Yarre

Hi guys!

Is there any way with only programming to make the USB in the front (Android Auto/Carplay outlet) to switch of with the ignition?
As it seems today is that it is always active. This means that my Ottocast Wireless adaptor is always active/running. This causes the battery to drain and my phone goes haywire every time i pass the car.

E220, all-terrain 2019

The_Judge

I think it shuts off once you exit the car.

ua549

Plug in a usb device such as a penlight and see if it turns off when the car does.

Yarre

No, as i said it´s always on for some reason. Same in your model?

CarFan1

Are you saying that if you accidentally left your phone plugged into the USB port instead of the Ottocast that it would keep charging your phone?

bngu1

I think it stays on for a period of time after shutting off the car then goes off but it goes on again when door is opened

CarFan1

That's true in my car. I'm just asking the OP about his vehicle.

Camaroguy72

Mine does the same thing. I know it’s on because if im at my desk in the room above the garage , or connects to the CarPlay adapter !

it doesn’t have enough power to charge a phone when off, but the dongle is powered. Unfortunately.

CarFan1

I went out to my car twice this morning to see if my phone would detect the Ottocast adapter that I leave plugged in. It didn't. I even tried placing the phone on the sun roof. Still no dice. Only after I opened the door did the device show up and that was after nearly a 30 seconds sitting in the car.

I continued sitting and then turned on the car and in about another 30 seconds Android Auto showed on the screen. Normally when I get in my car I'm about a block from the house before AA is on the screen. On the other hand, if I'm on a phone call when I reach my destination, I can turn the car off and continue AA and the call up to the point when I open the door.

If your vehicle doesn't perform this way, something should be explored. I've been following this post because I often have to go on work travel for long periods. My last trip was 28 days. And if I returned to a dead battery that would be no bueno.

The_Judge

That's exactly how my car operates. It does take a few seconds after the ignition is turned on for the various electronic functions, including the stereo and navigation systems, etc., to begin operating — it's a matter of the car's computer booting up and loading the needed programs. And when the car is shut off, the stereo and so forth continue to operate until the driver's door is opened. I like it that way – es muy bueno!

DFWdude

USB ports serve several different functions. In my car, I often listen to USB music well after the car is off. So, any USB may not perform exactly as you want it for your application.

wildta

It shuts off once you lock the doors. It turns on once you unlock the doors. Also not sure why everyone uses Ottocast. I found it extremely slow and a bit buggy. There are devices that are solely AA (Android Auto) or CP (Carplay) so they don't have all that other built-in software to make things slow and buggy when negotiating what type of platform you're using. Here are some examples of AA wireless devices that are strictly AA but they sell similar ones that are strictly CP and they work way better than ottocast that runs an operating system based on CP to then connect your AA wirelessly... Seriously what an indirect and roundabout way to get what you want which is wireless AA or CP (rare that anyone uses both platforms in a single household). These are all just examples of the same product I have but mine has a USB C pigtail for using AA in my v167, they are all from amazon just make sure it says free return shipping just in case it doesn't work for you:
AA #1
https://a.co/d/dHcBTbt
AA #2
https://a.co/d/haeVgDl

CP #1
https://a.co/d/8lroKs6
CP #2
https://a.co/d/8SRHiVW

beechcamp

I was a little wary of the wireless adapters for CarPlay. Not that they wouldn't work, but that they might lag, and I wouldn't like that. I did not want to drop $100 or more on a device I might end up putting in a drawer (I have enough of those already!). I saw a newspaper (yup, newspaper) review of a device that seemed to work well for the reviewer and was only ~$40 on Amazon, so I gave it a whirl ( ).

It is tiny and to those that are familiar, it looks like a mini Apple wireless mouse.

It came with the proper cables and well-written instructions and I was able to completely set it up in less than 10 minutes. Thus far, it works flawlessly and does not lag. It's great to just get in the car, leave the phone in my pocket and have CarPlay automatically up and running!

Finally, to the OP's original question, when I turn off the car and open the driver's door, it completely disconnects. Same behavior as other folks posted earlier.

CarFan1

I use Ottocast because it gives my Android phone a full screen experience. Although it takes a little longer to load, I don't experience any "lag" while underway. I also like the fact that the wireless connection is actually more reliable than the wired.

beechcamp

UPDATE: While CarPlay shuts off when I open the door, the dongle does not shut off until some undetermined time later. I've checked and the dongle seems to be operative for at least 30 minutes after exiting the car. I'm not sure when it finally disconnects, but when checking a few hours later I could see the status light was off. I'm pretty sure it is a Mercedes thing and not a dongle thing - the car provides power to the usb port, so the dongle stays on.

Yesterday I parked the car in the garage, turned off the engine, and exited into the house. Just a few minutes later I received a phone call and walked out into the garage to take the call so as not to disturb other folks in the house. While on the call, my iPhone kept connecting to bluetooth such that I had to keep forcing the call back onto the iPhone speaker. A PIA for sure.

What bluetooth? I confirmed it was the bluetooth for the dongle by checking the iPhone settings! It has not affected my iPhone when in the house (out of bluetooth range) but did so when closer to the car. So I will now unplug the thing once I park at home.

Should not be an issue for me while I'm out and about, though. That's actually where the dongle shines. If I'm out doing a few errands where I'm frequently getting in and out of the car at various stops it is quite convenient to not have to keep plugging the iPhone in each time I get back into the car. But when I get home I'll be unplugging the dongle from now on. Another observation: When using CarPlay for GPS and streaming music at the same time, one is naturally drawing quite a bit of power and draining the iPhone battery. Not awful for those aforementioned errands around town.

But for a longer ride, like an hour and a half or so, I find that plugging the iPhone in directly instead of using the dongle is better. One, if the iPhone is in my pocket, the battery drain is noticeable on a longer ride. Two, if I put the iPhone on the wireless charging cradle, it may not keep up though the battery drain is less noticeable. Finally, if the iPhone is on CarPlay, seated in the wireless charging cradle, and connected by bluetooth to the dongle, it gets quite hot. If on the cradle and not on CarPlay, it charges just fine and doesn't get so hot. So again, for a longer drive, I will plug the iPhone itself into the usb port to access CarPlay and keep the iPhone charged.

Hit me up with any questions.

wildta

Lock your doors and it'll turn off instantly.

beechcamp

Your observation makes complete sense and is exactly what I expected from the car, that locking the doors would turn off power to the CarPlay USB port.

Alas, it is not so, at least for my 2018 E400. On three separate occasions today I locked the doors and the dongle's status light remained lit, meaning the car was still providing power to the device. That includes 2 times whereby I left the car for some time: >20 minutes once and >30 minutes a second time. After about an hour, the status light for the dongle was off, so no more power. It powers right back up as soon as I unlock the doors.

No worries, I'll unplug the wireless CarPlay dongle when I'm done for the day.

The_Judge

I checked the three USB ports in my 2018 E400 — two in the arm rest and one in the stowage compartment — and all three remained powered for only about 30 seconds after the car is turned off. At the same time, the instrument panel goes dark.

So if it were me, I'd tell my wife that my car is broken and I need to get a new 2024 model. 😎

modaka

My ottocast p3 remains on when I switched off my engine and door is lock. It is very frustrating. It remains on and connected to my phone. When someone calls me it says my number is no more in service. So what I do is to cut of the Bluetooth connection on my phone. But sometimes I forget and I will missed calls. Or simply I just unplugged it from the car. I don't think that's an easy one to connect and disconnect.

wildta

I don't have ottocast but mine does the same until I lock my doors (v167 so could be different experience). I also have a different dongle, it's similar to this but I'm not recommending this one because of the price (they don't have mine anymore), there are tons of other iterations of the same when you search for "carplay wireless adapter" on Amazon. I imagine they all work pretty similarly but the power cutoff could be slightly different so you could try buying a few and returning any that don't work to your satisfaction.

You could also get an usb power meter tester to help you troubleshoot.

USB C Power Meter Testers, Eversame 2 in 1 Type C USB Tester Color Screen LCD Digital Multimeter, USB C Voltage Current Voltmeter Amp Volt Ammeter Detector USB Cable Charger Indicator DC3.6-30V/0-5.1A https://a.co/d/c7p3Lha

CarFan1

I never had this experience with my Ottocast dongle. But in full disclosure I replaced it with the new AA Wireless dongle since it too gives the full screen experience. It loads much faster and the screen image is also sharper.

I've had it for two months and haven't noticed any issue of the phone connections you mentioned. In fact at our vacation property we have Home phone handsets that connect to our mobile phones. In my case just pulling into the garage, my mobile phone automatically connects to the house phones. I can literally pick up the phone in the kitchen and make a call moments after entering the house.

DashLynx

Many cars from different makes keep their USB ports powered continuously. You're spot on – every time you walk past, they'll try to connect to your device. Even if you're at home, the signal's reach is long enough that your phone will always connect. This is particularly common with devices originating from China, where there's little consideration for how people use their cars or the quirks certain vehicles might have. Consequently, most folks encounter problems with these dongles. The car wasn't originally meant to support such connections, so the USB remains active indefinitely. Plus, these Chinese products aren't engineered to disconnect when you switch off the car. That's precisely why we've come up with a solution to tackle this issue. Our products will disconnect from your iPhone when you're approximately 4 feet away from the car. Given that you'll likely have the product situated in the center console, the distance from the center console to your phone will typically range from 2 to 3 feet.

Povitica3

I read somewhere on this forum that to power down your car keys from communicating with the car (way to extend battery life) double click the lock-door button on your key fob, and that powers down everything and no more communication between the car and your key fob. I bet same happens to the BT-enabled CarPlay/AA dongle if you do that as well.

DashLynx

The reason it doesn't power off USB ports is due to the design of the radio and accessories that can be connected to it via USB. Car manufacturers believe it's better to keep them on for this reason.

Frank Marullo

Not on our 2017 e300. It does seem to turn off eventually, but the door lock trick doesn't work on mine. Its a PITA because as many that use Ottobox ( Play2video has netflix among other things - lets not debate it) stays connected and all subsequent cell phone calls after parking in garbage still go to the car. Half the reason I did this was to make life easier for my wife and not have to open the console and plug in her phone, just to then leave it in the car when she exits. I love it when my plan gets overridden by subpar logic.
BTW the ottobox versions use the entire display, not just a small portion like the factory one which leaves an Android Auto symbol displaying. Furthermore, the upgraded Play2video version changes the resolution and the display looks fantastic. I'll find a way around it ( without adding a manual USB power switch which would sort of defeat the entire purpose of having this occur automatically w.o any user intervention).