Kenwood DMX8021 disconnecting from Apple Car play at toll booths

[chris9809]

Help ! A few weeks ago I bought a Kenwood DMX8021dabs from Absolut8 audio. (Absolut8 totally recommended by the way, great service, contact and a little after help, so would use them again).

I was planning a trip to Spain and wanted to get car play to make navigation etc easier. I had no issues after installing it and was very pleased. I travelled to France last week and as I have a toll tag I aimed at the 30kmh lane as I’ve always done expecting to blast through the tolls. But the barrier didn’t lift, the tag didn’t beep and so I had to use a credit card and lobbed the tag in the back of the van thinking it must be up the creak (even though I’ve used it recently with no issues and it’s fairly new). As I pulled away from the booth I noticed my phone (iPhone 13) had disconnected from the stereo, so no satnav ! Long story, slightly shorter, it does it every time I drive into a toll booth, in France or Spain. If I’m quick it might reconnect itself, but most times I have to manually go through the controls to reconnect it, whilst driving and not knowing which way to turn .

Am I alone, anyone else had this problem, and most importantly, I head home on Wednesday - is there a fix ??

Thanks.

 

[kipperman]

Can’t help with the disconnect, but there have been problems with the battery in the tag- if it’s grey rather than black and white you might have got a duff one

 

[chris9809]

Can’t help with the disconnect, but there have been problems with the battery in the tag- if it’s grey rather than black and white you might have got a duff one

It’s black and white. Only replaced a couple of months ago and used to get to Spain and back with no issues so I am pretty certain it’s nothing to do with the tag.

 

[Ayjay]

We’ve now driven thousands of Kms with tags through France, Spain, Italy and Greece navigating through Android Auto Wireless. I think it disconnects every time we go through a pay station but we’re now so used to it that one of us presses the button to reconnect automatically once we’re through the barrier.

 

[chris9809]

We’ve now driven thousands of Kms with tags through France, Spain, Italy and Greece navigating through Android Auto Wireless. I think it disconnects every time we go through a pay station but we’re now so used to it that one of us presses the button to reconnect automatically once we’re through the barrier.

Understood thanks. Sounds like it’s not just mine then, or something I’m doing wrong. Shame as it’s the main reason I bought it and it’s a right pain on your own at the toll booths stopping, climbing over my fridge on the passenger seat, grabbing a ticket and then having to reconnect as you’re driving away in time to see your directions before the next junction !

 

[kcsun]

I also have the 8021 in my T5.1. My CarPlay also disconnects on a standard Telepeage barrier, but seems to work ok on the 30kph barriers. My dongle for the telepeage always works though
Incidentally CarPlay never disconnects in our Mercedes car?????
kc

 

[roadtripper]

The toll booths are clearly using quite high levels of RF to reliably scan the tags, I suspect that it's on a frequency near either the WiFi or Bluetooth connection (both in play for CarPlay/AndroidAuto) and swamping it.

Different cars will have different locations for the antenna, phone, and levels of screening from the outside so it's a bit of a gamble.

This is why I always use a wired connection - wireless is convenient right up until it's not...