X3 BMW portable Nav System

[Bora20]

Does the Nuvi audio come through the vehicles speakers or does it come out of the unit itself?

I have a Zumo 550 and I think that it would work well in this case, along with the motorcycle installation kit to allow it to be hardwired into place.

[2k328ci]

Any guides that tell me how to take the dash apart and where to hardwire the power adapter into? I notice the BMW mount has a wiring harness, is that standard mini-usb power to any GPS? Is there power where ever that harness clips into?

I'd like to hardwire a USB power-adapter behind the dash like the built-in mount, but have the mini-usb come out left of the console where my GPS is tucked in between the cluster hump and the A-pillar (I need the storage bin - center storage is too valuable to loose to the GPS for me).

[ngcreese]

I bought the dash center peace with the Garmin ball and a Nuvi 3790T.

Dremeled a small hole under the ball, so that the power adapter plug could be passed through. The hole ends up being bigger that the wire itself, due to the plug head. I used rubber gromets to fix that.

For the 3790t, the power plug, plugs into the cradle. The cradle then supplies power to the Nuvi. The cradle also uses power to run the cradle's built in speaker.

Although extremely clean, the biggest drawback to running the power cable under the dash is the reduction in traffic info reception. This really only matters if you live out in the country. When I'm on the DC beltway, traffic info comes in just fine. I haven't gone back in to see what I can do to fix it.

My thought is, I currently have the power cable bundled up, I'll want to unbundle it and string it out as much as possible.

Audio does not go through the car's sound system. However, with the Nuvi cradles's amplified speaker, directions come through LOUD and clear. I think my volume is currently set to 30%.

As far as power is concerned, I got a cigarette lighter socket with inline fuse and some wire splice connectors. Looked up the Radio wiring diagram, and spliced the socket to the switched power and ground wires.
Hope this info helps.

[2k328ci]

Thanks,

What kind of socket with inline fuse? Is this something I can find at a hardware store?

How did you take the dash apart?

Where did you get the radio wiring diagram?

Thanks.

[ngcreese]

Cigarette Lighter Socket
12V DC Motorcycle Power Socket(cigarette lighter socket) products, buy 12V DC Motorcycle Power Socket(cigarette lighter socket) products from alibaba.com

BMW X3 Radio Removal -- Google Search
Let me google that for you
In short, the center vents "pop" off.
Remove the hot/cold dial's cable.
There are a couple screws holding the center dash and radio in place.
Careful not to drop any screws into the dash.
The install videos from BSW, on youtube are pretty good at guiding you through this process.

BMW X3 Radio Wiring Diagram -- Google Search
Let me google that for you
You're looking for the color of the 12V switched wire & ground wires going to the back of the radio.


These links should help.
It's a really fun / easy project to do. Hope it turns out nicely for you!

...Enojoy

[2k328ci]

Thanks so much! It almost makes me brave enough to try it. I really appreciate it. I think this will be my spring project (as I don't have a garage for the winter).

I'm bookmarking these instructions!

Thanks again!

[ngcreese]

Cool!

Well, here's some pics of what the setup looks like...

When you use the 12V switched power wire, the Nuvi will turn on and off by itself. It's internal battery will charge while the car is switched on. And of course, you won't run the risk of forgetting to turn off the Nuvi and drain your car's battery.





If you feel the urge, you can detach the Nuvi, and leave the cradle in place.


Hehe.. or you could take the cradle too. BTW, all you need to buy from BMW is this dash piece. You can see where I dremeled it, to bring the power cord through. Then closed the whole using rubber grommets from the auto parts store.



The Nuvi, cradle and power cord/traffic receiver come as one package from Garmin. Note, the speaker built into the cradle. The Nuvi itself also has a small speaker built into it the is enabled when the unit is not in it's cradle.


Turn on the ignition and up comes the Nuvi...



Hope you like...

I'll need to go back in there to add a proper USB / ipod connection. Thinking about using that BSW one, and mounting a USB and Cigarette lighter plate inside the arm console. That'll be this summer's project .

BTW, Bavauto sells a set of upholstery removal tools so that you don't end up scratching stuff. I highly recommend them.

[nrigroom]

After looking at SNA's beautiful install, I am thinking of installing this kit in my X3. However, I'd rather use the wiring that comes with the kit than use the USB power source that SNA got from Amazon. Has anyone tried this approach...?

[ngcreese]

In it's original form, the kit consisted of two things:

--The alternate center dash with the Garmin mounting ball and a wiring harness with open wires at one end (to patch into your car radio's wiring harness, for power only) & a plug at the other ( to mate with the NAVI's wiring harness once you've assembled it. ).

-- The BMW branded Garmin NAVI, with it's cradle, and a wiring harness with open wires at one end ( to pass through the garmin ball, and then you would insert those open wires into a plug header and mate it to the other harness, mentioned above...) and a ( i think it was...) a mini usb connector to plug into the NAVI.

The only thing this setup got you, was super clean passage of the wires from the NAVI to the car, via the garmin ball mount. The down side is, if you looked carefully, there was no provition to patch in NAVI audio into the X3 radio.... only power was provided.

Also, when I went after the whole kit, the BMW branded Garmin NAVI was no longer available.

So.. I just got the center dash and improvised, by Dremeling a small hole into it ( in a location that's hidden by the 3790T's cradle ) and using rubber grommets to fill in the gap.


Also, with the 3790T traffic info is received via the power cable, so splicing it to pass the wires through the garmin ball mount, would risky.
Going this route, a cigaretter lighter socket with an in-line fuse and open wires at the other end, such that you can patch it into the electrical system at the radio harness is the best option.

I have gone back in there to improve the setup...

The NAVI power plug and the cigarette lighter socket tend to seperate over time, due to vibration from driving. Using a thick rubber band to keep them together, solves this problem.

Also, I unbundled the power cable and passed it through an open to the passenger's side of the center dash area. I now receive traffic info nicely.



I've recently noticed that BMW has updated the portable navigation option to what looks like a Garmin 3790T. And they never stopped selling the alternate center dash w/ the garmin ball mount.

I haven't had the opportunity to check to see if they now allow audio patching into the car radio.... that would be cool.

Hope this info helps!

[suss1173]

I purchased this mounting kit about 18 months ago, and never got around to installing it. I think an X5 is in our near future, so if anyone wants it, I'm open to reasonable offers, other wise it will probaly be included with the X3 when we sell it.
suss1173@aol