Hack the E46 stock radio

[bullfrogs_M3]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Hack-Your-Car/

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this here yet. Thought I would drop it here to see what people thought

Want to unlock your car door with your phone? Re-map steering wheel buttons, or log performance data? The Car Kracker an open-source addon for your BMW 3-Series, 5-Series, 7-Series, X-Series or Mini that lets you;
Add an Aux-In or music jukebox
Remap steering wheel buttons
Remove the Nav warning screen
Display text like emails and SMS on your Sat Nav, radio, or dashboard
Access engine and performance data like air/fuel ratio, oil pressure/temp, and VANOS
Code retrofit parts like rain sensors, run-flat tires, theft alarms, and keys
Access the proprietary error logs to troubleshoot engine, transmission, or accessory problems.
You can also upgrade Engine / Transmission firmware, remove the speed limiter, reset warning lights, and change dealer settings. Here's a little demo of displaying a tweet on the radio;

Feautures
The Car Kracker is a microcontroller with a bit of hardware to talk to your car. It plugs into a connector in the trunk and has several default modes built-in;
Audio Jukebox Mode: Play music stored on an SD card
Advanced Diagnostics Mode: Remove the Nav warning screen, access error logs and read / modify ECU characteristics
Bus Sniffer: Display data traffic and send test packets
Audio Aux-In Mode: Enable Aux input to stereo headunits
A kit is available, or you can follow the schematic in the next step to make one from scratch. Everything is open source, so it be customized and the firmware can be updated via USB. A few ideas;
Traffic Camera Alerter
Automatic Audio sync
Auto Unlock: Unlock the doors when a specific Bluetooth device comes within range
Data logger + phone home: Automatically send car location and speed via SMS
Will it work with my car?
The Car Kracker works with the following cars;
BMW
3-Series, 1998 - 2007 (e46)
5-Series, 1995 - 2004 (e39)
7-Series, 1994 - 2001 (e38)
X3, 2004 - 2010 (e83)
X5, 1999 - 2006 (e53)
Z4, 2002 - 2008 (e85, e86)
Mini
One / Cooper / S, 2001 - 2006 (r50, r53)
Convertible, 2005-2008 (r52)
Land Rover
Range Rover, 1999 - 2003 (L30)
Will it break my car?
Unless you want to update the firmware on your Engine / Transmission, It's pretty much impossible - the data bus is designed so that errant / malfunctioning devices don't break anything. Changing preferences (like turning off the door gong) just updates the settings memory, the firmware doesn't change.

Credits
The Car Kracker builds on many people's work - Many thanks to Dr_Acula for respinning RS232, Jochen @ Navcoder, the BMWCoders forums, Rayman for audio playback, e46fanatics, and bimmerforums. Thanks Everybody!

Continue on and I'll show you how to make your own!

*Edit: I ordered one up today to play around with it, just to see what it does

[bullfrogs_M3]

More info here (assembly, programming, options, etc..)

http://www.gadgetgangster.com/news/54-new-projects/556

[wsmeyer]

Cool find!

Playing music off a micro SD card is very appealing to me. 32GB's are down around $25 and that would pretty much old all the music I would want. I just wonder how you organize it.

William.

[wsmeyer]

If I'm understanding this correctly:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Hack...anced-Hacking/

You should be able to re-code your car so that when you push and hold the lock button on the remote, as soon as it starts rolling up the windows you can loop that signal for xx seconds so you can release the button as soon as they start rolling up. This would be AWESOME for convertibles as you wouldn't have to hold the button forever as it puts the top up and then the windows.

William.

[bullfrogs_M3]

I was also reading on that second link where you can program the buttons on the steering wheel (like the R/T button) to pop the trunk

[M3TA5IN]

Grrrrr! Never any love for my car!! Poopie I say

[Meric]

This is so cööl! How do I get one?

[Smilez]

:

[johnrando]

Keep us posted, thinking I might like to try this.

[pfr]

I don't see a price ?? Did I miss it somewhere?