Wireless Charging And Carplay

[andys]

After all my escapades in modifying and using the RCD330+, I decided to do what I always end up doing and start a new project with only a week to go til my annual fortnight touring Europe. So I've ordered a Kenwood 8019. (I shied away from the undoubtedly better 9190 due to budget). One of the things it has is wireless Carplay, something I've always argued as being pointless as I'd much prefer my phone was charging while I'm driving anyway. Soooo I thought.... ok, if it's got it I'll use it, so why not make a wireless charging station in the dash cubby where I currently plug my phone in (the one above the ash tray).

So ordered the cheapest wireless charging pad I could find on Amazon, which arrived today. It's blue but the colour isn't important as it's getting ripped apart and blue was on offer at £12. Arrived today so as soon as I got home I started


Rip the soft backing mat off and there are 5 screws holding it together, then crack apart with a spudger


Then yank out the gubbins you need.


Experimenting showed that you've got to be quite precise about where you place the phone to activate the charger, so I cut some pieces of foam so that all I need to do is just put the phone in and it will be held in the right place. The charging coil is held to the back of the rubber mat by hotglue. I then cut the back end of the mat that you can't see too, and glued small blocks of foam underneath at the back, to allow for the size of the micro USB plug. I hot glued the plug in place rather than cut and solder it to the circuit board as the contacts are very small and I'm lazy. You probably don't even need to do this as micro USB is quite a grippy connection, but belt and braces. Then I cut the USB lead and soldered the red and black wires to the output of a 15W 12v > 5v converter that I already had a few of (I paid about a tenner each for decent quality ones). This is just a prototype and assuming all goes well I'll replace the foam with neater cut black foam for a better look.



The other end of the buck converter is then fed by a 12v feed from the fuse box, protected by a 5A fuse.
So that's that, c£22 gets me wireless charging when I put my phone in the cubby, already for wireless Carplay when my Kenwood arrives.

Here's a video of it working

View media item 2804

 

[andys]

Ok, job done, Kenwood 8019 fitted (all parts from absolut5) so I now have wireless Carplay and wireless charging The sound is great and I now have full use of my 360 camera system again. It has an input for front and rear cameras so I just made up a splitter to feed the output of my system into both inputs, and it now switches seamlessly between the front and rear automatically when the parking sensors are enabled.

I haven't had chance to replace the foam with neater cut dense black foam as I intended as I'm now working right up to when I go on hol in the van Sunday night, so it'll have to wait til I get back. I don't have a DAB aeriel either but that will also have to wait, no loss as I'd be unlikely to listen to the radio in Europe. So I'm well impressed with the use and convenience of it, but there are a couple of little issues

1) Wireless Carplay appears to have the same "micro jitters" as both bluetooth audio and Airplay had in their first iterations. You know what I mean? The tiny tiny interruptions that you only just notice but can become tiring. Both those systems got much better with updates over time so I'm sure that will happen with Wifi Carplay too. If it bugs me too much I still have the USB connected above the cigar lighter so I'll plug it in there

2) I can't seem to be able to use Siri. It worked fine on the RCD330 but in spite of programming the CANbus adapter correctly, the speech button on the steering wheel acts as a mute button only. The only way I can summon Siri is to press the home button on the phone - not ideal. I'm still looking into this.

3) Bit of an odd one, but the "recently used" vertical bar of icons is on the left hand drive side It's set to English/GMT and it's definitely not my phone as it displays on the correct side in my car and did on the RCD330. Again I'm still looking into this. Not a dealbreaker but definitely not ideal ergonomically.

8/10 so far

 

[andys]

More experimenting tonight while packing. Playing with sound settings has made the audio even better (fed to JL audio amp and Rainbow door speakers and tweeters, but no sub), but still got nowhere with Siri. I can activate by pressing the home button on screen or front of stereo but that requires more looking away, it was so much safer on the steering wheel. As regards the Carplay menu, I've found the option to change it hidden in the settings menu, but it is set as left hand drive and is greyed out so I can't change it. Bizarre

 

[Nigel W]

More experimenting tonight while packing. Playing with sound settings has made the audio even better (fed to JL audio amp and Rainbow door speakers and tweeters, but no sub), but still got nowhere with Siri. I can activate by pressing the home button on screen or front of stereo but that requires more looking away, it was so much safer on the steering wheel. As regards the Carplay menu, I've found the option to change it hidden in the settings menu, but it is set as left hand drive and is greyed out so I can't change it. Bizarre

Apple have I believe revamped Carplay in the next software release ios13 which will be out in a couple of weeks so I would sit tight and see if that solves your issues. It has a completely new screen layout and added features.

 

[andys]

Apple have I believe revamped Carplay in the next software release ios13 which will be out in a couple of weeks so I would sit tight and see if that solves your issues. It has a completely new screen layout and added features.

That’s what I’m running, ios13 beta. CarPlay is better, particularly the album art, though the main change, the new home screen, seems a bit pointless unless you use apple maps.
I have tried someone else’s phone that was still running ios12 and it was just the same though. The menu position issue is definitely to do with stereo, CarPlay doesn’t set its position. The Siri issues think is down to the canbus adapter, not sure if that’s fixable but I’ll look into it more when I come back from hol.

 

[Nigel W]

That’s what I’m running, ios13 beta. CarPlay is better, particularly the album art, though the main change, the new home screen, seems a bit pointless unless you use apple maps.
I have tried someone else’s phone that was still running ios12 and it was just the same though. The menu position issue is definitely to do with stereo, CarPlay doesn’t set its position. The Siri issues think is down to the canbus adapter, not sure if that’s fixable but I’ll look into it more when I come back from hol.

Have a great time and hope you love Switzerland, we are on the Chunnel at lunchtime but heading towards Bordeaux although we are talking about swinging towards that site you mentioned! Haha

 

[andys]

Right I've had two weeks to test this setup now and these are my thoughts.

The Siri issue is annoying, is there no way of getting the steering wheel button to activate it @Absolut5 ? It worked fine with the RCD330. The positioning of the Carplay sidebar continues to irritate too, and having to stretch all the way to the other side certainly feels less safe. I don't know why the option to switch sides is greyed out, perhaps a software update is needed, I'll check the Kenwood website.

Other minor niggles, the unnecessarily massive "chinbar" that houses the buttons is a bit of an eyesore, and is so big that it actually obscures the very bottom of the screen on a T6 due to the dash angle. I noticed that's been finally addressed on the T6.1

Also the surround plate to blend it into the T6 dash has been made fractionally too big so that the trim panel that fits over it will only click down properly either at the top or bottom, but not both. I may have a go at easing that down in size a bit once I'm sure I can do it without any grinding/sanding marks showing.
The screen is lovely and clear, though instantly gets covered in fingerprints as it lacks the oleophobic coating found on iphones, but that's the main drawback of all touch screens.

The only other negative, which isn't the Kenwood's fault, is wireless Carplay. There's no doubt that the sound is better plugged into wired Carplay than it is on wireless, I've done lots of switching between the two to test and the difference is noticeable, but having said that, so far I find myself leaving it on wireless for convenience. The other thing is that it eats phone battery, so you won't want to just leave your iPhone in your pocket and use wireless Carplay or you'll have a dead phone when you get wherever you're going. As another gotcha, the iPhone is only able to wirelessly charge at a low current (yes I know some Android phones can wirelessly charge at a higher current, but I don't use one and anyway this unit doesn't have wireless Android Auto), in fact it charges just enough so that it just keeps up with the demands of Carplay i.e. if I have 70% battery on my phone and put it in the wireless charger, I can drive for 5 hrs and the phone will still only have 70% battery when I take it out, whereas if I plug in and use it via USB my phone is always at 100% after about half an hour or so. As I say though, so far I still find myself using wireless despite the drawbacks as just putting it in and out of the cubby without having to plug something in and/or disconnect whatever you were listening to is so damn convenient. Particularly so on IOS 13 now you don't have to have the same app active on phone and screen.

Although this sounds fairly negative, I'm just putting all the little thoughts I had about it while I was away for anyone else who is thinking about this unit. Overall I'm really happy with it, sound is great, the big bright screen is great, it works flawlessly with my 360 camera system and I'm very happy with it for what it costs. Solving the above niggles would just make it perfect.

 

[Murdoch]

I’ve done 2 long journeys along bumpy roads and both my iPhone and then the misses iPhone suffer disconnection issues , which means no apple car play

So is the investment in the kenwood 819 worth while?

 

[andys]

I’ve done 2 long journeys along bumpy roads and both my iPhone and then the misses iPhone suffer disconnection issues , which means no apple car play

So is the investment in the kenwood 819 worth while?

I can't really say whether it's worth it for you, but I've tried to put all the plus and minus points that I've found with it. There's got to be something wrong somewhere with your wiring though if the phones are losing connection when plugged into USB no matter how bumpy the road!

 

[Paul H]

Good article mate. I’m going along the same lines with the wireless charger, I picked up a wireless charger for £14 from Curry’s which is a similar size to my iPhone XR and intend to fit into the same wee cubby hole you used. Now wondering whether to retrofit a USB connection in that box or just use the cigarette/USB adaptor for power.

 

[andys]

Good article mate. I’m going along the same lines with the wireless charger, I picked up a wireless charger for £14 from Curry’s which is a similar size to my iPhone XR and intend to fit into the same wee cubby hole you used. Now wondering whether to retrofit a USB connection in that box or just use the cigarette/USB adaptor for power.

Yes it's a tricky one, can't help thinking that if you've got to plug the phone in to charge anyway, you may as well use wired Carplay. When you come to fit your wireless charger, the position of the coil to the phone is absolutely crucial, 5mm in any direction and it will go off charge. That's why I fitted those foam strips which make sure that the phone is in exactly the right position, though I really do need to neaten them up a bit.

Edit: I actually changed the setup to what I originally wrote up top, I ended up attaching the charging coil to the bottom of the cubby with double sided tape, rather than to the rubber mat. This was so I could easily remove the mat for cleaning, and for when I change the foam.

 

[Absolut5]

Right I've had two weeks to test this setup now and these are my thoughts.

The Siri issue is annoying, is there no way of getting the steering wheel button to activate it @Absolut5 ? It worked fine with the RCD330. The positioning of the Carplay sidebar continues to irritate too, and having to stretch all the way to the other side certainly feels less safe. I don't know why the option to switch sides is greyed out, perhaps a software update is needed, I'll check the Kenwood website.

Other minor niggles, the unnecessarily massive "chinbar" that houses the buttons is a bit of an eyesore, and is so big that it actually obscures the very bottom of the screen on a T6 due to the dash angle. I noticed that's been finally addressed on the T6.1
View attachment 50836
Also the surround plate to blend it into the T6 dash has been made fractionally too big so that the trim panel that fits over it will only click down properly either at the top or bottom, but not both. I may have a go at easing that down in size a bit once I'm sure I can do it without any grinding/sanding marks showing.
The screen is lovely and clear, though instantly gets covered in fingerprints as it lacks the oleophobic coating found on iphones, but that's the main drawback of all touch screens.

The only other negative, which isn't the Kenwood's fault, is wireless Carplay. There's no doubt that the sound is better plugged into wired Carplay than it is on wireless, I've done lots of switching between the two to test and the difference is noticeable, but having said that, so far I find myself leaving it on wireless for convenience. The other thing is that it eats phone battery, so you won't want to just leave your iPhone in your pocket and use wireless Carplay or you'll have a dead phone when you get wherever you're going. As another gotcha, the iPhone is only able to wirelessly charge at a low current (yes I know some Android phones can wirelessly charge at a higher current, but I don't use one and anyway this unit doesn't have wireless Android Auto), in fact it charges just enough so that it just keeps up with the demands of Carplay i.e. if I have 70% battery on my phone and put it in the wireless charger, I can drive for 5 hrs and the phone will still only have 70% battery when I take it out, whereas if I plug in and use it via USB my phone is always at 100% after about half an hour or so. As I say though, so far I still find myself using wireless despite the drawbacks as just putting it in and out of the cubby without having to plug something in and/or disconnect whatever you were listening to is so damn convenient. Particularly so on IOS 13 now you don't have to have the same app active on phone and screen.

Although this sounds fairly negative, I'm just putting all the little thoughts I had about it while I was away for anyone else who is thinking about this unit. Overall I'm really happy with it, sound is great, the big bright screen is great, it works flawlessly with my 360 camera system and I'm very happy with it for what it costs. Solving the above niggles would just make it perfect.

Hiya

You swap the side bar, disconnect CarPlay or just go into airplane mode then the greyed out option lights up..

Cannot answering about the Siri, all it seems to do is mute, maybe a CarPlay or Kenwood update will sort it..

 

[andys]

Hiya

You swap the side bar, disconnect CarPlay or just go into airplane mode then the greyed out option lights up..

Cannot answering about the Siri, all it seems to do is mute, maybe a CarPlay or Kenwood update will sort it..

Cracking thanks, that's done the trick with the sidebar Doesn't tell you that in any of the literature!


Regarding Siri, I've done some more digging. It's not something for Apple to sort as it works fine in other cars so I contacted Kenwood and actually got a rapid response, but no real help. They said "... it would appear an incorrect signal is being sent to the headunit..." "Kenwood cannot guarantee the compatibility of any third party devices connected to our equipment..." and advised that I "...ask my installer about fully programmable steering wheel control interfaces that will send the correct activation signal to your DMX8019DABS unit".

 

[Absolut5]

How the manufactures like passing the blame...lol

That interface you have is Kenwoods own..

 

[P20]

I’ve been looking this unit for my van. Was it plug and play or did you need a harness? Which fascia did you use? Cheers

 

[Absolut5]

I’ve been looking this unit for my van. Was it plug and play or did you need a harness? Which fascia did you use? Cheers

You do need the following to install one-
Facia
USB retention kit
Fm adapter
Dab aerial adapter
Harness,

With the correct harness we supply makes it plug and play,

 

[andys]

I’ve been looking this unit for my van. Was it plug and play or did you need a harness? Which fascia did you use? Cheers

Yes as above, all kit from @Absolut5

 

[P20]

Excellent. Thank you. Will be in touch Absolut5

 

[goldeneye243]

Just had a read - Nice feedback!

I've got the 8019 too - It does have wireless Android Auto for anyone who is interested...

Wireless Android Auto - Now Working

 

[osman]

Right I've had two weeks to test this setup now and these are my thoughts.

The Siri issue is annoying, is there no way of getting the steering wheel button to activate it @Absolut5 ? It worked fine with the RCD330. The positioning of the Carplay sidebar continues to irritate too, and having to stretch all the way to the other side certainly feels less safe. I don't know why the option to switch sides is greyed out, perhaps a software update is needed, I'll check the Kenwood website.

Other minor niggles, the unnecessarily massive "chinbar" that houses the buttons is a bit of an eyesore, and is so big that it actually obscures the very bottom of the screen on a T6 due to the dash angle. I noticed that's been finally addressed on the T6.1
View attachment 50836
Also the surround plate to blend it into the T6 dash has been made fractionally too big so that the trim panel that fits over it will only click down properly either at the top or bottom, but not both. I may have a go at easing that down in size a bit once I'm sure I can do it without any grinding/sanding marks showing.
The screen is lovely and clear, though instantly gets covered in fingerprints as it lacks the oleophobic coating found on iphones, but that's the main drawback of all touch screens.

The only other negative, which isn't the Kenwood's fault, is wireless Carplay. There's no doubt that the sound is better plugged into wired Carplay than it is on wireless, I've done lots of switching between the two to test and the difference is noticeable, but having said that, so far I find myself leaving it on wireless for convenience. The other thing is that it eats phone battery, so you won't want to just leave your iPhone in your pocket and use wireless Carplay or you'll have a dead phone when you get wherever you're going. As another gotcha, the iPhone is only able to wirelessly charge at a low current (yes I know some Android phones can wirelessly charge at a higher current, but I don't use one and anyway this unit doesn't have wireless Android Auto), in fact it charges just enough so that it just keeps up with the demands of Carplay i.e. if I have 70% battery on my phone and put it in the wireless charger, I can drive for 5 hrs and the phone will still only have 70% battery when I take it out, whereas if I plug in and use it via USB my phone is always at 100% after about half an hour or so. As I say though, so far I still find myself using wireless despite the drawbacks as just putting it in and out of the cubby without having to plug something in and/or disconnect whatever you were listening to is so damn convenient. Particularly so on IOS 13 now you don't have to have the same app active on phone and screen.

Although this sounds fairly negative, I'm just putting all the little thoughts I had about it while I was away for anyone else who is thinking about this unit. Overall I'm really happy with it, sound is great, the big bright screen is great, it works flawlessly with my 360 camera system and I'm very happy with it for what it costs. Solving the above niggles would just make it perfect.

hmmm .. interesting issues im wondering how many of these problems will also be happening with the much more expensive dnx 9190 ?? i guess the "chinbar" issue will be resolved due to the adjustable angle of the screen on the 9190 but the siri issue.... the trim panel not fitting perfectly and the finger marks bother me..

the car play wireless not sounding as good as when wired and eating up battery life is very odd.... i can't really think of any reason as to why it actually sounds worse than wired.. but if so thats got to be effecting all car play wireless systems I guess and not specific to the Kenwood unit.
aargghh shame that at these prices there are still so many issues damn it...