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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.
Yes, it's very easy and yes you will want to do it.
Depending upon when your unit shipped it may already have one or more of the updates already. I'd like to think that the updates should be inclusive and you would only need the latest one but you never know. That'd be a good question for Joyeauto.
Make sure to follow the instructions to the letter and specifically to turn off the car and lock it for several minutes after updating. After a certain interval (5 mins?) the car removes power from Comand, and thus the Joyauto unit, so it reboots the next time with the updated firmware.
FWIW, I've had luck communicating via email for tech support at tec@joyeauto.com. Also, if a manual exists I've never seen it.
Also, Apple and Google (who also owns Waze) use different map databases so they ARE different. As a point of interest, Apple previously used a collection of 3rd party suppliers for their map source. But Apple is totally updating their map from scratch using their own vehicles and the new maps are currently rolling out across the USA by region. Other countries will follow.
Last edited by cadetdrivr; 12-01-2019 at 10:50 AM.
Yes, it's very easy and yes you will want to do it.
Depending upon when your unit shipped it may already have one or more of the updates already. I'd like to think that the updates should be inclusive and you would only need the latest one but you never know. That'd be a good question for Joyeauto.
You're right. While playing around with settings in the car a few minutes ago I learned a few things.
It looks like my unit arrived fully updated. I'm not going to touch anything until the next update is released -- anything after October 21, 2019.
Here's what I get when I choose Carplay in the Joyeauto settings menu. I figured it wanted the password (PIN) for my iPhone -- which I'd connected with a lightning cable -- but entering my PIN had no effect. So I don't know what this is about.
I was delighted to find (finally) the option to mirror my iPhone on the car dash. It was under the Joyeauto option that depicted an Android icon but was labeled "cell phone" or something like that. Obviously the only thing you'll get if you want to take a picture of a mirrored image with your iPhone is a picture of what your iPhone displays when it's taking a picture. But I did play a YouTube video and it worked almost perfectly. The audio was in sync but the aspect ratio was off -- the sides were ever so slightly squeezed in. It was a Mark Hamill interview and he just looked like he'd lost a little weight in the mirrored version.
Thanks again for all your detailed installation instructions. You gave me the confidence I needed, even if I didn't install it myself. I should be embarrassed by how much fun I'm having...
2012 E550 Cabriolet 2011 VW Eos 1985 Pininfarina Spider
Originally Posted by 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.
I finally got around to installing this update. For some reason it is not seeing the thumb drive when I plug it into the USB cable. The USB icon does not come on. I plugged my phone into the USB cable and it started charging so the cable must be good. Ideas? I'm going to try and find another thumb drive tomorrow.
I finally got around to installing this update. For some reason it is not seeing the thumb drive when I plug it into the USB cable. The USB icon does not come on. I plugged my phone into the USB cable and it started charging so the cable must be good. Ideas? I'm going to try and find another thumb drive tomorrow.
Yeah, try a different thumb drive. (I had a similar problem.)
I finally got around to installing this update. For some reason it is not seeing the thumb drive when I plug it into the USB cable. The USB icon does not come on. I plugged my phone into the USB cable and it started charging so the cable must be good. Ideas? I'm going to try and find another thumb drive tomorrow.
Before you do the update would you mind checking what happens with Apple Maps night mode? Does it ever come on? I realized this update 1021 forces night mode to come on at 7PM and off at 7AM. this can be distracting and too bright with the sun setting at 530 here. Just curious what the earlier option was. Could be that it never turned off day mode. Thanks if you can help, if not totally cool too.
Nope, not before 1021. One could switch between the the light and dark themes in the UI, but it was not a night mode as Apple maps would always stay in day mode with a light background map, for example, regardless of the UI theme.
I find that I strongly prefer 'night' mode when it's actually dark, but like you, I don't like the arbitrary 7pm-7am timing. It's a step in the right direction, but now I find myself having to adjust the screen brightness in Comand settings almost daily. Ugh.
So I tried speaking with the engineer but apparently this is how it is with the night mode. At least for now. He did not mention they would be changing it.
Also he did mention that anyone looking to buy on here would get a discount if they go to aliexpress https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33003163076.html place the order but don't pay, in the message write "From Kevin" (this is not me but I guess the name of the engineer?) and they will adjust the price to $325. This may be the best price at the moment. If you prefer Alibaba I can get that link too but I bought from Aliexpress. Mods remove if this is not allowed please. I am in no way affiliated. I learned about this from reading this thread (thank you cadetdrivr) and bought one from Aliexpress during the 11.11 sale. I had a mix up with the unit as they sent me a Porsche one and mine to someone in California. After some discussion with the company we got it figured out and I got it installed. That is how I got to speak to them as much as I did.
Off-topic.
What is the button between driver side cool air and the 4-way blinker lights? something like seat-belt eject button of some sort icon is there.
So I tried speaking with the engineer but apparently this is how it is with the night mode. At least for now. He did not mention they would be changing it.
Also he did mention that anyone looking to buy on here would get a discount if they go to aliexpress https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33003163076.html place the order but don't pay, in the message write "From Kevin" (this is not me but I guess the name of the engineer?) and they will adjust the price to $325. This may be the best price at the moment. If you prefer Alibaba I can get that link too but I bought from Aliexpress. Mods remove if this is not allowed please. I am in no way affiliated. I learned about this from reading this thread (thank you cadetdrivr) and bought one from Aliexpress during the 11.11 sale. I had a mix up with the unit as they sent me a Porsche one and mine to someone in California. After some discussion with the company we got it figured out and I got it installed. That is how I got to speak to them as much as I did.
I just got mine in the mail but I’m out of town for a few weeks so no install until I get back. I was about to get upset because I didn’t get a $325 deal then I realized it’s for the 4.5+ Not the NTG4.0. For some reason the NTG4.0 is like $70 more.
2012 E550 Cabriolet 2011 VW Eos 1985 Pininfarina Spider
I downloaded the update on Thursday and been having issues since. About once a day the phone will not connect. Either it says the wifi has no internet connection or the bluetooth will not connect to the phone. I have tried to turn bluetooth and/or wifi, off then back on, but nothing seems to work. I'm thinking of re-installing the September update.
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.
“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.”
Did anyone find a fix for this problem yet. Did anyone of you bring it to Joyeauto’s attention? I have, but they have been giving me the run around.
FWIW, I also noticed a MCU update (1628MCU) for Android Auto that sounds suspiciously like a fix to a similar problem. Don't know if it's actually related or not.
“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.”
Did anyone find a fix for this problem yet. Did anyone of you bring it to Joyeauto’s attention? I have, but they have been giving me the run around.
This has happened a few times to me as well and I just hold the Back button to switch over to the COMAND and then hold it again to go back and it's fine. Seemed to me the fastest fix.
This has happened a few times to me as well and I just hold the Back button to switch over to the COMAND and then hold it again to go back and it's fine. Seemed to me the fastest fix.
Hopefully they will look into it and give us a fix soon. Apart from that one annoyance, the product is wonderful.
Will order another for my wife’s car as soon as this issue is resolved.
W212 M276 DELA 30 ; W211 OM642 ; R107 M117, Sierra 1500 LZ0
Glad you guys are doing the beta testing for this. I've been following anxiously and may pull the trigger once everything seems to be working properly. I need to find a competent local installer because I don't want to screw around with my dash...
Glad you guys are doing the beta testing for this. I've been following anxiously and may pull the trigger once everything seems to be working properly. I need to find a competent local installer because I don't want to screw around with my dash...
Send them an email stating this. The more people they hear from the better.
The JoyeAuto Wireless CarPlay arrived and I attempted to install on Saturday (yesterday). I have a 2010 E350 Sport Sedan. I thought I would share my experience, so far. After connecting everything, and sorting out the instructions (connect to wi-fi, connect to Bluetooth, Enter Aux, hold Back button to enter CarPlay) the CarPlay screen displays, but there are three major problems, so far:
1. No Sound in CarPlay. I have sound in Comand (Radio, etc), but not CarPlay.
2. Control Knob only moves the CarPlay item Up and Down. I will not move Left or Right to allow me to select other Options. The Back button works fine.
3. Backup Camera does not work in Comand or CarPlay.
Since I installed on Saturday (in the US), it is Sunday in China and Joyeauto tech support was not open. I sent them several messages on "WhatsApp" but so far no response.
Getting the Comnd unit back into the dash was not a problem. My E350 has a space in the back-bottom of the mounting space, so I tucked all the cables into that space and the Comand unit slid into place. The cables from the CarPlay unit feed down and right through an opening, and towards the glovebox. I plan to place the large Carplay box in the Glovebox or behind the Glovebox. There is a smaller, second CarPlay box that will fit into an opening next to the Comand unit.
I have not finished mounting the CarPlay or installing the Glovebox and Trim. I'm going to wait to hear from Joyeauto tech support. Hopefully, we can get the three problems fixed. Fingers Crossed!
Here are a few Pics of my Install.
Replacing the Main Wiring Harness and the thick Black Cable were the only two connections to the back of the Comand unit.
Here, the Joyeauto Main Wiring Harness and small connector are the only two connections made to the NGT 4.
CarPlay displays, but No Sound (bummer - I like Reba).
Here is the Unit I ordered from JoyeAuto for the NGT 4.
Finally got the JoyeAuto CarPlay unit to work! The No Sound issue was due to the instruction diagram from JoyeAuto was not correct. The Audio Out connection from the JoyeAuto wiring harness should be plugged into the AUX In connector on the Comand unit, which is one of the two connections in the glove box (the other being the old iPhone connector).
The Unit now plays loud and clear! No issues with sound. The iPhone iPod sounds great. And the phone calls sound great. I really like the CarPlay, so far.
Now, the last Big Step is to Reassemble the dash and glove box, while figuring out where the put the two JoyeAuto boxes and harness. I think I am going to run an IPhone lightning connector out from the dash/glovebox so I can connect my iPhone directly to JoyeAuto CarPlay and lay the phone in the center console tray, behind the cup holders. This bypasses Bluetooth (Wireless), but charges the phone while playing CarPlay. I'll post a pic of the final results
The scrolling began to work when I fixed the broken scroll shaft in the Control Knob (I didn't know it was broke, until now). Here are some pics to illustrate:
Fixing the Control Knob scrolling function. Replaced the broken plastic shaft with an aluminium shaft from Amazon ($11).
The JoyeAuto Audio Out goes into the Comand AUX in connector in the glove box.
2012 E550 Cabriolet 2011 VW Eos 1985 Pininfarina Spider
I actually pulled the wires out of the comand knob trying to remove it to install the Joyeauto unit. Thankfully, I was able to solder it back together. When I started doing research on the Joeauto unit, the recommendation was to place the unit behind the HU in the dash. After removing the HU, it didn't take much looking to determine there was no room in the dash (and barely enough for the wiring harness). I ended up vecro-ing the Joyeauto unit to the bottom of the glove box. Where ever you put it, make sure it is accessible. I can't tell you how many times I had to unplug the unit to restart it.
On another note, I can't say I'm a fan of the past two updates. My iphone no longer starts Spotify automatically. I have to use the comand to start Spotify every time I start the car.
I ended up vecro-ing the Joyeauto unit to the bottom of the glove box. Where ever you put it, make sure it is accessible. I can't tell you how many times I had to unplug the unit to restart it.
Just in case anybody else is in this boat, one can restart the Joyeauto unit two other ways:
By going to the Joyauto Menu ==> Smartphone ==> Reboot. (And no, I have no idea why it's located under smartphone.)
Locking the car with the fob and leaving it off for several minutes will remove power and provide a reboot when power is applied. This method is the actual recommended procedure, for example, during a software update.
2012 E550 Cabriolet 2011 VW Eos 1985 Pininfarina Spider
Originally Posted by cadetdrivr
Just in case anybody else is in this boat, one can restart the Joyeauto unit two other ways:
By going to the Joyauto Menu ==> Smartphone ==> Reboot. (And no, I have no idea why it's located under smartphone.)
Locking the car with the fob and leaving it off for several minutes will remove power and provide a reboot when power is applied. This method is the actual recommended procedure, for example, during a software update.
Rebooting through the menu would work if you have access to the menu. In several instances my unit locks up and I can not navigate anywhere, Also, sometimes my unit does not reboot when I turn the car off. So there are times when my only option is to physically unplug the unit.
Rebooting through the menu would work if you have access to the menu. In several instances my unit locks up and I can not navigate anywhere, Also, sometimes my unit does not reboot when I turn the car off. So there are times when my only option is to physically unplug the unit.
12-01-2019, 10:35 AM
