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AAWireless Review

Edwards

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I signed up last year for the Indigogo AAWireless adapter for Android Auto and wanted to provide some feedback and tips. FWIW, I also had the CPlay2air Carplay adapter briefly before I traded in the iPhone 12 for a Samsung S21. That's a long story but I'm so much happier with Android.

TL;DR
Unit works as advertised (adds wireless Android Auto) and is awesome with wireless charging. Had a minor connection issue which I believe was caused by too many "mirror screen" devices having been attached to my 12" Uconnect.


I received the AAWireless adapter yesterday and it is very small - almost half the physical size of the Cplay2air version. Comes with the USB A-C cable so you just plug it in and go. It uses a companion app, creatively named AAWireless, that you use to setup and for a fair number of tweaks for odd issues since wireless AA implementation has a lot of variation and complication across all autos. Once it works, the Ram 12" screen needs no special settings - plug and play.

With that said, I did have some issues that almost defy explanation. I plugged it in, went through the app setup, and everything worked as advertised. The problem started after disconnecting and leaving the truck. AA on the phone was continually trying to reconnect (Ram keeps USB power for some minutes after shutdown so the AAWireless adapter still has power) with AA refreshing the phone screen for ~60 seconds. Shut off WiFi to stop that and then went back out to the truck. For the rest of the day it absolutely would not reconnect.

Tech rage ensues.

Read through every FAQ, tried everything multiple times with lots of variations, and surrendered for the evening defeated. Woke up ready to slay the beast this morning and went back at it and found success! So here's my tips for using on the Ram Uconnect system if you have any issues:
  1. AAWireless defaults work fine on the 12" system so don't waste your time there (pass thru, direct USB, MTP variants). [Edit - see next post if your voice commands do not go through.]
  2. Go into the 12" phone settings and delete every device listed in "mirror screen". I had a lot. Every phone, previous devices, etc. This was the step that got mine working again since the AAWireless issue was that it couldn't connect with Uconnect. I had the flashing blue LED which meant it was talking to my phone fine but couldn't find an AA head unit which could mean a bad cable but I tried three different cables with identical results.
  3. If you have issues, do #2 AND on your phone, go into Settings, Apps, and for AAWireless, Android Auto, & Google Play Services tap on Storage then clear the cache and delete data. All this does is delete anything for these apps - like you just installed them. Reconnect and run through AAWireless setup again.
  4. This is poorly documented but the AAWireless LEDs are: Red (boot or error), flashing green (looking for phone via WiFi - 5GHz), flashing blue (connected with phone and looking for AA head unit), solid blue (everything connected)
Another first world problem solved. Life is good again.
 
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Edwards

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Update:
While out driving I tried using the Android voice control via the steering wheel button. Button worked fine but obviously my voice was not getting through to the phone. Played around with settings and MTP with retry and pass-through now works for everything including voice commands.
 

jimbotron

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got mine a week ago and have been playing with it too. the wireless charging feature of the limited is a bit sensitive as the phone seems to have to be in the exact position or i get a flashing red light.

had some weird issues that you mentioned above as well. make sure you upgrade your firmware on the device to fix some of the bugs. i'm eagerly awaiting the fix for devices that keep power to the usb ports because mine will randomly connect to the damn thing sitting in the driveway as i'm in the house.
 

fmr5000

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i'm eagerly awaiting the fix for devices that keep power to the usb ports because mine will randomly connect to the damn thing sitting in the driveway as i'm in the house.

Same! Any workarounds right now that you have found to work outside of just unplugging the device when you get out of the truck?
 

jimbotron

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Same! Any workarounds right now that you have found to work outside of just unplugging the device when you get out of the truck?
unfortunately just killing bluetooth on the phone...but that's annoying obviously. i'm sure it's possible with tasker if you feel like going that route. i'm not going to do that though since they'll end up releasing the fixed firmware by the time i get the thing to work.
 

Edwards

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Unplugging works for now. With the next AAWireless app, they are implementing a fix for the long USB power after shutting off the truck. Definitely looking forward to that.
 

Edwards

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I also flashed the firmware and then upgraded to 1.2.3 which works better overall. You have to make sure you're on the latest app to update the firmware.
 

jimbotron

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I also flashed the firmware and then upgraded to 1.2.3 which works better overall. You have to make sure you're on the latest app to update the firmware.
yup, same here. just need the bluetooth shutoff functionality and i'll be happy.
 

FrankieG

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Been using mine for the past 2 weeks and so far it's been pretty reliable. Echoing others just waiting for USB power fix.
 

Edwards

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Version 1.8 of the beta app released yesterday that adds the USB power on/off functionality.
 

Nozzleman

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Are there any pictures of the adapter and it working on the 12" screen?
 

FrankieG

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For anyone interested, there is a beta version of the app available which has a setting to disconnect aawireless when the bluetooth connection to the vehicle is lost. Tested it yesterday and so far it works. AAWireless has been working great so far.
Phone: Samsung S10
Vehicle: 2020 Ram 1500 12" Uconnect
Edit: Sorry @Edwards, I didn't see your post with the same info.
 
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Edwards

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Are there any pictures of the adapter and it working on the 12" screen?

Pics of the device are on the website: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/aawireless#/

There's no reason to post pictures of it working on the 12" because it is simply a wire replacement. Android Auto looks identical wireless or wired. This just means you don't have to plug your phone in when you get in the truck.
 

Edwards

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New app update to 1.8.1 with a fix for the USB shutoff feature released yesterday.

Also, another tip I discovered. If I change the USB mode or passthrough settings in the app it will no longer connect to the head unit. If you go into the pairing section on the 12" there is another list at the bottom (left side) of wireless projection devices. Hit the right arrow and "forget" the AAWireless device. Then simply reconnect AA and it will fire right up.
 

jimbotron

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The USB off functionality has been life saving for me. I will say, it didn't work properly for me until I shut the truck off completely after saving the settings. If I saved the settings with everything connected, it disconnected me from AA even though I was still connected to the UConnect bluetooth.
 

Edwards

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I went out to the truck yesterday to flash the new 1.30 firmware and the truck was dead. Battery had 7V. It is a '19 but I've not had a peep of trouble with the battery and the only thing different was that I left the AAWireless blinking white (USB start/stop). I don't believe this little device could drain that much battery overnight but maybe it jammed up the USB system in the truck and caused the drain?
I can't pinpoint it to the AAWireless device - could just be my 2019 battery picked that moment to die. Had it on a charger overnight and it seems to be OK again but I'll post back if I figure it out.
 

2020Big4x4Horn

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Have one on order as well. Any more battery drain problems?

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
 

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