AI001

Replaced a burnt Cid fuse and everything is up and runni ng now. My improvised connector is working well.

Guessed what, voice and navigation all working without any fsc code or can bus filter. This is weired, would this last long. Is this temporary? Lane departure warning gone too.

Only thing left now is the cic controller.

Patrys

Unfortunately you will not enjoy the Navigation and VC too long without the FSC or the activation module.
After a few restart cycles it will get disabled.

If you need the FSC or the PnP activation module let me know.

AI001

Patrys, you are right, its on and off, won't stay there forever. Nav sometimes just stays at initliazing stage, didn't wait long enough but I think you are right. Reading your earlier posts I thought you only provide full kit, no spares so I ordered non-PNP PCB kit from Canada, they were cheap and hopefully should work. Fingers crossed. Thanks for your offer mate. I think FSC gonna be extortionate, aren't they?

AI001

when I say cheap read it in relative term, no way few inch pcb should cost this must considering a whole PC motherboard with CPU can come in this price. Thats cheapest I could find compared to European couterparts. Still don't know why everything's price doubles as soon as it enters Europe. Taxes (VAT largely) will only contribute 20%, but the prices are atleast 50-100% higher then other side of atlantic.

AI001

Two questions:

Once I install CIC controller by cutting the centre console and trim, they will not be useful to anything else, I mean I won't ever be able to fit old back at all. Considering this in mind can I cut out the existing CCC controller without removing the whole centre console? I know the cut will be a bit bigger but does it make any difference, removing the centre console is hell lot of work for me and I am not sure how to remove my gear stick as my car is LCI 2007. Let me know from your experience if this is possible. I believe that's the only reason you guys removed centre console. Let me know if I am incorrect here.

Second question is in connection with the audio, mine is normal standard audio (6 speakers without tweeters) which, last year I upgraded and its way better then anything else I have heard. Believe me it sounds better then iPOD's headphone. I have used earthquake underseat subs, tweeters, diamond audio's mids all hooked to PDX-5. Later I realized that PDX-5 is low level input amp, so had to use LC6i for high-to-low conversion. Now since I am going to have CIC and heard that hifi option will output all 4 channel low-level balanced audio signal, it sounds like a perfect match. Can someone please suggest I can remove LC6i now and directly connect to the AMP, would there be any benefit of doing so? Worth bothering? Are pin-out diagram from existing standard audio hifi the same? Can I get a link for WDS pinout diagram for CIC.

Sorry this is gone a bit longer, thanks for your patience in reading it. Appreciate any input.

bruce_miranda

Once you cut the centre, there is no going back. But that's not the end of the world because you can leave that new controller in there and it will work with the old CCC as well, with a little bit of coding and programming.

In terms of Audio you already have everything hooked up. All you need to do is code the CIC as Hi-Fi and that will take care of things. Just remove the LC6i (LOC).

Georgieb

AI001,
To elaborate on Bruce's response. There is no way you will be able to "cut" the old iDrive controller out without taking the center console apart. It is mounted to the internal structure of the console and not to the panel so you will need to remove the support screws etc. In addition, you will have to enlarge the opening below to allow for the new controller to fit. I doubt there is any work-around for this. You'll have to bite the bullet and take things apart...Do it once and it will be a lot less intimidating. Just screws, metal and plastic.

AI001

I must admit that you guys are amazing, sometimes I feel I am in the easy world, all the hard and risky work has been done by you and I am just getting it like cooked food if centre console has to be removed then I will go for it, possibly this weekend. I will use your guide georgieb, thanks for this.

Bruce, great response, I will see if I can rewire the amp leaving LC6i out, even that is hell lot of job, its 4 pair of bit bulky cable, which is hard to solder too. I will do that after CIC retrofit is fully complete. Btw. is there any benefit over removing LC6i and wiring it direct to AMP?

AI001

Yesterday I coded my CIC to my car's specs. (most of the settings were correct anyway, donor was E61 estate 535d) I didn't realize before that car was set to HiFi already hence audio output wasn't that strong (due to my LC6i converting low to even low).

This weekend hopefully I will be removing centre console out and fitting the new controller and USB port too. Will report back how it goes.

AI001

btw. is DAB radio standard on UK CIC, I did code that but didn't see any new option in the radio!