Lexus4Me?

Hi Herbie, Thank you very much for your post and for not giving up on me. I wrote two MacroDroid macros copying yours and this time they worked! Maybe sliding the ON/OFF slider to ON on the MacroDroid homepage may have helped! I got this message during the process:- but I'm running EMUI 12 which is equivalent to Android 10 so it has less chance of being problematic. We will see if Huawei rejects it at some later date but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. My apologies for not sorting this out when you first advised me about MacroDroid, Herbie, and again thank you very much for reiterating the information. You mention an intention to buy a TP-Link M7350? Was this a joke? I'm intending to send mine back now that you have helped me get an automated system. I would have thought that 75 Gb of data is going to keep you going for a good few years yet. MY mobile contract is with EE where I get 10 GB a month, not able to be accumulated, for £11. I think that amount of data should be OK unless I want to watch movies on my phone, or on the Lexus come to that. Right now back to domestic problems - how to fit a 1200 mm shower tray in a room that is only big enough for a 1100 mm one. I have a cunning plan..... I'll let you know about both the Vline/Huawei phone and the shower tray as time progresses. Regards, Barry

Hi again Mick, Yes, I had caught that post in my searches but not followed up on it because the device is quite large and I doubt that it would fit in the central storage so it would have to stick out in the middle of the back footwell using the rear 12V outlet at the back of the central console. Perhaps I'll send back the TP-link and try one of those though. Regards, Barry

Hi Mick and thank you for your post. My phone, an Huawei, is of Chinese manufacture but in fact the hotspot works splendidly. What doesn't work is MacroDroid, or at least not without a lot of hacking to remove the phone's battery saving programs so I would have to turn the hotspot on manually each time I started the car. What I am looking for is a modem which turns on when the ignition turns on, and off when it turns off again. Not too much to ask one might think and on searching the net there are many others wanting the same thing but completely, as far as I can see, unavailable. I suspect that the small thumbdrive? (100 X 35 X 12 mm) sized USB modems without a battery may do this but the one I purchased was useless at picking up a signal. I'm presently using a TP-link 7350 which is great apart from the fact that I need to turn it on or off manually and if I forget to turn it off and its battery goes flat I need to wait 20 minutes for it to charge before it starts working again. Car manufactures obviously have found a way to achieve what I want but perhaps they can purchase special modems from the modem manufacturers. ATB Barry

Hi Guys, Well I regret that I've not managed to check things for Auto Android yet. I've not had the car out for over a week and when I took it out today the battery in the TP-Link had gone flat and there was no internet available from it. It appeared to take over 20 minutes for it to charge and send out an internet signal to the Vline which isn't at all what I wanted. i could turn on the battery saver in the TP-link but again this would require me to turn it on every time I wanted to use it. Surely it isn't too much to expect a mobile hotspot to turn on with the car ignition. I suppose I must send the TP-Link back and try something else. All the best Guys, Barry

Hi Exdee, Thank you for your post. So I go to the Bluetooth settings on my phone and select Vline/settings. Call audio and Media audio are already turned off so I'll leave them like that. Internet access and Contact sharing are also off but I'll turn Contact sharing on because I'd like my contacts available for phone call information and maybe for address location on the SatNav map. I'm using the TP-link for internet access so I guess that I won't need to turn the Internet access on here. Do you know if this is the same as setting the phone as a Hotspot? But you say that " If using AA wirelessly the initial connection for android auto is made using Bluetooth however Bluetooth is not powerful enough for wireless display. A simultaneous connection is also made using wifi for wireless display purposes." So do I turn on Bluetooth on the phone and then turn it off again? Will I need to do this for each journey or will it sort itself out after the initial set up? Lastly, I think I can only have one wifi connection at a time. Vline is set up to connect to the TP-link for its Internet connection. How can I set the phone up for wifi connection at the same time? I do have an AA symbol on the Vline menu screen, perhaps I set that up using Bluetooth some time ago. I really appreciate your guidance, Exdee. Many thanks, Barry

Hi Guys, Sorry no video. I went to the car this morning and just got a black screen on the Vline side of the screen. I turned the ignition off then on again and not only a black screen but, on the speedo display, a plethora of warning about virtually every system that the Lexus runs. As I suspected a flat auxiliary battery. I'm charging it up now and hope that I've not flattened it too much with all this sitting in the garage fiddling with the Vline with the ignition off - it would add about another £200 to the price of the Vline if I have to replace it. The Vline appears to be a bit more sensitive to low voltage than the main Lexus system so starts misbehaving first by flashing. I've still not tried the TP-Link 7350 in earnest and I also need to test out Android Auto and the various methods of making a phone call that Herbie suggested. On that point, Herbie, could you please tell me what I have to do to set, and use the Lexus OEM to handle phone calls, please. Regards and thank you, Enjoy the rest of the weekend, Barry

Thank you for Hi Exdee, I'll have a look and see if it might suit me. Regards, Barry

Hi Herbie, Thank you for the post. I was aware that you weren't a fan of Android Auto and I reasoned that if it were bad enough for you it would probably be bad enough for me. I've certainly no wish to watch YouTube and Netflix while driving nor having them on for someone else to watch. I even doubt that I'd watch either of them in the car at all. I'll try both methods of phone calls and see how well they work. Last time I tried, I phoned my daughter while Vline was running - the call got through but then my mic cut out - or was it the sound? Certainly phone calls via Lexus with my mobile phone worked very well and the phone wasn't even bad at making a call to a contact using a voice command. The Lexus calling system, as with voice navigation was brilliant as a joke eg. Me, in front of a friend, "Navigate to Bristol" Lexus "Dialling 234234567". Not so amusing when one actually did want to go to Bristol of course. I've tried to get a video of the screen and interestingly the flashing is just the Grom screen, which was displaying Google Maps, the right hand third was displaying fuel consumption and was solid and clear. Unfortunately I've recorded virtually every other part of the car when I thought I had the camera off, but it was on, then when I got the screen into view I turned the camera off! It is getting on for 10 pm and I'm in my dressing gown so I will await until tomorrow. In any event the flashing screen isn't causing me any trouble in normal use. One other oddity that you guys may be able answer to save my contacting Grom is the microphone on the bottom right of the Vline screen. If I press it, it asks "Where do you want to go?No match" with no space to squeeze in even the briefest destination. Any ideas. Using the microphone on Google Maps does the job well enough. The question it poses occurs whether one is on a navigation screen or otherwise. Regards, and thank you again. Barry

Hi Herbie and Dave, Well, initially things are looking good although I still haven't moved the car out of the garage. The TP-link turned on when I turned on the ignition although the Vline had chosen my home WiFi in preference. I forced it to use the TP-Link router and it worked fine and transitioned from one to the other without problems. I can't see any reason why it shouldn't work OK when I take the car out for a drive - I'll let you know. I also managed to turn off power saving mode on the TP-Link, which ought to be a Good Thing. I abandoned things because the screen started flashing again. Regards, Barry

Hi Exdee, Thank you for your post. I am aware that there the Vline2 does have android auto capabilities, and I seem to recall that Grom suggested that using them may be a good start to using the Vline2. I know they work using Bluetooth but I don't know what their advantage is. There seem to be quite a few Grom videos staring Android Auto and phone calls. Is this what I need to do if I want to make calls? Once it is set up will the Vline2 initiate Android Automatically when I start the car if my phone is nearby with Bluetooth turned on. Can I still use the other apps stored on the Vline, please? Regards, Barry

Hi Dave, Well I've bought a TP-Liink 7350 and it seems to work in the car even with the USB connection charging it. However I did some more internet research and this is not recommended:- From the TP-link https://www.tp-link.com/fi/support/faq/793/ Q7: Can I buy an extra battery from TP-Link? A: Sorry to tell that we do not have separate batteries for sale. If you want to use the MiFi device for a longer time, power bank is a good choice. Q8: Can I use the 4G Mobile Wi-Fi when charging it? A: Yes, but after it is fully charged, it is recommended to disconnect it from the charger. Q9: Can I use the 4G Mobile Wi-Fi without a battery? A: No, In order to protect the Mobile Wi-Fi device, it cannot work without battery by directly connected to a charger. I've not had chance to give the device a thorough test and I've only used it in the garage. The Vline starts flashing on and off after a while and I think this may be because of the car battery getting flat - I hope I won't need to buy another. Anyway I had to stop as a result. I'm concerned that the power saving mode, which turns off the Wi-Fi if it hasn't anything connected to it for a period will mean that I have to turn it on at the beginning of every journey. Not what I wanted which is why I abandoned the mobile phone. It looks like it is possible to turn the power saving mode off but I've yet to achieve this. As long as I can get it to stay on or turn on automatically I shall keep it. I hope that neither you nor I suffer from any connection or battery problems. Regards, Barry

Hi Herbie, Well, I'd be happy to run it without a battery, getting its power supply via a USB connection, so it turns on when the ignition turns on and off when the ignition turns off. I don't mind having the battery there but I don't want to find that it goes flat over a period of time when I'm not using the car - a long holiday in the Bahamas comes to mind as it does on any wet winter's day in England - and then the modem won't operate on USB alone. My mobile phone will operate from a USB supply when the battery is fairly flat but if the battery falls below 2% the supply is given over just to charging the battery and the phone won't operate. To be fair it won't do this for long because it charges quickly. Let's hope the TP-link behaves OK although it is going to take a long time for the battery to flatten so I can find out - perhaps, with luck, I never will. All the best, Barry

Hi Dave, Thank you for those reassuring words. I feel considerably more optimistic about my purchase now. I've been struggling on with trying to use an Huawei mobile for far too long. I just hope the broadband reception is good enough. All the best, Barry

Hi Herbie, Thank you for the suggestions. It appears to be not quite as straightforward as one might think. I've done some internet searches on some of the mobile routers suggested by Techadvisor and apparently running them from a USB supply can be problematic. The Huawei 5576 apparently won't work without a battery in it and people have gone to quite a lot of trouble cutting the terminals off a battery and wiring these up with a cable to a USB port - so presumably without the battery the supply won't work the router. Makes no sense to me and there were some doubtful reasons to justify the situation. The TP-link M7350 also seems fussy about its supply. Some members of the forum I was looking at said it didn't work without a battery, others said it did. One contributor said "Its HW defects, you lacks) Normal modem not working without battery" - make of that what you will. Apparently the battery can overcharge causing it to swell (and goodness knows what else - I hope not to find my lovely Lexus on fire). However, it will only be charging when the ignition is on and it has a biggish battery giving 10 hours of use with a long standby so I'm hoping it will be OK. I've ordered one from Amazon at £65 and I'll give it a thorough test and return it if it doesn't come up to scratch. I hope it works because the present situation is frustrating my use of the Vline2, which seems to have its own idiosyncrasies anyway. Thanks again for your help. I'll let you know how I get on. Now back to ripping plaster off my bedroom's walls. All the best, Barry

Hi again Herbie, What a helpful and knowledgeable chap you are. Thank you for the link which I've studied but I note that all these mi-fi routers have a battery which suggests they need charging and I suspect from the mains. What I really need is a dongle which plugs into the usb socket in the Lexus and starts working when I turn on the engine. The Yantan one I tried did this but it was useless at picking up a broadband connection - I'd like to find on that works well. I have two Huawei mobile phones (great at picking up a signal) and I'm using one permanently connected to the car but I'm having to fiddle about trying to use MacroDroid, which you put me on to, thanks again, and various dodges to defeat Huawei's efforts to stop my using it. At the moment I can connect the phone to the Vline but I have to turn it on each time. I hope that all is good with you, Barry