Which wireless CarPlay dongle have people been purchasing for their android units?

 

Jumping back into NAM after a few years since I may pick up yet another Mini (third one, they're addictive). There doesn't seem to be much in the way of new developments, which is a shame. I really liked that Seicane unit I had, but I'm not sure if I liked it enough to do another install.

 

I'm actually in the process of installing the Seicane unit into my gf's 2011 R60 and boy what an ordeal it is to access all the bolts! I also encountered the "no sound" issue and it appears to be the factory amp not turning on at all. The Seicane harness does have an active pin for 13 which appears to be the amp remote on wire but the blue wire coming out from it is not connected to the Seicane radio. I emailed Seicane to ask them if I should connect the blue wire from the harness to the same blue wire from the radio that's also not connected; both are labeled AMP-CON (see picture below). I assume that's the case but emailed Seicane to make sure.

I also emailed Seicane asking about this USB wire that comes out from the top screen unit. It's labeled CHSF-USB but I did not see a matching label from any of the other USB wires connected to the CD/DVD unit.



Unfortunately the Seicane Installation link on their product page is dead so I was using the instructions from several Youtube videos and NAM instead. Hopefully I hear back from Seicane soon so I can wrap this installation up and reinstall the dashboard for my gf!

 

Well my unit seems to have gone **** up this morning. It started showing the backup camera upside-down yesterday with weird psychedelics colors, and then background image on the launcher went all weird colors. It was super strange because most all of the icons looked fine except the one for Pandora. I rebooted it to see if it would go away, it did not. Then I tried a factory reset from the settings menu, and boy that was a mistake. Whole screen is now red, said "Erasing" for like 10 minutes and now it's stuck in a boot loop. This flashes on the screen about every 5 seconds... I had to capture it in slow-mo video and grab a screen shot. I'm not a real android nerd. Anyone got any ideas how to just get it to boot all the way again?

 

I can't offer up any advice but I am sorry to hear your Android radio is acting up like this! I'll continue monitoring this thread as I was able to get the Seicane unit working in my gf's car last night via the AMP-CON wire to the harness. Good luck with yours and hopefully there's a software fix for it! Safe to assume it's out of warranty (assuming the seller would honor it of course)?

 

Way out of warranty at this point and at $50/shipping each way, I'd probably just buy a new one anyway if I can't get this one fired back up. And in that vane, Erisin now has 3 models, 2 of which are Android 10 and one is the PX5 chip and one is a PX30 chip. They are roughly the same price at ~$290. Any reason to pick one over the other? The one I have is a PX5 with Android 8 and frankly it is pretty sluggish.


Anyway.... off to scan XDA forums for next 19 hours probably.

 

I should've checked out Erisin before I got my Seicane. Their prices are lower and, as we all know, they're pretty much all the same Android guts but with different name branding and packaging.

I went with this Seicane: https://www.seicane.com/carro-gps-na...v-dvr-s127017g with the 4G RAM and 64G ROM. It has Android 10 and the PX5 CPU. So far it's pretty fluid and haven't encountered any sluggishness. Radio, GPS and Youtube all work fine on it. My only complaint is the boot up time is slower than the Seicane unit in my other car. But by the time you buckle up and put it in drive the radio is up and running. I'm not sure why the boot up times are different between the two as their specs are identical.

Regarding Erisin I would probably go with this one: https://www.erisin.com/products/eris...to-dsp-dab-rds as it has 4G RAM and 64G ROM but with the older PX5 chipset. Both CPUs are rated at 1.5Mhz but I would imagine the newer PX30 chipset can boot up quicker and handle future upgrades better. I'm not sure why the other Erisin doesn't have the higher RAM/ROM option though: https://www.erisin.com/products/eris...mw-mini-cooper.

Let me know which one you go with and if you see an improvement vs. your current unit.

 

Well it booted after I took the SD card out, but it's still messed up. Here is a video so you can see. Some things look perfectly fine, some things look crazy. For the record, that background should be mostly dark grey.

 

That does look weird but at least you got it out of the infinite boot loop. I wonder if the OS got corrupted by something on the SD card. Are you going to try and reload the interface again?

 

Looks like the video driver is stuck in a low color mode. Maybe all it needs is a reflash.

 

I would have though a factory reset would have done that? I am trying to find an MCU file to flash, but have yet to be able to locate one. MTCE_KGL_V3.01 is what appears to be on there now. I don't know enough about what I am doing though and I'm not sure an MCU flash is what I need. I might just need an Android ROM, as all of the buttons/hardware functionality seems to be okay.

 

The factory reset may have wiped some custom driver package they added to the base package before shipping. Have you reached out to see if they have a full or newer software load for the unit?

 

I emailed them this morning, but they are in Hong Kong I think so there is a bit of a turn-around time.

 

From my experience emailing Seicane it takes about 24 hours for them to respond to my inquiries since HK is 12-13 hours ahead of us depending on your time zone (assuming you're in the US).

 

Did you hear back from them and were they able to help?

 

I don't know about definitive, but I have a 2010 R57 JCW and it has the exact same CCC older iDrive. My radio looks identical to yours. I have been desperately looking for a replacement for months but there is very little info out there on these units. I just ordered and received this unit. It arrived express DHL about 2 weeks after the order. Once the order was shipped they provided a bunch of install doc in my delivery notification email. I also ordered a new standard radio bezel here. (I might gain some center console space back?) I will be happy to provide pics of the completed install once the rest of the parts arrive for my upgrade, but being impatient I have already tested out the unit. It works great, and looks OEM. It is preloaded with a UI skin that looks like the current OEM mini UI, and is already configured with steering wheel controls. Wireless airplay worked like a snap out of the box and did not require any dongle. The only issue I ran into was the audio was a little loud with the HK system, but I found a setting in the unit where I could tell it the car has the OEM amp installed, and that seemed to resolve it. (Warning for your first boot up to crank that default volume down until you modify the setting) The radio appears to retain standard points of info like fuel level, seatbelt/door alerts however the speedo is in kph (which honestly kinda looks cool..). It also seems to have some ability to interact with functions from the original screen like lighting, oil level, etc. however i have not had time to explore all the menus. From what I can tell the shop in Canada that is selling these is good about communication and will sell you one on one phone help with your install if you need it. If it works as well in the long term as it looks like it will, I will definitely be picking up their FJ Cruiser unit for my other ride... I also got the backup camera and ODBII adapter for it, so I will let you guys know how those work out one I get them setup too... A note on the backup camera, it appears to be very much a plug and play affair, the reverse triggering worked out of the box. It did not come with the cabling for the run, so I am waiting on a 5$ kit from Amazon. No wire modifications were needed for the install, most of the existing connectors just swap directly over, and a couple are simply not used anymore. The new radio components are comically smaller than that gargatuan old DVD Nav so there is a ton of space behind it.

 

So far i've had the unit installed since March (This Unit from Android Factory) It's been working great and only some minor hiccups just after installation there was severe lag and pixelation loading images, video and Navigation. After talking to the guys that sold it, they had me do a factory reset and sent me a link to re-download the wireless Apply Carplay (z link).

The Biggest PITA was disassembling the Dash just enough to remove the Retaining Trim to get the Factory radio out and doing so without breaking anything. I managed to lose 1 clip and 2 screws into the abyss behind the radio.

The Wireless Apple Car Play works flawlessly and works as it should via a USB Dongle connected to the USB behind the Speedo.
Had an issue where the Navigation could barely be heard, but after some tweaking in both the [Factory Menu] Raise the USB Audio to 20 and lower the Radio Settings to 10 or lower and under the Settings > Car > Navigation Leave the first setting to [Mixing] max out the settings to 10 and 100%.

My Steering wheel button for Volume works across all music settings (Spotify, Apple, Music, iPod, Phone Calls and the Radio) but the the Previous and Forward buttons work with the Radio as an auto search tuner (I would like if it just went through the pre-set channels instead), but doesn't like my Spotify.

The [Spoken Command] button mutes the audio. I use Siri to make calls and send Messages anyway (Android Users can use OK Google)

The Phone button Answers and Ends Calls. It also dials the last number that was used if pressed 2x

I agree with @Steve500 about the Chimes (You can read it here). Its very laggy, sounds terrible and only does a couple of sounds (Seatbelt, turn indicators) You lose the warning chimes (Low Fuel, Freezing Weather, Lights out, Key In Ignition etc). It also randomly emits a quick burst loud tone. Steve500 also did the modification to retain the Console USB/Aux, which I'll be doing as well.

I tried my hand at using The LC-BMRC-01 BMW/Mini Chime Retention and it didn't work for me. So if anyone has a solution I'm all ears (eyes?) I would really like to get back the OEM(ish) Chimes. I do know that the OEM Chime Box is behind the support bar that sits behind the screen. According to Mini's Audio layout.

The Speed read is delayed by a second or two. and as mentioned by Steve, when setting the Cruise Control the speed shows up in KPH.

The MPH button on the Radio does show speed BUT it's actually in KPH (:facepalm

This Android Radio allows to connect a Dash Cash and act as a DVR, so I'm going to use this feature as a rear facing Dashcam and keep my own forward facing dashcam.

Phone Calls:
-If Carplay is ENABLED or DISABLED and you answer a call using the [Call Answer] button on the Steering Wheel, then great.
-If you answer a call by touching your phone and Carplay is ENABLED or DISABLED then you have to select the bluetooth option and select carplay after you answer the phone.
-If you answer a call by touching your phone and Carplay is DISABLED then you set your phones BT to auto connect to the Android Radio BT, then all is well.
-Same when making calls.

The Screen:
From the Drivers POV while Carplay is active; The Time, Battery etc... disappears in to the Upper Left Hand Corner. To fix/alleviate that I went in to the Carplay Settings and change the drive side orientation to the opposite side I'm on. For instance I'm a LHD vehicle, so I set the Carplay to RHD and now all is well.

I have a Reverse/Back-Up Camera ready to be installed but, this is going to be a custom Back-Up Camera and I'll do a full tutorial for the non faint of heart. I'm waiting on my Amp and Low Profile Sub from Kicker since I have to run cables to the front of the Car anyway.

 

All great feedback! I also bought this unit and I'm going to try a few of the changes you did and see if it fixes some things for me. One thing that has been driving me crazy, and I'm wondering if you are experiencing it as well, I get a terrible alternator whine ONLY with the Carplay. If, I say play music via the Spotify app on carplay, the whine is there, but if I turn the carplay app off and then play the same Spotify song via the A2DP Bluetooth app the whine isn't there. Have you experienced this?

 

hmmm I only get the whine when I answer calls. I think the whine is coming from a power cable being too close to the connections.

you can try running a line filter (a magnet) on the line in (or out)

 

Oh I’ve done the magnets. I even wrapped the usb cable in copper foil and weather stripping to give it separation from everything and a poor mans faraday cage. I think I just have to pull the dash again and try to make the usb cable more isolated than it is.

 

I have to say thanks! Switching the orientation from LHD to RHD on the CarPlay options was a game changer!

 

 

So I took the time to pull everything out again and see what I could do in regards to the alternator whine. Taking your advice, I moved the USB cable and the carplay dongle to behind the glove box and not under the steering wheel to try to keep that cable away from all other electrical loads and cables. I buttoned everything up and turned the car on and the alternator whine was gone!

Not so fast though: I noticed that the lights on the dash were dim/almost dark and realized I must have missed a cable. I pulled everything back apart and realized I had not connected the 'BUS LIN' cable which is the black one that is part of the OEM cable. As soon as I connected that I fired everything up again and the alternator whine was there. Pulled it out again and the whine goes away. This is the cable that powers the indications like the tac above the steering wheel and the lights above the screen that show TPMS, fog lights, etc. I then pulled everything apart so I could look at the board and see if there was any obvious problems and I saw nothing. I'm not sure there is anything I can do at this point and like many people I think the problem is with the board itself and not the cables.

Anyone have any ideas? This is what the back of mine looks like is yours the same?

 

I'm thinking in your case, Its gotta be the route the speaker wires take, OR one of the capacitors is not holding up the board circuitry properly.

Silly question, is the whine affected if you; dim your dashlights, turn off your lights, turn on your lights?


For me I only get the whine when I receive or make calls using the Radios Bluetooth, but no whine when I use the carplay to receive or make calls (I know a real head scratcher)

from that pic I can only assume that the BT chip is on the underside (closer to the screen side)

 

Is there any chance you could tell me your MCU version? Mine is MTCE_HLA_V3.71_3