E36 obc conversion to 18 button obc.

[JaseNZ 53]

Well i got every thing put in today and apart from one glitch that i will go over later its all done and everything works.

I started out wanting to do this project quite some time ago but one did not have the $$ and two from the diy's i had seen around it looked like one hell of a mission.

Price wise it did not turn out to bad really, break down is as follows, if you are going to do this you may get things cheaper or pay more i don't know but this is what i paid. I got all i needed from Ray and from what i can understand when i went looking for the obc they are not the easy to come by here in nz unless you buy one off of ebay.

18 Button obc - $180

Bc indicator stalk - $50

White plug for back of obc - 1 dozen stubbies ($14) from bmw dealership here in chch.

Total cost around $250

Time spent doing it. About 1 1/2 hours install and about 1 hour preparing.

Ok now is this conversion really worth it, Well for me I would say yes as i just wanted it, It does offer quite a few more functions and just looks cooler .

I am not going to go over the full diy of how i did it as there are quite a few of them already all over the web. I have attached the one i used to this post incase anybody wants it.

When i first started looking at doing this project the verious diy's i seen showed dashes half apart and wires everywhere and this put me off for a while until i thought well i want to do this so lets just dive in.

In the end after starting to do this conversion all the stuff i seen and read like remove streering wheel and cut off existing 7 or 11 button obc plug is all bullshit. During the whole conversion i never cut a single wire.

The existing plug at the back of my 11 button obc could just be plugged straight into the new 18 button one.

You only have to tap into 2 wires of the existing plug with your new white plug for ground and power.

In the end i used piggyback connectors so i would not have to cut any wires. I did however make sure i used good quality ones and not crap ones.

One of the main things i did was to prepare myself and make the loom from out of the new white plug you have to put in. This is easy as all you have to do really is follow the direction's as per the attachment to this post.

Once you have this done all you have to do is run the new wires from your loom (5 wires) up behind your speedo cluster. These splice into verious cables as outlined that feed into plugs that plug into your speedo cluster.

The other main thing i did and if you are going to do this is i really recommend putting in the BC stalk, This lets you cycle through the verious readout's on your obc without having to reach down and push the buttons by push the end of the stalk.

Just make sure you get the right one as they made three different types each with a different ground. Luckily the one Ray sent me was the exact one i wanted.

The only problem i ran into and i thought this was going to be a major one was that after i hooked everything up and flicked the switch everything powered up ok and asked me to put the time in etc.

When i pushed the check button however to make sure check control was working ok all i got was the left hand display light up as all orange boxes.

I knew all my wiring was ok and everything was where it was ment to be so it was onto the web to see if i could see why this happened.

After a lot of looking around i finally came across this link here >>Clicky me<< , This refer's to the check control being disabled. This got me thinking that maybe the obc ray gave me came from a car that did not have full check control and hence was disabled on the obc.

So as per that link i unlocked thed hidden menus on the obc and went to menu 11 and my values were set at EINHEIT 1 = C5 and EINHEIT 2 = FF, I changed the first value to B3 and pushed set/res and the orange boxs went away but i was greeted with Check Control Inactive.

So i unlocked the hidden menu's again and went to menu 21 which is fully reset the obc. Everything cycled but the same message came up so i turned the car off waited about a minute and turned the car back on and the display stayed blank, Pushing the check button i was relieved as hell to see CHECK CONTROL OK.

Just to make sure i went and pulled out a tail light and then turned the car on and the nice error message of tail light circuit failure came up so i knew check control was now working all ok.

Going back into the hidden menus and menu 11 i checked the values and they now reflected the new values i entered before.

So it was a case of tidy up all my wiring and cable tie everything and put everything back in place.

So time to try this puppy out, Went and filled the car up and checked the range value which had now gone up.

Time for some pics.

First up shows everything i used (apart from the black plug did not need that at all just the white plug).

Second one is everything installed and shows Consumption, I only went for about a 45 min drive, about 20 mins in town and the rest on the open road. Consumption started out at around 13 lts per 100km around town and dropped to around 9.6 on the open road. I guess after a few weeks driving the obc will be pretty spot on for values.

next is range left, The + means the obc is still calculating, Because i filled the tank up i think it waits until its just about empty to start giving a more accurate reading but at the moment i would say its pretty close.

the next ones are things like average speed, speed limit which you can set and it will beep when you go over that limit, distance to your destination if you enter in a distance before you go some where, a timer which i think you can set to do something with your vents and last but not least the one i was happy to see the check control ok message.

So i would suggest if you want to give this a go its not hard at all its just a case of do i really want it

If anybody does want to do this i am more than happy to answer any questions anybody needs to know.

Final pics.

OBC_2.pdf

[JFry 1]

That is sweet, wish I had the guts to do that!!

Nice work

[Kaz 50]

That is sweet, wish I had the guts to do that!!

Nice work

+1

I would love those extra functions. Nice work!

[fuzyfrog 0]

I have a love hate relationship with my range button.

My consumption has sat at 11 for a few months now.

Edited December 16, 2009 by fuzyfrog

[Yuen 16]

Thanks for the great writeup Jason. Will the OBC function fine without the BC stalk? i.e. it'll function like the old OBC but with more functions?

[JaseNZ 53]

Thanks for the great writeup Jason. Will the OBC function fine without the BC stalk? i.e. it'll function like the old OBC but with more functions?

Yup sure will, The stalk just lets you cycle through the displays without having to reach down to push any buttons.

[hotwire 352]

Well done. God on you

[AzonicNick 0]

Good effort! I want this bad

[hybrid 1039]

Nice work! ... OEM retrofits rule.

[westy 614]

Moved and stickied.

Awesome work fella, we need more of this.

[Guest kis]

One of the best threads Ive seen in ages....well done mate.

[Grant 4]

Fantastic work. Well done and great write up.

[3 SERIES 92]

Thanks for sharing. You the man!

Do want

[BMRBOI 8]

i have the 18 button OBC and the stalk but no loom, if anyone is intrested in buying them give me a buzz:)

[leithcm 0]

All the BC indicator stalk does is provide an earth so thefunctions will cycle through. If you do not have a BC stalk indicator you can still cycle through; just fit a push button on the dash beside the steering wheel (in one of the blanked off spaces) with the wire from the OBC to one side, and earth the other. Pushing the button will earth the wire, and the OBC cycles though as it should!

[HELLBM 1530]

Conversion kits avaliable with all parts needed - $250