Bluetooth retrofit and inevitable problems

[cj10jeeper]

Help a frustrated upgrader....

2001 UK model with existing Motorola V50, professional sat nav, widescreen monitor

Fitted a retrofit kit today. Gen 8 ULF, aux amp and a centre console pairing button.

All went well. Pulled all the wiring for the old Motorola out inc the dual band module, charger and all the leads in the console.

Switched on and got the 'activate telephone' message on screen. Went to pair and it has no effect. Switched off the ignition, time for coffee!! Came back and now I have no bordmonitor display at all. No sat Nav, TV, menu, etc. just blank screen. Radio, CD work but no display to show them.

Checked my wires, fuses, antenna, pairing button and all looks good.

Any pointers to what I've missed or what's gone wrong?
Should I have left any of:
Old V50 harness in situ?

Dual Band Compensator?

Hands free charger unit?
Eject box and interface Phase V (in armrest)


I did not fit an SES jumper that's much talked about. Is that vital?

Have 2 call sinto BimmerNav for assistance but no reply yet and looks like it could be a long wait for them??

[ccfj1]

Sounds like the I-bus has crashed, since the ULF is the newest device connected to the I-Bus then disconnect the ULF and then see if the nav computer and display come back on line, when it does (if) then reconnect the ULF, and start again with the pair.

When the 'activate telephone' message came on screen, did you start the pair process?

Turn on BT on the phone.

Turn off ignition, press and hold pair button (wait 3 secs) turn on ignition (stage 1) and release pair button, the system should then beep.

The display should then change from 'activate telephone' to 'Pairing'.

Seacrh for BT enabled devices on the phone, "find" the BMW-BT module and input the BT code, wait for the beep, then turn off igntion to save the BT pair.

Thats it.

P.S I don't think that the SES jumper is needed as the ULF (should) have SES onboard.

[cj10jeeper]

Hi ccfj1

OK so I pulled out the ULF and new pairing button. Since it was lying on the bench reconnected the old Motorola gear and it worked (no surprise).

Put the new stuff back in (ULF and pairing button) and straight away I get 'activate phone'

All my sat nav, tv, the lot is working so significant progress.

Tried the paring. Ran through the process several times and nothing, no beeps. screen just sits there on 'activate phone'

I'm trying with a Blackberry Pearl. I would expect it to get something even if at later stages I don't get a full address book service.

I almost feel the pairing button is not being reconnised or working

Any suggestion next?

[ccfj1]

Originally Posted by cj10jeeper

Hi ccfj1

OK so I pulled out the ULF and new pairing button. Since it was lying on the bench reconnected the old Motorola gear and it worked (no surprise).

Good, get to a known state,

Put the new stuff back in (ULF and pairing button) and straight away I get 'activate phone'

Sounds hopeful.

All my sat nav, tv, the lot is working so significant progress.

Again good so far.

Tried the paring. Ran through the process several times and nothing, no beeps. screen just sits there on 'activate phone'

I'm trying with a Blackberry Pearl. I would expect it to get something even if at later stages I don't get a full address book service.

I almost feel the pairing button is not being reconnised or working

I'd say your right, the pair button does not seem to do anything,

Any suggestion next?

How many wires go to the pair button? you may need to do a bit of digging about to see if you can force the ULF into pair mode.

If you can get access to the 54pin plug that goes into the ULF then pin 32 is the pair button, this needs to be taken to GND (to emulate the pushing of the pair button) and it should flip the ULF into pair mode, you may need 2 people with this.

Do you have a non smart phone that you can use to see if the ULF will pair to a normal phone? but as you say it should try to pair.

I'd say wait for BimmerNav for assistance as tampering with the kit may invalidate any sort warrenty or impede support of the kit.

[cj10jeeper]

ccfj1

Thanks for the supportive comments on the tracking back to known state and moving forward.

At least Bimmernav spoke to me yesterday and I ran some tests. I discovered that the sticking the meter on it the pairing harness did not work. Firstly one lead was crimped onto insulation and the button itself only partially worked. No closed circuit at all. Very poor quality from Bimmernav and clearly not tested.....

Last night I rigged up my own pairing switch. Bimmernav took my call and gave me some more tests to run, but frankly differennt sequences of engine on and off while holding the pairing button sounds futile.

Will be testing today when it stops raining and I get half an hour out of the office....

I will also try the Pin 32 to ground if I can figure out the pin location. I assume it needs to remain connected to the harness else I'll see no evidence on screen of pairing??

Thanks and I'll be back....

[ccfj1]

Originally Posted by cj10jeeper

ccfj1

Thanks for the supportive comments on the tracking back to known state and moving forward.

At least Bimmernav spoke to me yesterday and I ran some tests. I discovered that the sticking the meter on it the pairing harness did not work. Firstly one lead was crimped onto insulation and the button itself only partially worked. No closed circuit at all. Very poor quality from Bimmernav and clearly not tested.....

I'm very supprised at that mate Bimmernav has a very good rep, not like him at all, must be a glitch.

Last night I rigged up my own pairing switch. Bimmernav took my call and gave me some more tests to run, but frankly differennt sequences of engine on and off while holding the pairing button sounds futile.

If it's between the ULF and button then the fault could be anywhere...

Will be testing today when it stops raining and I get half an hour out of the office....

Good luck with that mate, lol, bloody weather is today is mad...it's lashing it down here.

I will also try the Pin 32 to ground if I can figure out the pin location.

Here you go, middle row, 5 in from the right.

I assume it needs to remain connected to the harness else I'll see no evidence on screen of pairing??

No, it makes no difference if its connected or not, the function of the pair button is to pair a phone (and you *can* use it to pickup & drop calls, but what's the point when you can do that from the display and MFSW), so just as long as its not grounded all the time it's not really needed.

You would need to use the grounding pin32 in the same way that the button works, eg;

Normal;
Push button, wait 3 secs turn on ignition (stage1) and release button (ULF jumps into pairring mode).

would become;
Gnd pin32, wait 3 secs turn on ignition (stage1) and release gnd (ULF jumps into pairring mode).

Its a bit tricky by yourself, so you may need someones help.

Thanks and I'll be back....

No problem mate, glad to help.

[cj10jeeper]

Thanks for the help and diagram.

I pulled all the ULF, amp, harness, etc. out. Had a good look at all the conections to ensure no bent pins and reconnected it up on the floor of the boot. Added a temp earth to the ULF case and gave it another go. (after having charged the battery due to flattening it by leaving my interior lights on overnight and constanly cycling the engine without a charging run since last Friday...oops)

Bingo - we got pairing!! Recognised the Blackberry 8100 and could make and receive calls. Address book is still struggling, but that may be the database size and my lack of understanding of the controls (dark, raining, etc.)

Bimmernav seem to be redeeming themselves from sending the faulty pairing button and are very helpful by email and hopefully a new button is on the way.

Getting there....

[ccfj1]

Result, nice one mate, hopefully the new button will sort it out

[cj10jeeper]

Yep - it's really cool and thanks again for the pointers. As always when struggling with something it helps.

Strangely I seem to have acquired a whistle type noise through the speakers, entirely related to engine speed. Not there before I fitted bluetooth and now very evident.

I have a question into Bimernav if it's linked or a pure co-incidence. Very odd and annoying noise??

[ccfj1]

Not co-incidence i think.

I wonder if the audio out from the ULF is interfering with the cars audio system, it might be an idea to see if the audio wires are not pinched or crushed (from ULF to the DB25 plug, and that they have a good connection).

You may need some sort of choke to suppress any stray interference
being carried down the lead from the ulf.