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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > AUDIO/VIDEO + BLUETOOTH + Electronics/Alarm/Software > Bluetooth Retrofit: E90 335i with iDrive, Phone prep, Voice control, and USB



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      12-03-2012, 01:30 PM   #111
gjimmy
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I am happy to report that the retrofit is done and was a success!

With the help of everyone on here and Alex I now have fully functioning OEM bluetooth and voice command.

Running the mic wire from the MULF to the FZD only took about 2 hours with both of us working on it. Without the help and having to figure it all out on my own as I went probably would have taken me about 5 or 6 hours.

One strange thing has happened and that is that I was using the BT perfectly, stopped off to run an errand, cam back to my car after about 30 mins, and the car wouldn't pair with my phone, and nothing I could do would make it pair. Checking both the phone and the car, turning the phone off and on, turning off the ignition…etc.

So I let the car sleep for 20 or so minutes and reset then tried again and it was all fine again. I guess it may just do this from time to time and i probably shouldn't worry about it, but has anyone else had this?

iDrive
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      12-03-2012, 05:23 PM   #112
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I've definitely never had that issue, my phone always connects sooner after starting the car than I can notice. I guess just assume it probably won't happen again.
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      01-01-2013, 07:48 PM   #113
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hey folks, would you mind helping me?
USA 2007 328i with usb/ipod and the phone prep.

Below is the photo of my MULF2 High


and the cable bundles



would you all mind telling me what I probably need? and what steps I should take?

I'm hoping I just need to re-arrange the microphone cables in the trunk and get the antenna connector for the drivers (left side) wheel well.
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      01-01-2013, 07:51 PM   #114
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gjimmy View Post
I am happy to report that the retrofit is done and was a success!

With the help of everyone on here and Alex I now have fully functioning OEM bluetooth and voice command.

Running the mic wire from the MULF to the FZD only took about 2 hours with both of us working on it. Without the help and having to figure it all out on my own as I went probably would have taken me about 5 or 6 hours.

One strange thing has happened and that is that I was using the BT perfectly, stopped off to run an errand, cam back to my car after about 30 mins, and the car wouldn't pair with my phone, and nothing I could do would make it pair. Checking both the phone and the car, turning the phone off and on, turning off the ignition…etc.

So I let the car sleep for 20 or so minutes and reset then tried again and it was all fine again. I guess it may just do this from time to time and i probably shouldn't worry about it, but has anyone else had this?

iDrive
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Congratulations! I bet you're randomly calling people while driving just because you can (admit it, I did the same thing )

I have an iPhone 5 with iOS 6 and I noticed the car wasn't pairing with my phone for a couple of days, but when my wife stepped in with her iPhone 4 (also iOS6), it would immediately hook up with her phone just fine. After deleting my phone from the car, and forgetting the car from the phone, I was able to pair again and have not had a problem since.
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      01-01-2013, 08:08 PM   #115
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From your other post:
Quote:
Originally Posted by atl32807
i have a 2007 e90 with ipod/usb but no idrive... 328i verified that it has MULF2 and phone prep
Quote:
Originally Posted by atl32807 View Post
would you all mind telling me what I probably need? and what steps I should take?
Sure.

In the original post for this thread, I have extensively documented every aspect of every step and pointed out exactly what parts are needed to complete the retrofit, for cars with iDrive.

Refer to the third post in this thread, where snoozee outlines the coding he did for a non-iDrive car. I suggest looking at his post history and reading to find out if he was successful and what he did, maybe PM him once you've exhausted all available resources. Good luck!
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      01-01-2013, 08:58 PM   #116
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lazd View Post
From your other post:




Sure.

In the original post for this thread, I have extensively documented every aspect of every step and pointed out exactly what parts are needed to complete the retrofit, for cars with iDrive.

Refer to the third post in this thread, where snoozee outlines the coding he did for a non-iDrive car. I suggest looking at his post history and reading to find out if he was successful and what he did, maybe PM him once you've exhausted all available resources. Good luck!
it was successful. that's why i came out with the steps to share with others on how the coding can be done. of cos there's no guarantee that following the steps which i wrote will give you a fully functional BT since the hardware (radio, MULF2) varies from car to car and the software version inside the hardware may not be the same as well.
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      01-01-2013, 09:00 PM   #117
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Quote:
Originally Posted by atl32807 View Post
hey folks, would you mind helping me?
USA 2007 328i with usb/ipod and the phone prep.

Below is the photo of my MULF2 High




would you all mind telling me what I probably need? and what steps I should take?

I'm hoping I just need to re-arrange the microphone cables in the trunk and get the antenna connector for the drivers (left side) wheel well.
the label on your MULF2 high looks different from those that i've seem. It might be better if you can take it out to verify from the part number on whether it is indeed a MULF2 High
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      01-02-2013, 07:36 AM   #118
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snoozee View Post
the label on your MULF2 high looks different from those that i've seem. It might be better if you can take it out to verify from the part number on whether it is indeed a MULF2 High
it says MULF2 HI

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      01-24-2013, 10:12 AM   #119
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Semi-Newbie Question here.
I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question, but to my defense I have been watching/reading these bluetooth retrofit guides for the last two years and finally am ready to pull the trigger.
My question is if all I need is the bluetooth antenna to activate the bluetooth in my car? I have idrive and voice command but no usb in center console. I plan on pulling up trunk floor tonight to see if I have the MULF and what kind of connectors.
THANKS IN ADVANCE. These forums are amazing!
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      01-24-2013, 10:40 AM   #120
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cold_Throttle View Post
Semi-Newbie Question here.
I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question, but to my defense I have been watching/reading these bluetooth retrofit guides for the last two years and finally am ready to pull the trigger.
My question is if all I need is the bluetooth antenna to activate the bluetooth in my car? I have idrive and voice command but no usb in center console. I plan on pulling up trunk floor tonight to see if I have the MULF and what kind of connectors.
THANKS IN ADVANCE. These forums are amazing!
MULF = USB

There is no MULF in your car.
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      01-31-2013, 08:31 PM   #121
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alexwhittemore View Post
If you open NCS Expert, File>load>expertmode.

VIN/ZCS/FA->ZCS/FA f. ECU

E89>ok>CAS>ok
Back
as usual.

At this point, you'd normally F4(Process ECU). INSTEAD, F3(Process Car) then F1 code car. I think at the point you now have the option to change job, so you change it to SG_RESET then run. You'll know it processed the whole car if the list of modules after "get coded:" includes everything you'd expect, like KOMBI,2MULF,IHK,NFRM,etc,etc.
So the coder I am working with does not use NCS Expert - they use Autologic and/or ISTA system. Does anyone on the forum have experience coding with these? I am still at the point where the phone option appears in the idrive and I can select the menu option, but when I select options to turn on BT - I am not able to select the BT checkbox (though you can see it; see my earlier post).

The shop is at a loss as to what to do next
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      01-31-2013, 08:32 PM   #122
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jpropri View Post
So the coder I am working with does not use NCS Expert - they use Autologic and/or ISTA system. Does anyone on the forum have experience coding with these? I am still at the point where the phone option appears in the idrive and I can select the menu option, but when I select options to turn on BT - I am not able to select the BT checkbox (though you can see it; see my earlier post).

The shop is at a loss as to what to do next
No idea how to do it with ista or autologic, but there should be some kind of "reset" functionality per-module one way or the other. Assuming they can find it, reset MULF then 2URAD (in that order) and see if that does any good.
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      02-01-2013, 04:06 PM   #123
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Hey guys, So i was part of this thread early on but had a lot going on so never got to the retrofit. I was also a little overwhelmed about coding but i didn't realize it till a week ago that ICS Performance is right down the street from where i live, and they can do the coding. Looks like all i need to do at this point is plug in the Antenna, rewire the mic from FMZ to MULF, and get it coded.

So hears my question. Ive read through the thread since my last post and never really found an answer. I'm probably just not thinking write because I'm shot, but a lot of people said the Mic in the FMZ is wired to the back of the radio or CCC something (my car two has the Yellow and black behind the glove box but they cant be found by the MULF). if that's the case and you are running wires from the MULF to the Mic, are you running the two wires up and just connecting them into the same spot as the existing yellow and black wire? I have been confusing myself because i know there was a lot of talk early on about switching pins. I may be over analyzing this and im just trying to confirm its as simple as running two wires and connecting them to the existing wires of the MIC in the FMZ back to the MULF.
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      02-01-2013, 07:50 PM   #124
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skuzzy335xi View Post
Hey guys, So i was part of this thread early on but had a lot going on so never got to the retrofit. I was also a little overwhelmed about coding but i didn't realize it till a week ago that ICS Performance is right down the street from where i live, and they can do the coding. Looks like all i need to do at this point is plug in the Antenna, rewire the mic from FMZ to MULF, and get it coded.

So hears my question. Ive read through the thread since my last post and never really found an answer. I'm probably just not thinking write because I'm shot, but a lot of people said the Mic in the FMZ is wired to the back of the radio or CCC something (my car two has the Yellow and black behind the glove box but they cant be found by the MULF). if that's the case and you are running wires from the MULF to the Mic, are you running the two wires up and just connecting them into the same spot as the existing yellow and black wire? I have been confusing myself because i know there was a lot of talk early on about switching pins. I may be over analyzing this and im just trying to confirm its as simple as running two wires and connecting them to the existing wires of the MIC in the FMZ back to the MULF.
faster and easier to just run a new set of mic wires from the MULF to the FDZ than trying to figure out where the existing one goes from/to. the original wire is 2 core plus shielded. the mic has just 2 wires connected but the MULF will have the 2 cores and shield connected. however, you can live with just using 2 core wire without shielding.
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      02-01-2013, 08:22 PM   #125
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snoozee View Post
faster and easier to just run a new set of mic wires from the MULF to the FDZ than trying to figure out where the existing one goes from/to. the original wire is 2 core plus shielded. the mic has just 2 wires connected but the MULF will have the 2 cores and shield connected. however, you can live with just using 2 core wire without shielding.
Interestingly, the shield pin on the mic itself is internally disconnected. Whenever you're shielding wire like that, you want the shield grounded on one side but not the other.

Anyway, I'd spring for shielded twisted pair wire anyway. It's an extra $20 on top of what you'd spend on cheap crap 22 gauge speaker wire from radioshack, and since it's on the mic line, the (substantial) added noise rejection will be noticed by the other end of your call, not you. Do them a favor

This is what I purchased. If the auction URL changes, it's shielded twisted pair wire, 25ft, from a seller named navships. Super high quality, really great stuff. Glad I have 14' left over after doing the install for myself and gjimmy. And for what it's worth, I never get complaints about audio quality on calls from the car

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-feet-24-A...80503289894%26
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      02-02-2013, 09:22 PM   #126
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alexwhittemore View Post
Interestingly, the shield pin on the mic itself is internally disconnected. Whenever you're shielding wire like that, you want the shield grounded on one side but not the other.

Anyway, I'd spring for shielded twisted pair wire anyway. It's an extra $20 on top of what you'd spend on cheap crap 22 gauge speaker wire from radioshack, and since it's on the mic line, the (substantial) added noise rejection will be noticed by the other end of your call, not you. Do them a favor

This is what I purchased. If the auction URL changes, it's shielded twisted pair wire, 25ft, from a seller named navships. Super high quality, really great stuff. Glad I have 14' left over after doing the install for myself and gjimmy. And for what it's worth, I never get complaints about audio quality on calls from the car

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-feet-24-A...80503289894%26
the grounding is done on the MULF side. if my memory didn't fail me, the connector on the MULF side uses pins 1, 19 and 21 with 21 the connection for the shielding.
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      02-03-2013, 01:04 AM   #127
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snoozee View Post
the grounding is done on the MULF side. if my memory didn't fail me, the connector on the MULF side uses pins 1, 19 and 21 with 21 the connection for the shielding.
Yes, totally correct. I meant the interesting part is that they included three pins on the mic unnecessarily, where they could have simply used two since the shielding isn't connected on that end.
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      02-03-2013, 03:26 AM   #128
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alexwhittemore View Post
Yes, totally correct. I meant the interesting part is that they included three pins on the mic unnecessarily, where they could have simply used two since the shielding isn't connected on that end.
maybe its a mass produced part where sometimes all 3 pins are used in other implementations.

i just found out that the PCB for the master windows switch pack for driver side is the same for folding and non-folding are exactly the same. just that the non-folding one is missing a button with a different trim piece.
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      02-03-2013, 04:01 PM   #129
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snoozee View Post
maybe its a mass produced part where sometimes all 3 pins are used in other implementations.

i just found out that the PCB for the master windows switch pack for driver side is the same for folding and non-folding are exactly the same. just that the non-folding one is missing a button with a different trim piece.
yeah, that's pretty typical. I'd have expected in the case of the mic that the shielding would be attached internally to a metal can over the electronics, but that seems not to be the case (I tore down the mic out of curiosity).
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      02-06-2013, 01:23 PM   #130
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good call on the shielded wire alexwhittemore. I'm going to order it now, i have speaker wire at home but know how annoying interference can be from my car audio days.

I hope to have everything working by the end of the month. All i have to do is plug in the BTA, and run the sheilded cable from the MULF to the FMZ. Then im going to drop the car off at ICS Performance down the street and have them code it. I called them and asked them how much but he told me he had to wait and see how everything is wired. I found that kind of weird because all i need is $664 added to the VO, correct?
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      02-06-2013, 01:30 PM   #131
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Now that i think about it. Would a set of stereo RCA wires work. i could cut the connectors off of the end. RCA's are usually shielded and basically serve the same purpose for what we are trying to accomplish. I ask because i have boxes of them at home and this could be a much cheaper alternative for those that have them laying around.
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      02-06-2013, 01:45 PM   #132
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skuzzy335xi View Post
Now that i think about it. Would a set of stereo RCA wires work. i could cut the connectors off of the end. RCA's are usually shielded and basically serve the same purpose for what we are trying to accomplish. I ask because i have boxes of them at home and this could be a much cheaper alternative for those that have them laying around.
If you have coaxially constructed RCAs, then yes, they're theoretically shielded, but they're not quite the same (and not quite as good) as the shielded twisted pair that I suggested. That said, if you construct the interconnect right, it's PROBABLY going to work just fine - even people who don't use shielded (or even twisted) wire at all don't tend to relay that their conversation partners get annoyed by noise. Not that that means there's no problem.

Presuming you DO have coax RCAs (and not simply twisted ones), you'll want to use the core from cable 1 as Mic+, the core from cable 2 as Mic-, then you'll want to solder the shields from both cables together and connect that to pin 23 on the MULF side (pretty sure it's 23, anyway, read one of the other guide posts floating around, maybe even in this thread, don't remember where I am).

That will probably have performance pretty similar to using the normal shielded twisted wire I linked, although I think it theoretically doesn't have as high a noise rejection performance. The other problem is impedance matching, which could matter over a long run like this, but at such low (audio) frequencies, I'd be surprised if it made a difference. Plus, it's not like I measured or did any matching on the mic or wire I picked, so whatever.
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