Aftermarket Tesla CarPlay and Android Auto Devices

[timeshifter]

I am also investigating the best way to ensure the system reconnects automatically when I get back into the car. Should I leave the T2C powered up all the time I’m away (using Sentry mode)? I guess I’ll get all my answers on Saturday when I pick up my car …

I've had my car almost two years and have been through a lot of solutions to get CarPlay. This is the best I've tried so far. But, I'd temper your expectations a bit. It's not going to connect automatically in a way that's magical and you just forget about it. On the other hand it's pretty solid, but you have to get used to it.

I have a USB on-off switch connected to mine. When I get in the car I turn it on and turn it off when I leave. It boots up really quick. The key is getting the WiFi of the Tesla to connect to the device. Sometimes it does it right away, others you have to open the menu and pick it. Once that's done the CarPlay bit pretty much just works.

The first device supports both sim and bluetooth hotspot, the second one is bluetooth hotspot only.

I'd stared down both pages the other day trying to discern the differences. What you say makes sense as it's newer and it doesn't mention a region choice.

 

[Mandingo]

It's not going to connect automatically in a way that's magical and you just forget about it. On the other hand it's pretty solid, but you have to get used to it.

I have a USB on-off switch connected to mine. When I get in the car I turn it on and turn it off when I leave. It boots up really quick. The key is getting the WiFi of the Tesla to connect to the device. Sometimes it does it right away, others you have to open the menu and pick it. Once that's done the CarPlay bit pretty much just works.

I’d love to learn from your experience.
1) What is the purpose of the USB switch - doesn’t the USB C port power up/down with the vehicle sleep mode?
2) Is your car not reliably re-connecting to the device because there are other Wi-Fi networks it knows? I was thinking of not connecting the car to my home Wi-Fi and seeing if it is reliable if this is the only Wi-Fi network it knows. I’m guessing you already tried this?

 

[JoeyLeee]

I am not sure what you are trying to relay. The T2C used to support SIM cards only, but with the latest update, CARLINKIT added the iPhone Hotspot option. Users may only use either SIM or Hotspot at a time.

Yes. I know that. They have released a new version that only supports Hotspot. The price will be cheaper a little.

 

[mclark2112]

Yes, I am hopeful this will do the job. Lack of CarPlay was a real issue for me since I am directionally challenged.

I am also investigating the best way to ensure the system reconnects automatically when I get back into the car. Should I leave the T2C powered up all the time I’m away (using Sentry mode)? I guess I’ll get all my answers on Saturday when I pick up my car …

I am also curious why the unit needs the hotspot from the iPhone - if the iPhone sees the T2C as a regular wireless CarPlay unit why would it also need to set up a hotspot - the iPhone doesn’t need to do this for regular wireless CarPlay.

It's because this unit is gaming the system to give us carplay. It needs to intercept all the Internet traffic from the car, so it can feed the custom local (hosted in the T2C controller) webpage that is carplay, while letting all other traffic to the internet. Setting up the T2C as the wifi connection for the car is the only way do this (it's just using custom DNS). I'd suspect carplay may actually work with the T2C in the car even if the unit were not connected to a sim or hotspot, it would just cause other issues for the car, as the car would have no data access at all.

 

[timeshifter]

I’d love to learn from your experience.
1) What is the purpose of the USB switch - doesn’t the USB C port power up/down with the vehicle sleep mode?
2) Is your car not reliably re-connecting to the device because there are other Wi-Fi networks it knows? I was thinking of not connecting the car to my home Wi-Fi and seeing if it is reliable if this is the only Wi-Fi network it knows. I’m guessing you already tried this?

1) I've yet to find an authoritative answer about when the USB ports are powered vs not. My previous solution was plugged in to the 12V under the armrest. It's on almost continuously. For this solution I'm using the USB-A port in the front of the console. (My Model Y has one USB-A and one USB-C port up there. The USB-C powers the wireless charging pad.) I haven't taken the time to see how the USB-A port behaves, but I'm reasonably sure it's not something I can rely on to turn on and off in a way that would work for me.

While I'd prefer something that's automatic and seamless, having the on off switch gives me control of the process. It's trivially easy to click it on and off as I enter and exit the vehicle.

2) Since I don't really leave it on, it's hard to say. One thing I noticed (but not 100% clear now) is that it may have trouble connecting when the hotspot is not active. Also, I don't want the car parked and connected to the device while I'm away. Seems it would be "stranded" with no Internet connection. I want to use the remote features, but if the car is connected to the T2C WiFi but it's Internet connection is the phone in your pocket that stuff isn't going to work. Don't know if the Tesla will switch to it's cellular connection. It likely would, but I'm not sure.

So for me, an on off switch is the best compromise.

 

[jjrandorin]

1) I've yet to find an authoritative answer about when the USB ports are powered vs not.

The Tesla model Y manual provides an answer to this question, with the answer being "the USB ports are powered when the car is awake". Many things can keep the car awake, so perhaps thats what you mean?

Model Y Owner's Manual | Tesla

Learn about the electronics available in the interior.

www.tesla.com

(Screenshot of the relevant part of the manual with that statement)

 

[charlesoris]

I’d love to learn from your experience.
1) What is the purpose of the USB switch - doesn’t the USB C port power up/down with the vehicle sleep mode?
2) Is your car not reliably re-connecting to the device because there are other Wi-Fi networks it knows? I was thinking of not connecting the car to my home Wi-Fi and seeing if it is reliable if this is the only Wi-Fi network it knows. I’m guessing you already tried this?

My car is parked in the garage. Every time I enter the car, I notice that is connected to the home WiFi.
I have to reconnect to T2C manually.

 

[timeshifter]

The Tesla model Y manual provides an answer to this question, with the answer being "the USB ports are powered when the car is awake". Many things can keep the car awake, so perhaps thats what you mean?

Model Y Owner's Manual | Tesla

Learn about the electronics available in the interior.

www.tesla.com

(Screenshot of the relevant part of the manual with that statement)

View attachment 912706

What most of us are interested in in this case is having the device turn on or off in a predictable manner. The ideal would be for the T2C to follow the screen. If the screen is dark then the T2C is off and vice versa. I had a Hansshow display that worked that way, but it was powered by the MCU with a cable adapter.

 

[timeshifter]

My car is parked in the garage. Every time I enter the car, I notice that is connected to the home WiFi.
I have to reconnect to T2C manually.

Same. I've toyed with the idea of setting an extra SSID that matched the T2C's WiFi (or Tesla Android's with my prior install). That way, hopefully, the Tesla would magically switch when it picked up the T2C WiFi as it would be stronger. This could be doable since I use Ubiquiti WiFi at home and it's easy to add an additional SSID without having to change my whole home network around.

 

[jerome8283]

I thought connecting to your home WiFi is a recommended thing for Tesla owners. As some of you know I toyed with the T2C trying to get the reconnects to work consistently but gave up and have an on/off switch like others.

 

[jerome8283]

Also, when leaving home, the car disconnects from my home WiFi, it does not connect to the T2C if its powered on. I have to manually connect but while out if I leave it on while running into the store, when I return it connects most of the time.

 

[jjrandorin]

What most of us are interested in in this case is having the device turn on or off in a predictable manner. The ideal would be for the T2C to follow the screen. If the screen is dark then the T2C is off and vice versa. I had a Hansshow display that worked that way, but it was powered by the MCU with a cable adapter.

Ok... but is "the USB ports are powered when the car is awake" not the authoritative answer? I understand that may not match what you want, but it seems to be the answer to the question you mentioned in the other post.

 

[Mandingo]

Ok, go gentle with the n00b here, but what are the consequences of not connecting the Tesla to the home wifi network so all it knows is T2C? While I have a garage there must be lots of people who street park their car at home and it can never connect to their home wifi - what are the consequences of this?

I assume the answer is something to do with not getting updates but then perhaps I can choose to do occasional connections to my home wifi to get updates and then forget the home network again?

Also, when leaving home, the car disconnects from my home WiFi, it does not connect to the T2C if it's powered on. I have to manually connect but while out if I leave it on while running into the store, when I return it connects most of the time.

I read somewhere (again, n00b here) that the Tesla won't automatically *switch* wifi networks once it's moving. So as you drive away and it loses "home" it won't connect to T2C "Autolink ... xyz" automatically. So perhaps it needs to have locked on to T2C before you drive away - which means it needs to have booted up (which on my unit is somewhere between 40s and 1 minute)?

The other question I have is whether making "T2C" the preferred wireless network for the Tesla and "Home" lower priority is possible? If it is then the Tesla will connect to Home once the USB port has powered down but will reconnect to T2C when it boots up again *assuming you haven't started driving yet*

Ultimately I assume it isn't a lot of work to select the T2C wifi network after the car is moving and the device has booted up so I am sure I can live with that (First World Problems, I know).

 

[jerome8283]

I’m not sure what the consequence of not connecting the Tesla to my home wifi network, great question, this is something I thought about. I believe its more about the car not being able to connect to the Tesla network. The Tesla connectivity functions will not work, no sentry mode, software updates, no remote operation or remote functions (precondition, climate etc.) — Someone else please correct me if I’m wrong here.

Correct, the Tesla won’t auto switch WiFi networks once moving. I usually connect to the T2C before leaving home or manually once I leave. My T2C only takes 20 secs to boot if I recall correctly.

Making the T2C the preferred WiFi net is a thought. I believe it may come down to the home network connection or not. I just have not tried this in fear of screwing up what works ok for me now. I use an on/off power switch and select the T2C wifi network after the car is moving or just before leaving home.

I also have the Tesla-Android setup and use it in the same manner except I like the wired solution with this setup since connectivity is more stable.

 

[Mandingo]

I also have the Tesla-Android setup and use it in the same manner except I like the wired solution with this setup since connectivity is more stable.

Yeah I have found wired to be reasonably robust (which was not always true in the early days of CarPlay) and I might take a swing at the Raspberry Pi module when I get some time to tinker. I also hope there will be further firmware updates for the T2C module that will make it a little more reliable.

 

[jerome8283]

They updated the firmware recently or when I had last checked.

While connected to the T2C, within the CarPlay menu click on the Car icon. This icon can be customized so yours may have a different image. This should take you to a T2C menu.

You can turn off CarPlay on your iPhone to prevent it from launching while in the setup menu. Toggle AutoKit off within Carply on your phone.

Within the T2C menu click About and Software Update to check for updates.

See the pics below.

 

[AZEVFan]

New member here. I took delivery of my first Tesla, a Model 3 RWD, on 18 March 2023. Previously, I had a 2019 Chevy Bolt, which I loved. It was my first car with CarPlay, and I swore to myself that I would never get a car that didn't have CarPlay. Well, so much for that. Having had CarPlay for 3 1/2 years, I was very disappointed with the Model 3's lack of CarPlay support so I immediately went searching for solutions and ended up finding this thread. (Thank you to the OP!)

Here's my contribution: Yesterday, I emailed to Carlinkit and asked what the differences are between the two models of the T2C shown on their website. Specifically, I wrote the following:

I live in the USA and have a 2023 Tesla Model 3 and would like to purchase your T2C. Your website has two listings for this product. One is currently priced at $89.99 and is described as “CARLINKIT WIRELESS CARPLAY ANDROID AUTO MINI BOX ADAPTER FOR TESLA MODEL 3/X/Y/S CARPLAY WIRELESS ACTIVATOR NAVIGATION SPOTIFY SIRI IOS16 NEW.” The other is priced at $139.99 for the United States/Canada model and is described as “ T2C CARLINKIT MINI CARPLAY ANDROID AUTO WIRELESS WIFI BOX BLUETOOTH ADAPTER FOR TESLA MODEL 3/X/Y/S APPLE CARPLAY DONGLE OTA ONLINE UPDATE.” What are the differences between these models? Will they both work with a 2023 Tesla Model 3? If not, which one works with that model vehicle? If so, how do I decide between the two of them?

Last night, I received the following response:

Hi, thank you for your interest in our products, both of them work with your car, the difference between them is the network connection, the priced at $89.99 is bluetooth hotspot network, the other priced at $139.99 is both sim card 4g network and bluetooth hotspot network.

So this confirms what a few other posters have said, namely the cheaper version does not accept a SIM card and is only capable of BT hotspot support.

FWIW, before I heard back from Carlinkit, I decided to purchase this one from Amazon (based on another poster's recommendation in this thread). I expect to receive delivery of it today. My thought is that if the device works well (I previously bought a Carlinkit product so I could use Wireless CarPlay with my Bolt and was very pleased with it), I might go ahead and get a SIM with a hotspot plan from one of the cell carriers.

Thank you again to the OP and all the other contributors to this thread!

 

[carlos31820]

I just ordered one of these (version without SIM card). I'm guessing it will get here in a few weeks as it's shipping from China.

 

[charlesoris]

I just ordered one of these (version without SIM card). I'm guessing it will get here in a few weeks as it's shipping from China.

There are a couple of advantages of using the SIM T2C if you have unlimited or high limit cap of SIM Hotspot data:
1. If you don't have Premium Connectivity, you can play YouTube or Netflix while charging
2. Your phone doesn't get warm/hot by turning on Hotspot on it.
3. You can walk away while passengers keep watching videos

Personally, as I stated before, I am using my iPhone as a hotspot for now, but I will switch to SIM card if need be in the future. I located a seller on Ebay who sells unlimited Hotspot data SIMs for $18.00/month.

 

[JoeyLeee]

It works pretty well in the car, as responsive as any other wired CarPlay I've used before. A bit rough having to pay for another data plan but overall I'm happy to not be messing with Raspberry Pi and such. Although the version without the sim card have released, but I will insist in using the SIM card.