Stephen,Quote:
Originally Posted by stephenkirsh
Here you go:
https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/t..._percent_1.jpg
https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/t..._percent_2.jpg
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Stephen,Quote:
Originally Posted by stephenkirsh
Here you go:
https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/t..._percent_1.jpg
https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/t..._percent_2.jpg
No issues with playback or rebooting the head unit?
I'll leave it playing all the way through tonight. I only listened to the first five minutes or so.Quote:
Originally Posted by stephenkirsh
No issues with playback using an iPhone 6S via the Podcast app. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by stephenkirsh
Nice. Thank you!
Just posting Ted's update from m3f (original thread here). I'm still excited for this product, regardless of the additional lead time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by t3ddftw
In my experience these things tend to concatenate, esp. if featuritis is not kept in check.
Anyone here know what "Full emulation of the factory TCU from a hardware standpoint" means? I don't know what the TCU is.
Thanks for posting this! Another small update to add:Quote:
Originally Posted by Will
After some arm twisting, Future Electronics is working on fulfilling my order for the Qualcomm Clear Voice Capture licenses that I need. Once I verify they are viable, I'll be good to go as far as manufacturing obstacles are concerned. Still working on the "Rev C" and I'm moving to Ohio this weekend, so life is busy! Still hoping to be ready to take real orders sometime next month, but I will post back if there are any further delays.
The featuritis is being kept relatively in check! I have started to push back on extra features on the software side for now, at least until the product is launched. It should do its primary job correctly before it can juggle and do backflips ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dual
The TCU is the factory telematics control unit -- it is what powered "BMW Assist" as well as the old Motorola "StarTac" / "Nokia" cradles that you could install in the armrest. In the newer cars, it also provided factory hands-free Bluetooth calling (if equipped).
What I'm adding to the BlueBus is the circuitry required to both "mute" the radio/Bluetooth/CD when a call comes in and push that call audio out to the vehicle. That way, calls can be taken regardless of the status of the BlueBus.
-Ted
Thanks for the additional updates, Ted. Best wishes for your move to Ohio. Drive safely (if driving)!
Thanks, Will! We're driving the wife's Ford Edge with our 15 month old daughter and three year old German Shepherd Dog -- lots of precious cargo on board! Our belongings are being moved by a professional company, so at least we're not making the 1,900 mile drive in a U-Haul :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Will
Does this require a head unit that supported factory bluetooth? Does anything display other than "Bluetooth" on non nav unit during audio playback or calls? And a standard mic can be used?
Scroll up a bit for the answer... :)Quote:
Originally Posted by YoitsTmac
He's got some pictures that show what it looks like for a podcast that was being discussed.
For CD53 users, you will need a head unit that supported the factory Telematics Control Unit (BMW Assist / Telephone unit). I've only run into a single unit that didn't support it, and it was a 2002 CD53 from a Mini Cooper R50. No one that has tested a unit has had issues with an E46 CD53.Quote:
Originally Posted by YoitsTmac
It displays Metadata for the song currently playing whilst in playback mode, and it will (currently doesn't) display caller ID info when you're getting / on a call.
It depends on what you define as a standard mic. You will need to either equip the car with the BMW OE Microphone or run a microphone like GROM sells (with a 3.5mm output) to the trunk and into the unit.
Hope this helps!
-Ted
Hey Ted, yes this works. Now that I'm on a computer I see how silly my first questions was. I pre-ordered and couldn't be more excited. I've already prewired a nice a mic down the A pillar. I can finally say goodbye to the most ghetto bluetooth and aux setup ever. Although my car is an 03/01 build, I have a radio from a 2005 :)
edit. The mic has to connect in the rear? Can't be plug + and - directly to the radio? for a standard 3.5mm mic?
Hey!Quote:
Originally Posted by YoitsTmac
Unfortunately, you have to connect your Mic directly to the BlueBus unit. You could actually just hijack the factory microphone pre-wiring if you were so inclined, as that terminates in the trunk.
Otherwise, you could install the BlueBus in the glove box, but that's not really recommended as you would have to make a lot of your own connections...
Honestly, using the OE Mic is the best solution and will give you the best quality. They can be had for $20 - $30 USD on eBay :)
Thanks!
-Ted
I ended up buying an OE mic. I'm curious if you have any update for everyone.Quote:
Originally Posted by t3ddftw
Awesome! I finished the newest revision and I'm waiting on the boards to arrive for testing. I had a run made a couple weeks ago but there were some issues with the USB connector I chose, and I decided to change other aspects of the design at that point (no new features, just changing the way things were wired and speaking to each other).Quote:
Originally Posted by YoitsTmac
New boards should be going to beta testers this week! :)
Interesting video on the first post. I did not read all 3 pages of replies so sorry if anything was said/asked already.
I have factory nav in my 05 330i, and probably like many owners, I scrounged up the various OEM parts needed to retrofit Bluetooth calling into the stock head unit. Also, I have a cheap/simple Bluetooth streaming dongle plugged into the back of the Nav headunit which gives me wireless music streaming. If I am understanding this correctly, your device would replace both of these systems via plugging into the 6 disc wiring in our trunks and work through that. Thus we would be either be unplugging or just not using our OEM BT and/or AUX modes after install, correct?
For those of us that have already gone through all this, the benefits of your system would be an OEM like integration of BT calling AND BT music streaming, along with one BT connection instead of two like my set up. Any other benefits we should know about?
What version of BT will the device use? Are we up to 5.0 now? Hard to keep up with all the numbers. Hah. I believe my AUX dongle uses 4.2
Does it need a BT antenna of some kind? If so, where? I remember installing the OEM antenna under the arm rest during my BT calling retrofit
Depending on the cost and assuming good reliability/quality, I might be interested in something like that.
Sounds fantastic, thanks for being so speedy with your replies. Can’t wait for it to exit beta, I’m so stoked for this! Improvements are always great. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by t3ddftw
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
No worries -- I wouldn't want to read all three pages either :PQuote:
Originally Posted by NorCalZman
Yes, my unit would replace both the OE Bluetooth and the AUX BT Dongle. You can always keep the OE BT if you like it more, and simply disable that side of the BlueBus.
Other benefits include extra features, such as "Comfort" One touch blinkers and other goodies that are in the works, such as clock auto syncing based on the GPS time.
The BlueBus uses a BC127 BT module internally which supports BT 5.0 (5.1 is the latest, and it was just introduced in January of 2019).
The unit has a built in antenna, so you won't need to worry about sourcing or making use of the existing antennas.
It should also be noted that to fully utilize the OE Phone integration, you will need to either tap or de-pin six wires from the OE 54-pin Bluetooth module harness. The install instructions will speak more to that, but you need to source:
1. Telephone Audio +
2. Telephone Audio -
3. Telephone On/Alive
4. Telephone Radio Mute
5. Microphone +
6. Microphone -
Unfortunately the 54 pin connector is NLA by Siemens, and thus not available for integration on the PCB, so this part of the install will be "less plug and play" as you will need to source those signals and install them into a connector which will come with the BlueBus.
Thanks! Even though there are existing BT solutions for this car, none of them truly satisfied my requirements, so I'm stoked to have this too :)!Quote:
Originally Posted by YoitsTmac
Ahhhh ok. I wondered if there might end up being a bit more to do to get the OE phone features like muting music for a phone call if you were listening to the AM/FM radio, etc. fair enough. Well, I will watch whatever full feature walkthrough and install videos you end up making to see how these little details work.
I am mainly happy with my set up considering the car is 15 years old, except for the fact I do have to touch my iphone to control the music since the BT dongle is simple streaming through the AUX jack and not the controls. I have a pretty cool mount that places the phone right next to my nav screen (forget the name but I am sure we are all familiar with it) that makes it relatively simple to press forward/pause/etc. Sounds like your unit would let me control it through the headunit or steering wheel controls which would be even nicer.
Since I have the OE BT calling set up already I might take your suggestion and leave that disabled on your device.
Now that we are talking about this, I think I already have a device set up via my 6 disc changer. It’s called an Intravee, and you plugged your iPods into it and were able to control it through the stock head unit. It’s a pretty neat device but who uses a iPod these days (I moved to BT streaming via my iphone/AUX dongle anyway). The creator (whom I believe passed away a number of years ago) added some cool features though: it kept logs of your drives, speed, max RPM, etc. I guess it was good for keep an eye on valets and mechanics who drove your car. On E39s he also made it so it would sound an audible alarm through the speaker if your coolant temp went past a certain point (I dont think he was able to get it to work on E46s).
if you are interested I can send you some screen shots of the interface/driving log set up he created for it, though google and YouTube probably have that. Edit: saw you mention it in your other thread so nevermind! Wasn’t sure anyone still knew about that device. It’s pretty neat.
Yup, you can easily control playback from the stock controls, which is a huge plus, IMO.
You should know, the Intravee and the BlueBus are wholly incompatible because we both hook into the IBus as a CD Changer emulator. With that said, I have an Intravee on hand that I use for testing and pointing me in the "right direction" when trying to implement extra functionality :)
Thanks!
-Ted
Yup, Thanks. I figured I would have to remove the intravee if I went with your solution. I am fine with that if I do. I believe it was the Intravee and an Alpine Ai-net module that I will have to take out. Maybe I can sell them to some iPod enthusiast, hah. I honestly do not use the Intravee any longer because I do not have an iPod/use the AUX BT streaming.
Would be nice to have some of Intravee’s neat features AND have BT streaming, which yours will does.
I saw on your other thread the BlueBus will definitely shut itself off after awhile (doesn’t most of the car go inactive after like 15 minutes?), which is good. My car can sit for a week or two at a time (I dont commute for work) so not having a dead battery is really important! Test test test
There are plenty of E39 owners who go "gaga" over the Intravee -- try forum.bmw5.co.uk :)Quote:
Originally Posted by NorCalZman
Yeah, I'm not likely going to go all out in terms of lighting functionality, but comfort blinkers are implemented and come home lighting is something I'm looking into -- great for finding your car in a dense parking lot.
The plan is to have the BlueBus shut itself off after a user-defined time period. The Intravee uses 61 seconds, which I think is far too quick, so 15 minutes will likely be the default. Most of the car does power itself off after 15 minutes, which is why the MKIV sometimes comes on immediately and other times sits at the splash screen for a while :). I, too, hardly ever commute, so I'll be the first to know if the auto-shutdown isn't working!
On the other hand, I've left the BlueBus in my car for a week and a half without shutting off and everything was fine. Current draw when idle is about 30mA, and closer to 100mA when all the bells and whistles are going off. At these rates, it should take about 1-2 months for it to fully drain a battery, but why draw power if we don't have to? :)
Thanks!
-Ted
Ted, all cool updates but I have to ask: as a lame millennial, I do all my ,Edina needs through my phone and therefore via Bluetooth. How intrusive would my tap in be? And is phone calls and Bluetooth audio under two separate modes? And I forget if you mentioned, but are voice assistants possible through the wheel? I believe you said so.
Finally, a good point with wake and power draw. With your setup, will the unit turn off in key position 0, or after a sleep timer? I’m not sure if I fully following the discussion below, but it sounds like the unit will be on for a period of time rather than tied to key position. I only ask because I personally find it annoying if I lock my car and go inside but I’m still connected to my car and can’t hear notifications or videos because it’s still paired to my car.
Tapping the six signal wires can either be intrusive or not, depending on how you go about it. My recommendation is to get a small "pick" and use it to work the contacts out of the housing for the 54 pin connector. From there, they simply slide into the provided connector, which then slides into the BlueBus.Quote:
Originally Posted by YoitsTmac
I'm unsure what you're getting at when you ask if BT calling and streaming are two different modes -- they're different BT profiles and can be used independently of one another. BT calling will work in any radio more, or with the radio off, provided that you install the six signals into the BlueBus (which is optional, of course).
Voice assistants can be activated via the "Talking head" button on the steering wheel.
As it stands now, the unit never sleeps. However, it automatically disconnects Bluetooth when it sees the ignition off message on the IBus. Similarly, it enables connectivity and starts scanning for devices when it gets the "Ignition on" message.
With that said, the sleep timer is purely to save power :).
Thanks!
-Ted
After it goes into power save, what is the "bootup" time of the device? I would imagine it's near instantaneous, but don't want to assume. :)
By "bootup" time, I'm referring to the time it takes for it to be fully functional and automatically connect to Bluetooth.
Right now, it connects in under twenty seconds, usually less than ten. However, that number can fluctuate based on how many paired devices there are (as it tries to scan for all of them) and how your phone feels about connecting to Bluetooth that day. I have found that some phones (usually of the `i` variety) don't like to open profiles immediately, which can make it take up to 45 seconds to fully establish a connection.Quote:
Originally Posted by az3579
I totally get this. One of the iPhone updates have totally made connecting to my BT dongle a chore, especially if I am running errands and walk to and from the car multiple times in a short period of time. The iPhone will connect to the dongle but when I try to play audio through it, it will not, nor will it show the option in the BT push menu. I have to turn off BT and turn it back on then reconnect to the dongle. I didn't have to do that previously. Im wondering if thats because my BT dongle (which is a few years old now) is "less compatible" with the newer iOS versions, or if the dongle is just wearing out. Perhaps this issue will be resolved with a fresh BT device.Quote:
Originally Posted by t3ddftw
Also, my BT dongle is powered by the flashlight plug in the glovebox, so I wonder if it starts getting power when I unlock the car as I am walking towards it. I find that (when it wants to behave), my phone is connected and ready to go as soon as I sit in the seat. Does the CD system harness start getting power when the doors are unlocked or is does it depend on the key?
and yes I fully support a deep sleep mode. Every little bit of power draw we can save when the car sits for a week or two at a time is ideal.
Funny, the BlueBus has similar troubles to what you describe, except I've written code to handle it gracefully. Essentially, the BT connection will open up, but the A2DP profile will continually fail to "open". My fix is to keep retrying until it succeeds (which is when it can take up to 45 seconds to connect). It's likely the Bluetooth stack on the iOS side that is buggy, rather than a deficiency/issue with your dongle.Quote:
Originally Posted by NorCalZman
The CD Changer harness is continuously powered as long as there is a battery with a charge in the car :). Most modules in the car are responsible for killing their own power until an IBus message is received (such as the door unlock message), which is why when something on IBus goes awry it can present itself as your battery dying within a couple hours.
The nav infotainment electronics pull 2.5A just by themselves!
All good stuff, looking forward to the release!
I saw your update on the M3 forum and it looks like you are going to include a lot of neat features. Hope you are still monitoring this thread for those of us here. I am wondering, regarding your reprogramming of the soft touch blink count, if you have tested this on cars who have already updated their system for 3 blinks. For example, can cars that have 3 blinks go to 5 blinks with your system? Or is is only going to work for cars that do not already have multiple blinks set up?
I ask because I had a friend update mine to 3 blinks but I think it would be safer/better to have 5 blinks.
Also, you mentioned being able to display speed on the Nav screen. Cool....but I think what would be more useful to E46 owners would be temperature for stuff like coolant.
+1 for temps
I haven't forgotten about you guys! I just have way too many forum posts keep up with :helpQuote:
Originally Posted by NorCalZman
I actually have no idea how the car will respond to the triple blink feature if the LCM already supports it. I suspect that it will work flawlessly, as the BlueBus simply "counts" the number of blink messages until the requisite amount is seen, so each of the three blinks would be seen, then the BlueBus should keep the diagnostic session alive until five are seen. My M3 has a triple blink capable LCM, so I'll load up NCSExpert sometime soon and enable the feature for testing.
I've also been considering allowing you to set the number of blinks anywhere from one to ten.
Coolant temp is certainly available, oil temperature is not unless you have a non-M E39 :)
I'm struggling on how to I would display this data for Business Radio users, as that display is limited to 11 characters :/
-Ted
Ted, I know you're a crazy busy man. I greatly appreciate all you're doing, I'm just curious if you have a new timeframe?
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Aethir30
I'm looking to kick off manufacture within the month of October. I'm waiting on some quotes from a Korean fab house and a couple of U.S. fabs. I got a quote for $88/piece from a China house yesterday, but thanks to the Trump Tariffs, those would end up costing me just as much as having it assembled in the U.S. (~$111/piece).
-Ted
Don’t let good be the enemy of perfect. At least let us Nav screen owners have the coolant temp! You know how we E46 owners are traumatized about stories of overheating. Haha. If we can figure out how to let our business radio owners join us, then cool!
thanks for looking into the triple blink thing. Let us know how it goes. Not sure about the M3 crew, but a lot of ZHP owners have upgraded their modules and set up triple blink.
Yes, my M3 used to croak in the desert heat with the A/C on :(Quote:
Originally Posted by NorCalZman
I'm thinking I can make a few different "display modes" for Business CD users -- Metadata mode, OBC mode with Speed, RPM, Coolant Temp and regular "Time" mode.
Thanks!
-Ted
Ted...Sent you PM.
Replied :)Quote:
Originally Posted by das boots