Thanks, this helps. My reason for asking, should have said so, is that I'm working out what the advantages of the Carlinkit units are. Comparing the simple wired to wireless adapters vs the stand-alone android 13 carplay to AAuto/Carplay. I see that carplay can do widescreeen and Android Auto can't yet.

Main concern is some flexibility on having calls work as per normal on BT...have had nothing but trouble previously.

 

FWIW, I don't use any of these wireless adapters. I have considered them, but for the most part I'm not using CarPlay and instead use BT and the built-in navigation. If I wanna use CarPlay, I prefer the hardwired connection. This gives me full control over when I wanna use BT and when I wanna use CarPlay. I've mostly had troubles with wireless CarPlay. Main issue is that it drains the battery pretty quickly and the wireless charging pad doesn't provide enough juice to charge the battery at the same time. At best it preserves the current state of charge. In fact the phone gets hot if using CarPlay and wireless charging together, so intermittently it pauses charging which then drains the battery. It works ok for short trips, but on longer trips I end up plugging the phone into USB so it actually charges and that pretty much negates the point of wireless CarPlay if I have to plug it in for charging anyway. In my experience, wired CarPlay is also more stable. Can't speak for Android Auto, but yes, one disadvantage of Android Auto is the lack of full screen and there are adapters that make Android phones appear like a CarPlay device to the Infotainment system in order to make it full screen. .

 

I have a feeling I'm going to end up in the same spot. I'm going to give a standalone Carkinkit Tbox a go with the best of intentions and see how it works out. I don't get the sense many are all that jazzed with the Conect/Mercedes Me route, will try that too.

I've had similar service on other vehicles and found it to work well enough to justify paying for it. Odd man out is Sirius at this point, seems to work almost as well on AAuto as natively.

 

The main reason I went with wireless Android Auto is that the USB port on my phone keeps failing when connected. It works fine for everything but Android Auto, so Samsung won't replace the port. There are separate pins for high-bandwidth applications like Android Auto that are very delicate, and not properly tested by Samsung diagnostics. The result is intermittent connection to the head unit. This is a common problem and finally got solved by going wireless.

It drives me nuts that when I rent a Malibu, Android Auto comes up automatically, wirelessly as soon as I pair my phone, but it's still beyond the capabilities of MB.

 

Android Auto and Apple CarPlay only use USB 2 speeds (480 Mbps), so that only requires 1 of the four lanes. USB doesn't use more than one lane until you get to USB 3.2 20 Gbps speeds. However, depending on which way you plug in the reversible USB-C connector, it's different pins. It is recommended to use USB 3 cables for Android Auto, even though it doesn't actually use USB 3 speeds, but those cables are more robust. The big problem with USB-C are the cables. Have to use the right one, and connectivity issues are often caused by the cables and not the port.

USB-C is great, but super confusing for most, because it only specifies a port. What the port can do is different story. USB-C can be used for multiple different protocols such as USB all the way up to USB 4, DisplayPort via the USB-C alternate modes and Thunderbolt. But not every USB-C port supports all these protocols and for each protocol you need to use the correct cable.

 

Had the problem with all (USB 3) cables. With two phones. Connected either way. When I finally got Samsung to replace the socket, it worked for a month and then failed again. USB 2 speed downloads work fine. I can't imagine what else could cause these symptoms except USB 3 pins. BTW, there are zillions of complaints of the same symptoms online.

 

Yeah, the pins in the port are small and dirt can get in it, especially with phones that are carried in pockets with lint. Then the dirt gets pushed around whenever you plug something in. It's definitely not the best design. As much as I like USB-C for many applications, the lightning port on iPhones was much more robust. I'll see how the USB-C port holds up on my next phone. So far I haven't broken one on any of my devices, but I also don't constantly plug stuff in and out.

 

This is bollocks. Literally bought a brand new '23 today and makes me want to cancel it. I hope the wireless adapter works and I'm not driving around with a cable and adapter sitting in my cup holder. I never use USB ports so I will yank the port and move it to the glovebox.

 

It seems the carlinkit wireless unit works well, I bought a Tbox with mixed results but going through it wirelessly was good.

It sucks, but it's hardly a Mercedes issue, until automotive grade Linux matures everyone is left with junk.

 

My daughter's $40k Volkswagen has wireless CarPlay and it's flawless.

 

What year?

 

2023

 

Does anyone have a pic of the USB ports under the arm rest? I don't have my car yet.

 

https://www.vegasautogallery.com/ima...1693249620.jpg

 

those wont work for carplay connectivity. You have to use the ones in your center console by the cup holders. Trust me, I was furious too not only when I found out my 140k car doesn't have wireless car play but also when I found out it wasn't wasn't full screen and it looks like ***

 

I am going to rectify this. Plan A is to simply swap the USB ports but I don't know if they are the same size. If this doesn't work I'm going to buy an extra data port and factory cable, splice it into the existing cable and install the new USB port in the glove box and plug in a wireless adapter. If for some reason the car doesn't like having the cables spliced I will just move the data port in the console to the glove box and put a blank in it's place. I suppose I could also just stuff the data port inside the console and just plug in a usb c cable that runs to the glove box, that will actually be a lot easier. I lose the data port by the cup holders but who cares?!

 

Or you could just plug the wireless adapter with a short 4” USB cable into the CarPlay USB C port and leave it there in the phone charging pad area. The wireless adapter is tiny and the wireless charger sucks anyway.

 

Thank you!

 

Yeah, my Carlink adapter is always plugged in in the dash compartment and it's practically invisible. It's just tucked in the back and you barely see it. The only (minor) drawback is that if the phone is within BlueTooth range of the garage after I park, it continues to flash and beep as it tries to reconnect until the car's CAN goes to sleep.

 

There is one thing that people use the wireless converter on the W213 is that the sound is much worse than the wired connection, I tried with 10 songs that I often hear and see the difference, the connection is available. Wire for sound quality superior

 

Have the Ottocast U2Air Pro in my 2019 W213 and it seems to stay on and connected (via Bluetooth) for hours after turning off the car, even if I lock it. Any ideas?

 

It should lose power when the CAN bus sleeps, a few minutes after the car is turned off. Something is preventing that. Do you have a battery drain? Many different things, like a noisy door control module, can prevent the CAN bus from quiescing, so this could take a qualified tech to diagnose.

I guess it's possible that the Ottocast is keeping the bus awake. I have a different brand of wireless dongle and have no problem.

 

i bought an ottocast air for the car which i also use in my toyota. it works great. having an issue however where siri is so f'in loud when i use it. i'm able to lower the volume when she's speaking and it quiets down, but the next time i query siri it's loud as hell again. i thought it was the ottocast at first but tried wired carplay and same issue.

anybody else have this problem? i have tried turning every car-based setting (navigation volume, etc...) to the lowest setting and it doesn't affect it

 

I haven't had this problem but I've had plenty of other issues. The experience is so terrible I have opted to simply unplug and do without it.

 

My biggest issue with these wireless adapters is the delay with inputs. I used a couple different adapters and couldn’t get over the 2-5 second delay sometimes when putting inputs (like skipping a song). The feedback would always be delayed. Does anyone experience this with Ottocast or the Carlinkit?

I’ve been using wired since but still trying to find a good adapter that doesn’t have this issue.