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Like I said before, I was very careful with the installation of the ISUDAR board and components. I have read all the posts in this thread. I was very happy when it worked as expected initially. I drove around for a hour using WAZE and listening to music. At about the 1 hour mark the screen went blank. I tried shutting down my car and restarting it, screen remained blank. I took the PCM out and inspected all the cables etc. installed the unit a second time, screen remained blank. Removed the PCM a third time and this time removed all the ISUDAR board and components back to my original PCM. Screen remained blank. Removed the PCM unit a 4th time inspected all cables etc.Installed the PCM again and no screen or blank screen. Buttons light up. Any ideas on how I should proceed? I sent a email to kimi asking for advice. Thanks.
I'll suggest checking 2 things:
A) front panel flex cable & connector - is it seated properly? Did you stress the connector when initially doing the iSudar install and weaken the solder joints? If you've messed with surface mount parts before you can check the joints;
B) the twin orange fiber optic cables that you have to swap from one large connector to the other...did you swap it back correctly? Is it latched in? Is it upside-down?
I never took off the front panel initially. I have since checked the cables a number of times to make sure they are properly seated. The unit seems to be getting power because the buttons light up, but the screen stays blank. This is the way it has been since after I had what I thought was a successful install of ISUDAR board and components and the screen went black or blank after about a hour of working flawlessly. Cables in front panel before being reseated today. Large cable being reseated Both cables after being reseated Both cables after being reseated on main board. Orange cables I believe are in the right spot, they are latched in. Orange cables can only go in one direction.
Last edited by ralpheickhof; 09-12-2022 at 04:08 PM.
Does anyone have a full list of what the factory mode options do on the iSudar board?
I got into the factory menu via code 0301 but I don't know what any of the options do, and I don't want to mess with them without knowing. I tried switching on/off a couple of them but didn't notice any practical difference - maybe I need to pull the PCM fuse out, or lock the car and wait for the PCM to power cycle, for the new settings to take effect?
The main issue I'm having is the audio not connecting sometimes (usually after turning the car off and coming back after a short while) and when this happens I have to cycle Wi-Fi off/on on my iPhone and wait for CarPlay to connect back.
Another issue is the steering wheel call button accepting the call but immediately putting it on hold -- I can live with this but it would've been much better if it worked right away.
The steering wheel diamond button doesn't do anything in Carplay - it would have been awesome if it worked like the "next" button in AUX BT, is there a factory mode option for that? The steering wheel back button doesn't go back in Carplay either but for me this is a good thing, it would have been awkward to use otherwise. The PCM next, previous song and back buttons work as expected.
Lastly I've noticed that Siri is quite flaky. When the phone is not connected to anything, you know how you first say "Hey Siri" then wait for the chime and then tell her what to do? well with this CarPlay, I have to say the whole command "Hey Siri do blablabla" at once without waiting for the Siri icon on screen or chime. And even then she sometimes gets me and sometimes doesn't.
I've also had people tell me that my audio quality wasn't good on phone calls -- something I've never heard while on the factory hands free audio system. I'm not sure if the microphone that came with the board is only used for "Hey Siri" or if it's used for everything. I've tried fiddling with the "original BT" option in factory mode but not sure if that had any effect. I have the iSudar mic behind the middle left air vent.
The AUX audio quality isn't that bad however. It's noticeably worse than AUX BT but not so bad that I couldn't live with it. I turned down the PCM EQ and bumped up the iSudar EQ to compensate, which made it just marginally lower quality than AUX BT and I'm completely okay with that. I have the Bose audio system by the way.
There's also a noticeable delay with audio playback: I've noticed a good 2-3 second delay between skipping a song and hearing the next song begin playing.
Overall I think it would be great if we could make a master list of what the factory mode options do, as a reference.
I should also mention that I bought my board on Aliexpress and I'm not sure if it was original iSudar or not -- on the PCB it said "Hardware 3.1" which I'm not sure exists, and the PCB was green not black like the other ones I saw on this thread. Here's the version info:
I ordered a 50 pin and a 30 pin flat cables from Amazon on the outside chance the ones I have are compromised. Also enclosed is photo of the board I received. How does it compare with everyone else's.
The Amazon cables may work…….may not. But pretty sure they will not have the little “ears” on each end. I think these ears are for “clicking” into place on insertion….alignment.
Best get a new set on the way from iSudar as well.
No, the buttons light up but the screen is black or blank. CarPlay was working fine for a hour on or so on Saturday so makes me wonder if the ISUDAR board heated up and did something to my board. It quit without warning and my screen has been blank ever since. Maybe the new cables will help.
I have a couple of emails into kimi@isudar.com no response yet from them.
Last edited by ralpheickhof; 09-12-2022 at 11:36 PM.
Reason: add additional text
For ISUDAR PCM 3.1 carplay board，the color of the plate is black, not other colors, definitely not green. They don't have green plates.
The version info of the carplay section should be as shown below.
PCM 3.1-GD2**** -**
CX301：BSJ********-****
Solfware Version: *.*.*
Hardware: ****
Thanks for this. Is it possible that I got a clone board?
09-11-2022, 06:51 PM
Did the ISUDAR Brick my PCM?
