AA Wireless (turns Android Auto into wireless Android Auto)

[TechnicallyReal]

I wanted to start a thread on AA Wireless, which is slowly making its way to Indiegogo backers now. I was quick to back this project as I was already familiar with one of the guys behind it and I had been using some of his apps.

More info on AA Wireless, here: cpeb – Wireless Android Auto for Everyone!

In short: you plug it into the vehicle instead of plugging your phone in, and then you can use Android Auto with your vehicle wirelessly.

All it took to get it up and running was to plug it in, install the app on my phone, and let it do the initial setup steps. Aside from that "it just works"! I hid mine near my brake controller with the USB cable sneaking over to the USB port that I'd normally plug my phone into.

One of the features I was really bummed not to find in the Ranger was wireless Android Auto. Now that I have it, I'm a happy camper.

Notes/Tips/Discoveries/Issues (I'll try to keep this list updated if/when things come up)

• Experimental Settings:
  • Custom DPI of 130 works well to see more of the map and to shrink the size of buttons and text a little. Going even smaller to bellow approx 110 causes Android Auto to switch to a split-screen view (but everything too small imo).
    
    
  • The 'Remove tap limit' setting appears to cause issues with navigation accuracy. It seems to switch Android Auto from using the vehicle's GPS and sensors to the phone's GPS and sensors, and in my experience causes the map to jump around or rotate randomly. I am not sure if this is an expected side-effect or a bug. This setting also allows you to view the contents of notifications while moving.
    
    
• Issues and Solutions:
  • Sometimes the Ranger retains power to the USB ports and AA Wireless for 10+ minutes after being shut down and locked. If this happens, your phone may repeatedly connect to the AA Wireless device but the Android Auto app will fail to start (since the AA Wireless device is powered up available, but SYNC is not). This manifests as a screen that annoyingly interrupts whatever you may be doing on your phone at the time, and then quickly disappears. It will continue to happen while in range of the AA Wireless device, until the Ranger cuts power to the USB ports.
    • My Ranger used to behave this way, but no longer does. I'm not sure what changed. It could be that it only does this when there are SYNC updates to download, or perhaps this behavior changed as of a SYNC update at some point.
    • If this happens to you, try enabling the Start/Stop feature in the AA Wireless app.
      What this does is prevent the Android Auto app from automatically starting when your phone conncts to the AA Wireless device. Instead, the AA Wireless app will wait until your phone connects to SYNC via bluetooth, and then it will tell Android Auto to start. It will also tell the Andorid Auto app to stop when your phone is disconnected from SYNC via bluetooth. This effectively solves the issue, however it doesn't play nice with some phones. In particular, battery-saving features on some phones may prevent the AA Wireless app from seeing that bluetooth was connecting, and therefore it won't tell Android Auto to start. YMMV.
      
      
• Other:
  • Boot up time is about the same as SYNC itself. In my case, my phone connects and Android Auto starts up within a second or two of SYNC displaying on the screen. If you remote start, or open the door but don't turn on the ignition right away, then AA Wireless will actually be good to go before SYNC is started.
    
    
  • If you want to charge your phone wirelessly while using Android Auto wirelessly, DirkM is selling 3D-printed wireless charger trays which he's designed himself. Check them out over here.

Here's the AA Wireless size for reference. Ignore the missing panel above as I was doing something else when I took this photo.

Here's my AA Wireless hidden away and connected with a mostly-hidden right angle cable (from Amazon):

I'd take a video of how quickly it connects but when I try to do that the video stops recording due to AA taking over on my phone. Will have to record it from a different phone.

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[peterson1604]

I just wanted to start a thread on AA Wireless, which is slowly making its way to Indiegogo backers now. I was quick to back this project as I was already familiar with one of the guys behind it and I had been using some of his apps.

More info on what AA Wireless is, here: cpeb – Wireless Android Auto for Everyone!
In short, you plug it into the vehicle instead of your phone, and then your phone can project Android Auto to your vehicle wirelessly.

All it took to get it up and running was to plug it in, install the app, and let it do the initial setup steps. Aside from that "it just works"! I hid mine near my brake controller with the USB cable sneaking over to the USB port where I'd normally plug my phone into. I'll edit this post with photos later.

Something that I wanted to share so far is that the AA Wireless app allows you to tweak a few things about Android Auto, and one of them is the screen DPI. I found that everything in Android Auto was a little bit bigger than I cared for, so to adjust this I played around with the DPI and eventually settled on 130. Now everything on the screen is a bit smaller than usual, and more area of the map on Google Maps can be seen.

One of the features I was really bummed not to find in the Ranger was wireless Android Auto. Now that I have it, I'm a happy camper.

Very interesting, I might be interested in this. Thanks for sharing.

 

[SVTPaul]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. I have backed the AA wireless project as of this morning. Hopefully it won't be too long before I get one.

 

[TechnicallyReal]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. I have backed the AA wireless project as of this morning. Hopefully it won't be too long before I get one.

I've been following the updates and there have been delays here and there in manufacturing but they are coming out slowly. Worth the wait imo. Not like there are any alternatives anyway, haha

Something else people might be interested in, but is also a crowdfunded product that isn't easily or quickly obtained, is CarDongle. The difference between AA Wireless and CarDongle is that CarDongle is a full computer running Android OS, and rather than only projecting the Android Auto app from your phone, it mirrors the entire Android OS from itself to the vehicle display. It does this by pretending to be a connected phone with the Android Auto app. The end result is like having one of those AliExpress Android head units in your vehicle, which means you have access to any Android app you want at any time you want. This is controversial, though, since it allows you to become very distracted and do stupid things like watch video or play games while driving, just like if you had your phone in-hand. Still, it's a neat product and can have valid use cases. I might pick one up just to use when parked for long periods of time when I have my daughter with me. Would be nice to entertain her when waiting 20+ minutes in truck.

 

[TechnicallyReal]

An update on the one-and-only issue I've run into so far. The OTA update v1.2.0 fixes it. My phone no longer makes repeated attempts to connect to Android Auto after I turn off the truck and hangout within range of it.

 

[SVTPaul]

An update on the one-and-only issue I've run into so far. The OTA update v1.2.0 fixes it. My phone no longer makes repeated attempts to connect to Android Auto after I turn off the truck and hangout within range of it.

I read they fixed that by bringing Bluetooth into the equation as well (if Bluetooth comes online in your vehicle and you are within range, then your phone will connect to the AA wireless wifi, and vice versa). I like how these guys constantly work to improve the product based on real world feedback.

 

[TechnicallyReal]

I read they fixed that by bringing Bluetooth into the equation as well (if Bluetooth comes online in your vehicle and you are within range, then your phone will connect to the AA wireless wifi, and vice versa). I like how these guys constantly work to improve the product based on real world feedback.

Yea they're on top of things. Emil has been very active with the users of his apps for years so I can't see him getting lazy with a real physical product now

I think the issue was that the AA Wireless app would see the AA Wireless bluetooth signal was in-range and if it was then it would trigger Android Auto to connect based on that. I think the change is now the AA Wireless app checks to see if the vehicle's bluetooth signal is in range before triggering Android Auto to connect, which makes more sense

 

[Czaplewskin]

I recently received mine & love it. My only issue is that now it seems like my phone dies earlier than I like (I used to plug in everywhere to charge while I drove for Android Auto).

So now, I'm looking into the
DirkM
wireless chargers, I don't know yet if my Samsung Flip is capable of this...

 

[arbjosh]

This is what Ford should have done in the first place.

 

[SVTPaul]

I recently received mine & love it. My only issue is that now it seems like my phone dies earlier than I like (I used to plug in everywhere to charge while I drove for Android Auto).

So now, I'm looking into the
DirkM
wireless chargers, I don't know yet if my Samsung Flip is capable of this...

I'm not familiar with the Flip. Fwiw I have Dirk's bracket and charging pad (but still await my truck). It's a nice piece! I have verified the charging pad he uses works with the Samsung S10. It doesn't fast charge for some reason, so it charges about 50% slower but that's not a big deal to me as it will still charge faster than any apps will draw on battery.

 

[micl9]

I'm not familiar with the Flip. Fwiw I have Dirk's bracket and charging pad (but still await my truck). It's a nice piece! I have verified the charging pad he uses works with the Samsung S10. It doesn't fast charge for some reason, so it charges about 50% slower but that's not a big deal to me as it will still charge faster than any apps will draw on battery.

Most likely the truck USB port does not supply enough power. So it's not the pad.
There are modules talked about, I think in the thread with Dirks bit of kit. You can get them on Amazon and hide behind the dash tapping into the 12V port

 

[SVTPaul]

Most likely the truck USB port does not supply enough power. So it's not the pad.
There are modules talked about, I think in the thread with Dirks bit of kit. You can get them on Amazon and hide behind the dash tapping into the 12V port

Thanks, yes I have been one of the people in that conversation and I have one on order. I should have been more clear...I tried the charging pad plugged into AC power with my Samsung AC adapter and no fast charging took place. I'll try another adapter to be sure, and will compare rate of charge from the truck's USB ports vs. an AC plug (once I get my truck). Depending on results I may not bother to wire dedicated power USB port for the charging pad.

 

[TechnicallyReal]

Thanks, yes I have been one of the people in that conversation and I have one on order. I should have been more clear...I tried the charging pad plugged into AC power with my Samsung AC adapter and no fast charging took place. I'll try another adapter to be sure, and will compare rate of charge from the truck's USB ports vs. an AC plug (once I get my truck). Depending on results I may not bother to wire dedicated power USB port for the charging pad.

Usually you need to have a Quick Charge 3.0 adapter for these wireless pads to fast charge. Not sure what Samsung provides, but it may be USB PD (power delivery) which is a more standardized version of fast charge, which most wireless pads aren't designed for.

 

[Czaplewskin]

One other thing I've noticed (not sure if mentioned before) is that I paid the money to AT&T for the wi-fi hot spot. I use it while I drive for waze/spotify/etc instead of my cell data plan. It works great except for when my two kids are running iPads in the back, the wife is checking e-mails on her laptop AND I'm trying to stream music (even though I seem to remember AT&T advertising it would be good to go for up to 10 devices at once).

With AA wireless, it seems to "take over" the wifi connection (rather than bluetooth like I thought) to connect to my phone- thus forcing me to go back to my cellular data plan. Has anyone else experienced this, or do I have some setting off?!?

 

[TechnicallyReal]

One other thing I've noticed (not sure if mentioned before) is that I paid the money to AT&T for the wi-fi hot spot. I use it while I drive for waze/spotify/etc instead of my cell data plan. It works great except for when my two kids are running iPads in the back, the wife is checking e-mails on her laptop AND I'm trying to stream music (even though I seem to remember AT&T advertising it would be good to go for up to 10 devices at once).

With AA wireless, it seems to "take over" the wifi connection (rather than bluetooth like I thought) to connect to my phone- thus forcing me to go back to my cellular data plan. Has anyone else experienced this, or do I have some setting off?!?

That makes sense since you're choosing to use WiFi for Android Auto instead of WiFi for internet. I am not sure if you can do both at the same time

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