[ctuna]

The free Most cable at the trunk is for the CD changer .
The power line next to it goes to the fuse for the cd changer
in the front cabin fuse box. Which won't have a fuse in it .
Plus you will have to add the Most Cable for the CD changer
into the Most Loop at the Most Hub .
I just put and add a fuse tap in at the CD changer Fuse
and hooked the power in that way and hooked the device
right into the back of the Radio Most port since I have nothing
else in the Most Loop.

[codeterrorist]

Originally Posted by ctuna

The free Most cable at the trunk is for the CD changer .
The power line next to it goes to the fuse for the cd changer
in the front cabin fuse box. Which won't have a fuse in it .
Plus you will have to add the Most Cable for the CD changer
into the Most Loop at the Most Hub .
I just put and add a fuse tap in at the CD changer Fuse
and hooked the power in that way and hooked the device
right into the back of the Radio Most port since I have nothing
else in the Most Loop.

Appreciate your replies, ctuna. Looks like it's going to be a full weekend of dismantling things and seeing if I can do a clean install. Almost done with my Android head unit project so will tackle this next.
If all of this comes together nicely; it's going to be one hell of a custom setup!

[ctuna]

If you are using and android head unit why would you want to use
the Mr12volt box.
My comments for the Most Bus only apply if you are using a Most Bus.

[codeterrorist]

Originally Posted by ctuna

If you are using and android head unit why would you want to use
the Mr12volt box.
My comments for the Most Bus only apply if you are using a Most Bus.

My head unit setup is very custom. I'm not using any of these Aliexpress units. Instead, using nVidia Shield TV box.
It's my own setup with an-almost pure Android 9 ROM instead of the Android TV OS and creating my own launcher setup. Very, very custom.

Since the nVidia Shield has bluetooth audio, I can use it with mr12v box.

[codeterrorist]

And finally managed to install it. I installed it in the trunk next to the telematic and mulf2 boxes.
I used the MOST connector entering the telematic box to tap into and used the supplied MOST Y loop.
Then I tapped the mulf2 power source since it was the most obvious and easiest to access.
The hardware install is now very clean just how I imagined. No fuse taps and easy access from the trunk.

Once I did that, CDC showed up on my radio! I was surprised.
I left all the dip switches on their default on setting.
I have HiFi with no nav/idrive.
I was able to stream music. I have Android phone and used GoneMad music player and added two files to the folder. However, when pressing next/previous button on the steering wheel only restarts the current track.
When I go to the list option on my head unit, I only see the current playing track.
No idea why this is happening. Could it be the dip switches need to have some of them off? Could it be my Android phone somehow?
I did edit the VO using Protool and added the CD changer option, but that didn't do any difference.

Any ideas. Appreciate the help.

[ctuna]

The bluetooth can only increment and decrement tracks.
for the simple device. (don't know about the new one)
The usb and sd card option operates as the cd player would .
on the display you can jump ahead in the folder's selected by the
radio buttons by turning the radio dial on the cd73 don't know about idrive.
Selecting sources is kind of wonky on the cd 73 you have to
double press the power button.

[codeterrorist]

Thanks for the reply, ctuna.
I guess since pressing the steering wheel buttons does make the track restart; that means the device is sending the command to the Android. Must be some Android side issue then.
Make sense now that it doesn't show a playlist since it doesn't have that info. Only if it was playing from a USB or SDcard.
Thanks for your help.

Update:
Well, I went back to the car after I shut it off for more than 3 hours. I did create a playlist in the GoneMad app and now the next/previous buttons are doing exactly what they are supposed to do. Then I deleted the playlist and restarted the app; buttons still work.
So whatever it is; had to be an Android side of things.

Everything is working great and the hardware install is so clean, I'm loving it.
Thanks to everyone for their contributions and to Nickco43 for the original post and guide.

[Marlon]

I ordered the MR12VOLT P600 (it hasn't arrived yet), because my vehicle doesn't have a usb port for music.

I have some doubts:

1. How many music folders can I put on the USB stick?

2. Can I simply install it in place of the boot diskette, without having to touch the front panel?

My vehicle is E87, 130i, year 2011, with iDrive CIC 6.5''

[ctuna]

1)If this is the orignal with both a USB and SD card
you get 6 folders for each device however there is no limitation on the
the number of tunes per folder .
2) You can put where the CD player is if you want to .
If the cd player is already enabled you don't have to mess with the wiring
or power .
3) The streaming might be effected by the location never seen anybody put
one there.

[Marlon]

thanks!!!

[codeterrorist]

Just sharing the setup for this in my car's trunk instead of tapping the fuse box. Hopefully this helps.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LCuQWKbxQ7oCJT9r6

[GSB]

I'm so glad to find this thread. Thanks everyone, for all the useful info. I have a 2008 335i without iDrive. It has the BMW Professional Radio with Logic 7 MOST Amp but no CD Changer and no USB input. I'm interested in the Mr12Volt P600 device too, but I have one question...

Is it possible to set the head-unit to shuffle my 4000 songs on an SD card? If so, how effective is the shuffle? I have a small MP3 player that repeatedly plays certain songs while it's set to shuffle, yet never plays others.

[GSB]

codeterrorist or anyone else without iDrive, can the head-unit shuffle songs on a USB/SD card with this Mr12V device connected?

[ctuna]

No shuffle on the Drives or set play lists.
Streaming services can do this from within a music type.
At least on the basic device don't know about the new one intended
for Idrive.

[GSB]

That's a bummer. I saw this picture in the thread and wondered if the "RND" option on the screen meant randomize or shuffle. I don't have a CD Changer, so I don't know what it's for.

[ctuna]

I never tried to look for it so maybe you are right.
The instruction set if comes with is useless but it functions
pretty well.

[GSB]

The last glimmer of sunset is beginning to brighten again! Heehee! But I don't want to spend $200 to find out for sure. I'll keep digging. Anyone else know??

[GSB]

Well, I've found out that the "RND" button on the BMW Professional Radio does indeed shuffle MP3 tracks from the CD Player or a CD Changer. I hope it also works for USB tracks on the Mr12V device??

[Gabs]

Hmm, interesting solution

I’m new to this forum and I have a better BT solution that doesn’t require programming or anything like that

Just need 12v and tapping in the aux harness

Not sure how many posts I need to make to be able to upload a guide

[codeterrorist]

Originally Posted by Gabs

Hmm, interesting solution

I’m new to this forum and I have a better BT solution that doesn’t require programming or anything like that

Just need 12v and tapping in the aux harness

Not sure how many posts I need to make to be able to upload a guide

If anything that would compare to mr12volt; it needs to have the ability for retaining the steering wheel controls (next/prev track). Anything else, and it's just another $10 bluetooth receiver.

I had the idea of getting OBDII CAN messages and intercepting them with bluetooth, but that didn't work, or I should say I didn't really invest more time into it.

[ctuna]

The big advantage it goes through the most bus for everything
but the bluetooth streaming . Which means there is no audio degradation
due to going through the BMW aux. You get basic steering wheel controls
volume and track incrementing .
The I drive version does much more but I can't comment on that
because I don't have it.

The cd changer must be enabled if you don't have it which requires software enabling of
this feature. this is all described in the big thread on this device.

If you are new to this forum there are endless threads on the cheap solutions the go through the BMW
aux and the terrible BMW sound systems.

Fidelity through different sources is discussed in this thread
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showt...hlight=airplay

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showt...hlight=airplay

The cheap bluetooth adpater pretty much crap if you care about fidelity . (because of the BMW aux mostly )

You need to read this thread from the beginning and learn about the problems with the BMW Aux.

[GSB]

Okay, I've installed this Mr12V P600 device. My 2008 E92 335i has no iDrive, but has BMW Professional Radio with Top-HiFi Logic 7 MOST Amp, TCU, and pre-wiring for a CD Changer. My head-unit is not the Alpine CD73, but the BMWRCD121-06 made in the Czech Republic.

I mounted the device in the trunk, next to the amp, where the CD changer would be mounted.
I pulled the CD Changer's fiber-optic plug out of its connector shell and plugged it into the new shell that comes with the P600 kit. Then I tapped the CD Changer's 12V supply for power. A super clean install.

I did need to rearrange the optical fibers in the MOST Junction Block, but I did not need a fuse and I did not need to code anything. I just turned on the radio, and it worked.
From the head-unit, I navigated to the device's settings menu and set the USB/SD volume to +5 to better match the radio volume.

Here are my impressions...

The Good:

1. The sound from the USB or SD Card is awesome. This device ensures pure digital accuracy all the way to the amp. NO Bluetooth (which forces another lossy compression) and NO Aux (which forces an extra digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversion).
2. This setup will play reasonably high bit-rate MP3 and WMA tracks. The BMW manual states that it will play bit-rates up to 256kb/s. I'm pushing slightly higher, up to 290kb/s, using the highest quality MP3 VBR-0 encoding without problems. This sounds perfectly adequate in a car audio environment.
3. Steering-wheel buttons can skip tracks backwards or forwards, and control the volume.
4. Steering-wheel buttons can be held down to fast-forward or rewind a track (though in silence, with no audio feedback).
5. The head-unit displays the filename of the track, though it's truncated (cut short).
6. Pressing the "LIST" button shows more of the filename, and allows you to easily scroll the list of tracks to select anything to play.
7. Navigating tracks and switching the audio source to SD-Card/USB/BT/Aux is simple and intuitively laid out. (My unit does not require a double-press of the radio power button to select a source, as some have experienced).
8. Pressing the "RND" button allows a random/shuffle mode, which is a necessity. This button must be pressed again every time the radio turns off.
9. The device behaves well when the radio (or the car) is turned off, or when switching to another source (like FM) and back again. The last track played from the SD card picks up right where it was left.
10. Ability to play thousands of songs, though some significant issues are noted below...

The Bad: (I believe the head-unit is entirely to blame here)
Bear in mind that the head-unit sees this device as a "CD Changer" with 6 "Disks". Each folder on your SD/USB drive is seen as a Disk. The root of the drive is seen as Disk1.

1. The head-unit lists a maximum of 270 filenames per "Disk". The next 270 tracks are assigned the same filenames as the first 270. The same goes for the next 270, and the next...
2. Any tracks over this limit will still play correctly, but their filenames will be displayed incorrectly. To avoid this, tracks on the drive must be divided into 6 folders, with 270 tracks in each (1620 tracks max). I have 4000 songs, which means that two thirds of my songs are given the same names as the first third. Bummer.
3. The head-unit further divides each "Disk" into "Pages" of 30 tracks per Page, and it will not allow you to navigate to any tracks beyond Page 30, even though it may have assigned many more Pages. It will still play those tracks by advancing with the steering wheel buttons, but of course, after Page 9, every track has the wrong filename anyway. Bummer.
4. The head-unit assigns a track number to each song. But once it reaches number 999, it wigs out and starts assigning duplicate numbers starting at 900, or something even odder, like 924. So you end up with a jumble of track names and numbers. Thankfully, the numbering issue doesn't affect navigation or playback.
5. Tracks encoded with bit-rates significantly higher than 256kb/s, might not play, or might play with issues. For example, WAV files (1411kb/s) are not even recognized, while WMA Lossless (~1000kb/s) will not play, even though the track title is displayed for a few seconds before the head-unit skips to the next track. WMA 9.2 VBR-Q90 (~300kb/s) seems to play well and sounds really good, but a long delay may occur when playback switches to a new Page, and a momentary chirp of garbled/corrupted data can be heard at the very end of some of the higher bit-rate tracks as the player advances to the next track. This chirp is not heard when the same track is played on other devices.

Bottom line... Almost all of these issues can be avoided by capping the bit-rate and capping the number of tracks on your SD/USB drive to 1620 and dividing them into 6 folders with only 270 tracks in each. Bummer. (This may be very different with iDrive). Nevertheless, I still prefer this experience more than fumbling with an MP3 Player plugged into the Aux input.