Still nothing on mine. Keep getting the response, "forwarded to our developers...will let you know". They have zero concern.
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It seems like you either have defective hardware or need to be provided with a full factory reset procedure. I supposed there's an outside chance that there's some sort of installation issue (bent pin on a connector, or something along those lines). Unfortunately, communication with the people who develop the hardware and software can be a challenge on these sorts of devices because there's both a communication barrier and it seems like it's frequently a very small group of people working on a relatively large set of products and wearing multiple hats (customer service, developer, hardware designer, etc.). It's quite possible EC Offroad has reached out to the company that builds the unit and simply hasn't received a response yet - when I ran into an issue where my original unit was bricked, it took some time to get answers back for how to proceed and it was definitely very frustrating, so I feel your pain.Still nothing on mine. Keep getting the response, "forwarded to our developers...will let you know". They have zero concern.
So I ordered a pile of network adapter gizmos from Amazon and have done some more experimenting. It's mostly good news.I just ran an experiment regarding having the CarPlay functionality work while simultaneously having an Internet connection via one of the USB ports. I had asked Michael at EC Offroad about doing this, and he told me it would hopelessly confuse the Zlnk CarPlay app. It looks like he was incorrect on this point.
In addition to the EC Offroad unit and the wireless CarPlay connection to my iPhone via Zlink, I connected a StarTech Ethernet to USB adapter (part number USB31000S) to one of the USB ports on the EC Offroad unit and then connected the Ethernet port on the USB adapter to an unused port on the network switch in my basement (using a long Ethernet cable).
CarPlay continued to work just fine and the EC Offroad unit also obtained an Internet connection that showed up in the Android settings as an Ethernet connection (so in addition to the WiFi settings). I was able to open native Android apps that require an Internet connection and use them just fine and then switch back to CarPlay without any issues.
I then walked far enough away with my iPhone for the CarPlay connection to drop. When I walked back to the car, Zlink didn't automatically reconnect to the iPhone. However, going into the iPhone Bluetooth settings and selecting the entry for the EC Offroad box (mine shows up as "BNR-EOAC") initiated a reconnection and CarPlay started right up again.
I then tested several combinations of turning Bluetooth and WiFi off on the iPhone to force CarPlay to lose the connection. Generally speaking, Zlink doesn't automatically reconnect for CarPlay, but the same solution of going into the iPhone Bluetooth settings and selecting the entry for the EC Offroad box worked every time to restore the CarPlay connection.
I don't know if this same trick would work using a USB to WiFi adapter and I don't know if the unit would be smart enough to be able to give you a user interface in settings to select the WiFi connection and enter the password. However, I'm very confident that an external WiFi access point with an Ethernet port that can be connected to the USB to Ethernet adapter or a MOFI adapter (for cellular data service) with an Ethernet output that can be connected should work just fine and allow simultaneous use of CarPlay and native Android apps with Internet access as the Android unit shouldn't see any of those options any differently than the network switch I connected to.
@DomSmith - depending on what combinations will actually work, this may give you a way to have a simultaneous connection from the Android box to a WiFi OBDII reader that can work with the Torque Pro app. I don't have the right adapters to test with, but it could even be possible to use 2 USB adapters with one providing Internet access and the other providing an extra WiFi connection for an OBDII reader.
I'm going to order a few more adapters and gizmos to experiment with and will report back with my findings.
I don't have any pictures of mine, unfortunately. However, one way to tell is where the cable connections are - the newer one has all connections on 1 long edge, while the older one has connections on both of the long edges. Once you get it hooked up, the user interface is very different as well, so that's an easy way to know if you have the older or newer unit.can anyone tell me what is written on the box on the newest version?
is the LLT-FT-VER7.1.7 this version 4? or wa that version 3?
I assume so, but I'll update here when I receive my unit. I will likely explore a better way to connect rather than external HDMI cable.Does the newer unit still require you to run an hdmi cable out to the rear and plug it into the external port?
If so has anyone looking into hardwiring the hdmi to the rear? Is the oem cabling to the rear RCA?
That sounds like a clever idea. What would be ideal would be a box that could be hooked up all the time with a simple switch that put it into bypass mode, but that would probably be far more difficult to pull off. Just be careful with extending the HDMI cable (that's the one with the blue connectors) as video quality could potentially suffer.I'm planning to make a little custom PCB to bypass the EC unit whenever I don't want it connected (e.g. if I need to take it to the dealer, or other reasons). Basically to bypass, just unplug the big connector and the blue connector from EC, and plug them into the custom PCB that will pass through the appropriate connections. I'm going to mount the EC unit under the passenger side glovebox for easy access. The included cables should reach, except for the one with the blue connectors. I bought an extension cable for that one to make it reach (but it hasn't arrived yet).