[emhtuning]

I think most of you don't know about A3 ??? 😑

[KaiO]

A3 is with USB instead of LAN, I think.
But has never been released by BMW or Actia as far as I know

[ap90500]

Fake chinese crap:


This is so called ICOM A3, rumours say that it is just a K+DCAN inside ICOM case. "Surprisingly" no ICOM B in the picture.

Real A3 (clone):


I have no official information about this but it seems to be a real thing.

[emhtuning]

Its been in the market for more than 2 months now , many Chinese sellers uses A2 pictures as A3 listing, but lot of them have real pictures and it comes full package like any other Icom , its not usb and its way better than A2 by far .

[B1257]

Fake chinese crap: This is so called ICOM A3, rumours say that it is just a K+DCAN inside ICOM case. "Surprisingly" no ICOM B in the picture. Real A3 (clone):
I have no official information about this but it seems to be a real thing.

What I know is that some of the ICOM A3 doenst support 20 Pin conncetor old cars, but the CPU should be faster.

ICOM A2 is definitely a redesign of the old A1.
You can see it very easy if you take a look on the CPU layer you will find LED´s on both layers. One side would never light outside the case, but in the A1 case the LED´s were used in the paste.

I bought my first A2 more than two years ago it is still working, another WIFI A2 from the same supplier some month ago. It was shipped with a DLink WLAN Adapter and a HDD. HDD is working very well, but I made my own installation. With the WIFI function it takes a little bit more time to find a good solution, because I am working in two different network segments. Here I use Freeware NetSetMan and MyPublicWifi. Especially the first programm is a knife in handling TCPIP addresses and nic´s.

Print quality of the layer is really good, the only thing was the missing heatsink in both of them. After a rework the temps are about 41° after 5 hours running at garage temps about 26°.

So not everything from China is cheap crap, but I think it is better to know somone there you can trust.

Regards,
B1257

[RReader]

Hi B1257,

Thank you for sharing your experience of using the ICOM-A2 , since you mentioned a exclusively made heatsink , could you show us a little more information of it ? a picture and how you installed it ? I'm sure it's gonna be interesting , thanks .

Regards ,

RReader

[B1257]

...since you mentioned a exclusively made heatsink , could you show us a little more information of it ? a picture and how you installed it ?

Shure,
Instructions are below as a PDF file.


Picture1 Temp conditions after the mod, temps before about 62° CPU and 56°C on the MICREL chip (3 port managed Switch LAN).


Regards,
B1257

[ap90500]

Of course all clones come from china and quality varies. I meant that those "A3" icoms with A2 casing are crap. They have been available for at least six months or maybe for a year now.

This real A3 is quite new, I first saw it around two months ago. B1257, do you have any technical information about this device? If it has faster processor, what are the real benefits?

What comes to A1 and A2 comparison, I don't think that it matters which one you use. They use the same firmware and have same flashing times etc. If there are differences, they don't matter. I have had good quality A1 clone for one and half year now, never had any issues with it. Just like B1257 said, main motherboard is the same on both versions.

[djtosko]

Fake chinese crap: This is so called ICOM A3, rumours say that it is just a K+DCAN inside ICOM case. "Surprisingly" no ICOM B in the picture. Real A3 (clone):
I have no official information about this but it seems to be a real thing.

What I know is that some of the ICOM A3 doenst support 20 Pin conncetor old cars, but the CPU should be faster.

ICOM A2 is definitely a redesign of the old A1.
You can see it very easy if you take a look on the CPU layer you will find LED´s on both layers. One side would never light outside the case, but in the A1 case the LED´s were used in the paste.

I bought my first A2 more than two years ago it is still working, another WIFI A2 from the same supplier some month ago. It was shipped with a DLink WLAN Adapter and a HDD. HDD is working very well, but I made my own installation. With the WIFI function it takes a little bit more time to find a good solution, because I am working in two different network segments. Here I use Freeware NetSetMan and MyPublicWifi. Especially the first programm is a knife in handling TCPIP addresses and nic´s.

Print quality of the layer is really good, the only thing was the missing heatsink in both of them. After a rework the temps are about 41° after 5 hours running at garage temps about 26°.

So not everything from China is cheap crap, but I think it is better to know somone there you can trust.

Regards,
B1257

how you make wifi adapter settings (D-LINK)? can you share info?

[B1257]

how you make wifi adapter settings (D-LINK)? can you share info?

As I said there was an additional HDD in the set but I dont use it, because I need much more different programs on my SSD.

Configuration for the WIFI head has two szenarios.

First one with a separate TPLink router inside the garage.

ICOMA2 is configured with static IP 169.254.92.38, in my case subnet 255.255.255.0 WPA2 with passcode.
TPLink router is configured as DHCP 169.254.92.1 subnet 255.255.255.0 SSID is ISAP
Notebook is configured via NetSetMan to receive automatic IP and DNS. If will explain later why I use the NetSetMan software later,
but it is important if we are using the Wifi direct Connection outside the garage.

So if you are in the garage aktivate in the NetSetMan the profile ICOM ISAP, the Notebooks nic will establish a connection to the router, and the nic will receive an IP from the ISAPs DHCP server.
At least it is the same procedure as in the old ISIS System, where ISIS was the DHCP Server for the head units.
You can check the connection to the ICOM via cmd console ping 169.254.92.38 and you should receive the answer from your ICOM unit.

Now in ISTA go to VCI config and use the direct connection, here you have to set the IP to 169.254.92.38 (ICOMs IP), thats it for the router configuration.

Second one with a Wifi-Direct connection, outside the garage for example somewhere in the desert.

Create a NetSetMAn Profile called ICOM WIFI, her you have to tell the notebooks nic a network address inside the segment of the ICOMs IP.
In my case 169.254.92.2 subnet 255.255.255.0 Gateway 169.254.92.1 (Gateway is not used here, but if you would in the near of the garage ISAP you could reach internet too.)

Activate the NetSetMans profile for ICOM Wifi, wait a little bit, you will receive a green popup, after the nics address is established.

Start the second software MyPublicWifi. Configure the software in the way, that your Wifi nic inside the notebook is used. Use the same SSID, like in the garage profile, because it will not connect to the virtual router if the passcode or SSID isnt the same. I remember we are oustide from the garage and the ISAP router is out of range.
Put the passcode in the MyPublicWifi and let the software configure the hotspot settings. Dont mark the internet settings, leave them alone.

After the Hotspot is working, I checked them with my handy or a second notebook.

The rest is the same start ISTA with the same VCI settings direct connection (same IP from the ICOMs as I mentioned before.)

No it should work as a Wifi Direct conection.

With the NetSetMan software the nic handling is easier as in Win8 from the sidebar, even the nics IP allocation is important and manually a desaster.

Regards,
B1257

I remember to say Thank You if the explanation helps.