Pre-booting your X...and camera quality
 

So some of you complained that it takes a while for the iDrive and camera to initialize... Guess what - you can "pre-boot" the system by opening the car remotely as early as possible. I've observed that if I use the remote key fob to open the car from 20-30 feet while walking towards it, by the time I get in and start the engine, the iDrive menus are all ready and spring to action right away, including the rear view camera.

Which makes the "comfort access" option less usable, IMHO (the only thing about CA that I like is no need to insert the key)...

Now, about the camera. Finally had a chance today to do some research (bro helped). The crappy quality at night is definetely due to the lack of lighting. The reverse lights are pathetically small (2 x 1"x4" areas on the tailgate), they dont generate any illumination at all ! With the snow on the ground, the quality gets better, due to snow's reflection qualities.

Now I need to figure out how to improve reverse lighting... First, I am going to need a powerful flashlight and a duct tape...:rofl: :rofl:

Completely unrelated, but how is your X5 from a quietness standpoint? I remember you mentioning that you spent a lot of time getting your Odyssey creak-free on another post. I have had creak after creak with my X5. The dealership does a great shop fixing them, but it seems like when one disappears another is revealed.

Quiet so far... Tonight I did hear some creaking around rear cargo area, but they went away, so it must have been related to the ice formations on the car's body. Also, with the Premium Sound Package, it is quite quiet :)

Howdy Alex,

do you have your rear number plate in the camera picture ? I don´t know about the US plates, german number plates are strongly reflective (and they are white !!!) and the number plate lightning during night "flashes" out the camera by reflecting from the number plate. I mounted my plate as high as possible know and the software is doing better finding the right brighness setting.
Rear lightning is a joke as you mentioned, it´s only for showing "I´m going reverse", lighning factor is zero. Unfortunatly, there are special bulbs in the X5, the standards from the petrol station do not work as they don´t fit in... Standard is a 16 Watt rear light, I will try and advance it to 21 Watt bulb, will keep you informed... :popcorn:

So long

Christian

Thanks Christian ! I did not have time to research what bulbs are used there, and what they can be replaced with, so any help would be much appreciated.

I did not get license plates yet, but they will be yellow in the background and not very reflective. Also, they are not as wide as european plates are.

Be carfull if you are moving up in wattage for bulbs. The extra heat build up in that small space can melt the plastic lense covers.

Aarggh, there is no stronger bulb available from BMW for the rear driving lights.
Will have to check electronic suppliers to have a solution...

So long

Christian

how bout some led reverse lights? i got a set, and it lights up pretty good in the back.

can you please take a picture of this??? very curious what it looks like. are they an 'additional' installation... and if so, where are the lights located?

thanks.

well i have a e53, so i'm not too sure if your setup is exactly same or not. But i bought a set of LED reverse lights from jlevi. Theres like i think 25 led's in each bulb, its just a replacement bulb for you reverse light bulb. Easy as swapping bulbs. Mine sets off a bulb out warning once awhile on obc, but i say only happens like once every few weeks. When i get home tonight, i'll take a pic of the reverse led's in the dark to show you how bright they light up the ground.