The Lance J. Technoweb

I wanted to install a CarPlay compatible head unit into my good old Lexus ES330, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money. So forget it, right? No way! I bought the Jensen VX5228 on discount for under $180 , and I couldn't be more pleased. The Jensen is a standard "Double DIN" sized head unit, which means that it can be adapted to fit into a whole lot of modern cars. I have an older Lexus ES330, and so fitting it required a few extra Lexus-ish parts, but in the end it looks great and works like a champ. Here's what I needed for my 2002-2006 Lexus ES300 or ES330: The Jensen VX5228 or other 2-DIN CarPlay unit A ES300/330 Faceplate for a double-DIN radio The TYTO-01 Amplifier adapter for the Lexus/JBL Amplifier System A panel mount USB connector Common tools The process was pretty simple, and it can work with basically any modern double-DIN radio. Workbench Prep On the workbench, I performed the following steps Connect the TYTO-01 wire harness to the...

We've all seen a Lightning cable that has started to fall apart.  They get used every day, and after enough tugs and yanks on your iPhone, they start to fray. I've seen a lot of these frayed cables, so I've started to fix them before they break with heat shrink tube.  I get my heat shrink on Amazon, like this handy and inexpensive pack.   I prefer the heat shrink tubes without internal glue - it has higher flexibility and a smaller outside diameter once shrunk. Heat Shrink Tubing on an Old, Frayed Lightning Cable In the photo here, you'll see that I slid on a 1.25 inch length of heat shrink over the lighting connector, and then shrunk it into place.  I chose a diameter that just barely fits over the lightning connector.  In all, it took about 60 seconds to perform this repair. Warning: the white plastic of the lightning cable has a pretty low melting point.  It seems to start to melt at about 125°C (or about 250°F), which is the same temperatur...