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USB and CarPlay doesn’t work when hot outside.

Dmalonecentral

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Going into my 4th summer with this piece of **** truck. Has anyone solved the problem of CarPlay not working when the vehicle is hot. IE, parked in the sun in Phoenix. Yes, I have a sunscreen. I am so over it and about to get rid of the vehicle because of it. I’ve seen a lot of other people stating they have the same problem but no solutions yet. USB Media hub replaced twice already. Getting ready for another Summer with no CarPlay I guess.
 

theblet

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Haven’t seen any fix besides changing the USB hub. Happened to me a few times, but I never had anything replaced. No solutions as far as I know. @RamCares do you know of anything?
 

Alejandro_Andretti

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Damn never heard of this. I’ve had mine in the Vegas sun and in California now issues.. maybe invest 500Ish on. 3m crystalline window tint all around. It’s supposed to block most of th heat. Good luck man. I’d be pissed if my truck had this issue
 

EB3

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2021 1500 Las Vegas. Does the same thing. Last summer and now here we go again. Doesn’t sound like there’s any point in bringing it to the dealer…unfortunately. I have a 30 minute drive. Works again when I get home after the cabin cools
 

Dmalonecentral

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2021 1500 Las Vegas. Does the same thing. Last summer and now here we go again. Doesn’t sound like there’s any point in bringing it to the dealer…unfortunately. I have a 30 minute drive. Works again when I get home after the cabin cools

It is really infuriating. Living in hot climates like we do and CarPlay being a common feature in lots of cars I ask people all the time if they have issues in the heat with CarPlay and nobody else has this problem. I don’t understand why Ram can’t figure this out. I wouldn’t care if I had to spend my money to get a fix but this is insane that we just aren’t able to use this feature in the summer in hot climates. @RamCares
 

theblet

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Happened to me yesterday. Mid 90s outside, and truck sat out all day in the sun. The dash said 109. Here’s what I observed.

No power coming from both front USB and read USB ports
USB in the center console still worked (no car play)
Drove for about 20 minutes, cab was cooled off nicely, still no carplay (tried all ports again), dash said 95
Got down at a store, truck sat outside again in the sun for 10 min.
Got back in, the cab was pretty hot again, but CarPlay WORKED this time.

So how does the usb hub determine when it will shut down and when it will work again? Is it going by the thermometer of the truck?
@RamCares can you provide some technical assistance? I’m out of bumper to bumper warranty now, so I’m probably on my own with this. Thanks
 

Dmalonecentral

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Happened to me yesterday. Mid 90s outside, and truck sat out all day in the sun. The dash said 109. Here’s what I observed.

No power coming from both front USB and read USB ports
USB in the center console still worked (no car play)
Drove for about 20 minutes, cab was cooled off nicely, still no carplay (tried all ports again), dash said 95
Got down at a store, truck sat outside again in the sun for 10 min.
Got back in, the cab was pretty hot again, but CarPlay WORKED this time.

So how does the usb hub determine when it will shut down and when it will work again? Is it going by the thermometer of the truck?
@RamCares can you provide some technical assistance? I’m out of bumper to bumper warranty now, so I’m probably on my own with this. Thanks

I initially thought that too because most of the time when it doesn’t work the truck is reading some absurd temp like 130° but it I don’t think it is because sometimes it will work even if the truck has a way off outside temp reading. I think if anything it might be tied to the inside temp probe (no idea where that is). And it almost seems like if triggered it is on a timer because it is almost always 30 minutes before it will come back on while driving.

So infuriating. This is now my fourth summer dealing with this and for me it’s everyday because, well Phoenix. I don’t even care if Ram fixes it if I could find a way to fix it myself. If someone would have told me I was going to have this “little quirk” I absolutely wouldn’t have bought this truck. @RamCares
 

Shots

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A random thought here, and it doesn't "fix" the problem, but a suggestion so you may be able to use Carplay when it's hot.
Hit the remote start about 10 minutes before you leave. You get to get into a truck that isn't 100° (or more) and hopefully Carplay will work. IDK, I've never had the issue, but seems like it would work if it's shutting off due to overheating. We don't get many days over 90° here so Phoenix temps are unheard of. That said, folks around here use remote start all the time in the winter so they aren't getting into and driving trucks that are frozen. Seems like the reverse problem for the opposite climate, so the same solution should work.
Has anyone tried it?
 

Dmalonecentral

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A random thought here, and it doesn't "fix" the problem, but a suggestion so you may be able to use Carplay when it's hot.
Hit the remote start about 10 minutes before you leave. You get to get into a truck that isn't 100° (or more) and hopefully Carplay will work. IDK, I've never had the issue, but seems like it would work if it's shutting off due to overheating. We don't get many days over 90° here so Phoenix temps are unheard of. That said, folks around here use remote start all the time in the winter so they aren't getting into and driving trucks that are frozen. Seems like the reverse problem for the opposite climate, so the same solution should work.
Has anyone tried it?

Oh trust me, I use remote start all the time. Still hit or miss. Went golfing Sunday afternoon. I think the high was like 112 or something. Started the truck when we teed off on 18. Ran for probably almost 15 minutes. Load up the clubs and get in the truck and to nobody’s surprise, no CarPlay.
 

Shots

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That's a bummer. Worth a shot I guess, but no joy.

The last time I saw 112° I was on a deployment. I've never had to deal with that kind of heat in Ohio and will probably never see those temps again. I know you guys laugh at us all winter long while we deal with snow and ice, but dang that hot is ridiculous. I can't imaging trying to golf in that. It would take the fun right out of the sport. I get cranky when we're golfing and it's upper 80's. :LOL:
 

Dmalonecentral

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That's a bummer. Worth a shot I guess, but no joy.

The last time I saw 112° I was on a deployment. I've never had to deal with that kind of heat in Ohio and will probably never see those temps again. I know you guys laugh at us all winter long while we deal with snow and ice, but dang that hot is ridiculous. I can't imaging trying to golf in that. It would take the fun right out of the sport. I get cranky when we're golfing and it's upper 80's. :LOL:

I am originally from Iowa. I was the guy that was wearing tee shirts in the winter when I moved here and laughing at the people wearing parkas. Almost 20 years later and I am the parka guy now when it drops below 60°. You definitely get accustomed to the heat. I tell my friends back home, at least I’ve never had to shovel heat off my driveway.
 

RamCares

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Hi Everyone,
Sorry to hear you're experiencing this! Feel free to follow up with us in private message with your VINs. We'd like to look into this concern further in order to determine how we can best assist.

Sarah
Ram Cares
 

Dmalonecentral

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Hi Everyone,
Sorry to hear you're experiencing this! Feel free to follow up with us in private message with your VINs. We'd like to look into this concern further in order to determine how we can best assist.

Sarah
Ram Cares

This is obviously a common issue that RAM doesn’t want to address. Just tell us what the problem is and how to fix it. Simple.
 

theblet

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Hi Everyone,
Sorry to hear you're experiencing this! Feel free to follow up with us in private message with your VINs. We'd like to look into this concern further in order to determine how we can best assist.

Sarah
Ram Cares
PM sent. Thank you.
 

theblet

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More info. Got in my truck, temp said 113. No usb. Drove for 30 min, temp for down to 93. Still no CarPlay. Parked for 15 minutes and left windows up in the sun. Temp inside went back up to 96. Now carplay works. Is there a reset period that the truck has to be off before it starts working again? This is all too weird.
 

Dmalonecentral

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More info. Got in my truck, temp said 113. No usb. Drove for 30 min, temp for down to 93. Still no CarPlay. Parked for 15 minutes and left windows up in the sun. Temp inside went back up to 96. Now carplay works. Is there a reset period that the truck has to be off before it starts working again? This is all too weird.

Great questions. I sat in my truck for an hour with the AC going and my sunshade in trying to get CarPlay to turn on and it never did. I held a paper towel filled with ice on the sensor on the drivers side mirror to try and cool it down (didn’t work). I put a cold soda can in front of the USB ports. Still nothing. I would just love for someone from Ram to say exactly what is happening because it seems odd. It’s like there is some sort of timer or reset that needs to happen to get it working again. And it always seems to be about 30 minutes of driving before it comes back or if the car is off for X amount of time and has been cooled down.
 

theblet

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Great questions. I sat in my truck for an hour with the AC going and my sunshade in trying to get CarPlay to turn on and it never did. I held a paper towel filled with ice on the sensor on the drivers side mirror to try and cool it down (didn’t work). I put a cold soda can in front of the USB ports. Still nothing. I would just love for someone from Ram to say exactly what is happening because it seems odd. It’s like there is some sort of timer or reset that needs to happen to get it working again. And it always seems to be about 30 minutes of driving before it comes back or if the car is off for X amount of time and has been cooled down.
Agreed. Once my truck has cooled down, it still won’t work unless I turn the engine off completely for like 10 min.
 

Shots

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From what you guys are describing, I wonder if it's like the tpms alert.
The numbers may not be exact because I'm going off memory, but it sounds similar. I was running the tires on my Jeep at 30 psi with no alert. When it got cool and they dropped below 28 psi the tire pressure light came on. I aired back up to 32 psi but the light wouldn't turn off. I had to up it to 35 before the light shut off. When I aired down again later it was fine at 30 psi.
So it seems as though there was a threshold were the light triggered, but that pressure was actually below the reset value. As a result the light wouldn't turn off until I added more air than I was previously running without issue, and I turned the power off and restarted again.
This media issue sounds similar. The media hub is shutting off due to "overheating" at a set value but won't reset until it's below a lower value. If someone is able to figure out what those values are (by trial and error or by programming code) we may be able to find a resolution for all you living in an oven.

Just spit-balling there. Maybe it is on a time delay and the only temp that matters is the high end that shuts it down.
 

Shots

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I suppose another potential trigger isn't based on the cabin temp sensor. The hub may have it's own sensor, and since that would be behind the dash/radio panels it makes sense that it wouldn't cool down as fast as the cabin. Plastic isn't a great thermal conductors so it'll take a bit for the components behind it to cool down after the cabin has cooled. Which kinda makes sense with the 30 minutes that seem to be the reported time to get it working again.
 

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