"victor" (victor)
02/14/2018 at 13:42 • Filed to: None
4
30|
"victor" (victor)
02/14/2018 at 13:42 • Filed to: None | 4
| 30 |
I guess I am a bit less worried about Chinese companies these days than a few years ago. One example is this carplay box that came out just a few months ago. The only thing that was sketchy about them is everything. But they were showing proof of concept that Carplay can work on existing German car stereo systems to those who want it. I’m going to rehash what I posted in an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that nobody seems to care about, but I think is sort of cool.
So, what does any one sane person do with such unproven technology. Logically paypal money to an email address someone provided via WHATSAPP to a random person in China.
It all starts with a company putting out youtube videos like this:
And me saying “Why the f not? These guys claim to provide Carplay interfaces for BMW, Audi, Porsche and Mercedes system, all with working youtube videos. So, i go to the company website and chat with the person via the chat window. They ask for my WhatsApp number.
The next day, they contact me via WhatsApp and asked if I was interested. I said...sure. So in a bout of stupidity, I paypal the address, screenshot it and shoot it to them. They give me a DHL tracking number. That’s a good start.
This arrives in 2 day mail from HK:
Here’s a sequence of me taking apart my interior and plugging in the box. All pretty high quality harnesses.. no cutting.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
So, this is the suprising thing. Mercedes NTG is an arcane complicated setup. In the entire process was aided by said lady as she went back and forth between the engineers and me.
The box didnt’ fit behind the center stack, so I called it a day and completed it a few days later when I had time. I ended up putting it in the void next to the glovebox.
And the final product:
So, now my stereo is a hybrid of a Chinese box and a German designed Japanese stereo system.
The interesting thing to note about this:
Both the box and the harnesses were surprisingly robust, well built and well designed.
The person I was dealing with had decent written English
Support is surprisingly good and responsive throughout the install and troubleshooting process
$439 for the box isn’t cheap. But I like it enough that I don’t have to buy a new car
No Android auto support yet. That’s coming later in the year. This is software updateable via usb.
With the way the harnesses work, the phone buttons, volume buttons and my COMAND knob and buttons all control the Carplay box. Hold down the voice button for 5 seconds on the steering wheel, and Siri pops up.
So, that’s it for now. I like it enough that I’m going to get one for my used “
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
”. Let me know if you have any questions, but Ithought it’s interesting enough to share.
E90M3
> victor
02/14/2018 at 13:47 |
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I would really like to do something like this for both E9Xs. Actually, I’d settle for the USB port in the 3 working.
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victor
> E90M3
02/14/2018 at 13:49 |
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You mean this?:
I’m on a Pixel 2XL, but I just picked up an old iPhone just to Run carplay in the intervening time.
Textured Soy Protein
> victor
02/14/2018 at 13:56 |
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I had seen a different thing for the E9x where it’s a custom Android tablet that replaces the actual screen and intercepts the signals from the buttons and knobs, so most of the time you’re interacting with the tablet’s UI for things like Android Auto, but then if you need to change vehicle settings you can flip it back to the iDrive UI. I was tempted but thought it was kinda janky.
I’ll keep my eye on this Unichip thing for when they add Android Auto since Carplay is useless to me.
fintail
> victor
02/14/2018 at 13:58 |
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You have more guts than I - I’d be afraid of fire or the entire center stack never working again. Cool that it worked out for you.
I see your car also has the natural/matte finish wood.
facw
> victor
02/14/2018 at 14:04 |
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And here I thought my Grom box was fancy.
TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
> victor
02/14/2018 at 14:06 |
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Question though, what happens to the old vehicle menus? As in vehicle status and all that? Carplay is awesome and all but if I can no longer view vehicle faults/oil status/tire status ect... it makes this not worth it.
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victor
> TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
02/14/2018 at 14:09 |
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You enter and exit OEM and carplay via holding down the cancel button on COMAND for a few seconds, just like carplay would on a newer car. If I hit reverse, the 360 cam overrides carplay.
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TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
> victor
02/14/2018 at 14:10 |
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Oh nice. Now I wait for the android version...
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victor
> TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
02/14/2018 at 14:12 |
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Will be the same box. They’re running beta already on Android right now via software update. In my mind, carplay will suffice until then.
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victor
> fintail
02/14/2018 at 14:15 |
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Yeah. I’m not concerned about the box. Knowing now what I know, it’s really straightforward. I’m mostly afraid of damaging the wood. That’s the riskiest part of the whole process, but even that is pretty low risk
HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
> E90M3
02/14/2018 at 14:20 |
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Your YSB doesnt Work either? Mine likes to shut the radio off when my phone is connected. The AUX Jack works fine tho. And the USB worked for about the first week I had the csr
Rico
> victor
02/14/2018 at 14:52 |
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You’re the man. Less than $500 is actually pretty great all in.
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E90M3
> HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
02/14/2018 at 15:01 |
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Neither works in the 3, which is really annoying. The M3 is all good thought. It looks like I have to disassemble half the car to trouble shoot the USB, and I haven’t felt like doing that yet.
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E90M3
> victor
02/14/2018 at 15:07 |
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Can’t see the video at work.
CompactLuxuryFan
> victor
02/14/2018 at 15:18 |
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This is exactly what I need a brave friend who can work on cars to sit down and help me do. For the time being, I’ll leave my interior in one piece x-(
DanZman
> victor
02/14/2018 at 15:28 |
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Do people really like CarPlay that much? I absolutely hate it. It takes forever for my phone to be recognized, sometimes requiring a reboot. Pandora almost never starts on the first try, sometimes requiring a reboot. Siri is very slow so respond. I honestly think that CarPlay is one of the worst products to come out of Apple recently.
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victor
> DanZman
02/14/2018 at 15:37 |
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I’m ambivalent towards it. Ultimately it’s for Android Auto when needed. Worst case is it never gets activated and used.
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victor
> CompactLuxuryFan
02/14/2018 at 15:38 |
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Well, if you’re in seattle, I can provide pointers depending on car mfg. Seriously, this is what youtube videos are all for.
Chariotoflove
> DanZman
02/14/2018 at 15:56 |
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I really like CarPlay on our Sedona. It works great. Responsive. Maybe it depends on the system that is hosting it?
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fintail
> victor
02/14/2018 at 16:08 |
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I’d be afraid of that too - although I suppose the pieces are engineered to come apart, as things break and need to be replaced, MB knows they will be worked on.
My experience with weird aftermarket parts is limited to a set of Depo lights for a W126, and they required a bit of fettling (although they looked fine once installed).
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victor
> fintail
02/14/2018 at 16:17 |
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Yeah, if you ever get to that point, let me know. I’ll be more than happy to help, as long as you’re willing to come over to QA.
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DanZman
> Chariotoflove
02/14/2018 at 16:20 |
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I thought that. But I’ve tried it on rental cars too.
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fintail
> victor
02/14/2018 at 16:20 |
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I am not sure how long I will keep my 212, as it is a lease, and I know buying them at the end (next May) is difficult. If their price is the comically inflated residual, or anything near it, no. Also not sure how much I would really use carplay/android auto. I wish distronic was an easy retrofit, but I can’t even imagine the drama involved there, it’d be cheaper to find another car.
My car is really loaded for a Bluetec - leather, vented seats, pano, lighting, blind spot, lane departure,parktronic, 4Matic, etc, but no distronic. If I look to buy one, I want a distronic car.
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victor
> fintail
02/14/2018 at 16:22 |
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Yeah, distronic, parktronic, and 4matic are the must haves for me. To me, the new interiors are nice, but it’s awash in gimmicky piano black plastic and metalized plastic trim. I get a ton more real metal and wood in my current interior.
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fintail
> victor
02/14/2018 at 16:26 |
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My car is from a run where due to a supplier issue, parktronic lacks surround view, and I am usually fine with just the camera and mirror. I like the surround view, my prior car had it, I assume your does too.
When this lease is up and if I don’t lease again, I am thinking of finding a completely loaded Bluetec, E wagon, E63, or G-Wagen - all used, of course.
TysMagic
> victor
02/14/2018 at 16:37 |
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I regret not spending the extra $100 to get the asian market radio for the beetle with carplay. I made a massive OEM upgrade to a touchscreen bluetooth model, but couldn’t talk myself in to the extra to get carplay at the time. I wish I had as I really want to play with it and I am confident I would get $100 worth of tinkering out of it.
Impressed how well and how easy this looks. Worth the risk!
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TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
> victor
02/14/2018 at 16:47 |
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Cool, I’m happy to wait. I don’t have any iPhones lying around and I’m not about to buy one.
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CompactLuxuryFan
> victor
02/14/2018 at 17:03 |
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I have an E90 LCI just like in the video, but I’m in San Francisco. I’m honestly pretty happy just sticking my phone on one of the A/C vents and I’m not even a big fan of CarPlay, but this strikes me as a really cool interior mod. My navigation screen wouldn’t be wasted as much.
Apple put out an iOS update that made my bluetooth streaming to 3.5 mm dongles (like this one , but I have others that also stopped working so I’m pretty sure it’s an iPhone issue) almost never work. I have to unpair them on my phone and then have the bluetooth menu open while I turn the car on and then wait for the dongle to try to connect to the phone several times as a headset, and then finally it’ll show up as a bluetooth streaming device and then I can actually accept and be on my way. Not the smoothest experience to say the least.
adamftw
> DanZman
03/01/2018 at 06:32 |
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Are you using it through a Chrysler product? Because it does suck that way.
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DanZman
> adamftw
03/01/2018 at 17:32 |
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I own a GM, but I’ve used it through a Chrysler and BMW. All experiences were terrible.