Bluetooth aftermarket kits

[DocSteve]

I have an E60 535d Touring without the media pack and want to get an aftermarket BT phone kit fitted.

So, I bought a Parrot CK3000 kit from Halfords and they're sending a guy from Hyde Park Corner to fit the thing, all for £165.

Now I though this was all ok until a friend went to a different Halfords with a similar car who said that the fibre optic cables meant that fitting these things was nigh on impossible and would have to go to BMW for an expensive retrofit to the existing system.

Now, is this crap or is my car about to be ruined by a monkey??!!

Any experience or knowledge of this???

Cheers,

Steve

[richterswil]

Not sure about the situation with E60s (my 535d has bluetooth fitted) by my Mrs has an E90 and had a parrot kit fitted and it works perfectly - in fact well enough to make me question whether a TomTom or similar and Parrot are a better bet than expensive albeit neater BMW options.

I'd have thought if there was any real risk Halfords wouldn't allow their guys to wor on certain models?

Best of luck.

[tom g]

it should be OK, as long as your stereo has a tel mute input (which also carries audio). I think MOST (fibre optic) systems still have this input

but don;t you mean £65? £165 sounds pricey.

[Pickled Piper]

Have a look on the Parrot website. they have a users forum so you can find out if others have had it fitted to your model of BMW. You can also ask them directly if it is compatible.

I think you will find that it is compatible but you will need an additional module if you want to utilse any steering wheel controls.

Also, try posting on General Gassing as I recall a couple of Parrot installers post on there regularly.

pp

[DocSteve]

Thanks guys.

The £165 quote includes the price of the Parrot kit and the additional wire so I thought that was reasonable.

I might try posting on general gassing ta - the friend of mine has an E90 which was the model they said would def not be possible due to its fibre optic cabling.

[Neil.D]

To install a parrot kit into your E60 they will take the thing apart. A friend has his car done and there were scratches, marks and now some rattling since his dash was dismantled.
Go for a Supertooth Light Visor - £40 or so and I have no complaints at all.

Neil

[Vorix]

I have a Parrot CK3100 fitted to my E60. Done by AVR Mobile (or something like that) for about £200, including the mute/speaker lead. Works perfectly and the installation was excellent - no squeaks or rattles, scratches etc.

[LocoBlade]

If it uses the fibre optic cable to feed audio output to an amp (ie Logic7 and possibly HiFi upgrades, plus Nav?), which then directly feeds the speakers meaning, this means there's no speaker level output coming from the head unit going straight to the speakers. If this is the case then I can't see how the CK3000 could be made to work unless you fit it with a seperate speaker or somehow splice it in downstream of the amp.

To output from the car speakers, the CK3000 loom needs to plug in between the head unit multi connector and the head unit itself so it can intercept the feed to the speakers and output to them when required, so if there's an amp that powers the speakers rather than the head unit, and no way of intercepting the (optical) output from the head unit to the amp, the only way the CK3000 is going to be able to control the speakers is if it spliced in between the amp and the speakers, which Im not sure is possible or not. Even if it is possible, it's going to be more work than plugging into the head unit loom especially if the amp is in the boot.

I guess it really depends on what audio your car has fitted though, if its the basic unit then it should be OK, if it has upgrades to the audio/nav then it might be tricky.

I will say though that I can't claim to have any first hand knowledge of installing these in a Beemer so apologies if any of the above is incorrect, just thinking out loud going on experience from fitting a couple of CK3000s in prevous cars (with conventional wiring) and also reading up on it in preparation for fitting one to my 1 Series, but in the end the one I bought had OEM bluetooth so avoided having to fit one.

[LocoBlade]

By the way, if the install is anything like the 1 Series and you have a multi function steering wheel, you can get a "Connects2" lead which allows you to get rid of the Parrot controller and so completely hide the install for the "OEM look", instead controlling it all from the buttons on the steering wheel. Parrot also do one of these connection boxes but according to a few threads Ive read, its not as good as the Connects2 box.

Have a read of this thread for more info, it may be different on a 5 series of course, but on the 1 Series its actually quite easy do do as a DIY job as Im sure Pete (Verysideways) would vouch for.
http://www.babybmw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&am...

Edited by LocoBlade on Thursday 19th February 21:29

[DocSteve]

LocoBlade said:

If it uses the fibre optic cable to feed audio output to an amp (ie Logic7 and possibly HiFi upgrades, plus Nav?), which then directly feeds the speakers meaning, this means there's no speaker level output coming from the head unit going straight to the speakers. If this is the case then I can't see how the CK3000 could be made to work unless you fit it with a seperate speaker or somehow splice it in downstream of the amp.

To output from the car speakers, the CK3000 loom needs to plug in between the head unit multi connector and the head unit itself so it can intercept the feed to the speakers and output to them when required, so if there's an amp that powers the speakers rather than the head unit, and no way of intercepting the (optical) output from the head unit to the amp, the only way the CK3000 is going to be able to control the speakers is if it spliced in between the amp and the speakers, which Im not sure is possible or not. Even if it is possible, it's going to be more work than plugging into the head unit loom especially if the amp is in the boot.

I guess it really depends on what audio your car has fitted though, if its the basic unit then it should be OK, if it has upgrades to the audio/nav then it might be tricky.

I will say though that I can't claim to have any first hand knowledge of installing these in a Beemer so apologies if any of the above is incorrect, just thinking out loud going on experience from fitting a couple of CK3000s in prevous cars (with conventional wiring) and also reading up on it in preparation for fitting one to my 1 Series, but in the end the one I bought had OEM bluetooth so avoided having to fit one.

Hmm, it has the Logic 7 kit. Well, if they can't do it I'm promised my money back so will await the outcome! Thanks for the advice so far.

[coley20]

ive got a bt system in my car, it really is good, no idea about installing it though sorry