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Thread: BMW E39 iDrive Project

  1. #76
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    e39 idrive never happening

  2. #77
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    Quote Originally Posted by ALBONY View Post
    e39 idrive never happening
    Thank you, that was very helpful and relevant to this thread.



  3. #78
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    Quote Originally Posted by ALBONY View Post
    e39 idrive never happening
    That makes me even more motivated to see it happen...

  4. #79
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    good luck with this project OP looks like your really serious about this.

    I say go with layout B

    Question how are you gonna match/extend the dash over the Idrive screen
    and were are you gonna put the mouse?

  5. #80
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    I'd be so scared to do this to my car, but major props to you for trying something that's never been done before! I vote for layout C, I think it would look the most factory and like the new BMW's are. I can't wait to see how this turns out!

  6. #81
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    Looks good.. I'd try that if its successful. I've always imagine how it'd be in an E39

  7. #82
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    Quote Originally Posted by NYZ93 View Post
    good luck with this project OP looks like your really serious about this.

    I say go with layout B

    Question how are you gonna match/extend the dash over the Idrive screen
    and were are you gonna put the mouse?
    I will use fiber glass to extend the dash over the screen. My original location for the "mouse" was next to the shifter, but I don't think there is enough room, and cutting technical graphite trim is a mortal sin. I'm now thinking of putting it in front of the arm rest, where that useless cubby thing is. I only use it to shove gas receipts in.

    Quote Originally Posted by charlesb2003 View Post
    I'd be so scared to do this to my car, but major props to you for trying something that's never been done before! I vote for layout C, I think it would look the most factory and like the new BMW's are. I can't wait to see how this turns out!
    Layer B and C are my favorite. I've been driving around with my center air vents shut off to see if I miss them or not. Haven't had any really hot days to know for sure.


    Quote Originally Posted by BMWE39i View Post
    Looks good.. I'd try that if its successful. I've always imagine how it'd be in an E39
    It would be a nice commercial product for those who want to do the retrofit, but because it isn't a direct drop in, it might be a little tougher to market than the Dyanian or w/e they are called.



  8. #83
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    Looks good bud.
    If you want I can provide you with a Windows XP Pro OEM with a very small footprint (80MB) so it will be running and starting up quicker.

  9. #84
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    Quote Originally Posted by DennisCooper View Post
    If you're buying the bluetooth, motherboard, wifi module etc, from off the shelf components that have already been made to US/Euro/UK/Asia Pacific etc specific standards you won't need to get them re-tested I'd have thought. You'll simply be assembling pre tested products.
    That depends. OEM modules may be FCC certified, BUT if you assemble OEM modules (radio, antenna) you will need to get the entire assemby FCC cerified as well. Thats why some laptops (Lenovo) block you from using 3rd party wireless cards. So basically what you said is correct if we are talking about completed radio/antenna assemblies. It's not a huge deal IMO. Either way, you'll only run into regulatory problems if you are selling large quantities of the device (tens of thousands) OR if your device is non-complaint with the regulations (regardless of certification) and is causing interference.

    I disagree about interfacing with the bus. On E39 you want the I-bus which is what e.g. the aftermarket MP3 players connect to. I don't see any liability issue at all there.

  10. #85
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    Hi

    Joako - fair points I guess about the FCC regulations and either the assembly or components being certified, it isn't something I've looked into in depth, just speaking from the relatively in depth conversations I've had regarding you second point which is about the I-Bus certifications. If done on an amateur level, I doubt any certification or testing would be done, however as I've asked about doing this sort of thing that xeniczone is making/intending to make, then yes, it'd need to be tested and certified. All those aftermarket MP3 interface units you mention, be that from the likes of Dension, DICE, Intravee, mObridge and the aftermarket head unit and car audio specialists are all tested and certified as of course they have the budget to do so easily - I'd think at the very least, they'd be 'using' the components that are certified and tested!

    Xeniczone - keep up with the project kudos to you !- just drop me a line if you wish to discuss anything and I'll be watching for your updates!

    Fooljam - long time no see, are you still selling those head units?!

    Cheers, Dennis!

  11. #86
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    An amazing project. I look forward to seeing the progress! I think I would have to spring for a used, new style, M3 or something if I wanted iDrive that bad. Too high a hastle/payback ratio for me. But more power to you.

  12. #87
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    amazing! you do some great work

    99 E39 528i / 08 E92 M3

  13. #88
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    Quote Originally Posted by Xeniczone View Post
    I will use fiber glass to extend the dash over the screen. I'm now thinking of putting it in front of the arm rest, where that useless cubby thing is.
    Good place for it by the shifter might look to cluttered anyway


    but how are you gonna match the fiberglass to the dash's texture/color

  14. #89
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    Quote Originally Posted by fooljam View Post
    Looks good bud.
    If you want I can provide you with a Windows XP Pro OEM with a very small footprint (80MB) so it will be running and starting up quicker.
    I may have to take you up on the offer. Right now I have this project on hold for a few reasons. First being I'm working on my push-to-start button which is going along rather smoothly. Second, I accidently came up with an idea that I really like. I was driving to Lexington and I keep missing turns because the GPS is a little confusing. Saying stuff like "take the third right." Well the GPS only counts larger roads that are on the map, but not all the roads are on the map. So sometimes the third right is actually the forth or fifth right. Things would be less confusing if you could look at the map more often without taking your eyes of the road. Well here is my solution. Make a HUD out of the GPS. Now the issue with this is I need to split the GPS up so it will show up on the HUD and on the iDrive screen.



    I would also like to hook it up to the BC button through the i-bus that way you can cycle the HUD screens from the GPS to the speedo to other information.

    Quote Originally Posted by joako View Post
    That depends. OEM modules may be FCC certified, BUT if you assemble OEM modules (radio, antenna) you will need to get the entire assemby FCC cerified as well.
    This is true. Most OEM modules I see that are for wireless devices have a pin or a serial command to adjust to the strength of the signal because the signal has to be tuned to meed FCC standards.

    Quote Originally Posted by DennisCooper View Post
    Xeniczone - keep up with the project kudos to you !- just drop me a line if you wish to discuss anything and I'll be watching for your updates!

    Cheers, Dennis!
    Will do, keep in touch.

    Quote Originally Posted by NYZ93 View Post
    Good place for it by the shifter might look to cluttered anyway


    but how are you gonna match the fiberglass to the dash's texture/color
    Yeah, I decided instead of making my own I would rather buy a OEM knob. Going to be expensive, but will look better in the end. I'm not sure if it will fit there or not.

    I don't have to make it match. I'm redoing my interior. The fiberglass and the rest of the interior will match up regardless .

    Quote Originally Posted by Flybot View Post
    An amazing project. I look forward to seeing the progress! I think I would have to spring for a used, new style, M3 or something if I wanted iDrive that bad. Too high a hastle/payback ratio for me. But more power to you.
    Yeah. I originally wanted to make an M5 clone, but I bought the car before know too much about it. I know now that the S62 won't mount into an I6 car, or will be too much trouble to make it fit. I'm going in a new direction with the car.

    Quote Originally Posted by MKpoto View Post
    amazing! you do some great work
    Thanks!



  15. #90
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    The FedEx man has done good!



    I've neglected my iDrive project in favor of my E90 key project. I found a few good deals on eBay and decided to jump on them. The screen is out of an E65, and the controller I have no idea what it is out. The controller will be rewired to work with my system, and I will be making a video about how it works soon.

    As for the 8.8in screen. That is a little more complicated. The screen has 3 basic inputs. 1. RGB (Sync-On-Green) 2. Power 3. CAN-Bus. Now the issue is the screen will not turn on by simply apply power and a video signal. You must turn it on using the CAN-Bus. This is no big deal, but I have no idea what the commands are that are required to turn the screen on.

    Their are a few options to remedy this. Easiest, but most expensive way is to take the screen apart and use an aftermarket controller for the LCD screen. Like I said this is easy, plug and play, but is also the most expensive. The only controller I could find is ~$300.

    The second option is to try and build my own controller. This is the hardest and most risky. I couldn't find an exact datasheet for this LCD screen, but I could find a similar LCD screen datasheet. Now if this datasheet is off I could risk the chance of ruining the LCD screen which would mean I wasted a good amount of cash on it. The cost of developing this is unknown.

    The third option is to attempt to hack the CAN-Bus on the LCD screen. What this does is "asks" the CAN-Bus all available commands. Then I have to send those commands back to the LCD screen and find out which ones turn it on. The cost of this option is anywhere between $50-$100, because I don't have the tools to do this yet.
    Last edited by Xeniczone; 08-10-2011 at 08:33 PM.



  16. #91
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    Subscribed

  17. #92
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    I can't do much with the monitor at this point I'm still waiting for the interface to come in. I decided to go ahead and buy the lcd controller.

    For now I got to work on installing the iDrive controller. Here is Version 1. I'm going to make a few more and see which one turns out the best.

    Before:

    After:




  18. #93
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    How are the ergonomics of this setup? Doesn't seem like it would be as effective as the newer beemers. But of course, this is only setup 1.

    Glad to see you're making progress! Looking forward to the rest.

    Quote Originally Posted by Xeniczone View Post
    I can't do much with the monitor at this point I'm still waiting for the interface to come in. I decided to go ahead and buy the lcd controller.

    For now I got to work on installing the iDrive controller. Here is Version 1. I'm going to make a few more and see which one turns out the best.

    Before:

    After:


  19. #94
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    Quote Originally Posted by Xeniczone View Post
    I may have to take you up on the offer. ...
    Sorry dude I am only seeing this now.
    Let me do that for you and I will come back to you by PM in a day or two.

  20. #95
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    Quote Originally Posted by arosner92 View Post
    How are the ergonomics of this setup? Doesn't seem like it would be as effective as the newer beemers. But of course, this is only setup 1.

    Glad to see you're making progress! Looking forward to the rest.
    True, but their are not very many places to put it. I'm open to suggestions, as of right now I fabricated that entire thing from scratch so I still have the storage compartment that fit in there.

    The wheel and the buttons are pretty comfortable for the driver. The only ones that are a little weird to get are the option and back buttons. This setup is really hard to use for the passenger though, probably because it is right next to them while the driver has to reach over the hand brake, making it more comfortable.

    Quote Originally Posted by fooljam View Post
    Sorry dude I am only seeing this now.
    Let me do that for you and I will come back to you by PM in a day or two.
    Right now I am going to attempt to do everything with hardware and no "software" at all. What I mean by that is I'm going to use a lot of micro-controllers. Each one will have it's own purpose. Have one to render video, one to control the CD/DVD, for a radio, for the telephone... etc, then finally one that will control all of them as one unit.

    The price should be about the same as a computer, but no windows/linux would be involved making faster boot times and more reliable operation. I mean windows/linux would take 10-30 seconds to boot on a stripped out version, but this hardware only version would literally be ready to go in less than 1 second.



  21. #96
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    Quote Originally Posted by Xeniczone View Post

    Right now I am going to attempt to do everything with hardware and no "software" at all. What I mean by that is I'm going to use a lot of micro-controllers. Each one will have it's own purpose. Have one to render video, one to control the CD/DVD, for a radio, for the telephone... etc, then finally one that will control all of them as one unit.

    The price should be about the same as a computer, but no windows/linux would be involved making faster boot times and more reliable operation. I mean windows/linux would take 10-30 seconds to boot on a stripped out version, but this hardware only version would literally be ready to go in less than 1 second.
    Yeah ok but you still need an OS somehow, even on a chip, how to you intend to interact with the unit?

  22. #97
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    Quote Originally Posted by fooljam View Post
    Yeah ok but you still need an OS somehow, even on a chip, how to you intend to interact with the unit?
    It does need an operating system in the scenes that it does need some form of programming, but it doesn't need an operating system in the terms of Windows/Mac/Linux.

    Works like this:

    Their are 4 basic modules to the iDrive system.
    -iDrive Interface Controller
    -Main MicroController
    -Video MicroController
    -8,8" iDrive Screen

    -The interface Controller is the controller with all the buttons and knobs on it. When a button is pressed it will send out a HEX number over a serial bus. For example, if you press NAV it will send 0x4D over the serial line.

    -The Main Microcontroller is a microcontroller that will control everything in the iDrive system. Everything in the iDrive system will plug into this.

    -The Video Microcontroller is a microcontroller that is dedicated to creating a VGA signal from images stored on a memory car.

    -The 8.8" screen is self explanatory.

    When a button is pressed on the iDrive interface controller the HEX signal is sent to the Main Microcontroller. The Main Microcontroller decides what to do with this and tells the video Microcontroller to draw a new picture to the LCD screen or to move a pre-existing picture on the LCD screen.

    Now with this system it is easy to add a new part to it. Say I want to add a bluetooth for the phone. I can buy a bluetooth module and wire it to the Main Microcontroller. The Main microcontroller is ask the video microcontroller to draw a list of numbers on the screen 0-9. The microcontroller will then listen to the interface controller to see what numbers are being "dialed" once it has all the numbers and send is pressed it will then send those numbers to the bluetooth module which will then call the number.

    This is all simplified of course.



  23. #98
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    Here is another possible location. Though it is more comfortable to use for both the driver and passanger, I see two problems with it. One, it is not very aesthetically pleasing. Two, I really don't want to cut up my technical graphite trim.




  24. #99
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    bro what happen to your leather stick cover?

    E39, 523i, 1999, M52TUB30, 5 SPEED MANUAL, UUC SHORT SHIFTER, EURO SPECS, KONI YELLOWS, OEM SPORTS SPRINGS, OEM SPORTS SEATS, ALCANTARA HEADLINER AND /A/B/C PILLARS, OEM M-TECHNIC AERODYNAMIC, OEM M5 FRONT GRILLS, OEM M5 REAR FOLDING MIRRORS, OEM M5 REAR SWAYBAR, OEM M-TECHNIC II FRONT SWAYBAR, REMUS DUAL TIP MUFFLER, TITANSILVER, BIXENON, M PARALLEL SPOKE 66 STAGGERED, OEM M-AUDIO SYSTEM, NAV SCREEN 16:9, INTRAVEE II iPOD INTERFACE, OEM TCM WITH BLUETOOTH, Y RESONATOR DELETE, INTAKE HORN DELETE, CDV DELETE, CHARCOAL TITANIUM BRUSHED TRIM, FAN CLUTCH DELETE, ELECTRIC FAN, 3.15LSD DIFFERENTIAL, ESS TS2+ SUPERCHARGER, AQUAMIST METHANOL + WATER INJECTION

    PANAMA, CIUDAD DE PANAMA

  25. #100
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    An issue I see there is the air duct that runs right underneath there to the rear passengers.

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