[mecheng77]

Lots of talk about cable quality, I took my cable apart and snapped some photos. From what I can tell, it looks like it is decent quality: name brand chips, nice solder joints.

What do more expensive cables get you? I noticed from another members photos, the chips looked different than what I had in my cable.
Not bad for $15 Cdn shipped to my door.



https://www.ebay.ca/itm/For-BMW-INPA...72.m2749.l2649

[NiNeTyOne]

They get you firmware that won't brick your car

[KClemente]

I tell everyone that's going to buy a cable, to buy a green board cable. Just like the one you got.

K+Dcan cables came in white, blue, and green. The white and blue ones may work, but will burn out in a couple of hours of use. Of course this won't be a problem if you buy name brand.

[k90]

I was searching for K+DCAN firmware upgrade threads. Know any btw?

Apparently I'm better off by just ordering a new cable altogether /w the correct firmware and spare this one. It's sure thing this will fail?

Ordered this cable years ago maybe 2016 2017 something. Didn't actually use it until recently I got E90. Clearly there is differences to green one that has at least those 2 transistors on front side while white one doesn't have any. Maybe it's for voltage regulation/protection circuit or used as a buffer for some sort of input/output instead of punishing some weak logic IO.

Anyways here white "Ver3.0" photos.

[Runnin'Rich]

Sorry I don’t have a pic for the OP.

But I wanted to say: please just buy a bimmergeeks cable and be done with it.

The original cable I bought was a green board. I went to update my JBBF module and it crashed half way through. Car wouldn’t start for 2 weeks while I troubleshooted everything for tens of hours trying to get my ‘quality’ cable to work. I even updated the firmware on the cable!! Made no difference. I brought a desktop computer and monitor into the garage to try that - nothing! I was ripping my hair out with it. Close to ordering a new JBBF module.

So I gave up and ordered a bimmergeeks cable, waited a week or so for delivery. Flashed the JBBF first time I tried it!

Don’t do it to yourself. Over 3 weeks without car and waisted countless hours of my life for $20 difference.

[mecheng77]

Originally Posted by Runnin'Rich

Sorry I don’t have a pic for the OP.

But I wanted to say: please just buy a bimmergeeks cable and be done with it.

The original cable I bought was a green board. I went to update my JBBF module and it crashed half way through. Car wouldn’t start for 2 weeks while I troubleshooted everything for tens of hours trying to get my ‘quality’ cable to work. I even updated the firmware on the cable!! Made no difference. I brought a desktop computer and monitor into the garage to try that - nothing! I was ripping my hair out with it. Close to ordering a new JBBF module.

So I gave up and ordered a bimmergeeks cable, waited a week or so for delivery. Flashed the JBBF first time I tried it!

Don’t do it to yourself. Over 3 weeks without car and waisted countless hours of my life for $20 difference.

Crazy story, it crapped out and I bought a Bimmergeeks cable, the standard one.

It was defective upon arrival, and even the 2nd cable they sent was!!. I was pulling my hair out, how can two reputable cables be defective, I was troubleshooting with wiring diagrams. They remotely connected to my car and couldn’t connect. They sent me their black cable and all was fine.

[k90]

Originally Posted by Runnin'Rich

Sorry I don’t have a pic for the OP.

But I wanted to say: please just buy a bimmergeeks cable and be done with it.

The original cable I bought was a green board. I went to update my JBBF module and it crashed half way through. Car wouldn’t start for 2 weeks while I troubleshooted everything for tens of hours trying to get my ‘quality’ cable to work. I even updated the firmware on the cable!! Made no difference. I brought a desktop computer and monitor into the garage to try that - nothing! I was ripping my hair out with it. Close to ordering a new JBBF module.

So I gave up and ordered a bimmergeeks cable, waited a week or so for delivery. Flashed the JBBF first time I tried it!

Don’t do it to yourself. Over 3 weeks without car and waisted countless hours of my life for $20 difference.

The only difference was the cable? The exact same software, same computer, the same procedures? Only swap the cable and boom?

If firmware upgrade didn't help your cable must have failed? I think the reason to upgrade the firmware is solely to fix a bug that makes flashing fail.

Anyways. I don't even have green board so bimmergeeks cable is on it's way.

[Runnin'Rich]

The cheap cable works perfectly with INPA. It just crashes every time I tried to update a module and I must have tried 100 times with different computers and settings over the course of 3 weeks trying everyday after work!

I even made my own 12V power supply out of a Dell computer server power supply because I thought my battery voltage was dropping - made no difference still crashed.

[ctuna]

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...-P-actually-do

some interesting stuff about cables in the above link

[Serf27]

Bimmergeeks cable cost me $55 w/ lifetime warranty.
It’s been tangled, rolled up and used maybe 100+ times.
No issues.

[k90]

Recently purchased bimmergeeks cable.
Voltage regulator is beefier able to dissipate more heat. Could be relevant in longer operations to keep the regulator from overheating and locking out?
Those additional transistors(or at least one) on-board are somehow involved in K-line operation by the looks of it. Looks like it could drive K-line to ground.
Just makes me wonder what drives k-line idle state >12VDC to ground in dongles without that transistor. I don't think there is any other parts with voltage survivalibility anywhere that high.