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Fully Integrated Bluetooth Solution

124K views 547 replies 77 participants last post by  burntoutrubber 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey guys!

I'd like to share a project I have been working on for almost a year -- it's a Bluetooth adapter for our cars that integrates as if it were factory equipment, much like the "Intravee". The adapter, known as the BlueBus, also integrates with other vehicles from the E46 era which were equipped with the IBus.

Here's a video explaining the BlueBus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO9WvRbNzZg

You will also find more information about the project on the website listed below.

Anyways, I'm getting close to having them manufactured, so if there's any interest for it here, I have a "pre-order" form on the project website: https://www.bluebus.dev

I will not be taking money from anyone until I am ready to send off to manufacture, so keep that in mind, please.

Additionally, if you're capable, the project is fully open source, so you can have the boards built and source all of the components yourself, if you wanted :).

P.S. The main thread where I have been talking about the development of this module is over on M3F: http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=599340

Thanks!
-Ted
 
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#272 · (Edited)
Ted,

To be clear, I am a huge supporter of anyone making aftermarket support for older cars.
I would totally buy the BlueBus, but do not want to wait until October.
I know the amount of time you put into this is not about the money, this is a passion project that hopefully breaks even.
 
#273 ·
Ted,

To be clear, I am a huge supporter of anyone making aftermarket support for older cars.
I would totally buy the BlueBus, but do not want to wait until October.

I am going to try this one, as it seems to have a mic.
Thank you! As I said before, I would steer clear of stuff like this, especially an FM transmitter; Quality just isn't good with those. I reckon you'd be better off with the first option :/

Thanks!
-Ted
 
#275 ·
Ted,

Thanks for keeping everybody in the loop with your product-I see multiple forums with you replying pop up on Google and it’s nuts. Mine’s on its way from ECS and I’ll be posting here on how it does on my E38.

Anyway, do you have the TCU adapters in stock? I’m looking for the DB25 in particular-I’m looking at the order page and there are no notes on them so I’m assuming they’re all ready? Thanks in advance.
 
#276 ·
Thanks! There are five or six threads that I keep in touch with, along with my support Inbox and actually getting them out the door! I need to hire help :)

Anyways, I do have plenty of DB25s on hand, so go ahead and order one off the checkout page and I'll fulfill it in the next week or so.

Thanks!
-Ted
 
#277 ·

Ok, I just installed the $25 Mpow
Paired no problem.
BT streaming music sounds awesome
Speaker phone works great, and other caller can hear me clearly.

A solid $25 option for those who feel the AUX jack is more than good enough for audio quality,
and don't need steering wheel controls or whatever........

Now I just need to remember why I bought this in the first place.
With just AUX, I already could play music.
I could also hear my incoming phone call via the AUX, and just use the mic from the phone itself.
I guess now I don’t need to plug my phone into the AUX, and maybe this has a better mic.
 
#282 ·
Got my unit yesterday and got it running in my E38 within a couple minutes. I ordered a DB25 adapter in early July but I haven’t received it yet so I can’t comment on the phone functionality, but everything else is top notch. If I had to nitpick, I’d like the option to have the doors unlock when I shift to Park instead of shutting the engine off completely, but overall I’m glad I waited instead of pulling the trigger on the Avin or GROM:

Car Vehicle Center console Luxury vehicle Gear shift
 
#285 ·
Is there a thread anywhere that will explain how to install my BlueBus in a 2002 330Ci convertible? It appears that there are different locations for things like a microphone connector and where the BlueBus will be placed in the trunk. We don't have doors to open to access connectors like other BMW models. I've been told to look under the back seat. Is this correct?
 
#295 ·
In my 2006 convertible the microphone is on top of the steering column. I am awaiting my BlueBus but have the factory Bluetooth TCU, there is no mic in the dome light but a little microphone on top of the steering column. Check RealOEM for part no as I'm not taking that apart anytime soon.
 
#299 ·
Ok, so I finally installed BlueBus in my E46 (CD53, Sirius) and music sounds awesome but using my iPhone for calls has both a volume and echo issue.

On the echo issue, callers on the other end of the call hear themselves with about a 300 - 500ms echo. I have the 338 mic and played with the BT MGAIN setting using PuTTY through the whole range, C0 to D6, and there is little difference. Am I missing something?

On call volume, neither the steering wheel volume controls or the radio volume control have any effect. I have the iPhone volume all the way up and I can hardly hear the caller and their voice is muffled.

Not sure what I need to do additionally to correct this...
 
#300 ·
Ok, so I finally installed BlueBus in my E46 (CD53, Sirius) and music sounds awesome but using my iPhone for calls has both a volume and echo issue.

On the echo issue, callers on the other end of the call hear themselves with about a 300 - 500ms echo. I have the 338 mic and played with the BT MGAIN setting using PuTTY through the whole range, C0 to D6, and there is little difference. Am I missing something?

On call volume, neither the steering wheel volume controls or the radio volume control have any effect. I have the iPhone volume all the way up and I can hardly hear the caller and their voice is muffled.

Not sure what I need to do additionally to correct this...
Howdy!

Being unable to alter the volume is something I recently "fixed". I quote that because the flip side of that fix is that music volume will blow your head off once playback resumes. I'm struggling to come up with a good fix, other than having the end user "tune" the call volume using the steering controls, then the BlueBus can automatically issue the volume up commands on call start and volume down when its hung up. Anyways, this only impacts the CD53 as the other Infotainment systems decouple the volume control knob from the radio itself, making the volume easy to control over the I-Bus.

On the echo, since you're already in the BlueBus terminal, run this:
bt cvc on
bt mgain c2

Please note that gain only changes after the call is ended, so you have to reinitiate the call to test the newly applied gain.

Thanks!
-Ted
 
#306 ·
@t3ddftw is there a thread that explains the functionality of the device outside of BT for calls and audio? I'm seeing screen grabs of folks with the nav units programming lots of other things, and I'm curious how the programming of those options works on e46's (or if it's even possible). Forgive the newbie question!
 
#314 ·
Talking Head and the R/T Button

What am I doing wrong? The talking head starts and stops the music player, and the R/T button just switches the head unit display to show TR01-001.

I have the telephone dongle installed. Disconnected the TCU obviously.

I thought the talking head would summon Siri. It does not. Please advise. Also, what does the R/T button suppose to do?

Thanks!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#318 · (Edited)
OK, I'm sorry if I keep asking questions, but I'm almost seventy and tech stuff is not as much my strength as it is for others. I have found the connectors and have hooked up the unit, maybe. I have taken a couple of pictures. One is how I have set up the BB, the other is where it seems to fit. It's certainly not in the trunk, but behind the back seat. My questions are, first is the red adapter that connects to the wiring harness the right connector? Second is the red wire that goes from the BB to the harness the only connector for the BB to connect to the car, and finally, Antenna sort of cable which has purple connectors and is a part of the the wiring harness supposed to be connected together or supposed to be connected to something. Maybe I'm old, but I find it hard to believe that there is only one connector that goes to the Blue Bus. I've got the microphone hooked up I think. Am I done, except for the programming?

Please have pity on the old, but not yet elderly. I have vacuumed up the fir tree needles.
 

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#321 · (Edited)
This little blue box has beaten me.

Its been a very frustrating journey due to a lack of clear information. My reference site has been the BlueBus.dev site. Only found this thread today.

The car is in New Zealand and is a 2000 323i, Japanese import with CD Changer prep. Business Auto reverse tape player part number 65126902711. It has a Tape/CD button on the right to control the CD changer. There are no buttons on the steering wheel. No micro-phone pre-wired so will disable HFP. Checked compatibility on BlueBus.dev and its looking good. Fits all E46's with CD Changer prep. Buy the rather expensive device.

BlueBus arrives and the first thing I see is that there is no instruction manual, nothing. The installation video on BlueBus.dev is for a E39, so should be the same for the E46. Found the 2 CD changer plugs in the boot/trunk easily. Went looking for the DSP plug. Spent 2 hours pulling the carpet and searching the boot for the DSP plug. Found nothing. Did a search on the internet and discovered that the E46 does not have DSP.

Installed BlueBus onto the CD changer plugs. It powered up and my assistant paired his phone and he started to play music. Pressed the CD button on the radio and nothing. Didn't know how to control the BlueBus so we pressed all the buttons and various combinations, still nothing. Checked the radio installation and that the small rectangular plug in the back of the radio for the CD Changer is properly fitted. Still nothing. Uninstalled BlueBus and called it a day.

Maybe the Radio is too old, even when its suppose to control the CD Changer. Purchased a Business CD player CD53 Part Number 65126909882. Installed the CD53 and BlueBus. My assistant is not around, so I go to pair my iPhone 5S. It finds the BlueBus but will not pair. Maybe BlueBus is locked looking for my assistant's phone and there is a pairing control that I need to set up. Looked at the BlueBus and there is no button for reset/pairing etc. Looked at the E39 video and see that it is a software control. Surely the CD53 will still find BlueBus and I can access that software control. Hit the CD button on the CD53 and nothing from BlueBus. Pressed multiple buttons, nothing. Uninstall BlueBus and call it a day.

So, today I've been on the internet trying to solve this. Found this thread. Skimmed over 320 posts. Found the E46 installation video. Yes, I've done all of that, but BlueBus does not work. After watching the Video multiple times, I notice that the CD53 in the video has a Scan/Mode button on the right. My CD53 has a Scan/CD button there. So do I have the wrong CD53? Start searching for E46 CD53's in the internet and discover that the pre-facelift cars are fitted with OG radios that have 2 areal connections, normal and small (like a fiber optic cable). Facelift cars are fitted with NG radios and use just the normal areal. Do I have to change the diversity amplifier in the C Pillar and buy a late model CD53? They are not cheap. This is getting expensive.

Now I've found this thread and given you as much information as I can. What do I have to do to get this little blue box to work?
 
#324 ·
Yes, definitely reach out to Ted directly. I know that Japanese cars and radios are quite a bit different to the ones in the rest of the world. If it helps, you should see the blue bus menus on the screen even without a phone connected, so if you don't see anything when you put the stereo in CDC mode then something isn't working properly. You may need to connect it to a computer and change some settings. I'm sure Ted will do whatever he can to get it working.

Good luck!

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 
#325 ·
Sorry folks, but I have more questions. Am I the first that has tried to put a BlueBus in an 2002 e46 cabrio? Anyway I have the BlueBus in the area behind the back seat. I cannot find the 6 pin connector any where in the wire bundle. As you can see I have removed most of the tape. I found a 6 pin connector in the trunk which connects to the large black cable that is by the BlueBus in the picture and goes to the front of the car. I also have a picture of the 6 pin connector in the trunk. It also has a 3 wire power connection with the same color code as in the bundle in the back seat and is connected to the BlueBus. They are both in the large black cable that goes by the BB. Do I use the 6 pin in the large cable to connect to the analog connection in the BB? Will I lose the power to the BB if I disconnect the 3 pin in the trunk. You can also see in one of the pictures the purple connector that connects the coaxial. Neither of the purple connector coaxial wires will fit into the BB. Is an adapter necessary? Is the coaxial what I need to do a digital connection as well as an analog one.

Sorry this post is so long, but I am at a loss how to make the final connection to the BB. Putting on of these into a convertible is way more complicated than putting one in the trunk. At this point I don't know what to think. If anyone's done this in a convertible how did you pull it off? Please.
 

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#326 ·
I think I may have figured it out. My car came with a USASPEC PA-12 iphone adapter in the glove box. I believe that the thicker cable in my picture is part of that system. I know I have to get rid of it to use the BlueBus. What I need to do now is disconnect this aftermarket unit and find out what they did to the original CD changer cable. I hope it's somewhere behind the dash and that they didn't cut it off. I'll try to install my BlueBox in the trunk where they connected the USASPEC unit. Will I need to find the original wiring to do so?? It sure looks like it. Now I've got my radio out and I'm looking.
 
#329 ·
A question for curry and anyone else who has installed this on a convertible, especially an early model (I have a 2000 323CI vert, prewired for CD changer and phone): How do you get access to behind the back seat where the wires (apparently) are on this car? I pulled the felt from around the left rear wheel well, and I don't see the wire harnesses that should be there on the sedan. But based on curry's posts, I'm guessing I need to get behind the back seat. Pulling the felt in the front of the trunk is not enough -- that just gets me to a metal bulkhead. Do I need to remove the rear seat completely? (Ugh!) unscrew the metal bulkhead/plate in the trunk? Step-by-step guidance would be greatly appreciated! (I'm a total noob to these cars -- it's my first BMW car, and I just picked it up.) Thanks!
 
#330 · (Edited)
You have to remove the back seats as well as the interior quarter panel to get to things. Then you can shove the wiring harness through the large wiring hole into the trunk area. There's not much room. By the wheel well you can find two of the connectors. One is for power and the larger one to make the analog connection with six pins. You'll need them as well as the larger connection from the backseat. I'm in the process of putting it all back together again right now.
Hopefully you won't have the black large connector from the back seat area. If you do you'll need another adapter as apparently the black and blue connectors are wired differently. Ted has told me he is going to make some new connectors soon. I have a 2002 convertible and until I get a new connector no one can hear me as the Mic doesn't function.
Best of luck. The back seat work is a real hassle.
 
#335 ·
Thanks very much! That's a big help.

Curry, does this look like what you did? The images at the end of the video don't include any of the wiring we're looking for here, so I suspect there's another step.
Yes. you have to remove the drivers side interior quarter panel. Its got three parts. You need to remove two. They have a video about this too, but it's on the passenger side. You first remove the center part. It is held on by a one of those plastic things like hold on the front door panels as well as the elbow rest which is held on by two bolts. When you get this off you still have to remove the lower panel. it's held on by two screws near the top. You don't need to remove the top panel. When you get this panel off the bundle may be either bottom right looking at the trunk or behind the panel held on by four bolts. On mine I opened it up and there it was. Finally you need to unbundle the black cover and the connector should be there. Last move is to shove the cable into the large hole leading other wires to the trunk.
Then you can put it all back together again. I just finished putting my seats and trunk back together today.
 
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