Seeking Help with AVIN Unit

[Mayan-Viking]

I'm having connectivity issues with my AVIN unit. It works (sometimes), but it's just not as seamless as I'd like it to be. I've been going back and forth with AVIN for a few weeks now but I've had wit with their tech support. Waiting two days every time I need an answer on something can really mess up work flow.

If anyone can spare a few minutes over the phone to compare notes I'd greatly appreciate it. If you care to help in person (Central NC) I have Sierra Nevada and Red Oak on tap and you are welcome to as much of both as you want...

Cheers,
-t

[Stilt]

In terms of carplay?

[Mayan-Viking]

There appear to be two BT signals associated with the unit. One is called car kit and one is called auto play.

Avin says the unit is supposed to be booted up using auto play exclusively. When I do this, I have full car play functionality as expected except when I try to make a call and the microphone does not pick up my voice. I can hear others; they can’t hear me. However, when a call is made if I switch to the BT network called car kit then the people on the other end can hear me. And the phone/microphone work as they should. But then I lose the original connection (auto play) requiring me to reestablish the connection to the original network so I can have car play functionality again.

Carplay functionality seems to work pretty well when connected to car kit, but the phone defaults to auto play when the unit boots up. And I cannot delete the auto play network because then I won’t be able to establish the initial connection for car play to begin with when I start the car. It’s almost like it’s working a hybrid of both BT signals to get it all to work properly. But Avain says one signal shouldn't exist. And who wants to be switching between BT channels all the time while driving just to take a call?

I’m stumped…

[ChapterM3]

Write to support@avinusa.com - they're really helpful and have gotten back to me typically between 1-2 business days!

[Bry5on]

There appear to be two BT signals associated with the unit. One is called car kit and one is called auto play.

Avin says the unit is supposed to be booted up using auto play exclusively. When I do this, I have full car play functionality as expected except when I try to make a call and the microphone does not pick up my voice. I can hear others; they can’t hear me. However, when a call is made if I switch to the BT network called car kit then the people on the other end can hear me. And the phone/microphone work as they should. But then I lose the original connection (auto play) requiring me to reestablish the connection to the original network so I can have car play functionality again.

Carplay functionality seems to work pretty well when connected to car kit, but the phone defaults to auto play when the unit boots up. And I cannot delete the auto play network because then I won’t be able to establish the initial connection for car play to begin with when I start the car. It’s almost like it’s working a hybrid of both BT signals to get it all to work properly. But Avain says one signal shouldn't exist. And who wants to be switching between BT channels all the time while driving just to take a call?

I’m stumped…

This is a hardware issue with the Avin unit. I opened mine up and traced the circuits - the Avin uses the internal (on the face of the unit) microphone for CarPlay and the Bluetooth chip has a direct connection to the external wired mic. Really shitty implementation. I threw mine in the trash (even after spending all that money, as I spent months chasing this issue until I disassembled the unit) and bought an Xtrons. The Xtrons is miles better, not that it’s saying much.

Good luck, but tech support will not be able to solve this issue for you.

[Mayan-Viking]

I have written them. Many times. For every other issue that has arisen thus far. For what it's worth, 1-2 day wait times when you have many issues consecutively can get frustrating. Also, they had no answer for the BT signal that's not supposed to be there. For this specific issue they said I should reinstall the application.

Just trying seeing if there are any other ideas out there...

[Bry5on]

I have written them. Many times. For every other issue that has arisen thus far. For what it's worth, 1-2 day wait times when you have many issues consecutively can get frustrating. Also, they had no answer for the BT signal that's not supposed to be there. For this specific issue they said I should reinstall the application.

Just trying seeing if there are any other ideas out there...

It has two separate Bluetooth antennas and chips. One inside the dongle and one inside the unit itself (the one connected to the mic). Another hardware issue that is unlikely to be solved in software. Sorry.

[Mayan-Viking]

It has two separate Bluetooth antennas and chips. One inside the dongle and one inside the unit itself (the one connected to the mic). Another hardware issue that is unlikely to be solved in software. Sorry.

This is pretty much exactly what I was hoping to find out. Thank you for that. What a terrible design flaw they happen to gloss over.

Why wouldn't the BT antennae inside the dongle work for phone calls also? Isn't what how they are advertised? Isn't that how it works in all the other systems out there?

[dukeofchen]

No answers but recently installed one myself and also troubleshooting the AutoKit software to get it to work 100% seamlessly, given that CarPlay is the only thing I actually care about.

Will report back if I get it nailed down, but if it continues to be buggy I might just go the wired CarPlay route which I'm not opposed to.

[Bry5on]

This is pretty much exactly what I was hoping to find out. Thank you for that. What a terrible design flaw they happen to gloss over.

Why wouldn't the BT antennae inside the dongle work for phone calls also? Isn't what how they are advertised? Isn't that how it works in all the other systems out there?

The Bluetooth/WiFi antenna in the dongle only has access to the software microphone for the device because of their crap implementation. You may have a defective device microphone if there’s no sound at all. But even if there’s sound, it’ll sound like you’re in a helicopter because the noise isolation is so shit.

Basically the internal Bluetooth board handles the external microphone, so if you’re not connected to the internal Bluetooth, you don’t get the nice mic. And the dongle has Bluetooth because CarPlay needs Bluetooth to initiate the CarPlay WiFi connection, nothing more. Dongle Bluetooth will not handle audio as designed.

They really phoned this one in. Edit: no pun intended.

[lemoose]

This is a hardware issue with the Avin unit. I opened mine up and traced the circuits - the Avin uses the internal (on the face of the unit) microphone for CarPlay and the Bluetooth chip has a direct connection to the external wired mic. Really shitty implementation. I threw mine in the trash (even after spending all that money, as I spent months chasing this issue until I disassembled the unit) and bought an Xtrons. The Xtrons is miles better, not that it’s saying much.

Good luck, but tech support will not be able to solve this issue for you.

I got an xtrons too after just being unhappy with an avin. For half the price, and an even more OEM look with less useless buttons, i think its a win-win.

That said, have you figured out how to dim the unit along using the dimmer wheel?

[AWE46M3]

Ask for a warranty replacement. They will send you. New harness and make you send them pictures of the back of the unit to make sure everything is plugged in correctly. Jump through their hoops to appease their warranty process but get a new unit. You got a dud. Don’t sweat it - these little gremlins are common with these android based units.

[Mayan-Viking]

Will report back if I get it nailed down, but if it continues to be buggy I might just go the wired CarPlay route which I'm not opposed to.

Is this an option for our units? If it will fix the issue with the two separate BT antennas then I think I might like to go this route as well...

[s54brendan]

AVIN's hardware is garbage. Throw it out or get a replacement if you please

[dukeofchen]

Is this an option for our units? If it will fix the issue with the two separate BT antennas then I think I might like to go this route as well...

The wireless dongle does have a wired passthrough that could be used, but I haven't had a chance to tinker with it and from my reading it might not be capable of charging at the rate that CarPlay drains the phone battery.

I'm planning to upgrade the built in microphone with this unit which would route directly into the back of the AVIN, so perhaps if both the head unit and CarPlay app can be pointed at an external microphone it would sidestep this weird bluetooth issue.