Echo Auto In Model 3

[Dan203]

I have some issues with my Echo Auto. I've had issues with her not responding even though my phone has an internet connection. Also have an issue where my phone thinks that it's still connected and playing music after I get out until the car falls asleep and shut it off. That's annoying.

It's not working as well as I had hoped and my patients with it are wearing thin.

 

[jebinc]

I have some issues with my Echo Auto. I've had issues with her not responding even though my phone has an internet connection. Also have an issue where my phone thinks that it's still connected and playing music after I get out until the car falls asleep and shut it off. That's annoying.

It's not working as well as I had hoped and my patients with it are wearing thin.

I hear ya...

 

[scottcressman]

Just wanted to provide an update on my previous post, and thanks for the comments and assistance as I’ve gotten everything sorted I think.

Per my first question, I can verify that plugging into the back USB ports solved any issues I was having. The Echo Auto will power down after a few minutes and start back up quickly once the car is started again (and theoretically my phone is present and available for connection).

I’ve has a few times where I’ve had temporary connection issues, but nothing too annoying or recurrent. I’ve also opted to hide the Echo Auto in the storage compartment and no issues with the microphones picking up my commands, even with music on.

Per the second issue, the comment about using the Smart Meross app did indeed solve my issue, but I had to search specifically for that app and connect to it in addition to the regular Meross skill I already had connected. I suppose I could disable that one now but don’t see a need as they shouldn’t conflict I don’t think.

So now as I approach my garage I’m able to say “Alexa, use Smart Meross to open garage door” and it works like a charm!

Lastly, I’m really happy with how I mounted my phone so thought I would share that as well as I hadn’t seen this fairly obvious setup when I was searching for solutions (perhaps because I don’t need wireless charging).

I purchased this mount which is fantastic and simply ran the stock Apple charging cable out between the seam of the phone and front storage compartment. With the phone storage closed you have a smooth surface to attach the mount to, and it grips with more than enough force to keep things in place. The ability to turn and tilt the phone based on playing a YouTube video or avoiding sunlight is also exactly what I was looking for. See attached pics for what it looks like.







Thanks for all your help everyone - this forum is a great resource!

Cheers,
Scott.

Hi all,

Just got my Model 3 last week and Echo Auto today.

Had the same Bluetooth connection / lights up but no response issues and solved it be rebooting my phone, killing and re-starting Alexa app, and power cycling the Echo Auto.

Definitely seems like it’s because it’s left on powered for a long period of time and some kind of timeout occurs that creates the error state.

Two questions:

1. From previous posts it sounds like the rear USBs power down immediately when the car is locked. Am I understanding that correctly? (if so I will power from there instead, though I’m disappointed I have to have the cable out in the open as my plan was to hide the whole thing in the center console...I can confirm previous posts that the microphones seem to work just fine through the console and with the audio queues don’t know why I wouldn’t want to keep things clean by hiding it away...)

2. I’ve got a smart garage door that works with all of my other Alexa devices and even via the Alexa app (by clicking buttons), but inexplicably when attempting to open it via the Echo Auto or even via the voice command button within the Alexa app, I’m getting a “this function is not supported”. My question here is...why would Amazon disable one of the most obvious use cases for the Echo Auto?!? (e.g. “Alexa, unlock the garage door”) And further, has anyone found any ways around it? (perhaps via Routines or IFTTT?) I have the standard package so apparently as of earlier this year don’t have HomeLink, so this was going to be my alternative to using a standard garage door opener and preferably was hoping to do a geo-based routine to automatically open the garage when I got close to home.

Any ideas?

 

[siminoff]

Any others find a good place to locate the Echo?

I plugged mine in to the phone dock using a Tesla micro USB cable cable. Installation was less than one minute and the Echo looks like it belongs there.
Audio quality is excellent, and I like having somebody to talk to in the car . I have had zero issues with my Echo whatsoever (perhaps because my USB ports are always on?), although I frequently forget to turn on the Area app on my phone before I start yammering at Alexa.
-Mark

 

[GateFather]

I put mine behind the steering wheel and ran the wire through the center console side trim. Just took a T20 screw driver and some strategic pulling. Took 10 minutes! The other wire is a USB-C to Lightning cable plugged into a 36W Belkin car plug. For fast charging iPhone.

 

[neurocutie]

So now as I approach my garage I’m able to say “Alexa, use Smart Meross to open garage door” and it works like a charm!

I wired up a $3 relay to a $25 Kasa/TPLink outlet and created a 3 line Alexa routine. So now I just say "Alexa, garage" and it works like a charm

The major problem with Echo Auto, which I really want to writeup and post to Amazon, is that the Echo Auto is really NOT an Echo device like Echo Dot or Echo Input. Amazon has been somewhat deceptive about this. It is really not possible for the Echo Auto to give the "full Echo/Alexa" experience. I had really hoped and thought that the Echo Auto would be just like an Echo Input/Dot but use my phone's BT for Internet tethering.

No, the Echo Auto is not an Echo device at all. In fact in the Alexa app it is listed separate from the real Echo devices and is grouped together with the Echo Buds as "on the go accessories". So what is an Echo Auto? It is a fancy BT mike that talks specifically to your phone's Alexa app. EVERYTHING the Echo Auto does is really being done by the phone's Alexa app, which is now running in background consuming 40+% of the battery.

This is why Echo Auto: 1) only recognizes "Alexa" as the wake word, 2) cannot swap Amazon accounts like real Echo devices, 3) ties into services like Spotify and SiriusXM only to the extent that your phone can -- no independence existence of the Echo device cuz it isn't one -- e.g. to get Alexa Spotify, you actually have to run the phone's Spotify app, 4) calls are real phone calls, not Alexa calls.

Its not all bad, but it *is* different from a real Echo device. It does mean that the BT connect-up is alot faster than a WiFi connect-up, and that the power-up is very quick (doesn't have to boot up the Echo OS). It also means that you can set the Alexa account by changing it on your phone, regardless of whose phone it actually is.

I still wonder if it is possible (and would be better) to have a real Echo device like an Echo Input but have it do BT Internet tethering instead of WiFi, but for now, just creating work-arounds for Echo Auto.

 

[Mr. Big]

I just ordered it and I hope I don't have connection issues - I will be using the rear USB port for power. Has anyone tried using the center-console cigarette plug as the power source? Is this plug always on when the car is not in use?

 

[crackers8199]

I just ordered it and I hope I don't have connection issues - I will be using the rear USB port for power. Has anyone tried using the center-console cigarette plug as the power source? Is this plug always on when the car is not in use?

there's no reason you can't use the center console 12v. it stays on for some period of time after the car turns off, but then shuts off...unless you have sentry mode activated (in which case it stays on indefinitely i believe).

it will also work if plugged into one of the front USB ports, that's where i have mine. in fact, i have mine plugged into a hub in the second port, which also is being used for the passenger phone charger and sentry/music USB.

 

[puckpurnell]

Been using the echo auto for about five months. What neurocutie says is correct and too bad. Still, it’s actually an easier interface than Tesla’s.

 

[crackers8199]

The major problem with Echo Auto, which I really want to writeup and post to Amazon, is that the Echo Auto is really NOT an Echo device like Echo Dot or Echo Input. Amazon has been somewhat deceptive about this. It is really not possible for the Echo Auto to give the "full Echo/Alexa" experience. I had really hoped and thought that the Echo Auto would be just like an Echo Input/Dot but use my phone's BT for Internet tethering.

No, the Echo Auto is not an Echo device at all. In fact in the Alexa app it is listed separate from the real Echo devices and is grouped together with the Echo Buds as "on the go accessories". So what is an Echo Auto? It is a fancy BT mike that talks specifically to your phone's Alexa app. EVERYTHING the Echo Auto does is really being done by the phone's Alexa app, which is now running in background consuming 40+% of the battery.

i am guessing they did it this way to allow folks like us (who don't have an aux in) to be able to use it and the phone simultaneously. if it weren't connecting to the phone like it is, we would have no way to have both the phone and auto connected at the same time on the model 3, since it can't do more than one bluetooth connection at a time. same would apply to any other car that only allows one bluetooth connection at a time.

also, while i'm sure the "consuming 40% of the battery" point is an exaggeration, it's a wild overexaggeration...at least in my case. mine is nowhere near that high. i never see the alexa app above 2-3%.

 

[neurocutie]

while i'm sure the "consuming 40% of the battery" point is an exaggeration, it's a wild overexaggeration...at least in my case. mine is nowhere near that high. i never see the alexa app above 2-3%.

Not an exaggeration, wild or otherwise. Perhaps if you just ask Alexa for the weather once a day... but if you use Alexa the way Amazon intends including listening to music, fielding questions, nav, games etc, yes even modest usage hit my battery at least 40% plus the battery life required to handle the Internet/cell data connection, which is not included in the usage listing. Here, for today, which was very, very light usage:

 

[vickh]

echo is one reason why I'm considering not paying for premium connectivity. I would hotspot for both echo and the car. I inted to use echo for a auto garage opener as well.

Now if Tesla would allow hotspots thru the car (like others) then I would gladly pay the $10...

 

[crackers8199]

Not an exaggeration, wild or otherwise. Perhaps if you just ask Alexa for the weather once a day... but if you use Alexa the way Amazon intends including listening to music, fielding questions, nav, games etc, yes even modest usage hit my battery at least 40% plus the battery life required to handle the Internet/cell data connection, which is not included in the usage listing. Here, for today, which was very, very light usage:

View attachment 498456

iphone is your problem, i'm on android.

either way though, the main point of my reply (the reason why they designed it the way they did) is still valid.

 

[vickh]

there's no reason you can't use the center console 12v. it stays on for some period of time after the car turns off, but then shuts off...unless you have sentry mode activated (in which case it stays on indefinitely i believe).

it will also work if plugged into one of the front USB ports, that's where i have mine. in fact, i have mine plugged into a hub in the second port, which also is being used for the passenger phone charger and sentry/music USB.

if you have sentry mode activated do the the front USB ports stay on indefinitely??

 

[crackers8199]

if you have sentry mode activated do the the front USB ports stay on indefinitely??

i believe so but not 100% sure.

 

[robnicam]

Here's a video that shows it working. I used super velcro from Lowes instead of the adhesive mount that it came with.

 

[robnicam]

Here's a video that shows it working. I used super velcro from Lowes instead of the adhesive mount that it came with.

I love your 1989 brick cell phone on a tesla,,, im thinking to stick a Lebaron 1984 logo on the steering,,,i wanted a ball 8 on the shifting gear stick ,,but tesla doesn't have one................what about some empty marlboro boxes on the dash?

 

[JJOhio]

I love your 1989 brick cell phone on a tesla,,, im thinking to stick a Lebaron 1984 logo on the steering,,,i wanted a ball 8 on the shifting gear stick ,,but tesla doesn't have one................what about some empty marlboro boxes on the dash?

That is not a cell phone. Try again.

 

[bpobill]

I love your 1989 brick cell phone on a tesla,,, im thinking to stick a Lebaron 1984 logo on the steering,,,i wanted a ball 8 on the shifting gear stick ,,but tesla doesn't have one................what about some empty marlboro boxes on the dash?

making a smart ass comment and not looking closely.... not good