Maxca 7 Inch Wireless CarPlay Headunit

[The_Hawk]

I'm going to take one for the team and try out this headunit from AliExpress
Maxca 7 Inch Wireless Carplay Android Auto Radio Oem For Vw Volksgagen Golf Polo Passat Tiguan Touareg Cc Beetle Skoda Octavia - Car Radios - AliExpress




First up, it's damn cheap. All up it will be a shade under $250 including tax delivered to my door (eventually) sometime in September. But that's about what you get with AliExpress. They claim "Note:We usually ship the orders within 24 hours by Aliexpress standard shipping, and it takes around 7-14 days to arrive most of Countries..." so maybe it will turn up earlier... but I'm not holding my breath.
EDIT: 9 days from order to delivery for me which is awesome!


When I ordered it I almost immediately got a message from the seller asking for a picture of my car/headunit so they could make sure it would fit. A nice touch to be sure. Once that was done my order was processed.

This model should be a drop in replacement without needing a new facia, it comes with a Quadlock and CANBUS adaptors and I've ordered the extra camera adaptor for the OEM RVC I have... All going well there will be very little soldering required on this install (which would be a nice change). It is even supposed to provide integration with the steering wheel controls.

I think the wild cards here are going to be my RVC and what coding is needed.
The camera is an OEM part, but self-installed and I tapped the reverse light in the boot as a trigger (from memory).

Coding wise, I'm coming from an RNS510 so it's coded as having both the NAV unit and the reverse camera... I suspect I could just leave it as is and the worst it will do is throw an error (that you can't see without VCDS anyway) that the RNS (and maybe the camera) isn't installed... I suppose we will see soon enough. For most people replacing a stock RCDxxx I suspect it would work without any coding needed at all.


The grey areas...

There are no specs listed other than a screen res of 1024x600 (which is higher than the RNS510) and lets face it, it shouldn't be all that hard to get better than what is a very old headunit now.

What CPU and RAM does it have? Who knows? How does it perform?? The video on the webpage is using weird Chinese language apps and the whole background looks a little different to what I see... it looks like the older version of CarPlay??
It also looks like it's a little slow to respond, but then they are also being that looks like an iPhone 7/8?

What will sound quality be like for music?
What will sound quality be like for calls? This will replace the factory Bluetooth unit too and use its own onboard mic... The factory setup is pretty ordinary so something to watch there too.

Edit: I've also ordered one of these so the USB port can be neatly accessible for playing music from a memory stick or similar.

Lots of unknowns to be sure...

The alternatives:
An RCD330 is around $300 or so from AliExpress and would still need an adaptor to get wireless carplay for about an extra $100 as well as the RGB converter for the RVC. More like $600 if sourced locally (although at least you know you will get some warranty coverage).


If I went with a locally sourced standard double din unit it would cost me in the $100 - $200 range just for the facia kit, wiring adator and RGB converter then a headunit is $700+ like this Pioneer DMH-A5450BT. I don't drive my car nearly enough to warrant the $1,000-ish it would cost to go down this path.

So, will my sub $250 gamble pay off?? Watch this space!

[The_Hawk]

It's here!

The box is surprisingly small:


But nicely packed:


A collection of wires:
Note that there is two sets of wiring, one for other cars and the quad lock set. You only need the quad lock wires.



Everything just plugs into the hole it fits into:



The instructions leave a little to be desired, but the guys from Maxca have been very very awesome and responsive in answering questions. In fact they proactively followed up with me asking if I needed any help. It really is 100% plug and play for the headunit itself including the steering wheel controls.

I'd say installation is 30 - 60 minutes, possibly much less if you've ever done a head unit before. It really is an awesome piece of kit and a very easy install. Did I mention you need to splice zero wires for the head unit?! The RVC adaptor requires three splices, but these are into the new wiring harness so are very easy to do on the bench before you approach the car. *** I'll have to post photos of this part later ***


The installation itself is very very simple. Carefully pop the frame around the old headunit, unscrew the four T20 screws being careful not to drop them down inside the dash.



Slide the old unit out:


Plug everything in and screw it back in place.

No coding is required to make anything work with a small but. The RNS510 and Bluetooth modules can be coded out to avoid them logging errors, but even if you don't you will never see them unless you have a scan tool.

***I'll add some more photos and video soon***

This is it in place and showing what happens when you use the AC controls. A really nifty screen (and much faster than the RNS510 was at showing this info. It looks like you should be able to touch these to do stuff (because we are all conditioned that way now), but a reminder it's just a courtesy display so don't be disappointed when it doesn't turn the heated seats on when you try to touch the screen




Performance wise, once setup it boots pretty quickly and re-connects to wireless carplay in about 30 - 40 seconds. Recording that is somewhat hard since I'm trying to use the phone to do that and it stops recording when it connects

The Bluetooth phone calling (through CarPlay) works pretty well in my one quick and dirty test. More testing to confirm, but it looks good.

Audio playback seems fine, the lag for wireless is minimal and normal in my experience.

I'll reserve judgement on the screen until I can get it out in the sunlight and drive around.

As I said above, it connects to the CANBUS and shows AC controls on things on screen too! It's actually very cool.

There have been a couple of issues that may still be resolved:

The Reverse camera module just isn't working properly. It's somewhere between dodgy wiring or a faulty module. I've already organised a replacement with the support people. The picture I have seen so far is degraded from the original, but that's just the way RGB converters work. Unfortunate, but perfectly acceptable when all you're really trying to do is not back into stuff.


The touch screen calibration seems to be slightly off, enough that I notice it but not enough that I would outright reject it. I need to find out if there is a calibration setting in there somewhere as this could be a very quick and easy fix.
EDIT: Support already told me how to address this between last night and now.
You go into settings--factory--123456--settings--touch calibration
It's a bit fiddly and took a few attempts before it was happy with my fat fingers poking at the spots, but it appears to be much better now.

While you're in the factory section you also want to switch the "CAN-Door Left and Right interchange switch" so the graphic shows the left and right open door warnings correctly.



There is another section in here called Logo where you can change the stock logo from this:


To a whole range of things including Skoda (two versions), Audi and VW:


Which ends up like this:


Further on coding. For me I've coded out my RNS510 although I needed to keep the bluetooth/telephone coded in because of my Polar FIS which piggy backs on that screen in the MFD and doesn't seem to work if I disable the telephone? It retains that permanent error because it's not plugged into the head unit, but as I said before, without a scan tool you would never know. I've also deleted all phones from the menu on the MFD so there is no confusion.

CarPlay seems very responsive and appears to work just as well as the Pioneer and factory units I've used in other cards. I'm not actually sure how to switch phones if you have two users in the car at the same time with the wireless CarPlay... but then it's not something I have ever had to deal with before!! I'll see if I can work that out.

I need to take it for a drive now as it's only been playing in the garage so far, but assuming the RVC issues can be fixed with a replacement part and it performs as well as it seems to, we might very well be onto a winner here. Let's call it a tentative yay! for now.

Watch this space for some videos in the near future.

[FJ Steve]

Subscribed.
Curious as to how it goes with Android platform

[Sharkie]

Subscribed.

Me too ... the Amarok is in need of a replacement for its RNS510 too. PM me a link to it please (although I won't order without seeing your feedback )

[Oz Dude]

This looks like it: Maxca 7 Inch Wireless Carplay Android Auto Radio Oem For Vw Volksgagen Golf Polo Passat Tiguan Touareg Cc Beetle Skoda Octavia - Car Radios - AliExpress

They don't show any pics of the rear of the unit. If it doesn't have a really decent heat sink or built-in fan, just monitor how hot it (and your dash) gets when you're using it, especially when it's churning through data, as you may need to add cooling.

Oz

[The_Hawk]

Subscribed.
Curious as to how it goes with Android platform

We are an all Apple house, but I do have an older Nokia X6 in a drawer. Not sure what the minimum requirements for Android Auto/Wireless Android Auto are, something else to look into when it arrives. Plan B is to get someone else to connect their phone and see how it goes.

Me too ... the Amarok is in need of a replacement for its RNS510 too. PM me a link to it please (although I won't order without seeing your feedback )

There is a link in the first post already

They don't show any pics of the rear of the unit. If it doesn't have a really decent heat sink or built-in fan, just monitor how hot it (and your dash) gets when you're using it, especially when it's churning through data, as you may need to add cooling.

I'll see what I can do to test that when it arrives.

[The_Hawk]

A mini update. The unit arrived today!

Edit: Updated into post #2.

[The_Hawk]

They don't show any pics of the rear of the unit. If it doesn't have a really decent heat sink or built-in fan, just monitor how hot it (and your dash) gets when you're using it, especially when it's churning through data, as you may need to add cooling.

Oz

Confirmed, there doesn't appear to be any fan. I'll see what I can do to monitor and provide feedback on that.

[The_Hawk]

I did a quick and dirty Android test with my Nokia 6.1/X6. It can only be upgraded to Android 10, it has no SIM installed, but on plugging it into the USB I get this message:



It does it's thing then BAM, Android Auto.



It tells me I need Android 11+ for Wireless Android Auto so I can't test that, but in wired mode it seems to work. In my 60 second play with this it seems a little less responsive than CarPlay... but to be fair I'm comparing an old low end phone with the latest iPhone 13 Pro Max. I also don't use this phone so maybe it gets better once it's settled in. I don't know that I have any android friends I can test it out with but


I'm only 30 minutes or so into time on the road but so far so good. I did have to manually reconnect my iPhone when I got in the car, but I had been playing with Android Auto in between and had turned bluetooth/Wifi on and off and was walking back and forth between the back and front while getting the car out... so not an ideal scenario. Maybe if I had more patience it would have worked itself out too Yesterday when I was just in the car it was just working. Something to watch and make sure it's re-connecting itself consistently in the real world.

Wireless CarPlay is very responsive. Presses on the screen are basically instant, selecting things, app switching, it all works exactly how you expect it to. Audio cops a 1.5-2s delay when you hit play or pause, but this is totally normal for Wireless CarPlay and something you barely notice in real-world use.

Video playback from a USB drive works, although it's a little picky with formats for sound/video encoding. It doesn't like h265 (HVEC) or .ts files... but it did like the ancient 3gp video I gave it. I can't image people will be watching lots of video on this thing.

It's also worth noting that the hand brake detection requires another wire to be installed whci9h doesn't come with this harness so it doesn't work at all until you manually turn off brake detection:

In Reversing:




While you are there you might as well turn off 'Reversing Mute" too unless you want all sound to cut out when you enter reverse (I don't).

[FJ Steve]

Cheers for the update

[The_Hawk]

The next piece of the puzzle arrived yesterday and was installed today:

A passthrough USB plug (under that cap) in case I ever want to plug something in.
I also replaced the TCS button as the clips holding it in were broken.



And for a bonus, I've had a replacement drain tube for the RVC sitting on my desk for months which I put in today too. This is what an old one looks like, note the little rubber end had perished so it wasn't poking out the bottom anymore so would have been draining into the boot lid. There doesn't appear to be any ill effects, although that pipe doesn't look quite so clean and clear as the new one

[The_Hawk]

I should update this thread:

I've replaced the rear camera with an Aliexpress flip camera using good old composite after trying different adaptors to get the OEM CVBS camera working. They all seem to be **** and this simplifies and solves the issue (with a loss in picture quality)... but now it works instantly, every time as it should. In doing this I've also discovered my steering wheel has the turn sensors in it for the moving parking lines, they are completely useless on this headunit/RVC combo as they have no correlation with reality, but interesting to note that the system knows when and how much I'm turning.

Related to that I was updating firmware with the help of the OEM when I was trying to get the CVBS adaptors working which has meant a couple of things. Units now can lo longer select the boot logo from a menu (thanks to copyright) but it's apparently possible to load one manually when you load firmware. Something I haven't managed to get working just yet.

I have noticed that the screen isn't as bright as I would like even at max brightness. With the roof off it can be unusable depending on where the sun is (but that's hardly a fair test), but even with the roof up it can be hard to see if the sun is in the wrong spot. I think the RNS510 has a similar issue, but not as bad??

I'm still working out volume controls, while it is plenty loud enough and there are multiple sliders for music, nav and phone the main volume is a separate slider which turns everything up and down. This means if you're listening to a quiet podcast and turn it up, your nav volume is also turned up and is now screaming at you. Similar story when you take a phone call and turn it up to hear, the music is then stupidly loud when you hang up.
Other headunits/vehicles I have had dynamically change what the volume knob does depending on what you are doing and each volume is separate and fixed so turning up the phone call has no impact on the music or nav. It would be a step forward if something like this could be implemented in a firmware update.

All of that said and given the price point, I still think it's a compelling option to bring Mk5 and Mk6 Golfs into the modern day on the cheap.

[Guinan]

Where did you get the "passthrough USB plug" looks neat and if I go for this would like to do the same thing. Shame they don't do a green light version for Skoda owners...
Ian

[The_Hawk]

This is the one I bought and note that I don't think it has any light in it at all:
Diy Car Usb Adapter Audio Usb Cable Switch For Vw Golf Mk5 Mk6 Vi 5 6 Jetta Cc Tiguan Passat B6 - Cables, Adapters & Sockets - AliExpress

If all you want is power there is these options:
For Vw Golf 6 Jetta 5 Mk5 Scirocco 2006 - 2014 Car Usb Charger Pd Quick Charge Qc3.0 Auto Phone Charging Adapter Button - Cables, Adapters & Sockets - AliExpress

I think I have only used it for firmware upgrades since I just stream everything from my phone. Still much nice than having a cable floating around.

It would be nice if you could replace the MDI socket with a USB socket in the centre console instead, although this is just as neat.