iPOD connection

[colinrob]

Any ideas how to connect a ipod to a 1997 bmw 5 series?

[DJFish]

Dennison Icelink.
Fit it yourself in under an hour, no cutting of wires required, retains steering wheel functionality.

Just fitted one to my E46, well worth the investment.

Dave

[davidd]

I've been thinking about this. Does it mean that the ipod sits in the boot of the car or is there an option to have it in a cradle in the cabin ?

D

[morgala]

Nope, you can have it in the cabin via a cradle.

I have the dension ice link plus installed in my M coupe...

www.dension.com/icelinkplus.php

Very nice indeed.

[DJFish]

That's the fella!
Though I've got mine hidden in my centre console with a dock cable, rather than having it on show in a dash mounted cradle.

[Dino D]

DJFish said:

Dennison Icelink. Fit it yourself in under an hour, no cutting of wires required, retains steering wheel functionality. Just fitted one to my E46, well worth the investment. Dave

Hi Dave

I'm thinking of doing this to my e46, Can I ask how much was it?
Did you have to remove the radio from the dash and how much of ball-ache was that?
I'm not the most technical guy and don't want to ruin the lovely interior on my new motor...

[andy g bmth]

Go the easy route

Search on ebay fro digital fm transmitter.

Its shaped like a mobile phone charger and plugs into the cigarette lighter. Then just tune the radio into the desired frequency and bobs yours uncle.

There is no loss of quality or poor signal areas like the itune as it is powered externally and not by the ipod. Also tehre is no damaging the interior and can be swapped between cars very very easily.

I've bought 6 of these for various friends & family.

The cost is the only downside - £0.01 & £5.99 postage- yep a grand total of £6 theres an auction which ends every 20 mins so just bid on one that noone else has!!!

If you want a link just pm me & i'll provide the details

[DJFish]

Dino D said:

how much was it? Did you have to remove the radio from the dash and how much of ball-ache was that?

Hi Dino,
I got my kit from here and it cost a shade under £100, I should say that I've tried the cheaper Connects2 kit on my old car and the Icelink kit is much better and well worth the money. Plus you can offset the cost by flogging your now redundant cd changer on ebay.

As far as fitting is concerned, it was a doddle.
I've been fiddling with cars for a while now and it was by far the easiest upgrade I've done, mainly due to the amount of information already available on the net, this is a great site and will guide you thrugh the fitting process.
Getting the trim off and the stereo out is the work of seconds, just make sure to tape your screwdriver to avoid scratches.
The quadlock connector you get with the Icelink just clips into the stereo wiring loom so no need for cutting.
The climate module under the stereo just pulls out, I'd advise whipping this out to give yourself a bit more room and make sure you test everything before you screw the dash back together!

I fitted a bluetooth kit at the same time so don't let the pic put you off doing what is really a simple job.


Cheers
Dave

[vipers]

Try this link, expensive but?

www.caraudiodiscount.com/acatalog/

Found it on:_

www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=70&t=269028&p=1



Have a nice day




>> Edited by vipers on Wednesday 24th May 08:54

[Andrew D]

andy g bmth said:

Go the easy route Search on ebay fro digital fm transmitter.

Unfortunately I believe there's another drawback with the FM transmitter, using it is technically illegal (or so I'm told). Apparently you're not allowed to broadcast on FM without a licence. But on the plus side it might be pretty hard for the law to bust you for it.

It does, however, have one major benefit. We tested one in our office and it's range is in excess of eighty metres, so if you're in a convoy you can all listen to the same thing! Just don't set it to transmit on 98.9Mhz (Radio 1)!

You can actually get a semi-official iPod dock for BMW's, which the dealers fit. It puts a wire with a port on the end in the glove box, and basically allows the head unit to see the iPod as an autochanger. But it thus only lets you use six playlists on the iPod, and you can't have one if you've got an autochanger, so it's a bit weak. Doesn't clutter up the cabin with a cradle though.

[vipers]

Andrew,

If you check out the link I mention above, it mentions FM transmitters, interesting reading I thought.

Have a nice day

[Dino D]

DJFish said:

Dino D said: how much was it? Did you have to remove the radio from the dash and how much of ball-ache was that? Hi Dino, I got my kit from here and it cost a shade under £100, I should say that I've tried the cheaper Connects2 kit on my old car and the Icelink kit is much better and well worth the money. Plus you can offset the cost by flogging your now redundant cd changer on ebay. As far as fitting is concerned, it was a doddle. I've been fiddling with cars for a while now and it was by far the easiest upgrade I've done, mainly due to the amount of information already available on the net, this is a great site and will guide you thrugh the fitting process. Getting the trim off and the stereo out is the work of seconds, just make sure to tape your screwdriver to avoid scratches. The quadlock connector you get with the Icelink just clips into the stereo wiring loom so no need for cutting. The climate module under the stereo just pulls out, I'd advise whipping this out to give yourself a bit more room and make sure you test everything before you screw the dash back together! I fitted a bluetooth kit at the same time so don't let the pic put you off doing what is really a simple job. Cheers Dave

Cheers for that Dave. Got any pics of what the install looks like once its complete? I'm wondering where the ipod sits now.
Does it operate via the sterering control too?

Sorry for all the questions but can you tell more about your bluetooth kit?I currently use a Jabra headset and am getting tired of it.

My boss had a BMW bluetooth kit with is 535d and we found that not as good a hardwire carkit-the mic wasn't very good and the connection kept breaking meaning the car had to be turned of and started again.Do you have any of these problems with the on eyou have put in?


Thanks,
Dino

[DJFish]

Since you asked so nicely:
Now you see it:

Now you don't:

The dock cable runs from the dash, under the centre console and just pokes up in the back of the little storage cubby, the ipod (in it's little rubber skin thingy) just plugs in.
You get full control from the steering wheel buttons, with various options, I have mine on playlists and then you can select shuffle on your head unit and shuffle each playlist depending on your mood.
As far as the bluetooth kit goes, since my car is pre 2002 it doesn't come pre-wired for bluetooth so I had to go for the aftermarket kit, I got a parrot evo with connects 2 kit so the steering wheel buttons work for that too. I think even if you have a newer car you're still better off going for the Parrot kit, its cheaper and works a treat, the only arse pain I had was routing the mic cable into the roof but its not that bad.

As you can see the controller is tiny and is hidden from my view by the wheel and indicator stalk which is great as I don't need to touch it, you can start/end/answer calls and adjust volume with the steering wheel buttons as well.

[DJFish]

No problems experienced so far, call clarity is superb.
All the wiring and wee boxes tuck away behind the glove box so with the head unit removal, roof trim and mic cable routing, glove box removal etc there is a fair amount of dismantling to be done, however a car audio fitter could do it all for you in a couple of hours.

If you've any other questions feel free to ask,

Dave

[CommanderJameson]

I bought an iTrip for a tenner from here.

No wires, no fuss.

[Dino D]

Cheers Dave.

I definitely cannot be trusted to do an install like that so will have to get it fitted. I think I will do the ipod and bluetooth conversion together in one go. It will have to wait a few months as I am a bit broke after buying the car! I think I will give that £10 radio a try in the meantime.

My car a 2001 330i sport with the facelift, but for some reason has a terrible dark brown wood trim and gearknob (remninds me of of the fake wood I had in my Honda!). I will have to get it changed the proper trim like on yours at the same time.

Thanks again,
Dino.

PS: Nice 330d floor mats.