DomSmith
SILVER Star
Confirmed today that I can run the Autokit app for wireless CarPlay and the VeePeak WiFi OBD2 plug at the same time.
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Phone call quality is deadset back to normal. Pretty much the same as the Toyota factory BT. Phone calls default to the Module's microphone which i tested when i first plugged, when the mic wasnt plugged into the module, nobody could hear me so tells that the module's BT overrides that of the OEM unit in the car. If that makes sene.
@technopato - Several questions for you:
1) What are you using for a microSD card in the slot on the unit? I'm curious if you had success getting anything larger than 64GB to work and what partition type and file system you formatted it with. I tried a 512GB microSD card in the TF slot on the older hardware formatted with FAT32 and it wasn't recognized.
2) Did you route the GPS unit and microphone to the locations shown in the installation guide from EC Offroad? If so, how involved was it to route the cables from the unit to the A pillar area and what path did you take with the wires? This is the only part of the install that I'm concerned about doing myself.
3) According the Michael, USB2 can either connect to the factory USB harness on the center console or be used as a standalone USB connection in the glovebox (or other location of choice) - can you confirm that?
@seajeff (who has a 2016 LC) and I (2020 LC) have ordered the new version of the hardware and should be receiving them early next week. If we don't run into any unexpected compatibility issues with our USA spec LC's, @DomSmith (2016 LC) is also planning on switching to the new hardware. We collectively decided it made sense to try on 1 2016 and 1 2020 LC before ordering the 3rd one as it reduces the amount of extra shipping and open box units that EC Offroad potentially will end up with. We'll report our results once we've had time to install and test the new hardware.
Thanks for the response - the new unit sounds very promising. It's definitely possible that a 512GB microSD card was just beyond the limit for the built-in slot and a 256GB card may have worked. I've ordered a few different sizes and will report back with what works and what doesn't when the new unit arrives and I get it installed (I'll start with the largest size and work my way down). I'm very glad to hear that locating the GPS antenna below the center speaker grill is working out well and that putting the microphone in that location is also working well as those will greatly simplify the install - I'll use those as my starting points. I'm not thrilled with messing with the A pillar either for the same reason.Hello Mate..
Ill answer your questions best i can.
1. Yes i am using an MicroSD, just a standard Sandisk 128GB MicroSD formatted with FAT32, I had always planned on putting extra screens in at the back for the kids and there are some shows that the younger kids like for longer trips, so MicroSD is perfect size to fit all. I was using the same MicroSD in the older units, no issues with it being recognized at all. Id say there will be a limitation on size. Even some of the current Android tablets still have a limit of 256GB. Its a combination of Android OS version and hardware limitations.
2. GPS Antenna is sitting just below the grill of the center speaker and the microphone on top protruding out. So far these havent presented any issues.
In fact what i do notice with the GPS antenna is that I am not getting a fix on sattelites much quicker than before. I wasnt keen to remove the trims for the A Pillar because of the location of the Airbags.
3. Current module only has 2 USB Outputs that are hard wired into the harness. USB 0 can be used for any USB devices including 4G Dongles. The other USB Output is USB 1 which is now also labelled as CarPlay. Ive run those temporarily through one of the switch panels below the steering wheel until i decide what else i will integrate into the unit itself.
Hope this info helps you. Let me know if you have any other questions.
So having now had the Modules in both cars for the last 2 weeks, i can definately say the functionality overall is night and day difference between the older module and new. Havent had a single dropout when on Wireless CarPlay or Wired CarPlay. Have installed several apps so far also including Google Maps, Waze, Netflix, Prime Video etc. All are working flawlessly via 4G Dongle or even tethering off my iPhone.
Id love to get my hands on the admin password to do a few finer tweaks to sound etc.
Thanks for the response - the new unit sounds very promising. It's definitely possible that a 512GB microSD card was just beyond the limit for the built-in slot and a 256GB card may have worked. I've ordered a few different sizes and will report back with what works and what doesn't when the new unit arrives and I get it installed (I'll start with the largest size and work my way down). I'm very glad to hear that locating the GPS antenna below the center speaker grill is working out well and that putting the microphone in that location is also working well as those will greatly simplify the install - I'll use those as my starting points. I'm not thrilled with messing with the A pillar either for the same reason.
The only concern we have on this side of the planet is potential compatibility issues with USA spec models. We ran into a few things with the old unit that EC Offroad had promised to work through with the manufacturer - Michael is a bit more non-committal on the new module for now. Due to travel restrictions related to Covid-19, it was going to be quite a while before the manufacturer could get access to a USA spec LC anyway to work on the issues.
Hey Dom... i didnt have the old pin for the old box either. I had asked for it but it was never provided.@technopato did you try the PIN for the old box to access advanced settings?
Good question!Thanks for the detailed answers to some of our questions- we're all very excited to try out the new unit. Curious, though, what is the "Radio Area Setting"? Is there some sort of tuner access via the new unit interface or is that for some sort of RDS decoding?
Are you returning your original unit or purchasing the latest as an extra out of pocket? I have one of the originals and following these developments@technopato - Several questions for you:
1) What are you using for a microSD card in the slot on the unit? I'm curious if you had success getting anything larger than 64GB to work and what partition type and file system you formatted it with. I tried a 512GB microSD card in the TF slot on the older hardware formatted with FAT32 and it wasn't recognized.
2) Did you route the GPS unit and microphone to the locations shown in the installation guide from EC Offroad? If so, how involved was it to route the cables from the unit to the A pillar area and what path did you take with the wires? This is the only part of the install that I'm concerned about doing myself.
3) According the Michael, USB2 can either connect to the factory USB harness on the center console or be used as a standalone USB connection in the glovebox (or other location of choice) - can you confirm that?
@seajeff (who has a 2016 LC) and I (2020 LC) have ordered the new version of the hardware and should be receiving them early next week. If we don't run into any unexpected compatibility issues with our USA spec LC's, @DomSmith (2016 LC) is also planning on switching to the new hardware. We collectively decided it made sense to try on 1 2016 and 1 2020 LC before ordering the 3rd one as it reduces the amount of extra shipping and open box units that EC Offroad potentially will end up with. We'll report our results once we've had time to install and test the new hardware.
@seajeff and I each purchased a new one out of pocket. If the new one works out well, we'll each be returning the original unit, which we bought only a few months ago (in August when I started this thread, not long before the new version came out). If the new one doesn't work out well, we'll return the new ones (and it's possible we'll have different results on 2016 and 2020 model years). @DomSmith, @seajeff, and I have been working somewhat closely with EC Offroad since we first purchased the older units (all within a few weeks of each other) on a few issues around audio pops, CarPlay navigation audio being chopped off at the start of each instruction, and compatibility issues with the heat and AC controls / display on our USA spec LC's.Are you returning your original unit or purchasing the latest as an extra out of pocket? I have one of the originals and following these developments
@seajeff and I each purchased a new one out of pocket. If the new one works out well, we'll each be returning the original unit, which we bought only a few months ago (in August when I started this thread, not long before the new version came out). If the new one doesn't work out well, we'll return the new ones (and it's possible we'll have different results on 2016 and 2020 model years). @DomSmith, @seajeff, and I have been working somewhat closely with EC Offroad since we first purchased the older units (all within a few weeks of each other) on a few issues around audio pops, CarPlay navigation audio being chopped off at the start of each instruction, and compatibility issues with the heat and AC controls / display on our USA spec LC's.
So EC Offroad is working with us to try out the new units and then either return the old unit for a refund or return the new unit for a refund (we'll each end up paying a little extra if we keep the new units). We arranged to only try 2 new units initially - one in a 2016 and on in my 2020 rather than sending all 3 at once to minimize how many open box units they end up with. If things go well for @seajeff on his 2016, @DomSmith will also upgrade. I don't think they'll make the same trade-in offer to people who may have had the old unit for a significantly longer period of time.
On another note, @technopato mentioned that communication with EC Offroad can be a bit challenging in some respects, and I would agree. If you send an email with several questions, they'll frequently answer the first and forget to answer the others. There are sometimes multi-day delays in getting responses and it's even worse in that regard being on the opposite side of the world as there's already essentially a 1 day delay in responses both ways. But at the end of the day, I get the impression that they're good, honest people who do care about making the customer happy. Part of the problem may be that they're too busy for the number of employees they have. Answering everything in an email at the same time would save them time in the end rather than having to respond to multiple emails (slow down to speed up...) and that's something they need to try to get better at, but I get it.