Android carplay issue and fix

[Hellshalfacre]

Hey gang. I'm not sure if this issue has been documented elsewhere, but I didn't see my exact issue on the forums so I figured that I'd pass this along.
The issue: I installed a cheap android carplay head unit on the 128i (9inch touch screen, wifi, etc.) As with most of these eBay specials, they come with only generic instructions and the supplied harnesses can be used for a wide variety of vehicles. The face plate fit perfectly and the unit connected immediately to my daughter's phone but I had ZERO volume when playing music from Bluetooth. The radio got full volume, but YouTube, spotify, apple carply etc had no sound. Very frustrating.

The fix: the generic instructions show that the "Amp control wire" which is on a separate harness than the main power harness must be connected to Acc. The 2011 "professional" audio OEM harness does not have an ACC wire, so I tapped into fuse 8 to give this wire keyed 12v. Still nothing. Then I noticed that the ANT wire (blue, pin 13 on OEM harness) was losing 12v as soon as I switched from radio to BT. Since this wire powers the Amp in the trunk I figured that it must be signaled FROM the headunit and not TO the headunit. So I removed the tapped 12v keyed wire from the "Amp control" wire and supplied 12v keyed to pin 13 (ANT control) and BOOM I almost blew my ear drums out since the volume was maxed out. The unit works great now.
Hope this saves the next a guy a few hours of head scratching.

[mikev]

I'm having this exact same issue.

Can you explain a little more how you did this:

I removed the tapped 12v keyed wire from the "Amp control" wire and supplied 12v keyed to pin 13 (ANT control)

Did you pull the wire from pin 13 on the factory harness and connect that to Fuse 8?

[Hellshalfacre]

Originally Posted by mikev

I'm having this exact same issue.

Can you explain a little more how you did this:




Did you pull the wire from pin 13 on the factory harness and connect that to Fuse 8?

Hello, yes. Pin 13 on the factory harness needs keyed 12v. Double check that fuse 8 is switched on your car before you connect so that you don't run down the battery.
You don't need to pull the wire from pin 13. Just connect keyed 12v to the harness wire which goes to pin 13 supplied with your kit.

[mikev]

Thank you.

That's my dilemma - I'm using the Joying E90 harness that other posters say work perfectly fine, so that's where my confusion comes from.

Thanks again!

[Hellshalfacre]

Originally Posted by mikev

Thank you.

That's my dilemma - I'm using the Joying E90 harness that other posters say work perfectly fine, so that's where my confusion comes from.

Thanks again!

Yup, you'll probably notice that the CAN decoder has an E90 sticker on it. Use the main harness adapter from your kit as wired. Then just connect 12v switched to the blue wire going pin 13 and you should be good.

[mikev]

Yes, the CAN Decoder has an E90 sticker - I followed the directions from other posts in this forum that it works without issue.

So you're saying not to use that and wire in the original harness that came with the head unit? Then I'd end up losing the CANbus stuff entirely, or need to get the PAC adapter and wire that in too?

This is more confusing than any stereo I've ever installed lol

[Hellshalfacre]

Originally Posted by mikev

Yes, the CAN Decoder has an E90 sticker - I followed the directions from other posts in this forum that it works without issue.

So you're saying not to use that and wire in the original harness that came with the head unit? Then I'd end up losing the CANbus stuff entirely, or need to get the PAC adapter and wire that in too?

This is more confusing than any stereo I've ever installed lol

Yeah it's kind of a PIA. Here's what you do:
Connect the CAN decoder. Connect the original harness to the adapter from your kit. Provide keyed 12v to the wire on the adapter harness that goes to pin 13 on the original harness:
Find which wire on the adapter harness goes to pin 13. Cut it (the wire on the adapter harness that goes to pin 13 on the OEM harness)and supply it with 12v TO the OEM harness NOT TO the new head unit. You'll be good to go.

[mikev]

Got it. I'll give that a shot.

[mikev]

Just to close the loop here, I got mine fixed.

I didn't even have to pull a wire from Fuse #8.

I noticed that the wire coming out of the "E90" android harness (Joying Universal 8.9 Single DIN) going into pin #13 on the factory BMW harness was labeled ANT CONT. There was another loose wire coming out of the android harness labelled AMP CONT.

Both had inline cartridge fuses, so I simply opened the 2 fuse cases and swapped the wires. Now AMP CONT goes to pin #13 and ANT CONT is loose, but everything works perfectly now.