Retrofit Bluetooth with a TCU instead of a ULF in any I-Bus Car
 

For a long time, we had a collective assumption that a Bluetooth-Assist TCU would not work in cars made prior to 2004. However, a few recent installations proved this false. A BimmerBoard member named crds recently installed a TCU in his 2003 M5, a person over on E46Fanatics installed a TCU in a 2001 E46, a few others on M3Forum installed TCUs, and I installed a TCU in my Dad's 2002 M3 (see the reference posts below). The advantage to the TCU is that it costs 1/2 as much as a ULF. My Dad got his new TCU for $345, compared to over $600 for a new ULF (if you can even find one).

Schizophrenic behavior of '03 M5 with both SES and Bluetooth TCU?
OEM Bluetooth kit I put together for $419 pre 03/02 - E46Fanatics
HUGE news regarding the newest oem bluetooth tcu - BMW M3 Forum.com (E30 M3 | E36 M3 | E46 M3 | E92 M3)

The TCU part number we installed is 84.10-9 195 455. It is the newest available, though others will work.

My Dad has a 3G iPhone with the latest OS, and the TCU works perfectly with the iPhone, so this appears to be an optimum Bluetooth solution for a much lower cost. Another advantage, both cost and cosmetic, is that the TCU does not require an eject box. The TCU goes into pairing mode for a couple minutes when you first start the car, so it does not need a pairing button. The only real downside to the TCU is that its voice recognition instructions only control the phone. There are no navigation control instructions like in the ULF and SES modules.

The only challenge is that the factory default coding for a TCU has voice recognition turned off. If you have a SES module, then this is not a problem. Or, if you are buying a used TCU with VR already turned on, this is not a problem. Otherwise, you will need to get VR turned on. I tried every option I could find in Progman/SSS, GT-1, and NCS Expert with no luck. It does not have the options we need for an early year car. Maybe someone who is a true stud with these tools could do it, but it was beyond my ability and desire to experiment. Fortunately kiwijochen, the author of NavCoder and international BMW I-Bus expert programmer, came through.

This weekend, Jochen, my Dad (with his 2002 M3 and new TCU), and I had a Skype call going between Georgia, USA at my house and Jochen in Switzerland. We were using NavCoder to download information from the TCU and send it to Jochen so that Jochen could analyze it and send update instructions back to us. It worked like a champ. My Dad now has voice recognition in his M3. And, if Jochen can incorporate this into NavCoder, we have a way cheaper option for Bluetooth in all I-Bus cars.

This is great news! As a Navcoder owner, I anxiously await this... ;)

BTW, if a TCU came out of an existing car (say for example, i pulled the TCU out of my mother's 2006 X3), would VR already be active? i.e. are only new units uncoded for VR?

Good work Brian

I do not know. It seems like voice recognition should be turned on in most models. But, my next door neighbor has a 2005 E46 with a BMW Assist Bluetooth TCU, and he does not have voice recognition. So, either the option is turned off, or he got a TCU before BMW incorporated built-in VR. (He is a little too nervous about electronic experimentation to ask me to try to upgrade his car.)

I have access to the 06 X3... Ive never used voice commands though... How do I test it? (my BlackBerry is paired now and working --address book transfers etc)

Push and hold the "sneezing man" button on your steering wheel for a few seconds. That invokes voice recognition. If you push and hold, and it does nothing or it only redials your most recently called number, then VR is turned off.

OK just tried it--seems to work just like it does with my 6th gen ULF in my e46...

Pressed and held button, then "Dial Number 555-555-1234...."

Guy starts talking to me, then dials the number, so I'm assuming its programmed...

Enabling this functionality is all the dealer programming will do?

and if it is turned off how do you turn it back on? i have a 2006 bmw x5 3.0, with navi, thanks

It is possible that your TCU does not have the voice recognition capability. However, you have a 2006, so that is unlikely. I suspect that it is merely disabled in the coding. I have not seen the options available to a dealer for coding a TCU, so it may be as simple as a setting change in the dealer's programming system. Or, the VR option could be something they are required to charge a large sum of money to enable (like BMW does in some European markets) or is hidden from them in the US coding software.

If Jochen can incorporate this into NavCoder, they you would be able to turn it on yourself.

Does Jochen feel confident that he can incorporate into NavCoder?

Yes he does :-)

But not this week, huge workload in my day job :-(