Wireless CarPlay Adaptor

I ended up ordering the Carlinkit from Amazon because they had a $20 off special which made it significantly cheaper than the local Takealot price.

Should be here next week and then I’ll provide some feedback.

With iOS 18 supporting more voice commands directly via the phone I’m hoping some of that lag is camouflaged.
 
SauRoNZA said:
It won’t be like that though if my wife has been using the car and that’s 99% of the time.

CarPlay would be exactly the same though.

Unless she’s happy with her phone running flat, which is unlikely but maybe the way to approach it that she only plugs into the other port when she needs to.

I guess I’ll see how it goes without first and then decide to buy or not. Maybe there’s a nice way to hide most of the wiring.
Click to expand...
Regarding battery while using WiFi Carplay, I stick my phone to a MagSafe charger connected via USB-C to a 12V adapter in the car. Keeps the phone juiced.
 
sybawoods said:
Regarding battery while using WiFi Carplay, I stick my phone to a MagSafe charger connected via USB-C to a 12V adapter in the car. Keeps the phone juiced.
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Yeah my new car has a wireless charger hence going down this entire adventure.

Would he utterly damn to me to have wireless CarPlay only to still plug in the phone.

Big part of it is hiding the wires all over the place, now it will just be drop the phone on the dedicated wireless charger slot.

My wife who just drives to work for 15min max most of the time can just go without charging.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Yeah my new car has a wireless charger hence going down this entire adventure.

Would he utterly damn to me to have wireless CarPlay only to still plug in the phone.

Big part of it is hiding the wires all over the place, now it will just be drop the phone on the dedicated wireless charger slot.

My wife who just drives to work for 15min max most of the time can just go without charging.
Click to expand...
I relate. I went to a lot of trouble to hide the wiring - the Magsafe is mounted to the armrest to blend in with the interior, so it's literally a case of dropping my phone onto the armrest, so it looks like it belongs.
 
Wouldnt it just be easier changing the head unit into something that supports it or something like that?

Mercedes doesnt have these complications. Can also control the car from the phone if I have to.
 
Corelli said:
Wouldnt it just be easier changing the head unit into something that supports it or something like that?

Mercedes doesnt have these complications. Can also control the car from the phone if I have to.
Click to expand...
100% Mercedes has the same complications, the vast majority of cars don’t have Wireless CarPlay.

And no “head units” don’t really exist on most modern cars.

Head units are infinitely more expensive anyway.
 
interestingly, i was constantly unhappy with the bass in my car.
the car comes with a meridian system - pretty good generally.
i prefer the bass to be low and tight, not "boomy".

after going up and down, round in circles - a car audio company finally had the "big reveal" - audio compression over wireless (bluetooth and wifi) connections.

the same track was played via wireless, then ipod connected via usb.
the difference was immediately noticeable.
he then put me in contact with a customer with the same car / same sound system, but had the ipod integration system installed > yet more improvement.
i followed the same route and now as happy as a pig in a massive pile 'o schite !

**the caveat here is me being a smoker - the moment my arse hits the seat i light up.
with that, usually both front windows or sunroof is partially or completely open - as a result sound, especially bass, escapes leaving things to sound somewhat lacking.
 
So I ended up buying the CarlinKit 5.0 by and large because it was the best price and shipped to my door from Amazon after taxes and everything was R1,869 which is significantly less than the R2,500+ locally.

Initially I thought I made a huge mistake because it would pair once and then not again and then I would need to reset it every time which was far more hassle than just using a wire.

Fortunately a quick support case later they gave me a setting specific to my car to put in a 4-second start delay and ever since it's been working perfectly and I don't know notice this startup delay as it seems pretty damn instant to me.

There is definitely a lag especially when changing music tracks it takes a moment or two before it responds but really it's not a big deal. If it affected phone calls or something like that it would be a problem but I haven't noticed it but also haven't made a great many calls from the car.

Had one instance where it just cut out on the highway and went into a sort re-connect loop, but that solved itself when I next started the car and never happened again.

All in all happy customer and glad I did it as it has made it so painless to just drop the phone on the wireless charger, drop my keys in the slot and set off on my way.

Oddly compared to my previous car "Hey Siri" seems to work much better now and I hardly ever push the button, but this could purely be that the microphone on the phone itself is more open, as I'm pretty sure that's what does the listening not the car microphone.
 
SauRoNZA said:
So I ended up buying the CarlinKit 5.0 by and large because it was the best price and shipped to my door from Amazon after taxes and everything was R1,869 which is significantly less than the R2,500+ locally.

Initially I thought I made a huge mistake because it would pair once and then not again and then I would need to reset it every time which was far more hassle than just using a wire.

Fortunately a quick support case later they gave me a setting specific to my car to put in a 4-second start delay and ever since it's been working perfectly and I don't know notice this startup delay as it seems pretty damn instant to me.

There is definitely a lag especially when changing music tracks it takes a moment or two before it responds but really it's not a big deal. If it affected phone calls or something like that it would be a problem but I haven't noticed it but also haven't made a great many calls from the car.

Had one instance where it just cut out on the highway and went into a sort re-connect loop, but that solved itself when I next started the car and never happened again.

All in all happy customer and glad I did it as it has made it so painless to just drop the phone on the wireless charger, drop my keys in the slot and set off on my way.

Oddly compared to my previous car "Hey Siri" seems to work much better now and I hardly ever push the button, but this could purely be that the microphone on the phone itself is more open, as I'm pretty sure that's what does the listening not the car microphone.
Click to expand...
Glad it's working for you! The convenience makes it all worth-while. The "start delay" seems to be the same issue I referenced in my comment - it sounds like all these dongles may have similar implementations. The way the OttoCast guys explained it to me, is that the infotainment needs a chance to fully boot before the dongle attempts the CarPlay integration. It really makes no difference to me as the InfoTainment starts booting as soon as the driver's door is unlocked, so by the time you're sitting down and strapped in, CarPlay is there waiting for you. At most a second or so delay on the odd occasion, but that's the exception.
 
sybawoods said:
Glad it's working for you! The convenience makes it all worth-while. The "start delay" seems to be the same issue I referenced in my comment - it sounds like all these dongles may have similar implementations. The way the OttoCast guys explained it to me, is that the infotainment needs a chance to fully boot before the dongle attempts the CarPlay integration. It really makes no difference to me as the InfoTainment starts booting as soon as the driver's door is unlocked, so by the time you're sitting down and strapped in, CarPlay is there waiting for you. At most a second or so delay on the odd occasion, but that's the exception.
Click to expand...
Yup the delay is of no consequence to me, I’ve never needed to actually sit and wait for it.

Seems I never updated the thread but I ended up moving the unit above the wireless charger realising it was causing a lot of interference so it’s now “line of sight” of my phone.

Noticeably decreased the lag to the point it’s only noticeable if I’m really thinking about it.

Still seems to lose the plot a bit when both my wife and I are in the car but it’s not too big of a deal.
 
Grant said:
interestingly, i was constantly unhappy with the bass in my car.
the car comes with a meridian system - pretty good generally.
i prefer the bass to be low and tight, not "boomy".

after going up and down, round in circles - a car audio company finally had the "big reveal" - audio compression over wireless (bluetooth and wifi) connections.

the same track was played via wireless, then ipod connected via usb.
the difference was immediately noticeable.
he then put me in contact with a customer with the same car / same sound system, but had the ipod integration system installed > yet more improvement.
i followed the same route and now as happy as a pig in a massive pile 'o schite !

**the caveat here is me being a smoker - the moment my arse hits the seat i light up.
with that, usually both front windows or sunroof is partially or completely open - as a result sound, especially bass, escapes leaving things to sound somewhat lacking.
Click to expand...

That is straight up direct Bluetooth and likely of the older standard on your car.

Apple Carplay is very much like the iPod integration you refer to and pushes the same quality through to the car.
 
I got myself one of the WINX connectors on special from a supplier and it works (mostly) flawless. It connects fast, voice controls works perfectly and changing Spotify songs is near instant. The only problem I have is that the bluetooth stays connected even after exiting the car. It only disconnects once you go out of bluetooth range.
 
Crowley said:
I got myself one of the WINX connectors on special from a supplier and it works (mostly) flawless. It connects fast, voice controls works perfectly and changing Spotify songs is near instant. The only problem I have is that the bluetooth stays connected even after exiting the car. It only disconnects once you go out of bluetooth range.
Click to expand...

Yeah the motorola one does the same. I just kill the android auto app. It also holds the 5g connection. I think it all times out after the car goes into full shutdown 10min later or so
 
Hi Guys

So I purchased this. It looks killer and has good reviews. Does anyone know a good place in JHB I can take my car to have it installed?

 

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