yo_clarkie

Thanks Jochen, didn't realise that, good news! Intravee are also remaking their software to suit the C23 I have (and I expect that will pick up suppoprt for the C23 Japan), but will test it to be sure.

update: The very kind folks at Intravee are rewritting their software to support the C23 Radio (will probably pick up support for the Japan version by accident while they are at it (thanks Jochen - didn't realise that) - will have to find someone with one to test to be sure). I have the first version of the high level menu's already and they are making the menues no more than 6 items long (not 10) to accomidate the C23. Very cool! I expect this to take less than a week. Anyone with the C23 Japan radio module in AKL wanting to waste an hr to see an Intravee working (or not) in their car a week or two from now let me know?

I relented and ordered the Intravee from toysinyourcar.com in the UK to go with the KCA-420i I got from trademe for $90 and the 5M AI-Net cable (not needed) also from trademe for $25... 10 days later, a very nice postie asked me to sign for it on a Saturday morning (who knew they delivered parcels by bike on Saturdays?) Long story short, the C23 BM Oceania tuner on my NZ new car, some of the menu choices cause the unit to loose contact with the tuner and the tuner to default back to radio, the C23 was designed to support only 6 disks, where the C43 or BM53 units support the address space for 10.... So bugger. The guys at Intravee (I will assume there is more than one, but maybe not) have not encountered the C23 tuner before and have made me three custom software loads in the last 24 hrs over the weekend! I now have a not perfect (not their fault) solution and I guess I am in the market for a new tuner.... The C23 has all the NZ frequencies and was a new NZ unit, it could be for sale very soon So, any concerns over the support for this product from Google or other sources are complete bollocks, these guys rock! The custom firmware also does a bunch of other things like fold in the mirrors and tell me in cm how far objects are from the parking sensors, and let me adjust the speedo (which is handy as its out by about 5%), and..., and... SO, I have to fit a chip from the UK to the KCA-420i to stop the ipod going into hibernation and therefore not waking up when I turn the car on, in the meantime I have alarms set on it which will do roughly the same thing, but might run the battery down/out if I don't use the car for a few days, and I need to get a 5V charging adapter from ebay so more modern iPods work OK, (I have a v5 30G Video in there at the moment). Anyone have a C43 or BM53 going cheap(ish) or want to buy a C23 tuner that works perfectly in NZ - unless you plug it into a Intravee? Next project begins when the ULM arrives in time for next weekend... And I will order a reversing camera from a forum member this week.... Then maybe the Nav computer... When will it stop?

Hi, Have a NZ New 2001 X5 with C23 Radio, TV tuner, CD stacker, 16:9 and it did have a Bit II, but as it didn't work have a TCM on its way. So, if I wanted to ad Nav, I need a computer and an antenna, and also a piece of wiring loom in the back? Also the C23 Radio is an absolute pain as it doesn't (yet) work with the Intravee I got for it. is the BM54 the way to go? Is the C23 worth any thing to anyone (it in NZ frequencies) Cheers Dave

Dave, I am probably going to have this for sale in a couple of weeks along with a Nokia Bluetooth unit... I ordered it then decided with a bit of encouragement to put a TCU in my X5... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=300521475765 Dave

Cheers, TCU on its way from the UK

Thanks Jochen, I knew euro dect was 2.4GHz but never knew that Bluetooth was the same frequency. I see some posts from you on another forum with regard to reverse engineering the wiring, so I will start with that and get a Euro one I think to avoid coding issues. I am assuming it won't throw up errors on the dash, just when running error logs? I will be building my little NavCoder interface this weekend (making a hybrid ODB and NavCoder one with a socket on it to connect to a permanently wired plug in the car, and some spare plugs with wire taps on - lack of serial port on laptops pointing me in that direction) and will buy a license, I will assume I could code either from there? Advantages noted, however I suspect I will be well served with the BMW one - the address book sync being the first feature likely to not be supported by current and future phones, and one feature I don't really use too much from the car, mostly answer calls, not place them.

Cool thread, looks like I have a BIT-II wiring setup and will need to do some re pinning to connect to a TCU, but so far encouraged. I have a mute/power cable for the Nokia CK-7W about to arrive and a CK-7w I have had for years here and was going to go down that route, but now... Optimistic that there is an affordable factory option. Looks like the DECT antenna for the BIT-II system and cable can be reused as Bluetooth antenna and cable as well - I guess they are the same frequency.

Bugger. I might put some LED bulbs with resistors in, they will draw significantly less power for the same light and take some of the load off the connectors. Worth a try I guess. Actually, that won't work with the dual voltage thing. Will repair if it fails again, or replace I guess. Poor design.

Have just removed the Siemens DECT/GSM phone from my 2001 E53 - as it was faulty. I am a little confused by what I would have to do to get bluetooth. I am unsure if a ULF or a TCU will both work? The TCU's seem cheaper, but I see that there are CDMA (US) and GSM (ROW) ones, and would that matter when its just used for bluetooth from the head unit and steering wheel buttons to my iPhone. Any one tried out the TCU option and any advice? Cheers

SOLVED!!! BINGO! In the photos the left side is correct and you are right, the lower unit gets brighter when you press the brake (never seen anything like this before). The right unit (that I thought was working correctly) was the one with a fault (both bits should be on with taillights on), it had blown a hole through the metal trace on the back of the light fitting. Sandpaper and a small blob of solder and its all working perfectly again!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers, ran every test I could think of and get to the same place, that the LCM is faulty. cr&p! Will pull it apart and buy some chips, hopefully that will fix it. Thanks for the help. Dave

I will PM you next week - kind of need a pay day first - just bought a BMW!

I don't but I can simulate the wiring and will try that

I don't have them, but I will make up some leads that simulate the OEM wiring and see where that gets me. Thanks

Thanks - all good advice, will try this stuff out. I have had the car 4 days and the fault has been here all that time. No indication from the previous owner that the problem exists. The brakes shouldn't be on in this photo (the pedal is not pressed). I will pick up a new set of bulbs on the way home tonight and try them out - would never have thought to do that (since they are producing light) - if its that simple I will send you a bottle of scotch! I don't have the OEM lights, but I can easily (using some wire and clips) simulate the OEM wiring setup - which I will do after replacing the bulbs. Under normal (OEM) operation (UK/Aus/NZ spec) it should be: Top: Indicator Middle: Tail Bottom: Tail / Brake The after market ones I have are for the North American market (I think) Top: Indicator Middle: Tail / Brake (wired to operate togeather as TAIL) Bottom: Brake (this means the bulb holders have been swapped over (and only fit one way in both light setups) Reversing lights and fog lites are on the tailgate and are unchanged (i.e. OEM BMW). They work fine. The brake lights (when brake pressed) come on at a slightly different rates left to right (could be different bulbs I guess), but that and the partial activation when the parking lights are on is what gived me a sense its the LCM. Long shot would be the trailer controller that picks up the feed to the lights as an input and then switches its own power to the trailer and reports back via iBus.

Its a bit of a long shot, but very keen to swap 5 nice new $50 notes for one of those bad boys. Cheers ... Dave

So, a wee problem: Its not a great photo, and the tail lights are after market. The top red lights on each side are the tail lights, the red lights one down are the brake lights. The brake is not depressed in this photo. IF I turn headlights on I get the :Check Tail Lights" & "Check Stop Light" and the bottom left comes on at about 50% and the bottom right is very slightly flickering. Current plan is to pull the Trailer Controller to see if its interfering in any way and then pull the LCM if the problem persists. According to the interweb these things can munch the MOSFETs that do the actual power switching, but usually the headlight ones (which are higher rated). Not found a case of the rear's going BUT the after market lights have the rear/stop bulbs in the upper position and both filaments running (not impressed!), which could I guess overload the chip in the LCM. Fix will be to replace the chips in the LCM and take the tail lights out to the range for a little "adjustment" So how is my logic? Any other suggestions?

I think you just answered my question on TradeMe ! I was kind of hoping that the tailgate was pre wired, I had to run wiring through a Touareg a couple of years ago and the skin on my hands has only just grown back now. I will get the camera first, so let me know how you want to proceed. Cheers Dave

Will add some gallery pics if the weather is nice in the weekend. Here is the rare one

Greenlane, and thanks!

I am looking on UK eBay and will get it shipped to a UK address, then posted out here. 188 pounds new, not ideal, but will go there if I don't pick one up in a month, got the Alpine bits today on trademe with a free headunit included that one of the guys in the office can use, so doing my bit for recycling.

Good to know, strong views to keep the OEM, so will look into making it a bit more 2011, less 2001

Thanks for the advice, looks like I will stick with the OEM and look to add some bits slowly. I will see if I can chase up an Intervee first and then look at reversing cameras and them the Nav I guess, not too sure about the bluetooth, it seems to be both expensive and a bit touchy to use with an iPhone... Thoughts on the order?