Today I was installing an xtrons head unit in my FL2, it all went well. Powered it up, plugged in the TPMS which worked fine, plugged in the carplay, connected my phone as per the instructions. Screen came up with carplay as expected, opened satnav - looked good. Opened Spotify and had no audio, or rather no audio through the car system, the music was playing through my phone - I could control Spotify from the xtrons, select songs, play, pause, change volume but all played from my phone. Thinking I may have wired something wrong I checked it and couldn't find anything obvious.
I opened a few other music apps on the xtrons and they also played through my phone.

I opened the satnav, set a route and "at the end of the road..." came through the car speakers. Also youtube plays through the car system as well, so I think my wiring is fine.

Has anyone experienced this or have an idea of what is happening?

Last edited by ScottT on 24th May 2022 5:58 pm. Edited 3 times in total

Not sure how much difference it would make, but is it wired or wireless CarPlay? I guess wired as you say “plugged in the CarPlay”? And is the satnav you refer to on the Xtrons rather than the iPhone?

Yes, the carplay is wired and the satnav is on the xtrons.
I have full control of the music apps with carplay on the xtrons and iphone

It seems to me that the problem is with the CarPlay connection to the Xtrons as the audio from CarPlay isn’t getting through but the Xtrons itself is able to output audio from its own app. Is it an Xtrons CarPlay dongle or another brand? Either way, I think that’s where your problem lies.

Another possibility might be to try plugging the CarPlay dongle into one of the other USB inputs. As I recall, there are three USB ports connected to the rear of the head unit plus the one under the cover of the panel with buttons.

It’s well worth persevering to get it working as it is an absolute game changer in terms of in car entertainment.

I was looking at getting another carplay device as I tried the other usb connections with no change, although I didn't try the one at the front, so I'll give it a go, but unlikely.

I can tell, with the EQ on the extrons, the improvement in sound quality from the CD player, so really looking forward to getting it sorted, let alone the upgrade in satnav etc...

*******************Update******************************
I was having another play with Carplay again today, I tried another usb to lightning lead which made no difference.
I started playing with the settings on AutoKit and completely messed up and nothing worked so I reset all settings on AutoKit, tried it and it worked. I now have full functionality of Carplay and am loving it.

Excellent news! I wonder if this might be what’s causing my mic not to work? This is a disconnected wire in the connector to the key pad. All the buttons work as they should so perhaps this is a wire for the mic!

I found there was a lot of background noise on calls using the mic in that dash insert so reverted to using the JLR bluetooth for calls. Those on the other end commented the JLR calls were a *lot* clearer. Current driveway contents:
2021 V60 Cross Country B5
2009 FL2 dog bus and shooting wagon

On Order: 2023 Fisker Ocean Ultra - deposit paid.

The external mic that I fitted works well, with good call quality, which of course means that I can use CarPlay for calls which is much better than the clunky LR setup.

Was it an XTRONS one or a generic mic? Current driveway contents:
2021 V60 Cross Country B5
2009 FL2 dog bus and shooting wagon

On Order: 2023 Fisker Ocean Ultra - deposit paid.

It was one I picked up on fleaBay (I think!). Interestingly, Xtrons have just come back to me to say that the loose wire is in fact the mic one so I’ll have a go at inserting the connector back into the plastic holder. However since everything seems to be working well with the external mic sitting under the speaker grill I’m not too concerned.