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BMW E46 Integrated Bluetooth and Voice Command for Less than $100 Pictorial DIY

608K views 1K replies 289 participants last post by  jeffbert 
#1 · (Edited)
FIRST OFF: I must give much props and thanks to SycE46 for giving me the idea for doing this. He had already did this DIY on his car by the time I started it on mine and without his advice and directions this Pictorial DIY Project would not have been possible. Thsnks SycE46!


This DIY is for adding Bluetooth with Voice Command features to your 1998 to 2006 BMW E46 Sedan, Coupes and Convertibles. This DIY focuses on integrating an aftermarket bluetooth and voice command into the BMW Business CD53 Radio (all year Blaupunkt or Alpine models) so that you control your mobile phone's incoming and outgoing calls only using the steering wheel buttons and your voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3quf3KGjY0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2xgV9v9Iak

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0uJwknn3qw


The DIY difficulty of this project is very easy and takes the average Joe about 30-40 minutes. The only tools required are clean fingers, a star point screw driver and flat clean dull butter knife for prying the dash trim off. There is no splicing wires, no removing seats or console armrest, no adding antennas on your roof or digging around your trunk for cables. This DIY ONLY requires removal of the Radio, Center Vent and Glove Box (total of 10 screws) and everything else is plug and play. Some DIYs state that removal of the A P!llar is necessary for running the mic to the headliner but I will show you that it is NOT necessary to remove the A P!llar.

The cost of this DIY can vary. You will need to purchase the Connects2 CTPPAR007 steering wheel integration kit from the UK vendor
( http://www.lowcostcaraudio.co.uk/lc...+bluetooth+steering+wheel+adapter/pid/7642231 ) and their price is set at £49.99 (about $80.00 USD). And next you will need to order the Parrot CK3000 Bluetooth kit (it is also called the Parrot ck3000 evolution) which can cost from $9.00 and up on eBay. You do not need to buy anything else nor can you substitute other Parrot Bluetooth kits or aftermarket Steering Wheel/Radio Adapter harnesses. It will not work here. Also do not get tempted to save money on the CTPPAR007 and buy another similar Steering Wheel Control Adapter harness-and they are lots out there that claim to work with various bluetooth kits. It will not work here. This DIY will ONLY WORK with the CTPPAR007 and the Parrot ck3000 together!

When said and done this DIY will upgrade your BMW with much of what the OEM Bluetooth does including instant and automatic pairing and unpairing when you enter or exit the car, one button touch voice command, one button touch redial and full radio and steering wheel integration. The only thing you will not get is full Caller ID read out on your radio display-instead it will display PHONE or WAIT. This is something I can do without as I may have people sitting in my car and I do not want them to see who is calling me (see under girlfriend).



PART ONE: Looking at what we got

Here I got everything I needed off eBay. You need the CTPPAR007 kit which you can also find on eBay or eBay.co.uk. The vendor states that the CTPPAR007 is for the 1998 to 2001 E46 and the CTPPAR008 is for the 2002 to 2005 E46. This is wrong the CTPPAR007 has the 17 pin style connecter that all year BMW E46 cars and all year BMW Business CD53 Radios come with.
The CTPPAR008 is the flat style 40 pin connector that is found on the 2006+ E90 BMWs. So that will not work on the E46.






When you open the Parrot ck3000 kit you will see the obvious main bits (the blue box, the mic and the controller) and you will also see a bag filled with a few wire harnesses and a black rectangular module for connecting to the radio and allowing for the mute function. You do not need this since the CTPPAR007 will replace this portion of the ck3000 kit. Also you MUST HAVE the ck3000 Controller connected to the main blue box in order for the CTPPAR007 to make the steering wheel buttons work with the kit. You do not need the controller on your dash when using the Bluetooth as it only needs to be connected so you can tuck it behind the glovebox with the other modules.












 
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#3 · (Edited)
PART THREE: Installing the Guts
NOTE: For ease of understanding this DIY I've taken the liberty of labeling the Harness Head Connectors as A, B and C. This labeling is only specific to this DIY and not used by Parrot or Connects2.

The A Connector is what you have in your car right now. It is what connects the car to the BMW Business CD53 Radio. With the exception of the possible Data Link mini connectors that attach to the bottom section brackets(you may or may not have these Data Links in your car's A Connector depending on whether your car has prewiring for the CD Changer or AUX input/Sirius/Ipod Data Links) these are all the same on all BMW E46 vehicles from 1998 to 2006.

The B Connector
. This is what will replace the function of your A Connector when you install the kit. Or a better way to say this is that it will take on the role of the A Connecter in connecting directly to the CD53 Radio and also carrying any Data Link connectors that you have going into the Radio.

The C Connector forms a connection with the original A Connector in your car thus connecting the entire Bluetooth system AND CD53 Radio to the rest of the car (IE. for power, ground, speakers, etc...). This C/A Connection is the only thing that adds difficulty to the DIY as it is hard to tuck away behind the Radio when replacing the Radio unit. So we must set the C/A Connection above the radio space and to the side of the upper Center Vent space.




































 
#4 · (Edited)
PART FOUR: Setting up your MIC























And that is it you are done!



I been getting a few PMs from folks with GPS Factory Navigation units looking for the 17 pin A Connector in their cars or wondering if they have the same connections.

From what I can tell you do have the same A Connector but it is location in the trunk with the GPS Computer ECU/DVD module.

and it will look like this






So you will need to hook up the parrot ck3000 and ctppar007 all in this trunk space and run the mic thru to the cabin dash area. The ck3000 mic wire is long enough to pass thru the firewall into the cabin along the driver's side and you can place it on the dash or A p!llar column. If it is short you can get a mic cable extender at Radio Shack or any electronics store.
 
#8 ·
Dude, it's unbelievable how thorough and complete your DIY's are! I plan on using your homelink DIY first, and then moving on to the bluetooth next. For a 1st time BMW owner, this is awesome. Just wanted to let you know that this stuff is much appreciated. Thx for taking the time!
 
#12 ·
+1 on the sirius,,,I would love to integrate it off my winshield and I would love an ipod as well in my 01
 
#15 ·
Good Question.
I was wondering that myself.
On paper;

It should work if

1. Your AVIC N3 has the ability to work with a steering wheel control adapter AND

2. The connections in the back of your AVIC N3 matches up with the B connector-and I'm guess it will because the B connector takes the role of the A connector that is coming from the car. So as long as the AVIC N3 installation doesn't require you cutting out your car's original A connector and splicing an aftermarket connector that matches the input of the AVIC N3 then you should be fine.

That said, I always assumed those fancy $799 to $1499 AVIC units already came with bluetooth?
 
#20 ·
Quick Question

First off - brilliant post! I am definitely going to follow this!

However, I don't have the CD player in the dash, I have the tape deck as there is an autochanger in the boot.

Please tell me that this will work with that as it is too good to be true if it does!:excited: I have read some very complicated posts about how you can get the phone controls activated in the steering wheel and all very very expensive!

Thanks again!
 
#22 · (Edited)
First off - brilliant post! I am definitely going to follow this!

However, I don't have the CD player in the dash, I have the tape deck as there is an autochanger in the boot.

Please tell me that this will work with that as it is too good to be true if it does!:excited: I have read some very complicated posts about how you can get the phone controls activated in the steering wheel and all very very expensive!

Thanks again!
Thanks,
Should work with the tape deck. As long as the A connection is 17 pin style, you have steering wheel buttons for Bluetooth and you have a display on your radio.

yeah the OEM Bluetooth upgrade is almost as exhausting and expensive as putting in the OEM nav unit. When a DIY asks of me to remove my seats and carpets, drill antenna holes in my roof and 90% of my dash panel for putting in 10 year old technology that can cost me $2,000+ at the dealership I gotta ask myself is it worth it.

The OEM bluetooth kit has like 5 or more parts that never seem complete and can cost about $1000+ and I think it only works with like 2 or 3 phones.

I just realized this wont work for iPhone users UNLESS your iPhone is a 3GS. The 3GS is the only iPhone with voice dialing capabilities.
Get a Blackberry. iPhone and Apple should have had simple stuff like voice dial and V.2.0 bluetooth wrapped up since the 1G iPhone. These are not new technologies.

So you mean to tell me there is no App for that!?

lol
 
#23 ·
NIce DIY. Two questions:

1. Do you know if this will work on the Professional headunit?

2. Will this work with the iPhone sans voice dialing? I don't really need voice dialing... I'd just like to be able to receive calls and make calls from the steering wheel.
 
#25 · (Edited)
If that head unit had the 17 pin round connector in th eback then the CTPPAR007 will work. If it has the flat pin style 40 connector then you need the CTPPAR008 connector.

iPhone sucks for ALL voice dailing bluetooth system. Fortunately it will still work for all iPhones BUT it won't be like in my video with my Blackberry 8900.
Your voice command is done thru an App that you have to download or something. I don't know much about it but you can find out from SYCE46-do a search for his threads.

Also, I already have Assist, is there any way to tap into the OEM mic or would I have to mount the aftermarket one elsewhere?

You car has that!? I want it as well? How did you get that? Is your car imported or something?
Is the Assist in the mirror or in your headliner?
I've been told that splicing MICs don't usually result in happy endings but no need to splice anything since the Parrot's ck3000 MIC is really good-if not better than anything BMW put in your car 5-6 years ago. You can just install the Parrot's MIC in place of the the OEM MIC (which should just clip off of the MIC grill) before anything to see if you are happy with it before cutting up your car and the parrot's MIC.
 
#28 ·
No, no glue or silcone required. The MIC comes with an adhesive sticky footprint.

The entire ck3000 kit is quality. I get a lot more questions about the MIC than the rest of the kit.

The MIC is really the best part. I've no experience with the OEM E46 Assist or Bluetooth MIC but the ck3000 MIC is good enough on it's own that you shouldn't have to splice it or "Frankenstein" it to any other OEM MIC to get a better performance.

Folks who have placed the mic on top the A p!llar column have complained about road noise and echo but follow my DIY and place the mic where the oem E46 sedan/coupe mic grill is and it will work perfectly at any speeds, on any roads even with the sunroof and windows all open.
 
#34 ·
I have a small concern about your mic wire running up the A-pillar. Your wire is now sitting against the airbag! I removed my pillar cover and ran my wire UNDERNEATH the airbag in order to get around that problem. Removing the cover is not that difficult...but you will need a hex head driver of some sort (cannot remember the size).

Just an FYI.
 
#37 · (Edited)
Hi guys, sorry I've been offline for a while & haven't chimed in lately.

I popped off the A-pillar cover (screws were long) and clipped the mic wire in the four or five clips that run along the airbag like synE46 did.

As I have PM'ed with delmarco, for some reason I was not able to get quality mic responce when I positioned it inside the headliner as he shows in his DIY. A bit of a bummer really because I really wanted it to be a 'stealth' install. It sounded like I was talking with a mouth full of cereal or something. I also found that the mic was clipping at normal voice levels but sounded much better when I wishppered. So like was discussed earlier in this thread I started to play with a series resistor to reduce the sensitivity of the mic. Since the youtube video suggest 10 ohms, I started with 20 ohms, then 75, then 200, & I stopped at a 300ohm.

And as I have already hinted, my final mic position is below the headliner.





 
#43 ·
Hi guys, sorry I've been offline for a while & haven't chimed in lately.

I popped off teh A-pillar cover (screws were long) and clipped the mic wire in the four or five clips that run along the airbag like synE46 did.

As I have PM'ed with delmarco, for some reason I was not able to get quality mic response when I positioned it inside the headliner as he shows in his DIY. A bit of a bummer really because I really wanted it to be a 'stealth' install. It sounded like I was talking with a mouth full of cereal or something. I also found that the mic was clipping at normal voice levels but sounded much better when I whispered. So like was discussed earlier in this thread I started to play with a series resistor to reduce the sensitivity of the mic. Since the youtube video suggest 10 ohms, I started with 20 ohms, then 75, then 200, & I stopped at a 300ohm.

And as I have already hinted, my final mic position is below the headliner.


Uhm...what was the ultimate result with the adding of the resistor? Is it a noteworthy addition for the DIY.

Also I should call you to see what you mean about the mouth full of cereal distortion.

My mic is so clear that I moderated a conference call with my cousin in London and my girlfriend who was walking and shopping around midtown Manhattan and everyone heard each other clear like if we were all in the same room. My cousin said she could hear the taxi horns honking in the background as if she was sitting in the car with me.

I also think or I'm beginning to think that only variable between all the kits we've put in and cars we've been installing them in is OUR PHONES.

Some of us are using various generation iPhones, Blackberries, etc....
on the same kit.

So I'm wondering if that has to be a big factor if not the BIGGEST factor in kit performance.
 
#38 ·
Can anyone tell me how people do their posts with thumbnails of the pictures & then when you click on them the go full size? I can't figure it out.

On another note - I have been having experiencing eratic behaviour with the whole system since installing it. It will work fine for a while & then I hit the steering wheel phone button and instead of hearing my blackberry prompt "say a command" over the speakers, the phone seems to be in discrete mode and is not sending the audio to the system.

When I initiate a call with the phone keypad, everything is fine.

I called the place where I bought it & they said that it sounded like a parrot/bluetooth problem - not the quick connect / steering wheel control box so they helped me open a support case with parrot. Of course the first thing parrot wanted me to do was to disconnect the steering wheel control box & use there controller until we got things sorted. The problem still existed. I spent a few days making sure my 8110 BB Pearl had the latest OS then I gave up.

ACS agreed to send me another parrot kit but instead I borrowed one from futureshop :) and it was still glitch. So now it's actually looking like the phone. My IT department had a go with it (and Rogers) since it' s an Enterprise phone, etc, etc.

I broke down & asked to my wife (nicely) to borrow her 8310 curve & I could not repeat the problem.

Soooo, now I have to wait until January to swap the phone through work.
 
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