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Old 05-20-2022, 07:34 AM   #99
gatormaro
 
Drives: 19' Chevrolet Camaro
Join Date: Mar 2021
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Glad the map light issue is solved, we love issues with simple solutions.

I realized in my other post I wrote 50Ohm and not 50 ohm. Honestly, I wish I was smart enough to be an electrical engineer haha. I found this value stumbling upon other forums discussing disabling the OnStar Modem/Antenna. (I think from the Silverado forum but I can't remember)

It was really just a shot in the dark to see if that would give some load to the cellular modem and prevent it from turning up the power. It's possible there could be a terminator cap more suited to the antenna design in the Camaro that we just haven't found yet.


On another side note, I've noticed that when you get into the car at night the backlighting for the OnStar buttons is turned on, it remains lit up when you first start the car, but eventually the backlighting turns off. This coincides with whether or not the bluetooth mic works.
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Old 05-20-2022, 08:14 AM   #100
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gatormaro View Post
Glad the map light issue is solved, we love issues with simple solutions.

I realized in my other post I wrote 50Ohm and not 50 ohm. Honestly, I wish I was smart enough to be an electrical engineer haha. I found this value stumbling upon other forums discussing disabling the OnStar Modem/Antenna. (I think from the Silverado forum but I can't remember)

It was really just a shot in the dark to see if that would give some load to the cellular modem and prevent it from turning up the power. It's possible there could be a terminator cap more suited to the antenna design in the Camaro that we just haven't found yet.


On another side note, I've noticed that when you get into the car at night the backlighting for the OnStar buttons is turned on, it remains lit up when you first start the car, but eventually the backlighting turns off. This coincides with whether or not the bluetooth mic works.
Haha you wrote it correctly, I just suck at reading - 50 ohms, got it.

Next time I have to get under there I might try to re install the cellular modem/ board with a trick antenna. I will have to ask an electrical engineer and see what they think.

oh and this

Quote:
On another side note, I've noticed that when you get into the car at night the backlighting for the OnStar buttons is turned on, it remains lit up when you first start the car, but eventually the backlighting turns off. This coincides with whether or not the bluetooth mic works.
is a great observation, I wonder if we can just give that light/circuit 12V ignition and keep the mic on...

EDIT: actually I believe the on star light, at least on my 22' the lights in that panel up top are lower than 12V, maybe 5v or something. I wonder if the Bluetooth mic operates at this same lower voltage and that's why they did it this way. I assumed it was to be a PITA to people trying to bypass this.

Last edited by LTfun; 05-20-2022 at 08:54 AM.
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Old 05-20-2022, 09:10 AM   #101
gatormaro
 
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Quote:
is a great observation, I wonder if we can just give that light/circuit 12V ignition and keep the mic on...

EDIT: actually I believe the on star light, at least on my 22' the lights in that panel up top are lower than 12V, maybe 5v or something. I wonder if the Bluetooth mic operates at this same lower voltage and that's why they did it this way. I assumed it was to be a PITA to people trying to bypass this.
This sounds inspiring. I'm going on a trip soon so I won't be able to tear into the car, but I've had the A-pillar trim piece removed before when I was installing my dash cam wiring (conveniently 5V power....). I believe the Bluetooth mic is in there.



It might be worth probing the connectors to see what voltage its running at and to see if the power truly cuts out when the OnStar module times out.
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Old 07-21-2023, 07:22 AM   #102
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Hey there,


Just a good ol' bump.

In preparation for my new car I am looking into all of this jazz, as it was a major concern of mine.

Interested to see if there has been any updates to the methods discussed in this thread.

Also, when ya'll are talking about disabling bluetooth, does it only disable the call features? Or will I not be able to listen to music through my phone anymore?

Thanks for all the good info guys.
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Old 07-21-2023, 11:52 AM   #103
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Hello!


Unfortunately I had to sell my Camaro and get something more practical (truck).


But hopefully I can help by clarifying.


Removing the Cellular modem in my 2019 base model did the following:


* Disables all On-Star functionality (including the annoying *CONNECTED TO ON START LIMITED SERVICES voice prompt that happens randomly when you start the car) meaning the car is no longer on the internet.

* Disables the microphone in the car.


What you can still do:


* Use Bluetooth audio streaming (Phone, Tablet, etc)
* Android Auto & Apple CarPlay (Siri and Google Assistant will not work because the microphone doesn't work)

* All other standard radio functions (AM/FM, USB)


What I couldn't test (because my car was not equipped):


* XM Radio
* Navigation


^ These features will likely not work properly. From other forums the navigation may work for a brief time but it will eventually become out of sync with your location.


In my case, removing the Cellular Modem means following the guide above to remove the chip that has the E-Sim embedded (what the antennas attach to) but leaving the actual On-Star module plugged into the car's wire harness. I stored the chip in my office desk drawer the entire time I owned the car and I never had an issue.



Let me know if you have any questions. I can try to answer to the best of my knowledge.
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Old 11-11-2023, 07:02 PM   #104
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gatormaro View Post
Hello!


Unfortunately I had to sell my Camaro and get something more practical (truck).


But hopefully I can help by clarifying.


Removing the Cellular modem in my 2019 base model did the following:


* Disables all On-Star functionality (including the annoying *CONNECTED TO ON START LIMITED SERVICES voice prompt that happens randomly when you start the car) meaning the car is no longer on the internet.

* Disables the microphone in the car.


What you can still do:


* Use Bluetooth audio streaming (Phone, Tablet, etc)
* Android Auto & Apple CarPlay (Siri and Google Assistant will not work because the microphone doesn't work)

* All other standard radio functions (AM/FM, USB)


What I couldn't test (because my car was not equipped):


* XM Radio
* Navigation


^ These features will likely not work properly. From other forums the navigation may work for a brief time but it will eventually become out of sync with your location.


In my case, removing the Cellular Modem means following the guide above to remove the chip that has the E-Sim embedded (what the antennas attach to) but leaving the actual On-Star module plugged into the car's wire harness. I stored the chip in my office desk drawer the entire time I owned the car and I never had an issue.



Let me know if you have any questions. I can try to answer to the best of my knowledge.
Was there ever a potential solution to allow the dash compass to work?
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Old 11-12-2023, 09:53 AM   #105
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I'm not sure about getting the compass to work. I will note that with the modem removed, the graphical display of the compass is completely removed, no annoying "CAL" message that others reported.
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Old 11-15-2023, 09:47 PM   #106
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Originally Posted by gatormaro View Post
I'm not sure about getting the compass to work. I will note that with the modem removed, the graphical display of the compass is completely removed, no annoying "CAL" message that others reported.
Well thats okay then. I was mainly concerned with seeing that all the time.
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Old 11-16-2023, 11:31 AM   #107
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I was able to find an old picture of what my dash looked like. I put an arrow pointing to where the compass used to be displayed.
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Old 11-18-2023, 09:05 PM   #108
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so all a thief has to do to disable onstar is pull the fuse...? Wow..
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Old 11-27-2023, 07:43 PM   #109
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And after going to get my personal items from my stolen Camaro I took a look at the fuse box, circled are the OnStar and horn fuses missing that the thief took out when he got my car.


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Old 12-01-2023, 09:31 AM   #110
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gatormaro View Post
I was able to find an old picture of what my dash looked like. I put an arrow pointing to where the compass used to be displayed.
Interesting my instrument panel is a bit more electronic and has a compass at the top. Wonder if it will just entirely go away.

Have we determined a method for retaining the bluetooth microphone yet?

Certainly not a deal breaker, but being a manual, and my first new car, it is nice to have that hands free calling.

Not nice enough to compromise my data, but nice.
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Old 12-04-2023, 10:49 PM   #111
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Just removed the antenna board on my 2018 2SS and although the Compass in the Guage Cluster shows "CAL" at the top, my microphone works for Bluetooth phone calls and android auto speech commands including the steering wheel controls.
To note I did plug back in the black box and its two wiring connectors then replaced the onstar fuse.

I hardwired two hidden trackers elsewhere in the car just to cover this concern. I control the tracking now, just me no cloud based subscription or fee beyond the SIM Cards.

I need to see what I can do to disable the illuminated onstar buttons while retaining the auto-dimming mirror next.
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Old 12-05-2023, 01:35 PM   #112
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Originally Posted by JAITG View Post
Just removed the antenna board on my 2018 2SS and although the Compass in the Guage Cluster shows "CAL" at the top, my microphone works for Bluetooth phone calls and android auto speech commands including the steering wheel controls.
To note I did plug back in the black box and its two wiring connectors then replaced the onstar fuse.

I hardwired two hidden trackers elsewhere in the car just to cover this concern. I control the tracking now, just me no cloud based subscription or fee beyond the SIM Cards.

I need to see what I can do to disable the illuminated onstar buttons while retaining the auto-dimming mirror next.

This is reassuring. What are your opinions of Android Auto?

I've held off from using it due to privacy concerns as well. Maybe to the point of silliness, I just don't want to share any of my cars data with the app.


How was the process for getting to the box? And do we know if there are any changes from 2018 to 2024?
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