Quote:
Originally Posted by timstar
So I'm starting to think the problems I'm having is because my car has CIC retrofit and I suspect an emulator was used.
From what I understand, emulators aren't required anymore and the CIC retrofit can be done with coding or FSC codes.. so I'm going to look into pulling out the emulator.
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Well that was a bust, pulled the CIC out and can’t see anything resembling an emulator. There is 3 wires out of the back of the big black connector that go nowhere.. the mystery continues.
Anyway, here’s my review of the CarPlay unit anyway.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with the device. The boot time is very quick as it starts powering up as soon as I unlock the door, resulting in carplay coming up about 3 seconds after starting the car.
The reverse camera is working, however we can’t get guidelines or PDC to display on the camera because the unit can’t detect my reverse signal without using the reverse lights... this is likely due me having a retrofitted CIC although I’m still not sure.
I can’t change tracks using the steering wheel buttons, however pushing the controller knob right or left achieves the same result so I can live with that for now.
The sound quality is great, I have left the EQ on whatever it was set to by default and it sounds a lot better than the Bluetooth Aux adapter I was using previously. Even Siri sounds clear and crisp when she speaks.
Controlling CarPlay with the controller is easy and responsive, I experienced a little bit of lag once, but the device had only just finished coming up from a reboot so I’m assuming that was the cause.
Siri hasn’t had any trouble hearing me and I’ve made one phone call so far and I didn’t get any complaints.
Installation was pretty straight forward, I ended up cable tying the unit in behind the steering wheel so it’s all hidden behind the dash.
All in all, I’m pretty happy with it. Disappointed about the steering wheel controls and cam integration, but I plan on trying a cam emulator to see if I can just get OEM cam/pdc/guidelines and have the CarPlay box use that.
Cheers,
Tim