E Lover

Guys, I just received my NTG4 unit from joyeauto (i guess i am one of the very first people who bought it), but not sure if i am mentally ready to do it tomorrow or not. I already know that my challenges will be putting back the HU after installing the cables and finding a right location to put the joyeauto boxes. and i am a bot afraid of not breaking the optic cables and my dash trims, considering age of my car...Are you still happy with your joyeauto car plays? Seems that are some problems with the new ios. Did you have this secondary box beside the main unit? Shown in the attached photo...

E Lover

Guys, I just received my NTG4 unit from joyeauto, but not sure if i am mentally ready to do it tomorrow or not. I already know that my challenges will be putting back the HU after installing the cables and finding a right location to put the joyeauto boxes. and i am a bot afraid of not breaking the optic cables and my dash trims, considering age of my car...Are you still happy with your joyeauto car plays? Seems there are some problems with the new ios update. Btw, did you have a secondary box beside the main joyeauto unit? I'vs received two units, one the main one and snother smaller electronic unit/hub

cadetdrivr

Nope. Just a single box for NTG4.7.

And FWIW, CarPlay is dramatically improved with iOS 13, IMHO.

LeadfootMcKrakn

It's got warts, for sure, and it needs some coddling now and then. Like the other day I had to clear all the network info out of my phone to get it to connect up at all. Once it did it was lightning-fast to connect ... for a couple of days, and then it went back to taking about 2-3 minutes to get going.

All in all, though, for a retrofit that wouldn't even be on the car in the first place otherwise? I couldn't be happier! I had an Alpine wireless CarPlay head unit in my previous car and loved it, really missed having that interface (even though it had some warts too...), and I'm super-happy to have it back!

Oh, and in the way of useful info: I have a ground hum in the AUX connection that's kinda annoying. I'm planning on installing a simple ground loop isolator when it arrives in the mail today. That should take care of it. These things are only $7-9 and easy to get at Amazon. I'll update if it doesn't do what it's supposed to do.

Davery

I'm having the same sporadic connection issues. It started around the same time as the Joyeauto software update and when I updated to ios13. I'm not sure which is the issue. I have tried to re-pair the BT and wifi, but nothing seems to make a difference.

E Lover

Guys! I just installed my joyeauto unitS in my car with NTG4. It took me 5 hours to remove the trims, glovebox, figure out the cables and install them. Now I am stuck with putting back the head unit. When I push everything to middle bottom (open area of the AC head unit), it doesnt seem that there is lack of space back of the unit and head unit goes in all the way to just few mm far from being flush with the dash. (I'll try to attach a pic). Do you have any suggestion? I am super scared of breaking the optical cables by over pushing the head unit. I am wondering if that tiny gap is because of wires and extra harness back of the head unit or maybe there is a trick to fully put the unit back? Please help as my car is a mess now and dont now what to do.

some other updates:

1. It works like a charm! no delay what so ever.
2. I have two boxes instead of one joyeauto box which means installation is a bit different than what is explained here. However thanks a lot cateddriver, with your explanation, it was much easier to figure out some of the steps.
3. it took me 45min to figure out how to remove the small side trim to remove the last screw of the glovebox and surprisingly there is not any online video or any instruction on how to remove this part. other steps were more or less straight forward, thanks cateddriver instruction.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

inittab

Did your kit come with L shaped connectors on one end of the cables? If so, make sure you use the L shaped end on the head unit. Also, my joyauto box installed outside of the head unit cavity; and off to the the side of the glovebox.

E Lover

There is no L shaped connector, just one small white regular connector to replace the L Shaped connector on the harness. I am also planning to put both boxes in the glove box. There is no space for them in the HU cavity. My problem is fitting back the HU. no matter what I do , there is 2-3 mm gap...

cadetdrivr

Ugh. That sucks.

I have no idea if the NTG4.0 head unit fits differently than the NTG4.5/4.7, but re-installing the head unit is clearly the most aggravating part of the entire process.

All I can suggest is to continue to try different options for the placement of the harness and gently shake the head unit as you slide it back into position. I've installed this Joyeauto unit on both my MBs and in both cases it involved trial-and-error but in both cases it eventually slid back into position.

cadetdrivr

FYI, I noticed there's another software update (1021) from Joyeauto on their site. I've only installed it on the GL so far, but it seemed like when I had to re-accomplish the initial bluetooth pairing/setup process it was much smoother than before. With a sample size of one I don't know if that was a change or not.

I'll have to drive it a few days to see if any of the "quirks" have been eradicated.

E Lover

I still have problem to slide back the HU. it goes easily all the way to just 1-2mm far from fully inserted back and no matter where i put the harness, at best, it stops 1-2 mm far from dash. I am not sure if this is because of the harness. Maybe there is a locking mechanism or a trick to slide back the HU in unit? any suggestion? may car is parked in my garage and I can't drive it with such a mess inside it what do you mean by shaking? any suggestion by any one is appreciated.....

cadetdrivr

As you slide head unit into position, hold it with both hands and literally shake it (forward and aft) while you slide it into position.

I'm not claiming this is the ultimate solution, it's only a technique that worked in my case. But once again, I have NO IDEA how how the NTG4 setup (MB head unit and Joyeauto hardware) varies from NTG4.5/4.7.

LeadfootMcKrakn

If this is the case, you should disconnect all the Joyeauto stuff (temporarily) and put it all back together the way it was originally to understand if there's a blockage that doesn't involve the new harness. Once you thoroughly understand what prevents the full flush mount of the HU when it's all OEM, you can go back to getting it in with the harnesses.

Frustrating!!! But it's the only way to be sure. I had to do something similar before I could really get it put back together myself (NTG4.7).

thedanofsteel

Just a head's up for those that don't know 11.11 is a sale holiday on alibaba and aliexpress. With some coupons I picked up the Joyeauto unit for $304US. If you download the aliexpress app the price starts at 320. It's a little confusing on the coupons but you can keep hitting the coupon button for $16 off, or at least I was able to. It looks like the sale is still going on if anyone wants to save a few bucks.

thedanofsteel

So not sure anyone else ordered from Ali as I did but the store I bought it from also sent a front and rear camera to go with the Joyeauto unit received the order today.

Davery

Hope you were able to get the HU back in. It. It took me a couple of days to find the right spot. I think my sweet spot was down and center. I ended up mounting the interface with Velcro under the glove box. Where ever you mount it, make sure it's accessible. In the three months mine has been in I have had to disconnect the power to the interface about 5-6 times to reset.

thedanofsteel

Planned on placing it on the shelf in the glovebox. Unfortunately, they shipped me the wrong unit (PCM3.1) and now I have to swap with someone in CA. So hopefully I'll have the right one by the end of the week and can try again this weekend.

E Lover

yes, all doneee. my sweet spot was also center down. I also rerouted the cables a couple of times to find the best arrangement. for NTG 4 there are 2 boxes which I put one of them in the glove box (the main one with USB port) and put the smaller one inside the dashboard. Everything works great and every time that I start the car, car play starts working automatically with no problem. The only complain is echoing people voice when I talk through the carplay bluetooth and microphone.

Davery

I wish they would publish the dates on their updates. When was the 1021 update published?

LeadfootMcKrakn

"1021" is the date of release (October 21).

FWIW, mine has been more stable and less prone to needing a reset since installing the update.

nycsr20

Did you get your NTG4 unit directly from the joyeauto site or did you use AliExpress? I’m also in the same boat as you being one of the few NTG4 guys.

E Lover

Directly from them

nycsr20

Cool thanks. Hoping they save some sort of Black Friday deal.

thedanofsteel

Got mine installed last night, took about an hour and a half on a 2012 E350. Maybe we didn't read the directions closely enough and had some issues getting video working but ultimately got it. Cable colors weren't remotely close to matching anything. Joyeauto were ready to answer any questions and video called on whatsapp during the install too. Looking forward to using it on my trip this week. Side note unit came shipped with the most recent software update 1021 and dip switches set, for my car at least. Thanks everyone for all of your input it helped out immensely.

Favog

For anyone who’s wondering if all this would be worth it:

I love my diesel E250. Drove it new off the factory floor in Sindelfingen back in the fall of 2014, toured around Europe for a couple of weeks, dropped it off in Munich where we enjoyed a little Oktoberfest, and picked it up from my local dealer in the US a couple of months later. I get over 45 mpg on the highway, it handles great, still looks new, no rattles, everything still works, really no problems at all. I mean, after five years it’s practically part of the family and I wouldn’t dream of replacing it … except …

My sister bought a new Honda something-or-other and while it's nice enough it doesn’t compare to my shiny Mercedes Benz of course, mostly, pretty much. But I gotta say her navigation/communications setup really puts my old COMAND to shame. We took a weekend road trip with our Mom a couple of weeks ago in my car and Sis was showing me how Waze outperforms my car’s GPS display and telling me that in her car she can plug her cell phone into her car’s dash and see Waze or Google maps displayed there instead of her car’s native Garmin display. Hm. Now I was wondering if I need a new car.

Well, nope, I don’t. After a little Googling I discovered Joyeauto’s Wireless Apple Carplay unit for Mercedes, and even better I found this thread. It looked like the Joyeauto unit would do everything I wanted, so I checked my pocketbook, and OK, yes, it cost $400, but I wanted it so I ordered it and a few days later it arrived at my front door direct from China via DHL. (Naturally I have just received an email saying it’s on sale for Black Friday -- $350. Argh.)

Now I’m pretty good with tools and I figured that given a week or so to tinker around I could probably install my new toy myself. But I wanted it to work right and I really didn’t want to break anything on my car (like woodgrain molding) so I called the local MB dealer and got an enthusiastic recommendation for a local car stereo shop that had done this kind of thing for them before. The car stereo shop did the work for me and while installation wasn’t cheap, I think it probably was the smartest $300 I’ve spent lately. I did print out the set of instructions from this thread and shared it with the installer, who told me he found one essential bit of information in it that was not included in the unit’s barebones installation instructions. (The part about using engineering mode to turn on AUX in COMAND.) So many thanks, cadetdrivr. The unit was installed a few days ago and it’s working exactly as it’s supposed to work and the question now is: am I glad I did it?

I’m practically giddy. It’s like Santa has come early and I’m still discovering presents under the tree. Seriously, I’m still figuring out all the different things I can do with this thing and because I’ve been unable to locate an actual user manual, everything I learn comes as a new surprise. The other night I was driving home from Thanksgiving dinner with family and Siri announced something like: “You have a text message from Larry; should I read it to you?” And I said yes, and Siri read the message and asked if I wanted to reply and I said yes and she asked what wanted to say and told her and pretty soon I’d received and answered a text message while driving without ever touching my iPhone or otherwise taking my eyes off the road. Of course I knew this technology was out there, but I’d been living with COMAND for five years and what had happened was totally new to me. Incredible!

As for navigation – as I said I’m still learning so I’ll just say it appears to me that I can now choose between regular COMAND navigation, Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Waze. Maybe some of those are just variations on a basic map set; I dunno. I do know that some work better than others. In testing Apple Maps while driving to Mom’s house, Apple Maps told me to turn left when I could see Mom’s apartment complex right over there to the right. And my sister has told me that Google Maps can’t find her condo – doesn’t know her street exists. But Waze not only took me to Sis’s, it even guided me through the off-road parking area right up to her front door. I still don’t know about a substitute for “send2benz” which I use often. Surely I’ll find something that works as well with another navigation system. Looking for it will be part of the fun. And I’m pretty confident Google Maps will never direct me to a nonexistent Starbucks as COMAND has done more than once. And remember how my sister has to plug her cellphone into the Honda’s dash to get the Waze display? My system is wireless; my phone stays in my pocket and it all just works. I do think I’m learning, though, that using my phone for navigation drains its battery pretty quickly, so for short trips around town no problem, but for long trips I’ll probably have to keep the iPhone plugged into a charger.

Making phone calls is easier now. I no longer have to press a button on the steering wheel and intone “call name.” Now I just go, “Hey Siri,” and the screen on the dash shows the animated line that indicates she’s listening and I say, “Call <whoever>.” It works, the call quality is fine, and again I’m amazed. I unpaired my phone from the car’s native Bluetooth when the technician was helping me get things going; I don’t know what will happen if I try pairing again. Don’t want to confuse the car too much, but it’ll be interesting to see if I can have a choice between Siri and COMAND for phone calls.

I’ve always kept my iPod connected inside my center console and when I want to listen to my music I press the steering wheel button and intone to COMAND, “media interface.” So yesterday I synced my iPod’s music collection to my phone with iTunes, and now when I’m driving I can say, “Hey Siri – play playlist Louis Armstrong” and pretty soon, well, what a wonderful world. My old iPod has been retired.

Now I’m not yet convinced my new toy is perfect. I really do need to try to follow the instructions in this thread about normalizing volume levels between Siri and music and everything else. Also, a couple of days ago I somehow managed to get Carplay crossed up and suddenly I couldn’t get the scroll knob to move the cursor more than a couple of items left or right. Fortunately, I found a fix (go into COMAND Audio and choose AUX) and soon all was right again. And now in this thread I've seen that others have experienced the same problem and found a similar fix. I will continue watching out for bugs in the software. Still, after the first few days anyway I have no regrets that I’ve replaced clunky old COMAND with current technology. And I’m having a ball with it. Just thought some around here might like to know about my experience.

Now a couple of questions I hope I have not missed in the discussion above. : The Joyeauto website mentions a user manual but downloading it requires a password? Is there a manual? Is there a password? Also, is there a firmware update that I need to install? I've been trying to get through on chat to ask these questions, but "Linda" isn't answering, apparently. She was very helpful when I was considering the purchase but now that I have the unit I'm getting nothing in chat.

FOLLOW UP: I just spotted the firmware update video in this thread and I've downloaded three files. Apparently 10-21 updates bluetooth and day-night mode, 09-10 turns on IOS Airplay, and 09-04 turns on Airplay mirroring. (I'm running iOS 13.) According to the video it looks like the update process will be something like flashing BIOS on a PC. Looks easy. Is it worth doing? Should I update in release order? Seems reasonable.