CarPlay CarPlay headunit issue

[bbednarz]

I bought a Pioneer head unit in January of 2016. Over time it has developed this fogginess/distortion under the display. I imagine I am well past the timeframe of when Pioneer would do anything about it, but was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to remove the screen and clean it. I imagine its not likely possible, but I really don't want to spend more money on another unit. It looks okay at night, but on a sunny day it is almost impossible to see anything on the screen. Not sure it humidity in the summer caused it or what. It has never to the best of my knowledge gotten wet.

This picture is from October, it has gotten progressively worse since then.

 

[chabig]

I have the same unit and mine is two years old. It looks like it did on day 1. I put a matte film on it which helps with the glare, but it has no defects. Yours looks flawed. Then again, I live in Denver, where the humidity is usually in the teens.

 

[bbednarz]

I have the same unit and mine is two years old. It looks like it did on day 1. I put a matte film on it which helps with the glare, but it has no defects. Yours looks flawed. Then again, I live in Denver, where the humidity is usually in the teens.

Damn, was kind of hoping it was a widespread issue and maybe had lead to some kind of recall I didn't know about. Everything still works fine, its just this damn glare driving me nuts. I guess I'll contact them and see if they will do anything though I am doubtful.

 

[ColoArtist]

You didn't mention what model, but it looks like an AR2 or AR4. Either way, it's not good news. Your screen looks like ones in these threads. Looks like the problem is the inner and outer screens delaminating. Only fix is to replace the screen which is expensive. Nobody reported having any luck with Pioneer doing anything about the failed screens.

http://avic411.com/index.php?/topic/39271-appradio-2-screen-issuerepair/&

http://appradioworld.17289.n7.nabble.com/AppRadio-4-Strange-marks-across-entire-screen-td1196.html

 

[bbednarz]

Yeah, I ended up digging into it further that night and found the same thing. I contacted Pioneer just to see what they would say. They wanted $185 to fix it due to it being out of warranty, plus the potential for an additional charge if they deemed there was tampering involved. Figuring I really didn't have anything to lose I decided to take it apart to see if there was anything I could do to fix it and it appears not. Oh well, I'll just avoid Pioneer radios in the future. Looking at the Alpine with wireless CarPlay now.

 

[ColoArtist]

As far as I know the only aftermarket wireless CarPlay unit is the Alpine iLX-107. I've got two CRVs and installed that unit in both. I'm very happy with the HUs. It's great to just hop in the car and go. Here's the lengthy thread...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/wireless-carplay-aftermarket-head-unit.2100195/

 

[bbednarz]

Yep, thats the one I am looking at! Apparently Pioneer also has one, but I dont want to chance them again. Glad to hear its working out well for you. One question about your posts in that thread.. What is the point of the bypass? I know on past units there were parking brake bypasses so you could play DVDs while the car was in motion, but without that why is that necessary? Thanks

 

[bbednarz]

Another question if you don't mind... The Alpine unit has a USB port on the back, can that be used to plug a wireless charger into? I recently bought a qi charger that mounts on my vents (themagnetmount.com). I would like to run the wire for this through the back of the vents and into the radio simply to supply wireless charging for the phone, basically no visible wires anywhere. I just want to make sure it will provide power delivery to the charger while still using wireless carplay.

 

[ColoArtist]

I used the bypass for a couple of reasons. A big one was that it allowed be to skip tracking down where to connect to the parking brake wiring. I don't want to play videos or anything while driving, but it is handy to access the menu without putting the parking brake on. Oh...and I did try it without the bypass and found the parking brake sensing to be a bit flaky...I'd have to engage the brake a couple times for it to work.

I did look at adding a wireless charger, but didn't end up adding any. The ones I looked at plugged into a power port, not a USB port. The Alpine's USB port will charge an iPhone. However, I'm not sure about a QI charger. The specs for the port is USB 1.1/2.0.

 

[bbednarz]

I used the bypass for a couple of reasons. A big one was that it allowed be to skip tracking down where to connect to the parking brake wiring. I don't want to play videos or anything while driving, but it is handy to access the menu without putting the parking brake on. Oh...and I did try it without the bypass and found the parking brake sensing to be a bit flaky...I'd have to engage the brake a couple times for it to work.

I did look at adding a wireless charger, but didn't end up adding any. The ones I looked at plugged into a power port, not a USB port. The Alpine's USB port will charge an iPhone. However, I'm not sure about a QI charger. The specs for the port is USB 1.1/2.0.

Awesome, thanks for the information. I imagine as long as that port has the ability to charge an iPhone it wont have an issue powering a Qi charger. I guess I will find out soon! Thanks again.

 

[Coffee50]

As far as I know the only aftermarket wireless CarPlay unit is the Alpine iLX-107. I've got two CRVs and installed that unit in both. I'm very happy with the HUs. It's great to just hop in the car and go. Here's the lengthy thread...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/wireless-carplay-aftermarket-head-unit.2100195/

Do you notice substantial battery drain? I'm leaning toward Alpine because I really would like wireless CarPlay, but I hear so many conflicting thoughts about it.

For example using maps.....Is there an additional drain on the phone battery compared to if I was just maps on the phone? Or music?

 

[ColoArtist]

I've found it's less drain for navigation than if I were just using my iPhone in that the phone's screen isn't being used. I've only had to plug the phone in on hours-long trips. There's a handy battery level indicator on the HU's display so it's easy to see if the phone's charge is getting low. Plus, since it's a wireless unit, the phone can use any power source.

Which reminds me, if you have your phone charging somewhere, say in a closed console, a "hey Siri" might not work. The command needs to be heard by the phone, not the radio, for it to work. The Siri button on the radio or, if you added an adapter, the button on the steering wheel will work just fine to wake up Siri.

 

[Coffee50]

I've found it's less drain for navigation than if I were just using my iPhone in that the phone's screen isn't being used. I've only had to plug the phone in on hours-long trips. There's a handy battery level indicator on the HU's display so it's easy to see if the phone's charge is getting low. Plus, since it's a wireless unit, the phone can use any power source.

Which reminds me, if you have your phone charging somewhere, say in a closed console, a "hey Siri" might not work. The command needs to be heard by the phone, not the radio, for it to work. The Siri button on the radio or, if you added an adapter, the button on the steering wheel will work just fine to wake up Siri.

Thanks! Didn’t think of the screen contributing the battery drain....that’s good to know & another positive point for wireless.

 

[bbednarz]

Got the Alpine installed and it works like a dream. Exactly as I hoped it would including installing a backup camera. The microphone that came with it (I got it used from a store on eBay) appears to not work so they are sending out another one. Hoping that is the only issue as I would hate to return the whole radio. Everything else is great.

 

[ColoArtist]

Might be the wrong mic. The one which comes with the iLX-107 is big and has a huge clip. I saw some Alpine mics on eBay which were smaller and looked like they had better mounting options. They were cheap so I bought one to try. It didn't work. I think the jack was different. Here's what the 107's looks like...



Edit: The mic jack for the iLX-107 looks like this...

 

[bbednarz]

Might be the wrong mic. The one which comes with the iLX-107 is big and has a huge clip. I saw some Alpine mics on eBay which were smaller and looked like they had better mounting options. They were cheap so I bought one to try. It didn't work. I think the jack was different. Here's what the 107's looks like...

View attachment 781887

Edit: The mic jack for the iLX-107 looks like this...

View attachment 781890

Yep, they sent me a new mic and all it working. I also got a wireless magnetic mount that I plug into the back of the headunit. I get an error every now and then "USB current error". The charger must be trying to pull more power than the unit is willing to give off. Oh well. Wireless CarPlay is so much nicer.