I wanted to share my success story of retrofitting MCU2/IC2/Tuner2/APE3 to work in my car. All told – I have a fully working MCU2/IC2/Tuner2/APE3 with all the Theater, Arcade, Caraoke, FM Radio, Web Browser, Dashcam, Sentry, FSD visualizations and other goodies you would expect.

“But Tesla now offers an official MCU2/APE3 retrofit!” you say…” Why would you want to do a retrofit yourself?” Good question…there’s a couple reasons I chose to do this myself:

  • I completed the retrofit a couple months before Tesla finally came out with a public announcement that MCU2 retrofits were officially official. I’d been waiting for Tesla to follow-through on Elon’s never-ending tweets promising a retrofit was coming and finally just decided I’d do it myself.
  • Tesla charges $2,500 for the MCU2/IC2 retrofit and does not include the XM/FM Tuner2. I thought I’d try getting Tuner2 to work – which I did.
  • I found a person with a wrecked 2018 Model S who was willing to sell me the MCU2, IC2, Tuner2, and wiring harness out of the car – everything I needed from a hardware perspective for a reasonable price. All in, I saved roughly $1,000 doing this myself compared to asking Tesla to do it. Honestly though, I probably put 100+ hours into this project and went from knowing nothing to knowing a lot. I didn’t really save time/money; quite the contrary. I did this because it was a ton of fun.
  • I got the APE3 (FSD Computer) unit on loan from a friend. I did purchase FSD from Tesla and will have Tesla install my forthcoming APE3 unit whenever they actually do it.

Come along as I take you through my journey of retrofitting the MCU2/IC2/Tuner2/APE3 hardware into my HW2.0 car.

mcu2-png.531258
 
Has anyone added XM to a glass roof Model S? I bought my car in March 2018 and was one of the first to get MCU2, but at that time you could not get XM with the glass roof because of the antenna placement. A few months later, Tesla started offering XM with the glass roof so they figured out a new way to deal with the antenna. This thread has got me wondering if the new antenna could be retrofitted. I know I can replace the FM tuner with FM/XM. Then I think I would need a configuration change and subscription. Anyone try this yet?
Adding an XM antenna is also going to require that you update the car configuration on the gateway to let the car know that the XM antenna is installed. You'd face the same challenge whether adding the tuner, or activating the XM antenna - the car configuration is locked down within the gateway.
 
Adding an XM antenna is also going to require that you update the car configuration on the gateway to let the car know that the XM antenna is installed. You'd face the same challenge whether adding the tuner, or activating the XM antenna - the car configuration is locked down within the gateway.
Makes sense, thanks kdday. I wonder if the XM antenna part changed when Tesla started offering XM with the glass roof or if they just found a way to reroute the original antenna into a new location. Half of the fun for me in this kind of endeavor is researching and figuring out a viable solution design. Trying, adjusting and then achieving the desired outcome is the other half. I get the sense you enjoy the challenge, as well.
 
@kdday Thanks for this very useful contribution. It makes me very comfortable to upgrade the AP computer: no programming, no radar upgrade and no camera replacement.

Can you share the links to buy the cables.

I am planning to upgrade from AP2.0 to AP2.5. There are some very cheap ones available on ebay.

I have MCU1 and I want to keep IT for now.

I only need the sentrymod recording feature.

Thanks again.
 
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@kdday Thanks for this very useful contribution. It makes me very comfortable to upgrade the AP computer: no programming, no radar upgrade and no camera replacement.

Can you share the links to buy the cables.

I am planning to upgrade from AP2.0 to AP2.5. There are some very cheap ones available on ebay.

I have MCU1 and I want to keep IT for now.

I only need the sentrymod recording feature.

Thanks again.

I’m not aware of anyone that upgraded from ape2 to ape2.5. Nor do I think that it’s even possible. Ape2.5 may not ever be compatible with hw2.0 RCCC cameras. Tesla just recently added this compatibility to ape3 firmware, but I am not certain you could swap ape2 for ape2.5.

You’d also need programming to change the camera type and DAS hw (ape) type on the gateway.

Ape2.5 is probably not what you want to do. Just find an ape3 unit.
 
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I’m not aware of anyone that upgraded from ape2 to ape2.5. Nor do I think that it’s even possible. Ape2.5 may not ever be compatible with hw2.0 RCCC cameras. Tesla just recently added this compatibility to ape3 firmware, but I am not certain you could swap ape2 for ape2.5.

You’d also need programming to change the camera type and DAS hw (ape) type on the gateway.

Ape2.5 is probably not what you want to do. Just find an ape3 unit.

I am also a bit curious by this. Im assuming the main reason is to gain sensory mode and maybe a more polished version of autopilot or enhanced autopilot. Although. Some people have been speculating that MCU1 is incompatible with HW3 or at least a work in progress. Im still a little confused as to why you replaced the IC2 is it necessary for hw3?
 
I am also a bit curious by this. Im assuming the main reason is to gain sensory mode and maybe a more polished version of autopilot or enhanced autopilot. Although. Some people have been speculating that MCU1 is incompatible with HW3 or at least a work in progress. Im still a little confused as to why you replaced the IC2 is it necessary for hw3?

IC1 is a computer. IC2 is just a second display attached to MCU2. MCU2 cannot work with IC1.
 
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Thank you for replying

I know there are lot of cars in 2017 with MCU1 and AP2.5. May be if I upgrade the camaras and the front radar I can match these cars configuration. Or there are some other hardware modifications hidden ?

I don't need FSD and I find IT expensive to spend 9000$ CAD + taxe just for sentry mod.

I have installed a blackvue dashcam but I miss the sentry mode side views.

Cars with AP2.0 cannot record sentry mod videos.
 
Great report. I noticed you transferred a file with the odometer reading. Could an unscrupulous person reset the odometer if they have root access or is it encrypted or something to prevent such abuse?

My understanding is that Tesla mothership keeps tabs on the odometer and other metrics and will overwrite if it was ever changed. I'm not sure, as I didn't try to mess with it. It's stored in some sqlite database or something.

nah not possible. With that being said, would you like to buy a 2012 Model S with 1000 miles on the odometer? I uhh kept it in the garage and forgot about it. dont mind the bald tires, its just from the weather.
 
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@kdday,

Excellent write up!

I'm fairly familiar with MCU1, but I've indeed found it difficult to get anything done on MCU2.

Is root required to update the GW?

Since you rooted your car using some SW vulnerability, which version of the OS were you running?

I need to perform some GW config changes, but I've yet to find a way to access the GW at all.
 
@kdday,

Excellent write up!

I'm fairly familiar with MCU1, but I've indeed found it difficult to get anything done on MCU2.

Is root required to update the GW?

Since you rooted your car using some SW vulnerability, which version of the OS were you running?

I need to perform some GW config changes, but I've yet to find a way to access the GW at all.

Root isn't required to update GW if you know some tricks
 
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considering the gateway code is 95% the same - I'd say yes.

In MCU1, accessing the gateway was as simple as getting into factory mode. Once you're in factory mode, diagnostic port opened and BAM, you're in. Can reach the GW.

Pretty sure the new RJ45 port is where you need to tap into, but it remains closed. But getting into factory mode is as far as I've managed to get thus far.
 
I read the postings hoping to learn how I can add the FM/XM tuner back into my upgraded MCU2/AP3 model S. I'm a bit disappointed that I can't do that, yet... but I'm sure one of these days someone will be able to figure it out and/or offer a solution to add these back in the car.
I've never been interested in Internet radio, so I never tried the TuneIn app in my MS. Anticipating the loss of the FM tuner with the MCU2 upgrade, though, I went online, created a free TuneIn account, discovered that every local station I'd ever listen to is available, and created an extensive list of favorites. In the Tesla, I signed in to TuneIn with the new account and found all my favorites displayed in Tesla Music (with cute, colorful logos). It's all digital, so I can't discern any difference in audio quality from the tuner. But an added bonus is that some of the stations supply song and artist information on their digital feeds that do not show up when using the tuner. In addition, even when far from home I can get those stations that are located in my home area. In theory, I think I should be able to drive from Maine to California listening to my Ohio stations.
I found that I won't miss the FM tuner at all. In fact, TuneIn has a couple of advantages.
For SiriusXM subscribers, I guess the only solution would be the SiriusXM phone app, but at least it's no-cost
 
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TuneIn has limitations - not all stations are provided, some stations have opted to use a different app. And TuneIn doesn't provide national news or live sporting events (though it could be a while before we have any of those...).

The XM app carries more stations than XM radio, so using the XM app is an upgrade over using the XM radio - providing access to live national news and sports.

Using the built-in TuneIn app provides a lot of the content available through radio - the rest of the content will require using a smartphone - and until Tesla provides something like Android Auto/Apple CarPlay, using smartphone apps requires interacting with the smartphone display - which is illegal in many places.

If Tesla had screen mirroring support, the smartphone apps could be accessed through the console touchscreen.

Until then, we'll probably hold off on the Infotainment Upgrade unless Tesla provides a reasonable option for upgrading to the MCU2 radio.
 
I've never been interested in Internet radio, so I never tried the TuneIn app in my MS. Anticipating the loss of the FM tuner with the MCU2 upgrade, though, I went online, created a free TuneIn account, discovered that every local station I'd ever listen to is available, and created an extensive list of favorites. In the Tesla, I signed in to TuneIn with the new account and found all my favorites displayed in Tesla Music (with cute, colorful logos). It's all digital, so I can't discern any difference in audio quality from the tuner. But an added bonus is that some of the stations supply song and artist information on their digital feeds that do not show up when using the tuner. In addition, even when far from home I can get those stations that are located in my home area. In theory, I think I should be able to drive from Maine to California listening to my Ohio stations.
I found that I won't miss the FM tuner at all. In fact, TuneIn has a couple of advantages.
For SiriusXM subscribers, I guess the only solution would be the SiriusXM phone app, but at least it's no-cost

Yes, I don't think I've ever used my FM tuner.... except for driving through rural Vermont. No internet means no internet radio. :)
 
Until then, we'll probably hold off on the Infotainment Upgrade unless Tesla provides a reasonable option for upgrading to the MCU2 radio.

While you decide to wait, it is possible that the Infotainment Upgrade may not be offered for every. We don't know the life of this paid upgrade, but it's possible that it has a end of life as the number of MCU1 vehicle decreased due to many factors...

Waiting too long may result in never being able to upgrade to MCU2 and not able to get any new features (like the Sentry/Dashcam Viewer/Games/Entertainment/etc...).