Bypass Media Hub

[Dmalonecentral]

I was looking online and it appears the connectors on the back of the Media Hub are standard Mini USB-B connectors. Does anyone know if it’s possible to just bypass the media hub and plug directly into the Head Unit for CarPlay since the media hub quits working when sitting in temps more than 95° and Ram fails to acknowledge or address it. So people who live in warm climates just don’t get to use it the summer, I guess.

 

[Darksteel165]

USB-B? Your radio has a printer plug?

 

[HSKR R/T]

Never had an issue with mine not working in high temps

 

[Dmalonecentral]

USB-B? Your radio has a printer plug?

??? It may not be a Mini USB-B and could be proprietary but the shape looks the same.

 

[Dmalonecentral]

Never had an issue with mine not working in high temps

Where do you live?

 

[Darksteel165]

The picture you shared looks like a female USB mini.
You could try plugging directly in unless the media hub is chipped and thus the head unit rejects your connection.

But really, if something is getting too hot to stop working you really should think about why. Ram doesn't have a heat killswitch.
It sounds like you have a damaged hub and are getting a short or ground from a cold solder joint or something.

Could try this

Amazon.com

 

[MikeyHo808]

I’ve had my 12 inch screen out and do not recall seeing usb type cables coming out of the back. They may convert into the plug connector. Not sure with other screens. Maybe unplug the hub and plug in an extension usb cable into the OEM cable, bypassing the hub?
My hub only charged almost the whole first year I owned this truck. It works now, but was very irritating for 364 days.

 

[Dmalonecentral]

The picture you shared looks like a female USB mini.
You could try plugging directly in unless the media hub is chipped and thus the head unit rejects your connection.

But really, if something is getting too hot to stop working you really should think about why. Ram doesn't have a heat killswitch.
It sounds like you have a damaged hub and are getting a short or ground from a cold solder joint or something.

Could try this

Amazon.com

My media hub has been replaced twice because of it and the dealer acknowledged it was heat related. This has happened on two different 19 Rams I’ve owned (Limited with 12 inch screen and Laramie with 8 inch screen) as well as a loaner Laramie I was in for a month. Other people (mostly Phoenix, Vegas and Texas) have also reported the same. Won’t work from a cold start in hi temps. Starts working about 30 minutes later after the cab cools down.

The baffling part is that the rear USB port (#3) also doesn’t work during this time as well, so unless that one goes through the front one on the way to the head into I am at a loss as to what the issue is. And apparently so are the people who built it and work on them everyday.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Where do you live?

Nebraska. Have lots of 95+ degree days every summer

 

[Dmalonecentral]

Nebraska. Have lots of 95+ degree days every summer

Maybe that’s the cut off. 105° in Phoenix today. I am sitting in my truck right now about to head into the gym. No CarPlay. When I leave I guarantee it will work as the sun will be a little lower and the temp should be under 100°.

 

[Dmalonecentral]

8PM. Just left the gym. Sun is almost down. Outside temp reads 104° on truck but weather says it’s 97°. CarPlay working.

Now if I can predict it with this accuracy then Ram is either incompetent or purposely hiding something. @RamCares (allegedly).

 

[Dmalonecentral]

8PM. Just left the gym. Sun is almost down. Outside temp reads 104° on truck but weather says it’s 97°. CarPlay working.

Now if I can predict it with this accuracy then Ram is either incompetent or purposely hiding something. @RamCares (allegedly).

Leaning towards incompetence though since I have to clamp off hoses to make the A/C work and no one can tell me why I can’t activate my WiFi hotspot.

 

[Aseras]

Leaning towards incompetence though since I have to clamp off hoses to make the A/C work and no one can tell me why I can’t activate my WiFi hotspot.

The wifi thing was a bad radio firmware update. 2021 Software and Map Update

the last post on that page has the software you need to toss on a USB to "fix" it supposedly. Feel free to poke around there and a couple pages before for many others having the same issue.

 

[Jimmy07]

I was looking online and it appears the connectors on the back of the Media Hub are standard Mini USB-B connectors. Does anyone know if it’s possible to just bypass the media hub and plug directly into the Head Unit for CarPlay since the media hub quits working when sitting in temps more than 95° and Ram fails to acknowledge or address it. So people who live in warm climates just don’t get to use it the summer, I guess.

You are correct that the connections on the back of the radio and the media hub are mini usb-b connections. You can bypass the media hub, and plug an iPhone directly into the back of the radio, but all it will do is charge the phone. To use CarPlay, the media hub must be used because it contains the drivers to launch CarPlay.

 

[Dmalonecentral]

You are correct that the connections on the back of the radio and the media hub are mini usb-b connections. You can bypass the media hub, and plug an iPhone directly into the back of the radio, but all it will do is charge the phone. To use CarPlay, the media hub must be used because it contains the drivers to launch CarPlay.

Ok, so you sound like someone who knows what they are talking about. Any idea which component is heat sensitive causing it to not work in high temps? Also, do the rear USB ports go through the front media hub as well, because they do not work either in high temps The fact that the USB loses power as well in this scenario makes me think it could also be whatever is powering the media hub, but again it would have to be both hubs.

 

[Dmalonecentral]

The wifi thing was a bad radio firmware update. 2021 Software and Map Update

the last post on that page has the software you need to toss on a USB to "fix" it supposedly. Feel free to poke around there and a couple pages before for many others having the same issue.

I don’t think that applies to me, but thank you. That was talking about the 12 inch screen.

 

[Jimmy07]

Ok, so you sound like someone who knows what they are talking about. Any idea which component is heat sensitive causing it to not work in high temps? Also, do the rear USB ports go through the front media hub as well, because they do not work either in high temps The fact that the USB loses power as well in this scenario makes me think it could also be whatever is powering the media hub, but again it would have to be both hubs.

There’s nothing that communicate to anything else on the truck that says “hey, the media hub is too hot, shut it down”. The main connector just has power and ground to power it, and it has device detect wire, and audio wires to the radio for usb music files. It’s linked to the radio via mini usb cable. The rear usb hub is just power a ground. If your truck is a 2019, then the rear is also linked to the front hub via mini usb cable.

 

[Dmalonecentral]

There’s nothing that communicate to anything else on the truck that says “hey, the media hub is too hot, shut it down”. The main connector just has power and ground to power it, and it has device detect wire, and audio wires to the radio for usb music files. It’s linked to the radio via mini usb cable. The rear usb hub is just power a ground. If your truck is a 2019, then the rear is also linked to the front hub via mini usb cable.

A couple of times I have seen it where the USB ports will supply power but no data connection, but typically it’s just completely dead. If the power to the USB is supplied by external power then it’s either not getting power or there is something in the media hub that’s cuts it off at high temps.

Otherwise it’s the head unit that doesn’t enable those USB connections at high temp, but then I would think that typically the plugged in device would still be getting power.

 

[Dmalonecentral]

Ok. I can confirm that the USB does not get power from the radio. Just pulled F43 and lost power to the hub and I believe the CD player. My next test when this happens will be to test the power to the fuse location and whether the CD Player has power. A brisk 108 here in Phoenix today so shouldn’t be an issue to test it out in a little bit.

 

[Dmalonecentral]

Ok. I can confirm that the USB does not get power from the radio. Just pulled F43 and lost power to the hub and I believe the CD player. My next test when this happens will be to test the power to the fuse location and whether the CD Player has power. A brisk 108 here in Phoenix today so shouldn’t be an issue to test it out in a little bit.

Messed around with it some more. F43 goes to the OBD port under the steering wheel as well as the CD Player and USB ports. I didn’t actually try the ones in back. Knowing that it went to the OBD port a light bulb clicked and I have an OBDII reader. I hooked it up and poured through the app I use. All I could find in terms of temp we’re Ambient, Intake and Coolant. Maybe a couple more. But nothing about cabin temp, so not sure how the Climate controls are getting that data. I digress. One thing I know now is that the ambient temp on the truck absolutely does not update unless you are driving. Sat in the truck for an hour and it read 104° the whole time. Ambient temp from the OBD read in the 120’s. No surprise as I was sitting in my driveway. Took the truck for a couple mile spin and truck reading starts going up and OBD starts going down. They never actually read the same thing. Not sure this helps me in anyway but at least I now have the OBD data and I will also be able to tell if it loses power as well in the heat since they run off the same fuse.

Another interesting note is that the fuse is a 3-prong fuse. If I under them correctly it’s really just to save space. Power comes in from the middle prong and distributes it to the outside prongs. When checking the left prong with a meter I got 12 volts. I never could get a reading from middle to right prong. Not sure why.

At least I have a couple more tools in my belt for trying to figure out what’s going on.