Shaboom

I'm about to order an Apple Car Play adapter to make my phone to car connection for Apple Car Play wireless. The adaptors are a lot less expensive now than when they first hit the market. The dongle plugs into the USB port. Since the USB port in my 2021 ES 350 is not concealed under the arm rest, I'm wondering if this Adaptor connector can be plugged into the USB port in the back seat. The dongle would then be affixed with velcro out of sight, with only a bit of black cable visible in the back seat. Nothing visible in the front. So---for my purpose, I ask,"Is the USB port in the back seat the same as the one in the front one."

grp52

See page 282 of the 2021 Lexus ES250/ES350 Owner's Manual (pdf version) for details on the rear USB ports:

Any of the Apple CarPlay wireless adapters/dongles requires plugging into an USB port that can be used for a wired Apple CarPlay connection which in turn requires USB ports which supports data transfers as well as charging. For the ES, the only USB ports that meet that requirement are the USB-A port(s) located at the front of the center console.

Shaboom

Darn it, that's what I was afraid of. A stupid dongle hanging there in the front isn"t much better than the phone, cable and whole deal. Sure wish Lexus would have put those two USB ports inside the armrest storage compartment instead of where they are visible when being used. Our last car (Volvo) did.It was appreciated. I've read the many posts by people heroically trying to conceal that cable through closing the lid on top of it and other plans. But I'll just live with the exposed cable. Not that big of a deal.Thanks for the explanation.

MAMOSKO

Nothing heroic about a cord off of AliExpress and a wireless dongle off of Amazon. It can easily be done for less than $100 bucks (including shipping and taxes ).

Before anyone says it, I know my 2022 USB cover may be different than previous models, but I think it's the same as the 2021 model and if not the prior model USB covers will come off easily allowing the solution to work well, if that's what one chooses to do.

Cheers.

grp52

The USB ports cover is the same for the 2020 - 2022 model years so the USB cable version you found and are using should work for that range of model years.

The USB ports cover for the 2019 model year was/is a semi-pliable rubber plug type cover with a easy-to-remove hinge arrangement on the right side. Since you don't have to deal with the cover height clearance issue with that cover more options for hide-able USB cable solutions are available but your USB cable solution will also work.

KMiles

Can you please post the link to the cable that you purchased? It looks great. I bought the Ottocast U2-Air and love how well it works. I'm trying to figure out how to better hide the cables and love your solution.

grp52

See MAMOSKO's 2020 USB slot post #7 for the AliExpress link along with (one of several other photos) a photo showing the difference in USB-A connector shell heights that's critical in allowing full closure of both covers.

Stoodo

iTrader: (4)

BTW only the top USB port in the front on my car works with wireless Carplay adapters, while either works while wired.

Is this true for others?

MAMOSKO

GRP52, thanks for placing a link to my prior post. How did you do that?

alextv

Same here as as the carlinkit T Box Plus only works on that one. At first I thought it was bad connection but then figured out 1 of the data usb was going through a hub which these devices have to be direct

E46CT

I found the box to be extremely poor in that slot location because I liked to put my phone there. So I had nowhere good to put my phone. Further, the box takes forever to connect and has extremely noticeably poor audio quality. So now that dongle box sits in a bin somewhere. I'm thinking of tossing it in a lake. If only there was a way for you guys to retrofit the wireless OE one.

Stoodo

iTrader: (4)

Mine connects before I am fully backed out of my garage. Maybe buy a better one.

alextv

I stick this right behind the opened compartment door which leaves the phone slot open. It does take about 35 seconds to connect but is well worth it to have a full android system. Radio is playing anyway by booting up so really don't notice the delay. I don't use android auto anymore because now I have full screen google maps with speedometer. Audio quality to me using sirius xm over internet is same as with android auto being wired straight to my phone.

grp52

First, you find and display the post you want to make a reference to in the reply you're composing. For every post in a thread there's a time and post number heading. Depending upon the web browser you're using, place your cursor over the number immediately following the # character and you'll get a tooltip/hover test "permalink" pop-up indicating there's a permanent URL attached to that number. (In some web browsers depending upon configuration preferences, you can get a text string preview of the permalink's URL.)

Second, you copy that permalink's URL for subsequent use in composing your new post. Depending upon the web browser, there's several means of doing that. In the Apple ecosystem, you can pull up a contextual menu pop-up with a "Copy Link" menu item which will copy the URL text string into the system clipboard/pasteboard. Or you can click on the post number and you'll get a new tab (or window) with the permalink's URL in the address bar for easy copying of the URL text string.

Third, in web browser window/window pane where you're composing your posting/post reply, place your insertion point in the place where you want to make a reference to some other post. Then click on the "Link" tool (i.e., the chain link icon) in the posting composition toolbar and you'll get a "Link" pop-up dialog box with fields you fill in that will be used to construct the html code for displaying the link display text and associated link URL. In the dialog's "Display Text" field that's where I typed in the "MAMOSKO's 2020 USB slot post #7" that you see in my reply. In the dialog's "URL" field that's where you paste in the URL copied in the second step above (i.e., in my posting it was the permalink URL for your post #7).

Fourth, click OK.

Now you've got a link in your new posting/reply to some other posting you want to make a reference to.

To avoid flubs. it's a good idea to preview the post and check that the link actual links to what you wanted it to link to.

KMiles

Thank you - I ordered the cable today. Truly appreciate the support in this forum.