Wellardmac

Well, that's the funny thing. I discovered that I can play my music through PCM from my USB drive and still use CarPlay, so no, CarPlay doesn't have to be in Aux mode to use CarPlay.

If I want to adjust the music volume through the **** on PCM I have to hit info to go back to PCM, adjust the volume, then hit Info to go back to CarPlay. it was only by accident that I figured out that the volume adjustment on the steering wheel worked without having to go back into PCM mode.

lunderdog

I spent some time this evening trying to dial in the PCM audio relative to the CarPlay audio. I think I’ve got it in a good spot now where it’s not aggressively loud through PCM or too quiet in CarPlay. Though, not sure that this matters if you plan to play all of your music through CarPlay. Initially, I thought I would swap back and forth between PCM/Carplay because there’s a local radio station that I like to listen to. Turns out they have an app that works with CarPlay. So, I’ll probably be purely on CarPlay from now on if I can.

I have the sport wheel without multi-function buttons and I am not able to control the PCM audio sources (e.g. radio, Sirius/XM, JukeBox) volume using the dial while in CarPlay. I have to swap to PCM, adjust audio, and swap back. Luckily, swaping between them is as simple as pressing the Info button for a second. Audio played through CarPlay (e.g. Spotify, Apple Music) can be adjusted without exiting CarPlay.

LSR

[This is a modification of my previous post, because I just realized I may have misunderstood what the volume control can or can't do.] Would you please clarify? I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that if you're playing music through your cellphone over CarPlay (e.g., Spotify or voice navigation prompts from Waze), you can't control the volume of what is playing? Or, are you saying if in CarPlay and you're playing audio through the PCM's radio, Sirius/XM, JukeBox, then the volume control doesn't work unless you switch back to PCM? If the situation is the latter, I could live with that. But if you're saying that if in CarPlay mode no matter what is playing (whether Waze voice instructions, Spotify, or a phone call over CarPlay or Sirius/XM from the PCM), you can't control the volume without first switching back to PCM mode, that would be unacceptable to me.

lunderdog

Sorry for the confusion. I've edited my previous post to provide more clarification.

If you are playing music through your cellphone over CarPlay (e.g., Spotify), you can control the volume of what is playing.

If in CarPlay and you're playing audio through the PCM's radio, Sirius/XM, JukeBox, then the volume control doesn't work unless you switch back to PCM <— this is my experience.

I had the radio playing from PCM and could not adjust the radio volume while in CarPlay. Didn’t test any other sources in PCM, but presume they are all the same. Stock installation, no modifications done so far. Would be interested in figuring out what could be done to manage the PCM audio while in CarPlay as well. Any idea if that’s something that other CarPlay units have managed to solve for?

Porsche_nuts

So that I understand this completely, we are dealing with two separate systems, Carplay and PCM. If you are on Carplay, you cannot use the PCM system and visa versa, am I correct? For example, if I am in Carplay using WAZE, I cannot be on the PCM system using Jukebox or listening to a PCM radio station. Right?

LSR

Thanks so much for clarifying. WHEW! I was about to start researching the cost of return postage to China. :-)

I'm going to have to wait until I get my iSudar board installed to fully understand all of these anomalies. I agree it would be nice if the iSudar board could be in CarPlay mode with Waze announcing directions while listening to Classic Vinyl on Sirius/XM, and to be able to control the volume of Classic Vinyl (or whatever) without doing any more than turning the volume ****. But it sounds like the volume **** would control the volume of Waze instead, unless you switch back to PCM mode. Controlling whatever sound is playing might be possible if the volume control circuit was downstream of wherever it is that the PCM audio and the CarPlay audio are injected into the circuit because the volume control would then control the level whatever audio is coming to it. But it seems, from what you report, that the PCM isn't built this way. I'll study this when the iSudar board is installed in my car to see if there may be a way to modify the current behavior.

lunderdog

As far as I can tell, you can use CarPlay and PCM functions independent of one another. However, you can only view and control one at a time, only output audio from one at a time, and swap between the two using the Info button on the front of the PCM unit. CarPlay seems to output audio to the PCM aux input. So, if you have aux selected in the PCM, you can control the audio that will play in the car via the CarPlay unit. If you select radio (or, presumably, Sirius/XM, JukeBox, disc), you can play that audio, swap over to CarPlay, view and interact with the apps, but won't hear the audio from CarPlay apps. It seems you should be able to use Waze while listening to audio from the PCM system using Jukebox. Still, I don’t think you will have audio for Waze at the same time and will have to use the Info button to swap to the PCM controls to adjust the volume. I will try to test this out tomorrow.

Wellardmac

This is correct, with the exception of being able to PCM control volume from your steering wheel when you're in CarPlay mode.

You are 100% correct with regards to CarPlay audio also. When I'm listening to PCM audio the audio from Apple Maps does not play from navigation, as I'm using the other audio channel.

LSR

That the steering wheel volume control works separately and differently from the PCM’s volume control is interesting. I have the factory wiring diagram for my car and will trace the circuit to the steering wheel volume control to see how that might work. I suspect it may work through the CAN bus, because at first glance I don’t see any other pins on the PCM’s Quadlock connector to which the steering wheel volume control would connect.

Wellardmac

yeah, i was surprised by it and discovered by accident. If only there was also a way to do track advance now without having to switch back into pcm mode.

docskeet

With my unit: IDCORE (British), I am able to press track advance on the PCM and get the next track I’m streaming IE listening to Apple Music.

osunick

So the isudar doesn't support track skip via the buttons on the PCM?

UH2

I can track forward/back with the NM unit without having to switch modes. All the buttons perform their desired functions while using Android Auto.

Wellardmac

Let me clearly clarify. The PCM advance buttons work when you are playing music through CarPlay. They do not advance the track when you are in CarPlay mode and playing music through PCM, i.e. from Jukebox or USB stick. There is a clear and important distinction that I don't think is captured by UH2.

osunick

Thanks, that is good to know because not all the kits support skip on AA/CP from PCM while playing music to through PCM and it's not listed as a feature on the shop listing, unlike joyeauto.