Success: 2015 RCF Apple CarPlay Retrofit £220

[BillNick]

So, I successfully retrofitted apple CarPlay to my 2015 RCF, for around £220 from China and here is how:

 

After a very poor experience with VLINE in my 2008 IS250 I was never going back to GROM. I took a punt on a solution from China for my wife's Mercedes and it by far out perfoms CarPlay via VLINE and 2 years later it is still operating at 100% reliability and cost only £200 ish.

 

So, for the RCF I turned to AliExpress once again. I had read some negative reviews online with owners that had installed a Chinese solution which had turned out not working with the OEM touchpad, or the OEM mic etc etc.

 

After trawling about 25 adverts, I shortlisted 3x which looked most promising and sent them all a set of clarification questions to ensure everything would work as I wanted and if they said yes and it turned out not to, I would be covered for a return/refund.

 

This is the one I ordered and have successfully installed: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001254310109.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.61bd4c4dYInfXN

 

Like my wifes in her Merc, it is basically a box which comes with a couple of harnesses which plug inline of the current OEM wiring sometimes referred to as "Daisy chaining". It's all plug and play no actual wiring is required - that would be a big no no for most, including me.

 

I followed this video from BeatSonic to dismantle my dash and remove the stereo, screen and glovebox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXKnjLC_elw

and I would recommend you do the same, only a couple of things I would add for extra caution to this video: 

1) Take great care and put the parts you remove in the boot so they do not get damaged, or damage each other.

2) Aswell as doing the towel thing to protect stuff, I recommend refitting the gear knob once the centre consol is out as the threaded metal rod could do some serious damage if you are not careful.

 

You basically unplug 4x OEM plugs. 2x from the screen and 2 from the stereo. You plug them into the harnesses provided, then plug the harness in place of the OEM plugs back into the screen and stereo - same as VLINE.

 

Removing the glovebox gives you decent access to fish each of the harnesses up to the screen and into the back of the stereo. I LED them all back to the glovebox which is where I currently have the unit. I have not secured it permanently yet as I planned to run it and test it out for a couple of weeks first. Now going to secure it down with velcro or something and I have the wires coming through a hole I drilled in the cabin filter access panel. I purchased a new access panel so I can put it all back if I remove the CarPlay. The guy at BeatSonic mounts his behind the glovebox but I wanted access incase something goes wrong and I gotta pull the power or something. Lessons learned from VLINE unfortunately. Each to their own though of course.

 

Connect it all up with the dash removed and test before actually routing the cables. Now there were some niggly setup issues initially and I had to troubleshoot with the supplier in China over the course of a couple of days. This was a bit of a struggle due to my non-existent mandarin and their poor English. But after using Google translate, we got there in the end. It was all done via Whatsapp so can share pics and stuff. We go there in the end.

 

You get a leaflet of pictures which they try to palm off as "instructions" so was no wonder I didn't get it going 1st time. Firstly, instructions for one of the plugs on the screen harness was completely missing from the leaflet so I had to ask where to put that. That was ok once they told me.

 

Then there was the dipswitches. There is a table provided where you match your model and year of car to a certain dipswitch setting. None of the tables suggestions worked for the RCF and after talking with tech support, I eventually got it working on a setting which isn't even included in the printed table - helpful! But at least I have now found that out so you guys can get it right 1st time. The setting for my 2015 RCF is 1,3,4 ON and rest OFF.

 

Once it was up n running, setup was very easy. Just pair it like a normal Bluetooth connection and then CarPlay takes over via Wifi and BT is free'd up again.

 

OEM infotainment works as normal. If you press and hold 'menu' it enters the carplay box screen. The box actually has many other solutions. It also supports Android Auto and there is a breakout harness to allow for HDMI, front camera, USB etc etc. All of those can be controlled and setup on the screen you switch to when you hold down menu.

 

Lots of settings to scroll through and customise which is nice. I tweaked the volumes through trial and error etc, screen brightness things like that. You can also set it to use the OEM Bluetooth even when in CarPlay which in practice is very nice. The unit does utilise the OEM Aux for sound output and the OEM Mic for sound input,. However, phone calls via CarPlay are not great quality and the caller can hear their own voice. This is overcome by choosing for the OEM Bluetooth to take priority. When I get a call or make a call I get the graphics on screen as if it is using CarPlay but I get OEM quality phone call as the audio is routed through OEM for the phone call. And the steering wheel buttons still work too - NICE!

 

You can also use Siri to make a call and it will still route audio through the OEM 🙂

 

Navigating with the Touchpad is a little bit temperamental. It works, but requires patience as can at times jump around. I think it is maybe a bit over sensitive. But up, down, home and menu buttons all responsive as you would expect.

 

Oh and did I mention its wireless?? Yes. Once setup first time, apple CarPlay will launch automatically around 10-15 seconds after you start the car. You can also run it through USB lightening cable, this will charge your phone at the same time doing this. Probably want to get yourself a 2m USB and route it to the centre consol if that's your preference.

 

OEM infotainment, Nav, OEM reverse camera etc all completely unaffected. Reverse camera cuts in when you put it into R, but you just have hold menu again to switch back after reversing is finished as it defaults to OEM home screen.

 

Only thing I have noticed is that in small menu screen you get in the bottom left of the drivers cluster, the audio player preview and the compass screens do not work. If you get in the car and do not switch onto the carplay box, they will still work. However as soon as you hold down menu and switch into the box, they will stop working. Its ONLY compass and the audio preview. All other menu and settings still work. It's weird, but doesn't bother me really.

 

A few pictures provided below. Sorry I have not written a step by step guide but follow the BeatSonic video and feel free to ask me your burning questions both prior to purchase and during installation in the comments. I will keep this thread going by answering within a few hours for you all.

 

Go for it! I love it.

 

apple CarPlay up and running with everything put back

 

This is the units onboard menu which you enter by holding 'Menu' button down. As you can see all the different options not just CarPlay.

 

The unit itself in the glovebox

 

Dash out....scary but dont worry, just clips and bolts very easy.

 

Testing before putting it all back properly

 

Main harness goes into back of stereo

 

Then OEM plug goes into harness (daisy chain)

 

Screen harness and video daisy chained

 

Optional breakout cable for extras

 

*please note whilst I am more than happy to provide you with assistance and guidance based upon my own trouble free experience, owners attempt this install at their own risk and I take no responsibility for any accidents or mishaps that MIGHT occur*

[hockeyedwards]

I started to look at this possibility for my GSF a year or so ago as it was a minefield and I wasn't really that bothered, this gives me hope though!

[BillNick]

There is hope indeed.

Contact the seller see what they say. I would recommend using Google Translate to ask them in Chinese as you get much clearer answers that way.

[BillNick]

After a few weeks of use I thought I would provide an update on the user experience of this retrofit.

I have found the wireless to be somewhat unreliable. It is very responsive on initial startup, takes a few seconds then cuts into CarPlay from OEM screen - which at first I thought was great, but it soon started to annoy me if I didn't want CarPlay.

Also, the signal would drop out, then come back (disconnect then reconnect) which is VERY annoying if you are following directions at the time lol.

Third but final, the response to the touch pad is rubbish and jumpy/clunky....

So I decided to try out the good old fashioned hard connection via the USB.

WOW, what a difference a cable makes 🙂

Having turned off Bluetooth/WIFI the car will only go over to CarPlay IF the phone gets connected to the USB - which is great coz it will stay in OEM until then.

NO signal drop out whatsoever, and things like Google Maps are far smoother, responsive and reliable. Things like directional changes took time to catch up in Wifi mode. Its not spot on.

As is the touchpad. Via USB, the touchpad works just as well as it does in OEM!

Oh yes and the music output is much much better via USB. Back up to the excellent standards of the OEM ML system.

So I will be looking to remove the centre consol again and route the USB port permanently somewhere - hopefully close to the OEM USBs.

Advice for buyers, don't worry if the one you go for doesn't give wireless, USB is much much better anyway.

[hockeyedwards]

@BillNick I had sent you a pm as I couldn't find this thread, but not to worry I am here now 😆

[BillNick]

Hi Kieran.

Unsure if the same seller does it for GSF but I would imagine so as they listed a lot of models.

Install is probably very similar but plenty of people in the US will have uploaded videos for reference.

As said above, I dont have much confidence in the wireless, it was a bit temperamental but using the cable for while now and it performs great!

I would even guess itll be better in the GSF as you dont have the annoying touchpad that we do ..... bane of my life mate lol.

Any Q's, just follow up on your PM dude - happy to help.

[hockeyedwards]

It does list GS in its compatible models, but I will pop them a message to double check when I get round to it and have funds to purchase it!

[BillNick]

They will likely do Black Friday amount off.

Def get all your clarification questions answered beforehand as it puts you in good stead should the unit not work out as promised.

Warning, there is slight language barrier, so you might prefer to send your Q's in Chinese using Google.

I got much better answers when I did that.

[Herbie]

Strangely, I've gone the other way.

I got one of these units but after months of trying to get it working properly I finally gave up on it and got a Grom Vline 2. 

The Vline isn't working properly yet (I'm waiting for a replacement video display cable from Grom HQ in the States, which is currently being held back by Customs at Stansted  ) but even taking that into account I've already had much more success than I did with this unit.

[BillNick]

Sorry to hear that.

I had some initial problems with installation but that was mainly down to poor instructions included. Using WhatsApp and Google translate they helped me correct the connections and been fine since.

I really didn’t get on with the Vline in my IS250. Installation on that was seamless however performance and reliability was very poor.

[Herbie]

24 minutes ago, BillNick said:

Sorry to hear that.

I had some initial problems with installation but that was mainly down to poor instructions included. Using WhatsApp and Google translate they helped me correct the connections and been fine since.

I really didn’t get on with the Vline in my IS250. Installation on that was seamless however performance and reliability was very poor.

The main problem I had with this unit is that it didn't completely isolate the two systems. It's difficult to explain properly but let's assume that I wanted to play some music using Android Auto. Pressing the 'Play' button would indeed start the player so in that sense it worked, but the button would also have an effect on the Lexus OEM side as well at the same time, such as turning off the aircon or something like that.

It was very weird and not something we could sort out so out it came, to be replaced by the Vline.

[BillNick]

Oh dear that’s weird. I would have done the same.

[BillNick]

Hi all.

Im considering the Lexion 10.25 Android screen. It’s quite pricey but ticking all the boxes. What would also help me to commit to the upgrade would be if I knew I could get a bit of cash back for my current car play solution as seen in this thread above.

If anyone would be interested please send me a message or reply here.

Cheers