Coin carousel delete / aux + power outlet retrofit

Below is, in my opinion, the most effective and stealth place for an aux input and usb charger, all while still being in reach to the driver and passenger, and without sacrificing storage space. Well, only if you find the coin carousel useless like I do.
Disclaimer: the obligatory statement that if you fuck up its your fault and you can't sue me. This worked for me and I am happy leave me alone.

Tools/supplies needed:
-Phillips screw driver
-plastic trim pry tools
-bmw aux cord
-cigarette lighter outlet thing
-flat piece of plastic (ideally black)
-drill
-rotary/dremel tool
-voltmeter
Optional: black spray paint or plastidip, general purpose grease, those red dash trim clips (p/n 51458266814)

I took a lot of pictures, but honestly forgot to take pictures in some places where I should have, so forgive me in advance.

First thing you need to do is remove the cup holders and coin tray. Very easy, just sort of squeeze the sides and gently pry away. They typically come off with minimal effort.
Next remove the coin carousel. You have to remove the spring on the back that keeps it pushed up. Once that is off, it is very easy to just disconnect. It is held on at a single pivot point and just needs to be pried out.
Now, with the carousel gone, you have a rectangular hole that needs to be covered. It is about 3" long and 1" wide, so cut a thin-ish piece of plastic to 1.5"x3.5". Black is better so it matches, but I will explain later why black paint or plastidip may be useful...
I used a plastic lid. It is white, but I planned on painting it.
Attachment 34497

next, cut a flat 1.5'x3.5' section. I used a box cutter, but this took a long time. A rotary tool is much more effective and quick.
Attachment 34498

$10 rotary tool from harbor freight. You can get it for like $7 with a coupon.
Attachment 34499

Next you need to make your measurements on the piece you cut. Mine had little dimple on it, so I had to bring the aux plate and hole for the charger closer to the middle.
Attachment 34500

Use the rotary tool to cut out the circular opening for the charging port, and use a drill to make holes for the aux plate screws, and a bigger hole for the aux input itself. I do not recall what size drill bits I used, but just find something that looks like the right size and try it out. Make it bigger if the aux does not fit. You may also need to smoothen the edges of the plastic piece with sandpaper or that rotary tool.

With the plate ready, I then proceeded to remove all the center console. I used these video to help me with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yBADJ1EKGE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTBAFNq-mM8 I also planned to strip all the old peeling rubber and respray wit plastidip. I basically just soaked the pieces in hot soapy water and used my fingers and nails to scrape all the old rubber off. Then, once all the pieces were dry, I sprayed a few coats of plastidip. This is an optional step, but I felt it was necessary for me. I made sure to spray the plastic piece I cut as well.
Attachment 34501

while the last coat was drying, I began to reroute my aux. I had it temporarily hanging out of my dash trim in front of the passenger for about 6 months. Ugly.
First thing first, you want to remove the dash trim using some plastic trim pry tools. Be very careful, and don't jerk on anything. Last time someone touched this trim, they broke the clips mentioned in the supplies above, so I had to replace them after reinstallation. This video is helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDjj2WnjWDM

Next, unscrew the 2 phillips screws holding the radio in place. Pull the radio out slightly. I recommend putting some sort of towel on your console to prevent the radio from scratching the console. If you already have the aux installed, you may need to reroute, depending on where it currently is. If you do not have the aux installed yet, this is a helpful video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgLiHz1GiNE

Once the aux is in the radio wire harness, you need the snake it down behind the HVAC module, through the shifter area, and under the plastic divider. In the picture below, I have it coming out the driver side of the divider, but I later decided to have it come out eh passenger side, since there is less space for it below the center console on the driver side because of the indentation for the e-brake.
Attachment 34502
Attachment 34503

Going to sleep now, will resume tomorrow...

On to part 2…
I should probably go over some of the pros and cons to this mod, as well as the restrictions involved.

Pros:
This mod allows for a stealthy and out of the way placement of your aux input and charger. Many newer cars are putting the aux and charger inside the armrest, with small slots for a cord(s) to run out into the cabin. I think this mimics that idea without sacrificing storage space (unless you actually use the coin carousel). I was eventually just going to use the little coin tray directly in front of the carousel as the placement, but could not come to terms with losing that storage space, which I use a lot.
With this mod, you can charge your phone and play music at the same time, and the wires are coming from the same place. You can achieve this same result by mounting the aux input near the existing cigarette lighter, but this creates the problem of visually unappealing clutter and wires getting in the way of the shifter. I drive an A/T, and I can only imagine how annoying it must be to shift in a M/T with cords cluttering that area. Also, I think you would potentially be sacrificing storage space.
It is reversible! If you don’t like it, you can put the coin carousel back and reroute the charger and aux, since you do not cut any original trim.

Cons:
This may be also seen as a pro, but the power source used in this mod is ‘switched’, which means it only charges when the key is at least in ignition position 1. Without the key, you cannot charge. This can be a nuisance, which is why it may be good to have another usb input at the OEM cigarette lighter (not switched).
You are losing the timeless artifact which is the coin carousel. I personally see no use in it, and perhaps it was already antiquated by 2004 when my car was built, but nevertheless, you are losing a minor functionality of this car.
The biggest problem is lowering the armrest with the cables/cords inserted. There is very little clearance between the bottom of the armrest and the underlying center console, so you need to buy a 90º adapter for the usb charger, and a 90º aux cable. I have mine pictured below. It is important that you get as low profile parts as possible, because there really is not that much space down there. My aux was just a smidge too tall, but I am going to leave it the way it is, because it is not going to damage anything. If I get OCD in the future, I can always get a thinner aux, or lower the input into the center console a little more.
Attachment 34532

Restrictions: This mod requires the car to be pre-wired for analog cellphone capability. You can check if you have this buy doing a VIN check, or just opening your trunk and seeing if you have the little tab that says pre-wired for BMW cellular phone. I think all our ZHPs have this as a regular feature, but I could be wrong.
Attachment 34533

Anyway, back to the DIY. After routing the aux behind the dash and below the plastic trim divider, you need to position it somewhere around where it will end up after reinstalling.

Now, it is time to do some wire cutting and testing. As mentioned above, you need to be prewired for the cellphone. Here is what the cellphone harness looks like all bundled up.
Attachment 34534

Open up the packaging, and unravel the cloth tape to expose the wires. Doing some reading online, I found that the power line is the purple/white striped wire, and the ground is the small brown wire (there are 2 brown wires, the ground is the thinner of the two). Since I never plan on wiring a phone in here, I cut the aforementioned wires and stripped the insulation. Using a voltmeter, check the voltage across the power and ground wires. I was getting about 25-26v with key in ignition. I read some things online about people doing this diy without checking the power first, and wonder why it doesn’t work. Check the power first.
Attachment 34535

Next, connect the positive and negative leads from the new cigarette lighter thing to the corresponding wires (red —> purple/white; black —> brown) I used the crimps that came with this cigarette lighter, which I got at autozone.
Attachment 34536

Once this is done, check the power again coming through the cigarette lighter. Make sure you are getting the same voltage reading as before.

Now, wrap the unused harness back up and store it back the same way it was.
Attachment 34537

At this point, all my pieces were dry and ready to reinstall. I don’t have any pictures of reinstallation, but it is the reverse of taking everything apart. When putting the dash trim back on, i recommend greasing up the metal pegs a bit. They can really get stuck sometimes, and also pushing them all the way back in can be a pain, so it helps to have them lubed up. Another thing to keep in mind, is that the you may have trouble fitting the cigarette lighter through the space that the coin carousel once occupied. It took some dremelling and sanding for me to get it to fit. It was a tight fit, but it worked out nicely. Sorry I have no pictures of this process, but i think it is pretty straightforward.

Once everything is put back together, glue the plastic cover plate onto the center console (i recommend something that can be removed easily). I did not have to glue mine, as the opposing pressures from the cigarette lighter and the usb charger seem to keep the plate in place and flush on the console. It should look something like this:
Attachment 34538
Attachment 34539

Now with the cords attached:
Attachment 34540

Now with the armrest down:
Attachment 34541

So far, I am very happy with this mod, and my cabin is nice and clean now.

Thanks for reading!

I was thinking about how I could incorporate that into my setup as well. Unfortunately, your pictures in part 2 didn’t upload correctly and we can’t see them

That's strange. They were working before. I emailed Dane. Don't know when he will get back, but hopefully soon.

Great job on installing aux and charger. Thank you for sharing a detailed DIY.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Wow, good detail. Thx for posting.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by papa_g

Dane got back to me, we are troubleshooting the problem.
Test pictures

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Those work, and were in the first batch. Can't see pix in the 2nd part. Thanks for trying!

I think the pics are working now. Please let me know if there are any other problems

:thumbup