No mention of the light sensor in the specs, so we don't know if that's been reintroduced having been absent in the D8. There's a lens for it in the casing but then there was for it on the D8 too. At the time I think someone said they blamed supply issues due Covid for its absence.

Would be nice to see it back, it works so well in my N6. Better than having it just dim with headlights when you have headlights on in daytime because of low winter sun, or drive through a short underpass that's lit well enough not to need headlights on but not daylight bright.

 

No mention of the light sensor in the specs...

I tell a lie. It's not in the highlight specs at the top of the page but if you scroll down to the detailed specs it says:

• Auto Dimmer

So there's hope!

 

Anybody yet have experiences on the new d9 dynavin? Is it the best one to go for?

is the ”premium” one worth the extra $300 and whats the difference? Older Android and a slower CPU? Is the extra memory needed? I would use CarPlay and maybe some canbus app on the Android. Or is there use for the extra memory?

Can the memory be upgraded by a sd card or is it a soldering job?

 

The differences I touched on briefly in the OP. To flesh that out, with the Premium everything comes activated out of the box. With the Flex, the Android Auto/Apple CarPlay and the Google Playstore/built-in nav are each on a 30-day trial, after which you can choose whether to purchase them. Also, the max storage is higher on the Premium. Lastly, the FM radio has a triple tuner on the Premium rather than a double, if you still listen to radio. All explained in more detail on their site at Dynavin.de.

Bizarrely, it's cheaper to buy the Flex and enable the two options than to but the Premium. Unless you want to extra storage (which is probably only a larger SD card on the mobo) then I'd go for that one

 

Shipping time about a week. Can't remember exactly. You can always ask them.

No. There aren't enough RHD countries for the aftermarket to have been bothered making a RHD relocation facia.

 

Took delivery of and installed my D9 last week, took pictures along the way and thought I'd write up something up about the installation experience and first impressions. There seems to be plenty of guides out there, but none for the D9 with the HUD from what I can find, and I figure it can't hurt to have all (or most of them at least) the steps in the same place.

Decided on the Dynavin D9 as it seems to be one of the more polished options in terms of fit (with the rest of the interior) and function for a more modern infotainment experience. The HUD seemed like a nice bonus. Test drove a 330e a while back with a HUD which was a bigger game changer than I expected. Don't expect quite as good of an experience with this one as it doesn't show directly on the windshield, but probably a nice upgrade.

The unit and relocation bracket come nicely packaged, box clearly labeled Flex. Chose to get the flex to save some money and try to figure out what I actually want/need, as I have never had a car with anything other than a radio/music player. Some cheese in the background as a bonus.

What's in the box!?

Cables, HUD, antennas, etc. No surprises.

Relocation bracket comes with some extra cables to connect one of the USBs straight to power. Might be usefull for some other applications.

HUD looks a lot like a smart watch, here next to my Polar Ignite 3.

Installation time. Starting with disconnecting the negative terminal is a good idea to avoid damage to electronics. Also a good opportunity to replace your incomplete battery hold down.

A before picture. If only I had some black trim as well.

Started with disassembling everything that needed disassembly.
Some of the plastic trim holders did not want to stay in place, as is tradition. Used plastic trim removal tools to pry up and out. Thin ones worked the best for me.

With the around the trim removed the journey continues to the trim around the shifter. Which should only need to be removed for the climate control relocation bracket.

Knob just pulls out, a good opportunity to smack yourself in the face if it sits tight. Avoid getting random water on your windows switches.

The leather boot around the shifter can be pried out with plastic trim removal tools, then pulls off.

Having a nice ratcheting screwdriver comes in handy when you need to get screwed trim out.

With the two screws out the trim piece can be lifted and cables unplugged, which are conveniently of different size and shape, so they can't be plugged wrong if you somehow where to manage getting them to the oppsite side.

With the trim gone you can access the screws holding the sunglass compartment/cigarette lighter/heat seat button thing.

Next up is the radio, it's only fastened by two screws on each side.

With the screws removed the radio can be pulled out and cables disconnected. The big plug needs to have the lock pulled up, easiest done with a screwdriver.

Next up is pushing out the climate control panel, it takes more force than you probably want to use, but it comes out eventually. If no relocation bracket will be installed this is a good time to remove the sunglass compartment, which just pulls out, and routing the climate control cables to that area.

If a relocation bracket will be installed, this is a good time to pull out the cigarette lighter and seat heater bracket/assembly.

The switch row for the seat heaters and ASC (presumably DSC and other things if you have them) needs to be unplugged and sits with two screws, suddenly torx (T10).

The cigarette lighter outlet sits with plastic clips, not very easy to remove, required some prying with a screwdriver on the plastics (no pictures unfortunately).

Next up, vent removal. Two screws at the bottom of the vent need to be removed, then pry with plastic removal tools between the dashboard and the top of the vent, down and out, using multiple tools can be helpful. Be careful and take your time to not break it, it comes out eventually. With the vent out of the way the two bottom corner screws for the radio/climate bracket needs to be removed and then it just pulls out. Some hairy legs as a bonus.

Now is a good time to start thinking about routing and placements for antennas and microphones. Decided to put the GPS antenna behind the sun roof buttons and reading lights as I don't want it visible and it seems to work for others.

Glove box needs to be removed to get space for routing, also a good space to put extra cable bundles and where to connect the reverse signal to get your PDC beeping. Glove box sits with 4 screws, I removed more to get the fastening bracket around out. More space for routing is nice to have.

TBC

 

Next up A-pillar trim. If your car is conveniently missing the trim covering the screws and most of the screws, you will just have one (T25? Might have been T20) screw to remove. Loooong screw ahead. E30 making a cameo.

Onto the reading lights, rear view mirror is coming apart for some reason.

Reading lights did not want to come out, but with a thicker sturdier tool it eventually pried out.

Panel with sun roof button can simply be pushed out. With everything disassembled, the car looks like it's been robbed and left at the side of the road to die .

With things looking their worst, installation can start. First up, relocation bracket. The USB cables that it comes with are nicely keyed and color coded.

Cigarette lighter outlet required some fiddling to stick. Hole is keyed so no putting it in wrong (though it would likely not do anything if you did put it wrong).

Button row screwed in place and cables connected, time to put it in place.

With the bracket in place cables can be pulled towards their intended destinations

Climate control panel in it's new home.

Shifter trim and knob assembly goes in, reverse steps from disassembly.

GPS antenna appears to have magnets in it, sticks to the body when placed against it. Routing of the cable goes easiest by pressing it between the headliner and windshield with a plastic trim removal tool until it pops in under the headliner.

Existing cable holders along the A-pillar can be used for the GPS antenna cable to get a nice and tidy cable run that won't interfere with the airbag.

Getting the cable to the glove box area was easiest by pressing the cable between the dash and weather strip with a plastic trim removal tool.

Trying to find the best place for the HUD, ended up with putting it to the left of the instrument cluster as it seemed like an easy place to get a somewhat clean cable run to. Can move it later if it turns out to not be great. The HUD came with extra VHB tape.

Figured the microphone would work best if it was close to my speaking hole, so behind the steering wheel became its home. Also a very easy place to run the cable to, which is nice.

A-pillar trim needed to be removed for cable routing to the HUD (which uses USB-C), same story as on the right side.

Getting the cable from the center of the dash to the A-pillar seemed difficult, so I removed the instrument cluster to get more space for routing. Sits with two torx screws in the top.

Lots of space now.

Did not end up installing the DAB, there are no broadcasts where I live that use it and the old radio had a cable that fit the DAB connection on the D9, so maybe that's what it was, maybe not. No way to test right now.

With all cables routed the D9 is prepared with cable harness, Wi-Fi antenna and radio antenna adapter.

And into the car it goes.

A good time to do some testing before putting everything back together. The HUD has eyes that "wake up" when you power it. Cute, I guess.

It's working.

Testing that the navigation gets GPS signal with the antenna location.

Reassembly time, with fewer pictures as you get in a hurry and forget to take them. Everything goes back in the reverse order. There should be 4 extra screws from the old radio/climate control panel bracket that, these are no longer needed. Make a tasty screw sallad, or save them with everything else you removed in case you ever sell the car to someone who thinks only BMW original parts are acceptable or superior.

Realized I took no pictures of the finalized installation, will update with some pictures later.

The Dynavin D9 itself is a big improvement as expected, it starts quickly with radio playing a few seconds after start, navigation seems okay. The speed limits are mismatching on quite a few places near me, integration with the HUD is nice though, as you can have radio, Spotify or whatever up on the actual display and the HUD will still show turns ahead and other info. When not using navigation it just shows your current speed and speed limit if information is available and warns about speed cameras ahead, which is neat. HUD navigation seems to work with Google Maps as well, which is really nice, as I will probably end up relying only on that the few times I need navigation.

Microphone seems decent, better than what an Audi A4 B8 comes with from factory according to people I've tried it with, the location could be the determining factor.

Language oddly enough needs to be set to UK English and not US English if you want the HUD to display kmh instead of mph (thought UK used mph) . Probably shows kmh if you choose other European languages.

Steering wheel buttons stopped working after updating the firmware, so that will need some investigation I have not yet cared to do.

Overall seems like a good infotainment package, installation was fairly simple and took 3-4 hours for me.

 

I've got a D9 pro currently sitting on my office floor waiting to be installed in my Compact. I mistakenly ordered the hvac relocation bracket as well, not realising they only made it for wrong hand drive. Got a plan though, I'm gonna try and take a dremel or similar to it to separate off the bracket for the HVAC and attach it to the one already in my car. If I can't do that, I have an eBay 3D printed one just in case (I've not heard good things about the fitment of the 3D printed ones, but I'm not spending £175 on an rhd relocation bracket!)

I have one question though, Eventually I'm going to fit an external amp and replace all the speakers. I was thinking of running all the RCA cables at the same time as the HU install, if I connect them to the back of the HU before installing the amp, will the factory speakers still work or will it automatically defer to sending via the pre-amps?

 

I think it output from both, so when you do connect the amps you'll want to disconnect the speaker output from the head unit, but it'll work in the meantime.

(PS wrong hand drive is what I call it too 😀 )

 

So... Just had a look under the boot floor. Another area the compact differs from the other body styles is that the battery is under the boot floor, not in a compartment to the side and there isn't really a spare tyre well ... Back to the drawing board on that one!

 

Measured it all out today (taking out all the unnecessary crap under there), there's space for an amp under there when mounted on some 9mm ply I have lying around. Can get the cabling for the audio there via the route used for the CD changer which will be removed at the same time I do this job. The pain will be routing the speaker cabling, but that shouldn't be too much hassle.

 

These have been tempting me more and more, is there any features that are specific to the Dynavin that you guys use? I would mostly use it for android auto which can be done with most nav units.
There may be a sale come black friday for us US customers so that would make the price a bit better

 

I'm looking at one of these also, I already have a xtrons headunit it and ran the cables to the boot etc, i see that Dynavin sell their 6m extension cable for 50 Euros but wondered if my current one is the same, from memory it has the big multiplug and a seperate cable for the antenna?

 

Hey Guys, to those of you that already have the D9 installed: is the dim function that adjust the screen brightness according to headlights off/on working well? How does it work with Auto headlights. Is the haptic if the Buttons and the General Material comparable to for example the Buttons of the climate Control? How is the startup behavior if I only want to use Apple car Play? Is there Like a Auto start Mode oder do I have to Click through the Weile Menu everytime to start it up. I would be really happy If someone could help me with answering this questions!

 

I was not aware that it had any functionality to adjust the brightness according to headlights. My car is currently enjoying hibernation during the winter but I could try to take a look when I go for a visit. It is too old to have auto headlights though. What I can say is that the brightness (on my unit at least) seems to live its own life and has to be adjusted manually occasionally, nothing big but a bit annoying.

Materials and button haptics are similar to what you can find in your car, pretty good for a relatively cheap unit.

Don't have an iPhone so can't speak to car play specifically but it usually boots to whatever was running when turned off. If you had navigation running it goes to navigation, radio to radio and so on, the exception being when it's been without power for a longer time when it will boot for slightly longer to the menu.

 

Has anyone tried the Wireless android auto?

Dynavin claims it has wireless AA on the top of the product page.
Once you go farther down it only claims it has wired AA.

I asked Dynavin if it does have wireless AA and about my D8 having Wireless AA.

This is the response from them "Yes, the D9 does wireless Android Auto. The D8 does as well but has some issues with certain phones particularly Samsung phones so I recommend the D9."

 

Yes, I have used it a few times, though personally I didn't see much use for it as it drains the phone battery quite quickly and using a wire has the bonus of charging the phone.

 

Just completed an install and the steering wheel buttons do not work. The CANbus is connected. Everything else works and is great. Have a 2006 e46 convertible. There were some extra cables but they didn’t have a place to go in the harness

 

Steering wheel buttons worked at first for me but stopped working for me after I updated the OS and MCU. Might have something to do with that, or it's just coincidental. Might be worth looking at if there are newer versions available that would help.

 

Just in the middle of installing mine. The steering wheel controls work fine, but I've not updated the firmware at all. The GPS test app seems to get a signal, but the built in Nav app didn't show a map. Maybe because I've not registered it or something?

Can confirm that with the RCA's plugged in to the back of the unit, but not hooked up to an amp, it still plays through the factory speakers.

Next step for me is to wire up the reversing camera and complete the wiring prep for the speaker and amp upgrade.

One problem for me though is that I have a broken PDC sensor and replacing one of those on a Compact is a bumper off job. And removing the bumper is not straight forward!

Thanks @elfer for the original write up! I had to make some adjustments as I went along due to the slight differences with the compact compared to the other body styles

 

@elfer or, in fact anyone who has done this swap, did you guys do the wiring to make the reversing camera/pdc screen work when engaging reverse?

I've emailed Dynavin support and they said there's a trigger wire (blue and yellow) in the big loom that runs front to back from the glovebox area. You apparently need to tap that wire and use it to feed a signal to the headunit. Problem is...there's more than one blue and yellow wire in that loom!!!!

 

It should be the wire going to fuse 24,you can verify by jamming the wire in with the fuse and test. Don't have any camera but the pdc works for me with the wire connected to fuse 24.

 

Just as an FYI, I've installed the latest firmware and the steering wheel controls still work for me!

Also, you can now set the HUD units independent to the locale/language of the device. So can now have my UK English and the speed displayed in MPH, not KM/h!

 

What did you end up doing about the HVAC relocation bracket?

 

I ended up using a cheap 3D printed one off ebay. Inevitably it was fragile AF, but it's doing the job right now. I might get the Dremel to the Dynavin one and see how that pans out!

 

Anybody know if there is a way to stop the unit from having the audio source play by default when you turn it on? Even if I turn the audio off on the unit before turning the car off, it still defaults to the last known source and starts playing

 

Not long installed my D9 and all seems great so far, CarPlay connects within 20secs of turning on the ignition without any of my input which was what I wanted it for! I have come across a few minor issues which I'm not sure if anyone else has had any trouble with? First thing being that the dynavin navigation system doesn't seem to work without wifi even though the map files have been downloaded. Second is that I don't seem to be able to get it to work with the factory PDC. I have yet to install a backup camera but have spliced the trigger wires into the reverse circuit but still no luck. Has anyone else had any success with these issues?

 

It is quite difficult to get the PDC working properly. Do you have an auto or a manual? Had to splice a very specific wire and wasn't the one on the supplied literature. Make sure to double and triple checked you get a 12v signal from the wire only when the car is in reverse.

The cable I tapped in to is on top of the fuse box.