What TCU (telematics) version you have and are you happy with it?

[fmugur]

I am trying to get back to the factory audio system as my 4.8is came with Kenwood HU which it sucks. I have bluetooth right now through this pos.
I don't want to loose the BT after going back to the original setup. I checked the trunk and although it has the TCU with BT sticker based on the reading I have done it seems like it does not has the BT as it was the first gen that came with the BT label and not the functionality... go figure.

Anyway, I know the latest TCU would be the 84109195455 but I don't want to spend $400+ for BT. I can find one on ebay for around $100 but I am not sure what would be a good one for today's phones. Do you know what's the difference between the latest TCU and the what you have on your car? Are you happy and works fine with you phone, iPhone, Samsung...?
Can you please post here what TCU version you have and what phone works well with.
Thanks

[edogg]

I'm not sure of the version on mine because I don't know where to look on the sticker. It's a 2006 4.4i X5. The experience was the same on a Nokia 920 and HTC 8x.

The bluetooth is awful. Pairing works fine but the sound quality is very poor. People on the other end have a hard time hearing me over the road noise. And I have a hard time hearing the other person through the speakers - especially female voices (maybe it's a good thing if you don't want to talk to your wife ).

I just use a Jabra speaker. The sound quality is much better, which is really sad. Though, I guess it makes sense since these were one of the first in-car bluetooth options available on the market.

[fmugur]

Interesting! I was expecting a very good quality.

With inpa it's easier than reading the label.

Here is mine:
inpa wich matches the label

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[TerminatorX5]

i could not find the FCC ID listed for the BT nor for the "NAD" (whatever the NAD is). the label is clearly marked with BT identifiers, including the MAC and the PIN... no PIN in INPA...

mine is a 12th gen ULF, not TCU... the car came with 5th gen TCU, and the BT was functional... I just swapped it for the ULF, as it had the VR for the Nav as well as for the phone...

the quality is decent, even though i thoought that the road noise cancellation could have been better (my wife's 2011 335 had much better acoustics in its BT, with the same phone paired - no one would even suspect that they were on a speaker system and not on a phone or a headset...)

The BMW had several revised microphones (i remember, even my E39 had several versions of mike that i went through)...

Do you think you might be able to activate the BT within the TCU unit? do you need to crack the case opened? maybe there is a jumper or something inside that needs to be switched?

[fmugur]

I am missing the DSP amp speakers connector to complete setup back to factory. The speakers are wired to the Kenwood hu, they cut the connector out. When I get the connector I will put the bordmonitor back and see if I can pair with BT. Last time I plugged it in the BT was displaying 'searching'... but I didn't know what I supposed to do.
Based on this thread it seems like it's missing something from the TCU.
Bluetooth modules - E46Fanatics

Didn't you have to add the eject button for the ULF? Are you using the VR for nav or phone?

Term, I was wondering why did you stick with the oem bordmonitor setup after all the carputer and other interesting stuff you worked on.

[TerminatorX5]

Originally Posted by fmugur

Didn't you have to add the eject button for the ULF? Are you using the VR for nav or phone?

Term, I was wondering why did you stick with the oem bordmonitor setup after all the carputer and other interesting stuff you worked on.

the newer ones did away with the pairing button in the center console... i pair mine with the INPA, as i totally forgot the proper procedure to pair the phone as a normal person...

as far as the OE monitor...

the factory engineers have designed the audio/visual system in this car with maximum integration available in early/mid nineties - the speed sensors, the gyro in the center of the car, the internal acoustics, the other sensors...

a CarPC unleashes a lot of the info (like the centimeters to an obstacle from the PDC) that is not available to regular consumer - in the newer models they started showing a little graphic for the distances... this is just one example...

however, the CarPC, while fully integrated still looked a bit odd and out of place in this car... I must admit, my line of work probably had some influence over my decision - any additional equipment must act and blend in as if came like from the original source and the CarPC with its 3D navigator mouse, and a special key to press to activate the menu did not look like was born at the factory...

using aftermarket android headunits or whatever other headunits - only one or two models would look like it was born with the car... the rest - they looked like a home made solution... besides, in couple of years that version of android will be outdated, and I still might be driving the same car (with given cost of phones and cars, chances are people will change the phones more often than they would change a car). Chasing the latest and greatest in the aftermarket car electronics - futile... on the other hand, i might have a new phone in a year or two... so, if i could "extend" the phone to the car's screen and the speakers - i might do just well...

the OE TV module just snapped in... gave me a rear camera and AV input/output...

The BT snapped in just like the TV did...

the AUX was already prewired...

so, i had the output devices primed for external source and this is what i got - i use the car speakers for the audio output of the phone, and the car's screen for the phone video output...

I used aftermarket device to enable TV in motion, had a bunch of power supplies to power this freak show...


at the end of the day, my car is just a docking station for my phone...

and if and when i am ready to sell the beast, everything is reversable...


(the only thing this setup is missing - a touch screen to send commands back to the phone... can be resolved by a MIMICSX2 device but i am not ready to spend the money on this thing yet...)

[fmugur]

Term, I cannot agree with you more. I retrofitted back the bordmonitor and the TCU and I really like the oem look of the bordmonitor.
The TCU I installed works good but not as good as the Parrot I had a few years back or the hualingan system I was using on the other X5. It does the job though.
I do have the voice commands for phone, notebook and nav although I was under the impression only ULF has that.

The only funny thing is that when I press the phone button once (on the bordmonitor or steering wheel) it dials the first number on my address book. Is that normal? I am using a Note 3 and I can see all the addressbook but why this behaviour?
I had to create a dummy entry on the phone book to stop calling the first name on my address book by mistake.

[TerminatorX5]

this behaviour might be phone dependent... i used the same 12th gen ULF in the 4.6 a few years back and at the time i had several different phones, and one of them (original Motorola Razor, nothing fancy) actually let me read the text messages on the boardmonitor... none of the other phones since (or before the razor) allowed the SMS on the screen, no matter how smart or stupid the phone were... I could not reply to the SMS using the ULF, but that was expected...

I just read my previous post, and seems that i was right on the money - the phone that I was playing with, HTC One X+ (a very powerful device) has died beyond repair, and I bought an LG Optimus Pro G with insurance money... it is not here as of yet, but my wife has that LG model, with removal battery and SD slot, and it is working fine for her - so I hope the idea of having the car as a "dock station" for the phone is a feasible idea...

[fmugur]

So, what happens when you press once the phone button on yours?

[TerminatorX5]

the last dialed number comes up and starts dialing - i have couple numbers stored in Voice Dial command with the ULF, if i press the "talking head" and hold it, the VR comes on, i say "dial a name", it say, "say name", i say "blah blah" (a name that i previously stored in the ULF), it repeats with recorded voice - "blah blah is it correct", i say "yes", it dials number

if i press the talking head quickly, the last dialed number (in this case, the "blah blah" person) comes up and starts dialing... this behaviour was same for several model phones, not just for the HTC...

you said you have voice recognition - try saying "dial a number", start saying any number, and place a call... then, after you hang up, press the phone button quickly, and see if that last spoken number is being dialed again or not...

did i explain the procedure right?