In retrospect, wiring into the o'head panel was simple enough. I think the first apprehension was because the connector had not gone through the insulation of the wire, but evidently bit through slowly. Grounding into an existing screw (motor mount?) was also simple enough. I am happy with this DIY installation and appreciative of those on this board who guided me.

 

I wrap cable around the steering wheel twice (too long). Finally, velcroed the concealed module. Voila! No visual from the main V1 (Dark Mode). Mute and Mode selection are controlled by the Control Knob on the Display (On-Off and Volume adjustments remain on V1).

Of course this concealed unit is another option, V1 works great without it.

 

Looks good Rizbel. Only problem is now you can't see that wonderful MPG gauge that BMW seems to think we all must have!!

 

Never did care for that mpg gauge, Rudy. Should have been the temp. gauge instead.

But it still is visible from driver's view.

 

My E30 M3 has an oil temp gauge there but all my E39's had that useless vacuum powered MPG gauge.

[rant] What is this, 1975 all over again? Do we really need to see the instantaneous MPG readings? [/rant]

 

I tried to hardwire my V1 last night for one hour with no success, I atached the power to the green wire a couple of inches above were it conects to the sunroof switch, does it matter what part of the green wire you attach to? and grounded it to one of the torque screws, could not get it to turn on. Im very upset, after all that, nothing happened. Any sugestions?

 

IIRC, the green wire you mentioned should have some yellow on it, too.

If that part is OK -- as far as not having power the first try, I had that problem too. I solved it by clamping down harder with the stubby plug to get the contacts through the insulation.

And, make sure you have the ground wire securely anchored under a screw above the headliner.

 

Does it matter wich screw I ground to, I used the torque screw that hold the little siemens box? I have clamped into the green wire hard enough, that when I took it out, I can see the bare wire showing

 

Any screw into metal should work.