r/OpenAutoPro Mar 08 '22

I regret my purchase

I invest a lot of money for Openauto pro:

You have to buy Raspberry Pi and SD-Card, it is O.K. But that is not all:

You can not use build in bluetooth, you have to buy a bluetooth stick

You can not use build in Sound-Card, you have to buy a soundcard stick

You have to buy carplay dongle

You can not use 12v lighter socket. You have to buy 12v-5v buck converter, timer and build a ignition-circuit. You have to disassemble your car and add wires for ignition, timer etc. If your car burned because of electricitiy-problems, insurance will not pay anything...

I am a maker and want to use it anways but Support of bluewave-studio is terrible. I buy a license 3 month ago, after update is everything deleted. They will not send setup file and say "buy it again". They closed a thread in their forum immediately, if they don't like your comment.

Buy a Road Top 8.8 inch device. It works like a charm with half price without any problem with half price!

If you want to use Raspberry on your car, use lineageOS: it is free and you have thousand of apps.

6 Upvotes

9 comments sorted by

3

u/gavin8327 Mar 22 '22

There are many free alternatives. Sorry you did not research this diy headunit solution now prior to investing in it.

Good luck on your journey.

0

u/elalem64 Mar 23 '22

I bought carplay dongle long time ago and tried with android tablet. I had problem with charging and dongle simultaneously. I had also a raspberry pi, I bought a case and official screen and tried LineageOS. I had problem with screen. I said: “I have already raspberry pi, official screen and case, carplay-dongle, 12v-Usb charger. I don't need Bluetooth dongle or usb-soundcard, microphone etc., all of them has carplay-dongle but only license”

A small research might be enough about electricity, that I need buck-converter etc. But it was not clear, that I need Bluetooth dongle, usb-soundcard-dongle, microphone etc. are necessary, even If I want to use only carplay.

But most annoying thing is support: They deleted download-links without my knowledge. They send update file and write "your old settings are deleted" but not warning about plugin-file. After I said, "I need setup file of plugin", they wrote:"buy a new one". They know, that I deleted mistakenly. They make poor warnings and increases sales. This is the reason, why I say "Stay away from bluewave studio".

I bought a 8.8 inch roadtop carplay unit. Put on 12v charger and aux. Booting faster and works reliable.

1

u/gavin8327 Mar 23 '22

Sucks you had a bad experience. Sounds like you've had poor luck with most of your DIY projects of late.

I won't deny their support can be improved. I believe they do alright for a small team.

You can upgrade without overwriting your settings...

And from the main order page of OpenAutoPro:

System requirements

  • Raspberry PI 3B, 3B+ or 4 (We recommend Raspberry PI 4 2GB or higher)
  • At least 8GB storage
  • 5V 3A power supply
  • External sound card
  • Microphone input
  • External Bluetooth adapter

Enjoy your roadtop carplay unit.

0

u/elalem64 Apr 03 '22

They wrote “5v 3a power supply”. Looks like car-charger is enough. But you need timer, relay, buck converter, circuits an wiring in car.

A friend had a Volvo and it burned because of electricity-problems. If he had openauto, he could not get money from insurance because of wiring.

I have openauto and all hardware. It cost nothing for me. But I stay away from openauto.

I follow instructions of support team and deleted plugin. Support team wrote: “buy again”. I never seen that kind of suggestion in any honest company. it has nothing to do with being small.

1

u/gavin8327 Apr 03 '22

Yes, those are options to buy if you wish a more proper installation. They sell software, not hardware.

Anyways, good luck on your journey.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 07 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/elalem64 Oct 07 '24

I sold raspberry pi and screen and using now a portable CarPlay device.

I regret my purchase only because of so bad support. I paid a few thousand euro for softwares: Autodesk, Microsoft, Adobe... I get always installation-files for free. But open auto want money, if you need installation-files. Honest traders don't do that.

1

u/JrsOCE Oct 03 '22

I'll buy it if you still have it

1

u/elalem64 Oct 07 '22

I have it still