My Nissan Leaf Forum

Situation -

a. Car is off. Attach iPhone to USB cable
b. Start car.
c. Press Aux for listening to songs on iPhone.
d. System starts playing songs (you can see the timer for songs moving etc.). But there is no sound.

Drives me nuts every time. The solution seem to be to disconnect USB cable from iPhone and then reconnect. Then sounds starts coming.

Please help!

I can't help - but i've noticed the same thing on my UK leaf....

I believe it is a problem with the Bluetooth connection. It is a timing thing. If you plug in your phone before the car "detects the IP of the phone" the audio will not work and you have to unplug/plug. But if you wait till after the IP message it is fine.

I believe also turning off bluetooth will fix it.

The bluetooth headphone detection is confusing the wired connection I would guess.

Correct.



Sure, but then you lose your handsfree capabilities too.


It's mostly an iPhone prioritization thing. Since the car presents both handsfree and A2DP, when bluetooth connects the iPhone says "ooh a new output device" and switches to it. But your radio, on the other hand, is still on the USB port. You can manually switch it back using the airplay icon (next to the volume slider) in the music player, but that's a pain in the a**. It's best just not to plug in until after (as you said). Ideally, though, I'd like to see the radio present A2DP *only* when the radio is set to bluetooth (and revoke it when you switch away from it). Or, it should always play A2DP audio, matrixing it with whatever other radio source you have selected if need be. That would let you still get your iPhone alert sounds even when listening to FM, etc. As it is right now, if I have the phone in my pocket, it will still connect A2DP even if I'm listening to FM - which means my phone will route all sounds through A2DP but I can't hear them. If I have my phone set to not vibrate, I could be getting messages and never know it.

Thanks for the explanation. Helpful to know why it is happening. Glad to know others also have seen this behavior.

I have found that this can sometimes be associated with the cord that you are using. You might want to make sure that it is the correct connection and that it is pushed in at all places. I know that this sounds simple, but it sometimes can help. If you need help with the adapter in the car, I would consult a mechanic. I would look for a mechanic or audio shop in your area for some further help, especially if you are out of warranty. You can search angies list for mechanics in your area.

The carwings update also fixes connection problems with the USB. Might want to get the update and see if it clears up.

Some clarifications for those still confused about this:

First, it's not connecting your phone's "IP" (as in network) but the screen makes you think that if your device name is "First Last's iPhone" and your first and last name are ten chars long. I fixed this by going to Menu: Phone: Connected Phones: <my phone>: Edit: Device Name: and fixed the name. Unfortunately this field doesn't offer lower case characters or spaces. But if you change the name to (e.g.) "STEVE'S-IPHONE" then the car will no longer say it's connecting to your "IP".

Second, if you have the phone paired with Bluetooth and are also using the USB cable, you should (as has been hinted in this thread) wait until the car connects to the phone over Bluetooth (that annoying dialog that pops up just web you're trying to "OK" the CarWings data sharing screen) and THEN connect the USB cable. At this point, if you left something playing previously, it should resume right where it left off.

Now if I could just figure out how to pause the music from the stereo when in iPod mode. Bluetooth Audio mode has big play and pause buttons at the bottom of the screen, but the iPod screen (default screen as well as the similar "info" screen) does not. Why???

If you want to compare USB audio to Bluetooth, play something, then pull the USB cable, then hit CD/AUX twice and tap "Play". To go back to USB, just plug the cable back in and the iPod screen should appear.

With my still-stock speakers and iMatch'd 256K AAC music, Bluetooth audio sounds pretty good. Another benefit to Bluetooth is that you can plus the USB cable into a 1A charger plug in the lighter socket for faster charging (I believe the head unit's USB only supplies 500mA).

i find bluetooth audio to be comparatively poor, so wanted to use it as an iPod instead.

found i must turn bluetooth off, then let the iPod begin to play, then i can turn bluetooth back on.

or, i can boot up the car, then plug in the USB, then the iPod will play audio through the system; bluetooth will still be available for calls and so forth.

sometimes i have to remove the USB, then re-plug it, for the system to see it and begin to play.

in addition, the "shuffle all songs" mode does not work on iPod function (from car console).

Double click the home button, slide the bottom of the screen to the right twice to reveal the AirPlay button and select dock connector