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Looks very similar than the ones I installed (see post in this thread). I have less experience with them than ZedZed as I just installed them but so far, so good. Regarding accuracy, I have not yet used them but my new HU has a lot of setup parameters to adjust the lane guides.
This video offers some very good trouble-shooting measures for anyone having problems with getting wireless Carplay to work. The suggestions also work (mostly) for Android users too. Although not everyone has the same HU as Paul from HiFimax, the basic principles apply to pretty much all HUs out there. I found this to be a good summary of the various steps to take when CP/AA is refusing to play nicely wirelessly.
Edit: I just checked the above website, and when ordering Mr12Volt directly from Roman, his website has an option box to order the system with or without sat radio. That's the way he ensures that you have the proper spacers for installation.
You may be able to get the spacers more quickly from him.
Roman was very helpful and gave me specific instructions that I didn't even find on the youtube videos about how to install this kit. He also mentioned that while the mr12volt kit is more expensive then something like isudar's board, it does the sound totally digital instead of converting it to analog and then back again which degrades sound quality. I don't mind paying a little more for my burmester to sound better so I'm going to try to make this kit work once I get the new spacers for the board.
@dogshyne I am extremely happy with the sound quality in the Mr12Volt system that Roman installed in my car. It really woke up my Bose sound system. You should be very happy with it coupled to your Burmester.
I'm also very glad I was able do that and retain all the OEM PCM 3.1 functionality, simply by switching sources.
Thanks for the recommendations ZedZed. Well appreciated. I finally had time to work on these issues. Here is where I am at this time.
1. I have not figured out how to customize the home screen for the default launcher and I have not heard anything from the HU support. But I got more familiar with the UI and I can do what I have to do without major issues. I'm also focusing on Car Web Guru as it has a more options to customize and I like the look.
2. In my installation, I did connect the front camera to the HU dedicated input wires for the front camera that are separated from the "AUX" wires. Nevertheless, I tried to use the "Aux" icon on the base launcher just in case, but it doesn't activate the front camera. I was ready to switch the camera connection to Aux and try but then I realized that CWG can also not "see" the "Aux" icon so even if the "Aux" path would work for the front camera, I would still be having the issue accessing the front camera from CWG. I need to do more investigations on this one. I suspect that both aux and front camera access is implemented directly into the base launcher and not as Android apps. Info from Erisin or somebody who has technical knowledge of the HU will help but unfortunately, I'm not getting answers to my tentative to contact. Any suggestion very appreciated.
3. This was a cockpit error from my side: there is a setting in the "Factory Settings" screen to activate the external mike. I did initially turn it on but while experimenting with the backup feature, the setting went back to off. Mike is now working well. I have it temporarily inserted in the dashboard near the HU, but I plan to move it at the same place than ZedZed as it is closer to the driver's head.
Want also to share my experience while using the backup feature on the "Factory Settings" and make you aware of a side effect that made me waste a lot of time and was scary.
Considering the huge number of settings in this HU, having a backup feature that allows to save the current configuration and restore it may be a big-time saver. But initially, it made me waste a lot of time.
Before to make the configuration changes, I saved the "last-good-configuration" to a USB drive by using the "Backup" option.
When changes are made in the "Factory Settings" screens, and you exit the settings screen, there is a prompt that asks to restart the unit to apply the changes. I accepted and the HU rebooted. And never passed the initial boot screen... I tried multiple times, and I was sure that I had "bricked" the HU while making changes to the factory settings. No way to reboot back to Android.
I then realized that I had left the USB drive in the glove box USB plug and pulled it out. Restarted the HU and it booted right away. Took the USB drive to my laptop and looking at the content, it seems that when the configuration backup is done, the HU creates a backup configuration file named "ZQ_FACTORY_SET" but also creates an "Android" folder and a set of sub-folders that are empty. My assumption is that this file structure is used to deploy updates and is recognized by the HU when booting. But because it's empty, the boot process never continues. Bottom line, before rebooting, unplug and save your USB drive if you use it to save configurations.
Despite these issues, I have to say that the more I use this new HU, the more I like it. It really works well and improves the driving experience when it comes to navigation, communication and media playing. In my case, the addition of the cameras is a great plus.
Thought I'd check in and relay an interesting scenario. A few days ago I replaced my iPhone XR with an iphone 15 Pro. Yeah I keep them a while. Anyway, when it came time to pair my phone in the 911, I was able to do so without connecting to the wifi channel. The phone and HU linked right up and functioned. I just paied the phone on BT and the phone and HU linked up in CP. I had the same result in my '18 BGTS which has PCM4.1 and a dongle and also in my Ram 1500 with an OEM CP HU and dongle. None of the three systems required connection via wifi. Could this be because of the latest iOS?
Thanks for the recommendations ZedZed. Well appreciated. I finally had time to work on these issues. Here is where I am at this time.
1. I have not figured out how to customize the home screen for the default launcher and I have not heard anything from the HU support. But I got more familiar with the UI and I can do what I have to do without major issues. I'm also focusing on Car Web Guru as it has a more options to customize and I like the look.
2. In my installation, I did connect the front camera to the HU dedicated input wires for the front camera that are separated from the "AUX" wires. Nevertheless, I tried to use the "Aux" icon on the base launcher just in case, but it doesn't activate the front camera. I was ready to switch the camera connection to Aux and try but then I realized that CWG can also not "see" the "Aux" icon so even if the "Aux" path would work for the front camera, I would still be having the issue accessing the front camera from CWG. I need to do more investigations on this one. I suspect that both aux and front camera access is implemented directly into the base launcher and not as Android apps. Info from Erisin or somebody who has technical knowledge of the HU will help but unfortunately, I'm not getting answers to my tentative to contact. Any suggestion very appreciated.
3. This was a cockpit error from my side: there is a setting in the "Factory Settings" screen to activate the external mike. I did initially turn it on but while experimenting with the backup feature, the setting went back to off. Mike is now working well. I have it temporarily inserted in the dashboard near the HU, but I plan to move it at the same place than ZedZed as it is closer to the driver's head.
Want also to share my experience while using the backup feature on the "Factory Settings" and make you aware of a side effect that made me waste a lot of time and was scary.
Considering the huge number of settings in this HU, having a backup feature that allows to save the current configuration and restore it may be a big-time saver. But initially, it made me waste a lot of time.
Before to make the configuration changes, I saved the "last-good-configuration" to a USB drive by using the "Backup" option.
When changes are made in the "Factory Settings" screens, and you exit the settings screen, there is a prompt that asks to restart the unit to apply the changes. I accepted and the HU rebooted. And never passed the initial boot screen... I tried multiple times, and I was sure that I had "bricked" the HU while making changes to the factory settings. No way to reboot back to Android.
I then realized that I had left the USB drive in the glove box USB plug and pulled it out. Restarted the HU and it booted right away. Took the USB drive to my laptop and looking at the content, it seems that when the configuration backup is done, the HU creates a backup configuration file named "ZQ_FACTORY_SET" but also creates an "Android" folder and a set of sub-folders that are empty. My assumption is that this file structure is used to deploy updates and is recognized by the HU when booting. But because it's empty, the boot process never continues. Bottom line, before rebooting, unplug and save your USB drive if you use it to save configurations.
Despite these issues, I have to say that the more I use this new HU, the more I like it. It really works well and improves the driving experience when it comes to navigation, communication and media playing. In my case, the addition of the cameras is a great plus.
Good progress! I have seen some HUs that come with a Front Camera App - have you checked all the supplied apps to see if you have one? Have you tried connecting the front camera to the AUX Video Input and then using the AUX app on the HU?
CarWebGuru is amazingly versatile. Have you noticed yet that you can add numerous different themes, which are all customisable, and then swipe between them on the HU - so you can have different themes for different purposes/moods etc. I have tried pretty much all the launchers, and CWG is the one I came back to. Also, support is very good from the Dev, Denis (I think that's his name) in Russia.
Great info on the backup feature! Heart in mouth moment for sure. I have used the backup feature but just backed up to the HU itself and not to an external USB, so avoided the problem. I usually do a backup before I futz with changes that I am unsure of until I have tried them out.
Thought I'd check in and relay an interesting scenario. A few days ago I replaced my iPhone XR with an iphone 15 Pro. Yeah I keep them a while. Anyway, when it came time to pair my phone in the 911, I was able to do so without connecting to the wifi channel. The phone and HU linked right up and functioned. I just paied the phone on BT and the phone and HU linked up in CP. I had the same result in my '18 BGTS which has PCM4.1 and a dongle and also in my Ram 1500 with an OEM CP HU and dongle. None of the three systems required connection via wifi. Could this be because of the latest iOS?
I think it has always worked that way with Android. Just make a BT connection and then Android Auto just works. IDK about Apple, but Android establishes a BT connection and this then turns on the required Wi-Fi for Android Auto. I think there has traditionally been an extra step on iPhones where you have to tell the iPhone to use Carplay? Seems they have now got rid of that. With both AA and CP, all data is sent via Wi-Fi and the BT connection establishes the Wi-Fi to enable that. This is also the reason you can't use Wi-Fi on the HU by connecting to a hotspot on the mobile phone, at the same time as using CP or AA.
There are so many potential combinations of OS versions, phones and Android Auto/Carplay that it can be a minefield. That's why I liked that video I posted the other day from Paul at HifiMax - he goes through great troubleshooting procedure if anyone is having connection problems. Enjoy that new iPhone!
Thought I'd check in and relay an interesting scenario. A few days ago I replaced my iPhone XR with an iphone 15 Pro. Yeah I keep them a while. Anyway, when it came time to pair my phone in the 911, I was able to do so without connecting to the wifi channel. The phone and HU linked right up and functioned. I just paied the phone on BT and the phone and HU linked up in CP. I had the same result in my '18 BGTS which has PCM4.1 and a dongle and also in my Ram 1500 with an OEM CP HU and dongle. None of the three systems required connection via wifi. Could this be because of the latest iOS?
Every version of iPhone I've used with CarPlay on a half dozen or more vehicles requires Wi-Fi to be on in phone settings, but it does not require a Wi-Fi signal at all. That's via Bluetooth (BT).
I'm still using an iPhone XR, which pairs up with each of our 4 vehicles with no intervention once initially BT paired.
@Chuck245 - do you get a 'no video' signal on the screen when you attempt to connect to the front camera, or is the screen just blank, or does it have static, or does it not even change from whatever was displayed before? If you get 'no video' then that implies everything is working OK but the camera is not connected as it should be. If there's static, it may be that the camera needs switching to NTSC or whatever in the settings. If it doesn't change at all, then the HU isn't even getting the signal to connect to the input. Knowing which might help us narrow down the cause. Just a thought.
@ZedZed The issue is that from CWG, I cannot see neither the "Front View" or the "AUX" icons. These 2 icons are only accessible from the original launcher but are not listed in the CWG list of icons that can be assigned to a CWG button. The front camera is working fine and displays well in the screen if I use the "Front View" icon from the original launcher. IOW, the front camera connection to the HU is good and working well. I didn't try to connect the front camera to the aux video cable of the HU because as the "AUX" icon is also not accessible from CWG, even if the "AUX" icon in the original launcher will display the front camera correctly, this will not solve my issue of accessing the front camera from CWG.
BUT, I was just giving it another pass at investigating, and I found out that CWG lists an icon labeled "Video Source" and if I select this icon, I get a black screen and after a few seconds, a message saying, "No AUX source". This opens the possibility that if I connect the front camera video cable to the HU "AUX" video cable, I may be able to display the front camera view from CWG using the "Video Source" icon. This will be my next step. I will share results.
Regarding the backup, I also save locally in the HU but want to have the backup in an USB in case the HU dies, and I need to replace it. Sometimes, playing it too safe gets you in trouble...
Some pictures below to help explain. Screen from the original launcher with the "Front View" icon Screen from original launcher with the "AUX" icon CWG screen with list of icons accessible. "Font View" and "AUX" from original launcher not listed. But there is a "Video Source" icon that seems to be linked to "AUX"
@ZedZed The issue is that from CWG, I cannot see neither the "Front View" or the "AUX" icons. These 2 icons are only accessible from the original launcher but are not listed in the CWG list of icons that can be assigned to a CWG button. The front camera is working fine and displays well in the screen if I use the "Front View" icon from the original launcher. IOW, the front camera connection to the HU is good and working well. I didn't try to connect the front camera to the aux video cable of the HU because as the "AUX" icon is also not accessible from CWG, even if the "AUX" icon in the original launcher will display the front camera correctly, this will not solve my issue of accessing the front camera from CWG.
BUT, I was just giving it another pass at investigating, and I found out that CWG lists an icon labeled "Video Source" and if I select this icon, I get a black screen and after a few seconds, a message saying, "No AUX source". This opens the possibility that if I connect the front camera video cable to the HU "AUX" video cable, I may be able to display the front camera view from CWG using the "Video Source" icon. This will be my next step. I will share results.
Regarding the backup, I also save locally in the HU but want to have the backup in an USB in case the HU dies, and I need to replace it. Sometimes, playing it too safe gets you in trouble...
Some pictures below to help explain. Screen from the original launcher with the "Front View" icon Screen from original launcher with the "AUX" icon CWG screen with list of icons accessible. "Font View" and "AUX" from original launcher not listed. But there is a "Video Source" icon that seems to be linked to "AUX"
Did you try going to the original launcher, pressing and holding "front view" and then moving it to CWG? Also, have you tried other launchers? Other launchers may have "front view" available on its men, and may be an issue only with CWG.
Yes, I tried the usual methods to move/copy icons and also multiple launchers but have the same issue: the original "Aux" and "Front View" icons are only accessible from the original launcher. I may be missing something and there is indeed a way to make these icons accessible from CWG and other launchers, but I found an alternative that solves my issue.
I tried to connect the front camera video cable to the aux cable of the HU and also connected the + wire of the camera to ACC in place of the dedicated "+ FCAM" wire and doing this, I can use the "Video source" icon from CWG. I can now turn my front camera on/off from CWG. I'm happy now CWG with access to front camera using "Video Source"
@ZedZed The issue is that from CWG, I cannot see neither the "Front View" or the "AUX" icons. These 2 icons are only accessible from the original launcher but are not listed in the CWG list of icons that can be assigned to a CWG button. The front camera is working fine and displays well in the screen if I use the "Front View" icon from the original launcher. IOW, the front camera connection to the HU is good and working well. I didn't try to connect the front camera to the aux video cable of the HU because as the "AUX" icon is also not accessible from CWG, even if the "AUX" icon in the original launcher will display the front camera correctly, this will not solve my issue of accessing the front camera from CWG.
BUT, I was just giving it another pass at investigating, and I found out that CWG lists an icon labeled "Video Source" and if I select this icon, I get a black screen and after a few seconds, a message saying, "No AUX source". This opens the possibility that if I connect the front camera video cable to the HU "AUX" video cable, I may be able to display the front camera view from CWG using the "Video Source" icon. This will be my next step. I will share results.
Regarding the backup, I also save locally in the HU but want to have the backup in an USB in case the HU dies, and I need to replace it. Sometimes, playing it too safe gets you in trouble...
Some pictures below to help explain.
Thanks for the clarification - I understand now. So it seems that Front View and AUX are not actual apps (or they would appear in CWG). They must be part of the HU's OS then. I assume that when in the CWG GUI, Apps drawer, that you swiped to the next page of apps (if there is a next page of course)? If not, you may find some more apps displayed.
Agreed about the backup protocol - I haven't really considered the case of the HU totally failing - I just use the backup feature to make a quick and dirty 'restore point' in case I mess things up when fiddling. I suspect that if you have to replace the HU, even with the same brand, the USB backup may not work since every seller seems to offer a slightly different version of the hacked Android they use. Well, it's not really 'hacked' as such as Android is open source, but you get my drift I think.
Did you try going to the original launcher, pressing and holding "front view" and then moving it to CWG? Also, have you tried other launchers? Other launchers may have "front view" available on its men, and may be an issue only with CWG.
Good idea, but as far as I know, all of the launchers just look at the apps on the HU and display icons for all the apps they can see. So every app that has been loaded into Android should be available in any launcher. Chuck may not have realised that there are more app drawers available by swiping the CWG apps screen (although I am pretty sure he will have tried this). Of course, the Front View and AUX icons he sees in the stock launcher may have been hard-wired there by the Devs of his unit and aren't really apps as such. It's an odd one because his front camera is working when he uses the stock launcher, so he has wired it all up correctly.
01-04-2024, 09:47 PM
