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I have 2 USB slots in my car but I didn't want to faff about plugging in and out when driving or have to stop. Also when I did put the phone in I started 2 sessions and ended up with a duel screen.
Works well for short journeys.
Ah got it. I'll try that.
The Motorola MA1 appears to work for me too at the moment.
Apart from not charging (fixed using the cigi lighter) the only issue so far is when you have two phones getting in the car. Apart from turning Bluetooth off I've not sussed how to switch between the two
when I did put the phone in I started 2 sessions and ended up with a duel screen.
Charging-only USB cables exist, if that's your issue.
Come to that, assuming your phone supports it, USB wireless charging pads exist too... 😁
After this thread, I bought a dedicated VW usb cable - no connection drops since.
Also the wireless dongle on page 1 from AliExpress - works perfectly.
So seems like problem solved with options now for wireless or wired.
Thanks all.
Just wanted to resurrect this thread in case someone comes across it in the future and finds it useful.....
I've had the connection woes as described, Google pixel 7a in T6.1
Recently got this cable
Android auto has since been working no problem, including on several long journeys.
Although.... Get in the van this morning and will it connect!? No it bloody won't. Phone charges but otherwise will not connect and start AA.
Was just about to hit buy on a wireless dongle, but thought why not try a restart of the phone and hey presto, everything working fine again. Bloody technology.
I think the key thing is the data transfer rate, but anyway, can confirm this cable supports rapid charging and AA (for now) in a VW van. Or my van at least.... Maybe it won't work in yours (disclaimer)
Pixel 6a and a decent cable never had any issues with AA. It would seem buy cheap buy twice.
Not exactly - I tried 4 different cables in the van, all of which gave iffy connections, but all of which worked absolutely fine in my Skoda.
I now have another relatively cheap cable which actually works in the van.
The cheap cables aren't the problem, it's the bloody van!!
If it makes you feel any better, it's absolutely shiiite on my Ford Kuga as well. Probably a 30% chance it works on a given start-up.
Ford double-down on this because when AA won't work, the car's own GPS doesn't start up properly either, so using the onboard mapping is useless too.
It needs the driver's key to be taken outside the car, the doors shut (engine off) and locked, 5 minutes waiting for everything to actually shut down, then re-open the car and start it up after no more than about 20 seconds.
And again if it helps my Cupra has days when it will only connect with a Blue cable, then days when it really dislikes Blue and will only use Red….when it’s feeling purple and my kids have taken the cable out of the car is really annoying.
I have purchased cheap cables and expensive, it decides each morning as to what mood it’s in and only the correct cable for that day will work.
When it’s in a really bad mood it lets out an ear shattering scream and carries on until I’ve rebooted the head unit.
No idea how VAG have been able to get away with it. My dealer told me “it’s a known issue and a software update will fix it soon”; 3 years later and no update.
Eek! No idea I'm afraid... Try 0000??
DrP
Just swapped phones and need to reconnect to the dongle thingy but I've lost the password. I'm hoping it's generic and you can tell me what it is.... Please?!
Hmmm, don't think you need a password for it. Think you need to just go in to AAwireless app on the phone and go through the setup procedure again?
Maybe we have different devices, mine's not called AA-wireless. I've tried the usually 0000 1234 etc
Maybe we have different devices, mine's not called AA-wireless. I've tried the usually 0000 1234 etc
Are you trying to connect to the dongle's Wi-Fi rather than pair with BT?
That's the way it works (don't ask me why / how). It connects to the wifi then it seems to configure Bluetooth connection.
This is going by memory though.
Just reading back through this thread, and I’m counting my blessings that the unit in my Ford seems to behave itself whenever I use it with my phone, and that’s been four iterations of the iPhone since I got it five/six years ago! There’s a bit of a ritual involved with connecting my phone via BT, which just involves using a sequence of selections on the head unit screen, and making sure the phone music app is playing. For satnav it has to be plugged in - that’s a BT limitation, it just doesn’t have the bandwidth.
I’ve never had any cable issues, I just grabbed a USB-A > USB-C that I had spare, it didn’t occur to me to check if it was power only, but as most of mine are power/data, it’s not much of an issue.
It’s certainly something that many aren’t aware of, the idea of a common cable - USB-C, that was ‘sold’ to the consumer by the EU, just doesn’t exist, there are a wide variety of different types of cable with identical looking connections, and packaging isn’t clear.
I’ve got a shit-ton of cables hanging around plugged into chargers with different flavours of USB connectors, for various legacy devices like torches, so it’s an issue that isn’t going away anytime soon! 🤷🏼♂️
Of course Google had the answer, but Bing (default through work browser) didn't. All the 8s and a YouTube video.
That's the way it works (don't ask me why / how). It connects to the wifi then it seems to configure Bluetooth connection.
This is going by memory though.
That is not my experience. 🤷♂️
I’ve got a shit-ton of cables hanging around plugged into chargers with different flavours of USB connectors, for various legacy devices like torches, so it’s an issue that isn’t going away anytime soon!
Get a cable tester from AliExpress. I got a two-pack for something like £3.
ALIEXPRESS.COM