douggiedooman

I agree...it would be great if someone posted a "how-to" with a photo if possible. Also the part number and where to order would be great. Thanks.

vrungel

I found it! It's all in this thread along with supporting attachments.
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=103146

vrungel

Has anybody found a way to integrate USB with this iPhone snap-in adapter? All it currently does is signal boost and battery charge. Is rewiring possible to incorporate the iPod function as well?

douggiedooman

[font="Arial"]As several people (including me last week) were looking for photos of the snap-in installed in an E60, I have taken a number of photos and uploaded them here.

I just bought my iPhone snap-in adaptor today and installed it. My local BMW dealer had them in stock. The guy checked on the computer and they are approved for 2005-2008 E60/M560 (M5) with Navigation System Professessional (0609) and Handy Integration Bluetooth for Navigation Professional (0633). People have posted they are not approved by BMW for E60 (pre-LSI) but I looked at the dealers computer and they are definitely approved for fitting by BMW in any E60/E61, at least in Germany.

The snap-in and bluetooth pairing works exactly as it should in my 2007 BMW M560. I live in Germany so I guess I have European software, I don't know if this makes any difference The signal strength when my iPhone is inserted in the snap-in is greatly increased using the shark fin antena and it charges my iPhone at the same time. For me, this is the perfect solution for a cellphone in my vehicle.

The iPhone snap-in was a sinch to install. Just took out the V3 snap-in and replaced it with the iPhone snap-in.The iPhone snap-in is also easy to take out and of my M5 put in my wife 2007 BMW 330i (tried this as well). I am having no pairing issues at all and all my telephone entries are being transferred to iDrive without a problem every time. I even shortened the name of my phone in iTunes (DG iPhone) so the phone name fitted neatly at the bottom of the iDrive display. I have multiple numbers (cell, home, office, second cell etc.) for most of my entires in my contact list and that gives three to four entries in iDrive, making a long list and slow searches. I need to go through my contacts and delete phone numbers against contacts that I would be unlikely to call while driving (would I call my boss at home from my car... probably not). Contrary to what the manual with the iPhone snap-in, ALL the number transfer to iDrive via Bluetooth (manual says only master number (what's that?) transfers via Bluetooth - incorrect in my M5).

BTW did you know that you can step up/down through the contact list in iDrive with next track/last track button on rhs of steering wheel if the iDrive is in communications mode. That was something new I learned today. It easier when you are driving than the roating iDrive, it keeps your hands on wheel!

The iPhone is very easy to take in and out of the snap-in (much easier than my Motorola V3 in and out of it's snap-in), so it is practical to put my iPhone in the snap-in, even for short trips. I have a seperate iPod I leave in the car all the time, connected to the iPod cable, so I don't really have an issue of playing music from my iPhone in the car.

Hope the photos showing how the iPhone snap-in installs and looks in an E60 center console are useful.

ponster

Douggiedooman,

On the EJECT BOX (84 21 6 946 075) help me position the wires on the connector, since a friend of mine took them out and install them in the wrong place.

Below is the pic of the connector, with the TYCO P/N facing up. Please respond using the wire colors and the positioning of the wires from left to right (1-9) top or bottom.



Thanks in advance.

douggiedooman

It's middle of the night in Germany...what am I doing surfing the Forum, that's a good question. I will look in my Beemer tomorrow in daylight and let you know. I'll post what I can find. If I can get a photo, I will. Cheers.

scoopz

I know douggiedooman has already posted some photos but I've put a few of my own on here to add to his collection.

I picked up the cradle yesterday morning, BMW part number 84-10-9-182-792 costing ?59.99 in UK money which was the same price I paid for the Nokia 6230i snap-in I previously bought. Installation is...well I wouldn't even call it installation, press down on the snap-in eject button, the old Nokia 6230i cradle pops out, snap-in the the new one...I'd say 10 seconds at most!

NOTE - it seems all UK spec cars have the snap in holder (eject box) as standard, those in the USA may have a money tray here instead, in which case you need to buy two other parts to replace the money tray and other users have reported a 30 min installation time for those, the extra parts needed are 84 21 6 946 075 [snap in adapter / Eject box] and 51 16 7 060 175 [Eject box frame]

First impressions are good, feels heavy, solid and robust, the pop up spring mechanism when you eject also feels sturdy yet smooth. You position the lower edge of the phone in the adapter and then press on the top edge of the screen to lower the phone down until it locks in place. There is a small plastic lip that then pops out to lock the top of the phone down. To remove the iPhone simply press the eject button and the top lip slides back and the phone lifts up at an angle for easy access. At first I had to press several times and with some force to get the eject mechanism to work but it's much easier now once it's been used a couple of times and things have "freed up".

The snap-in charges the phone and connects it to the external antenna of the car. I've NEVER noticed any signal difference on any of the phones I've ever owned with BMW/Nokia car kits using external aerials but this is more likely due to strong signal everywhere I go. There aren't any areas I can think of where i'd normally have little to no reception to test if there is any gain using the external antenna.

NOTE - the snap-in does nothing other than listed above [charge and aerial], it does NOT offer a hard-wired connection to the iDrive, the connection between phone and iDrive has been and always will be bluetooth. Several people have also wandered if this would allow you to access the iPod features on the iPhone through the stereo but it DOESNT.

I've taken far too many photos of the adapter, I've selected a few of the better ones to add to this post but to see ALL the phone click here or click on any of the photos below:

douggiedooman

I tried this morning to get to the end of the cable and connector for which you need the details of the plug pinouts. Unfortunately, this is no easy job. I spent an hour pulling the back of the TCU off and then finding the cable disappears into the rear of the console. Please see the photos attached. I have no idea how to get to the end with plug you need inside the console. I am not willing to try to pull the console rear apart to get at the plug and I would guess you need special BMW tools to do that anyway.

My suggestion would be to go to a BMW dealer, ask to look at a new TCU unit and photographs or copy down the plug pin-outs. If the dealer won't let you photograph it or copy down the pinouts, then maybe buy one, take it home, get the information you need and then return it. Failing that, I can't offer any suggestions.

Hope you get this sorted out though.

scoopz

WARNING:
Don't rush out and buy an iPhone cradle just yet, and if you have don't use it, it damages the iPhone.

It seems the little lip of plastic that holds the top edge in place seriously scratches the chrome bezel on the top edge. I've only been using mine for a few days and I am not a happy chappy! BMW parts were closed by the time I got there today but I'll be having words with them on Monday.

I'm trying to get a decent photo of the scratches to demonstrate this and will post asap.

Photo below is the best I could take to show scratches, if you want to download the full size (2M image click the bottom image to enlarge.

douggiedooman

scoopz,

I have had a good look at my iPhone and I don't see really damaging scratches on my iPhone caused by the BMW snap-in. Yes, there are some scratches, possibly caused by the lip that locks the iPhone inplace when you click it to the snap-in. However, I have had my iPhone since early Deceber 07 and it is already showing a few signs of wear and tear. Unfortunately I have droppedc it several times and put dings in both left and right corners of the top of the case.

I've had my BMW iPhone snap-in for a week now and probably taken my iPhone in and out of the snap-in maybe 20-30 times. Possibly it will become a problem after prolonged use. Now that you have pointed the problem out, I have some very thin green felt and might try supergluing a couple of small piece in each corner of the snap-in lip that locks the top of the iPhone in place in the snap-in. I'll play with it tomorrow.

Otherwise, I am going to live with this minor problem. The functionality, easy in and out of the Beemer plus significantly increased signal strength (with the outside shark fin antena on my M5) is worth a few minor scratches on my iPhone case. The amount I use my iPhone I think I will struggle to get 2 years out of it anyway, I'm hard on my cellphones. My Treo 650 is full of scrtaches and dings. Can't be helped with a business tool like a cellphone!

Maybe you just got a bad snap-in where the lip on the snap-in is much tighter than mine...not sure! Be interested to hear what your dealer says next week. Let us know.

Photos of the top of my iPhone case (yep, really hard to get good photos of the scratches with a flash).