TECH TOYS!!!!
03-22-2012, 06:45 PM
#21
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My Ride: 2008 BMW 535i
Does the specdock remove any features on your stock radio? I installed an iPod kit on my last car and had to disconnect my satellite radio.
03-23-2012, 07:44 AM
#22
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the spec dock just charges your ipod/iphone, and sends the audio feed to your aux input on your radio I don't think it should affect your sat radio or anything.
03-24-2012, 08:01 PM
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UPDATE: so this project has definitely kicked my ass at every turn there has been a lot of problems and speed bumps along they way, I woke up pretty late this morning feel lazy cuz i went to a party last night thinking if I started around 1 i could be done by 6 LMAO...... NO WAY! i have every correct tool for the job thank goodness for that or else it would take even longer but whats most time consuming is taking that blasted car apart things like folding those back seats, thats not meant to fold and removing the glove box and center console omg It really requires a lot of patients and time..
I just decided to call it quits so far i have
-coded both aux and bluetooth and installed new tcu (phone already paired up and working)
-installed the backup camera and routed its power and av cable through the trunk, through the back seat and in the side paneling all the way through the glove box and into the headunit compartment
-removed all wood trim and paneling took out screen and radio installed aux wiring to radio
-installed modmynav interface (but i gotta take it all apart again in the morning because as I was closing up shop i realized i forgot to plug in the audio out cable LOL)
-took apart entire center console and installed spec dock in the ash tray
tommorrow I still have to tap into my cig lighter in ash tray to power spec dock and also have to tap into cig lighter in center armrest to power my usb port in my center console storage compartment. also i have run into a small issue with how i want to install my usb and aux jack, that air hole i planned to use is still a bit hard to get to after flipping console upside down, its weird i knocked out the trap door but i may have to cut a bit to get my idea to work. so i'm tired and going to bed, I can see the finish line from this point so no worries just gonna be another long day tomorrow
here a pic of my work environment today.
I just decided to call it quits so far i have
-coded both aux and bluetooth and installed new tcu (phone already paired up and working)
-installed the backup camera and routed its power and av cable through the trunk, through the back seat and in the side paneling all the way through the glove box and into the headunit compartment
-removed all wood trim and paneling took out screen and radio installed aux wiring to radio
-installed modmynav interface (but i gotta take it all apart again in the morning because as I was closing up shop i realized i forgot to plug in the audio out cable LOL)
-took apart entire center console and installed spec dock in the ash tray
tommorrow I still have to tap into my cig lighter in ash tray to power spec dock and also have to tap into cig lighter in center armrest to power my usb port in my center console storage compartment. also i have run into a small issue with how i want to install my usb and aux jack, that air hole i planned to use is still a bit hard to get to after flipping console upside down, its weird i knocked out the trap door but i may have to cut a bit to get my idea to work. so i'm tired and going to bed, I can see the finish line from this point so no worries just gonna be another long day tomorrow
here a pic of my work environment today.
03-26-2012, 06:21 AM
#27
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it was a another long day yesterday and i finished but I still have a couple of problems i need to correct when i fix these issues instead of posting a bunch of pics ill probably shoot a youtube video of everything in its working order. there is really no need for a diy because they already exist for everything i installed individually.
1st. I feel like a total ass about this one but i spend literally one hour with it, I can't push my radio back in all the way I think its all the extra wires from the mod my nav back there cloging up the space where the radio should slide in. I gotta give it another shot again today and disconnect the radio and try to somehow re adjust the wires to properly slide the radio in
2nd. modmynav works flawlessly but as I previously stated I tried to install my aux jack in the storage area of the armrest but i didn't want to plug the modmynav into the aux jack and have to unplug it everytime i want to use some other aux source so I tapped into the aux cable and plugged the mmn directly into the aux cable rather than using the jack. this way i can use the jack anytime i want. my specdock is the only av source plugged into the mmv that sounds great almost cd quality especially streaming pandora or slacker, problem is even though i unplug the ipod or switch the video source off the ipod when i try to use the actual aux jack to plug in another sound source it sound terrible and scratchy. Now i really don't know what could be causing the problem I know i tested it before splicing into the cable and it sounded great. I'm trying to determine whether having 2 sources on one aux line is causing the jack to sound bad or if the connection i made while splicing and soldering isnt good enough but still whats weird is that one of the 2 sources on the same aux line sound fine and the other sounds bad and i soldered both the jack and mmv output to the same point on the line so wouldn't they both sound terrible if it were a fault in the soldering???
3. the bluetooth retrofit worked but for some reason I'm unable to view the phone in the car my communication screen says i have no phone plugged in and i cant use my steering wheel button either how ever i am able to pair the phone talk and hear people with the car just can't see the address book or control the phone through the car. I think there is an issue that can be resolved through coding with ncs and I'm currently trying to troubleshoot the problem
4. this is not a problem with any of the new hardware but with my ipod itself I'm only able to use the tv out function in landscape orientation but because the ipod stands in the dock sound plays but videos show in black on the nav screen i have jailbroken my ipod and i'm using an app called tvout2. I think this issue can be resolved i just need the right combination of apps to get my ipod to be displayed properly I'm working on that as well.
5.my usb power jack isn't working i tapped into the left cig lighter in the rear of the armrest i connected the green and white cable which i think is (+) to the positive of the usb power cable and the brown/red cable (-) to the negative of the usb power cable plugged in my ipod touch to it and it didn't charge then i switch them and it still didn't charge... I didn't test any other usb cable but the funny thing is the cig lighter still works just fine. this one is going to be a pain to figure out because inorder to get to the cable i have to remove the whole the center console all over again I should of tested it while i had it off but i was afraid to connect the battery while i still had my radio out and plug unplugged. In my mind I'm thinking maybe there is an on switch i forgot to put on but i'm not really sure here is a picture of the usb jack i purchased
you can view the item description here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/220912429789...#ht_1507wt_661
1st. I feel like a total ass about this one but i spend literally one hour with it, I can't push my radio back in all the way I think its all the extra wires from the mod my nav back there cloging up the space where the radio should slide in. I gotta give it another shot again today and disconnect the radio and try to somehow re adjust the wires to properly slide the radio in
2nd. modmynav works flawlessly but as I previously stated I tried to install my aux jack in the storage area of the armrest but i didn't want to plug the modmynav into the aux jack and have to unplug it everytime i want to use some other aux source so I tapped into the aux cable and plugged the mmn directly into the aux cable rather than using the jack. this way i can use the jack anytime i want. my specdock is the only av source plugged into the mmv that sounds great almost cd quality especially streaming pandora or slacker, problem is even though i unplug the ipod or switch the video source off the ipod when i try to use the actual aux jack to plug in another sound source it sound terrible and scratchy. Now i really don't know what could be causing the problem I know i tested it before splicing into the cable and it sounded great. I'm trying to determine whether having 2 sources on one aux line is causing the jack to sound bad or if the connection i made while splicing and soldering isnt good enough but still whats weird is that one of the 2 sources on the same aux line sound fine and the other sounds bad and i soldered both the jack and mmv output to the same point on the line so wouldn't they both sound terrible if it were a fault in the soldering???
3. the bluetooth retrofit worked but for some reason I'm unable to view the phone in the car my communication screen says i have no phone plugged in and i cant use my steering wheel button either how ever i am able to pair the phone talk and hear people with the car just can't see the address book or control the phone through the car. I think there is an issue that can be resolved through coding with ncs and I'm currently trying to troubleshoot the problem
4. this is not a problem with any of the new hardware but with my ipod itself I'm only able to use the tv out function in landscape orientation but because the ipod stands in the dock sound plays but videos show in black on the nav screen i have jailbroken my ipod and i'm using an app called tvout2. I think this issue can be resolved i just need the right combination of apps to get my ipod to be displayed properly I'm working on that as well.
5.my usb power jack isn't working i tapped into the left cig lighter in the rear of the armrest i connected the green and white cable which i think is (+) to the positive of the usb power cable and the brown/red cable (-) to the negative of the usb power cable plugged in my ipod touch to it and it didn't charge then i switch them and it still didn't charge... I didn't test any other usb cable but the funny thing is the cig lighter still works just fine. this one is going to be a pain to figure out because inorder to get to the cable i have to remove the whole the center console all over again I should of tested it while i had it off but i was afraid to connect the battery while i still had my radio out and plug unplugged. In my mind I'm thinking maybe there is an on switch i forgot to put on but i'm not really sure here is a picture of the usb jack i purchased
you can view the item description here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/220912429789...#ht_1507wt_661
03-26-2012, 08:38 AM
#29
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you can use this dock with any method of connecting the ipod to the car if you have the bmw ipod interface or the dension gateway 500 you can use this dock with them and control your ipod through the idrive, I however didn't choose the this route because
a. I think they are both way too expensive options,
b. if you choose those options and if you have a US car there is no feature for video out which is something i wont sacrifice I want to be able to take advantage of viewing cover art, youtube videos, music videos, movies and slingplayer app. The ipod is an audio and video device and I want to use exactly as intended.
c. even thought its nice to control the ipod from the car, honestly how much time does it really take to grab the ipod and navigate to the music or playlist or video you want to play. I guarantee you that you can always do it faster just by picking up the ipod rather than going through the Idrive, I have watched the videos of the dension gateway and the bmw interface in action they are both really slow and not really utilitarian or easy to use
*note* i posted a thread about a new product coming out from dension called bmw icon drive youtube it i hasn't dropped yet but when it does come out I might consider going this route if it works well when they finally decide to release it
a. I think they are both way too expensive options,
b. if you choose those options and if you have a US car there is no feature for video out which is something i wont sacrifice I want to be able to take advantage of viewing cover art, youtube videos, music videos, movies and slingplayer app. The ipod is an audio and video device and I want to use exactly as intended.
c. even thought its nice to control the ipod from the car, honestly how much time does it really take to grab the ipod and navigate to the music or playlist or video you want to play. I guarantee you that you can always do it faster just by picking up the ipod rather than going through the Idrive, I have watched the videos of the dension gateway and the bmw interface in action they are both really slow and not really utilitarian or easy to use
*note* i posted a thread about a new product coming out from dension called bmw icon drive youtube it i hasn't dropped yet but when it does come out I might consider going this route if it works well when they finally decide to release it
03-26-2012, 10:44 AM
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I am so exhausted with this project DIY is tuff I learned a lot but didnt realize how time consuming taking the car apart is. When your see how many screws and parts start coming out as you try to install your hardware it can be intimidating. I see why the pros charge so much to install these things, and now that I have to trouble shoot some of these problems its a little depressing knowing how much research and work i put into this thing. All in all I'm confident all problems will be resolved.