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CarPlay retrofit in 2013 Touareg 7P with Kremer Sino Box - quick report

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carplay kremersino wireless carplay
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#481 ·
Update a month after installation:

Only a few minor connectivity issues but overall I'm very happy so far. Biggest issue seems to be related to the iPhone automatically starting Google Maps when it connects to the CarPlay module. (Google Maps connects but doesn't update your location - it's frozen where you were last time you powered off the car and disconnected from CarPlay). Usually grabbing the phone and starting Google Maps brings the app back to life. Doesn't happen very often - maybe three or four times in the first month (which is quite a number of system boot-ups). Anybody else experience this? Don't know if it's a Google Maps issue or a CarPlay issue. Or a compatibility issue. I might try Waze and see what that does.

For a long time, I have had the random "BT connects to the car for the phone but the media doesn't kick in..." and it won't play Spotify or any other media player through the car audio. It happens to me a number of times every year since the car was new. (I am using a 6yo iPhone XSMax which is still going strong - running iOS17 until this afternoon). Anybody else have this connection issue? I put it down to the age/tech of the HK audio system. It's like being "half connected" via BT.

Usually, a reset or a "forget connection" on the phone fixes it but sometimes, as others have posted, you need to forget the connection on your phone and lose the pairing from both ends (and delete the phone from the car end too) - only to set the connection up from scratch all over again.

It decided to :poop: itself again yesterday and the phone was connecting properly via BT but not the media. Car Play would control Spotify on the phone (change tracks etc.) and all the changes were reflecting on the RNS850 CarPlay screen, but it would ONLY play via the phone speakers. No amount of phone resets or "forget connections" on the phone would end up in connecting the BT audio for media to the car.

After immediately blaming the KS unit, sanity prevailed and
(a) I remembered the KS unit WAS controlling Spotify properly, so it had a healthy connection via the WiFi for the module; and
(b) I reminded myself it has been doing this on and off for years before installing the KS unit.

I decided to unpair, forget and delete all connections and reinstate. But before that, I decided to install iOS18 on the phone. I've held off for a while so seemed like a good time to update... After the iOs update and without any changing any other parameter on the phone or the car, I started the car as per normal and both phone BT and the media BT connected as per normal and the CarPlay module was happy to control Spotify with the audio playing through the car speakers.

I think it is "just one of those things". Just like the way that for 90% of the time when I open the driver's door, the other doors all unlock (as they are programmed to do) and the other 10% of the time they remain randomly locked... :rolleyes:

Long and short of it - I am still happy with the KS unit. Long may it stay that way alongside many others on the forum who have had theirs installed for a long time. 🤞🤞
 
#482 ·
VdubTech said:
Well...I forgot today was the wife's early day so I decided not to wait for the weekend.
The install was super easy, you only have to remove the glove box which is a few screws and pop the climatronic unit out. EVERYTHING is plug and play no need to splice or install anything extra. This is the CarPlay I have been waiting for! I never pulled the trigger on the other units because it didn't use the factory microphone and you had to splice CAN BUS wires. Everything so far works flawlessly. Thank you to the OP for giving this a shot and showing it to all of us!

I also forgot to mention...the harness provided for USB was long enough so I routed it right into the arm rest

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Yuo can watch youtube or something else from phone?
 
#483 ·
I have a 2012 VW Touareg executive TDI. I have already installed an aftermarket backup camera and module before I ordered the carplay box. Do I route the backup camera rca to the yellow rca video connector on the carplay box, or leave it connected to aftermarket backup camera module? Basically what I am asking is, "How do I connect an aftermarket backup camera to the carplay module?" This was not covered in the sellers directions.
 
#484 ·
HI KBRENNY

I have scanned and attached from my installation package. Hopefully this will help.

Essentially you need to attach the RCA and a 12V power to the camera - PROBABLY directly into the KS box and not via any other control interface that may have come with your after-market kit. I assume your car is an auto.

Having factory reverse, I didn't need to do anything specifically to integrate the reverse camera - just set it up in the menu.

But I did get a little fly lead (pic also attached) which MAY be required for the after-market camera input (and it MAY NOT - depending on the wiring harness). I'm not going to pull mine out to check the connections on the leads, so you'll have a to take a look and see if any of these photos help. Cross fingers they do.

Cheers
 

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#485 ·
This thread has been an interesting an wild ride that I've watched from the beginning.
Unless someone reports that adding such an aftermarket unit comes without the downfalls, I'm going to pass.
Props to the manufacturers that keep trying though.
 
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#487 ·
Brendanm said:
What downfalls have you seen exactly?
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Personally, none as I haven't done this addition ....... yet. If you read this thread you'll see it's not without it's quirks.
 
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#488 ·
New2Tregs said:
Personally, none as I haven't done this addition ....... yet. If you read this thread you'll see it's not without it's quirks.
Click to expand...
Most of which are caused by people's installs.

Even if it has quirks, there are no downfalls. Everything works exactly as it did, except with the addition of more features.
 
#489 ·
Brendanm said:
Most of which are caused by people's installs.

Even if it has quirks, there are no downfalls. Everything works exactly as it did, except with the addition of more features.
Click to expand...
Quirks, Downfalls, Toe-may-toe, Tah-maht-toe.
 
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#491 · (Edited)
The after market backup camera connects to the yellow RCA connector coming out of the main harness and the pink wire from the main harness supplies 12v+ to the red wire powering the backup camera. The control module that came with the aftermarket backup camera can just be removed as it is no longer needed.

Can anyone tell me the function or purpose of the:
1. FV-12 Green wire
(supplies 12v dc + to the front camera)
2. F-AV yellow video RCA
(Video input from front camera)

1 and 2 are on their own small harness

3. ACC Red/Silver wire
(No use do not connect)
4. The 4 wire plug coming from USB wiring harness.
(Used in Volvo or Mercedes where an extra aux is needed. Not used in Touareg)

Also, can you tell where to find the app for screen mirroring called "MLink" found in the instructions?
(seller has to email this link to you)

Another question:
My phone keeps using the carplay box to handle phone calls. when it does this I can not hear the person on the other end but they can hear me. I can fix this by switching my phone's Bluetooth selection from the carplay box to my Touareg's Bluetooth from the call menu on the phone. I don't want to do this for every phone call. Is there a setting I can change to fix this? On my phone, In the Bluetooth settings for the carplay box, if I disable "phone calls" the carplay box will not pair it's Bluetooth with the phone. Any way to fix this?

First, make sure your media selection on the cars system has BT audio selected.

Second on the carplay box settings go to system, factory mode, phone link, and make sure you check the "disable phone link audio" button.

I forgot to ask:
on one of the carplay box Wi-Fi networks it asks for an 8 digit password to log the phone onto that network. what is that password for the carplay box WiFi network?

The password for this network is 88888888. This network will not automatically log in for me so the Wi-Fi network without the password works better for me.
 
#492 ·
Ok, I got all my issues worked out with the carplay box. I will answer my own questions above when I'm done with this reply.

Has anyone gotten the Mira Cast or screen cast to work yet? I tried with Hulu and it said it couldn't cast to a device if it was "HDCP' (hope I got that right). I then tried with AMC+ from my phone and the screen went black on my Touareg but the sound kept going.

Any tips on getting screen mirroring to work better?
 
#493 ·
Another separate question:

In the car play box under Settings, Car Settings; can anyone describe what the differences between "Car Type" 1 through 8, "Display Type" 1 through 8, and "Sound Type" 1 through 8?

Mine are all set to "1" but if anyone has info on the differences I would like to know.

Also, I'm still looking for anyone who has gotten screen mirroring to work with Android Auto.
 
#494 ·
ColmOG said:
Hi Cormac - am based in Athlone Ireland - just wondering how your CarPlay unit is working now, would you recommend - many thanks, Colm
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Colm, I'm very sorry I missed this. Did you go ahead in the end? It's been mostly OK but a little bit troublesome. Sometimes crashes but I got a firmware update from them which has helped. Can often be difficult switch from the unit back to VW native interface and vice versa. If you have the radio playing you can't hear any notifications from your apps, would be nice if they could be combined for things like Waze notifcations etc. I find the voice control is poor, could be down to the existing mic though. Any other questions, fire away.
 
#496 ·
Suggest make sure you have done all the connections properly, and reseat them if you need to. If you have a VCDS, also suggest going in and resetting any DTCs that may have come up during the installation. I needed to reset the alerts after I had installed mine in order to have all the other standard functions operating. (like reverse camera etc.)
 
#497 ·
Well I've installed mine however looks like I gotta hold down the traffic button to bring it up so I presume it has old firmware.

I also didn't install the USB cable and I presume that's how it's upgraded 🤬

I've also now got no audio in android auto I also can't select aux in the car for audio input.

Any ideas.

Yes I'm sure it's all been talked about before but I'm currently upside down under the dash.
 
#498 ·
Gros21 said:
Well I've installed mine however looks like I gotta hold down the traffic button to bring it up so I presume it has old firmware.

I also didn't install the USB cable and I presume that's how it's upgraded 🤬

I've also now got no audio in android auto I also can't select aux in the car for audio input.

Any ideas.

Yes I'm sure it's all been talked about before but I'm currently upside down under the dash.
Click to expand...
I presume you are no longer upside down under the dash, and have presumably read through this post now and figured it out.
Either way, I'll presume you haven't, and answer your questions...

Holding Traffic button firmware is actually one of the newer ones already. The major change is how audio is routed. It uses the bluetooth connection to the Touareg for calls and audio. Much better audio quality than Aux. You just have to connect to Ksmart bluetooth to start up AA, but then it automatically disconnects the bluetooth from it and only uses wifi. Are you able to play music through the car's bluetooth? If not, you'll have to enable that either through the RNS settings, or if the car doesnt have that option the GEM (more on that later).

The USB cable is useful to have installed. And yes, updates are through there. Part of the nice thing about this system is actually the product support and useful updates they do release. If it's all still apart, I would put in and tuck it somewhere you can access. Mine is routed to under the shifter area where I can pull out that little cup to use it. Some people have had connection stability issues on wireless, so for them a wired connection (through that USB) works smoother. I have never had issues with wireless and it chargers so slow, that I'd rather plug into a charger for power on long trips and keep connection wireless. I think it depends more on the phone than the box or its placement, but the antenna orientation must also play a role.

To be able to select Aux in, you either have to plug something into the car's connector, or enable it through the Green Engineering Menu (GEM). Search for that and how to enable it. I don't know your level of experience, but be cautious of anything you change in that menu and take note of things before changes. The only thing you would need Aux for anyway is if you want to play music or videos from the USB of the Ksmart which I don't think you do.

Anyway, hope this helps. I rambled a little longer than I planned to, lol..
 
#499 ·
MK1-RBT said:
The USB cable is useful to have installed. And yes, updates are through there. Part of the nice thing about this system is actually the product support and useful updates they do release. If it's all still apart, I would put in and tuck it somewhere you can access. Mine is routed to under the shifter area where I can pull out that little cup to use it. Some people have had connection stability issues on wireless, so for them a wired connection (through that USB) works smoother. I have never had issues with wireless and it chargers so slow, that I'd rather plug into a charger for power on long trips and keep connection wireless. I think it depends more on the phone than the box or its placement, but the antenna orientation must also play a role.
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