Prof Sat Nav/ USB Port

[Trikster]

Just looking at a couple of used 123d Coupes.. not after a critique of our choice, but am a little confused with the options. The blurb for the Prof Sat nav states that it comes with a USB port for uploading music - but is this the same as the USB port you can connect the iPod to?

Just that it looks from the brochure that you can specify both together, which does imply they are different things, but it's not entirely clear - if that is the case where is the sat navs USB port located? tia

[garreth64]

Just bought a 123d coupe and I have two seperate USB ports.

There is one in the glovebox which I haven't used yet. I beleive this is the one you can use for uploading music to the hard drive with the professional nav.

The other one is under the central armrest next to an Aux port. This is an additional optional extra (around £200) that allows you to connect an iPod/iPhone/USB memory stick, display artist/track names on screen and control via idrive, steering wheel controls etc. I've got a 16gb memory stick in mine and works great. If u want to use an iPod you need the BMW lead which costs £40!

[waremark]

And if you use an iPhone (no doubt applies to other devices too) there is a further option to be able to have the phone plugged in to the car aerial at the same time as controlling the music through the iDrive.

My son has a 123d Coupe - very good, but the 125i may be better unless you do an awful lot of motorway miles.

[Trikster]

Thanks guys - so it looks like they are seperate.... now I think I saw somewhere they USB port could be retrofitted... will have a search.

Oh, and going to be doing 18-20k m/way miles a year, hence the 'd'... and want something pretty compact as I live in the sticks with narrow lanes...

[aeropilot]

That's interesting, as when I was in my local BMW dealer a month or so back trying (in vain to arrange a test drive of a 135i) I asked the sales bint whether you need to order the £200 USB option with the Pro Sat Nav to be able to upload to the hard drive, and she said yes, I'm afraid so.....grrrrr

[RacingTeatray]

waremark said:

And if you use an iPhone (no doubt applies to other devices too) there is a further option to be able to have the phone plugged in to the car aerial at the same time as controlling the music through the iDrive.

How do you do that?

[///Mike]

aeropilot said:

That's interesting, as when I was in my local BMW dealer a month or so back trying (in vain to arrange a test drive of a 135i) I asked the sales bint whether you need to order the £200 USB option with the Pro Sat Nav to be able to upload to the hard drive, and she said yes, I'm afraid so.....grrrrr

+1 I own an AW 135i and specced the usb port under the armrest so i could use my iphone. Didnt even realise there was a separate usb port in the glove box. Will have to look for that later. I cannot find a way to upload my music from the iphone but in all fairness I haven't spent much time trying. I was thinking of putting all the music i want on a separate mp3 player i have and trying it that way thinking it was apple software that was stopping me from uploading what I wanted to.

[northandy]

garreth64 said:

If u want to use an iPod you need the BMW lead which costs £40!

We havent, we use the standard ipod usb lead and it works prefectly.

[RacingTeatray]

I found with the standard USB cable (ie the white one), that I could play all the tracks I uploaded from CDs, but none of the ones I downloaded from iTunes. The only way of curing that was to buy and use the BMW cable, at which point it all worked perfectly.

[northandy]

ah that explains it, we havent ever bought anything from itunes, i prefer getting something for my money.

[northandy]

ah that explains it, we havent ever bought anything from itunes, i prefer getting something for my money.

[gizlaroc]

Trikster said:

Thanks guys - so it looks like they are seperate.... now I think I saw somewhere they USB port could be retrofitted... will have a search.

Oh, and going to be doing 18-20k m/way miles a year, hence the 'd'... and want something pretty compact as I live in the sticks with narrow lanes...

You can retrofit bluetooth, if the car has phone and idrive you need to swap over the MULF module (bluetooth box) for an MULF2 Hi module and wire in the usb hub and connector. The retrofit kit is only £130 before dicount, however the MULF2 Hi is just over £600 so it starts getting pricey.

Here are the instructions...

USB Retrofit


Let me know if you're interested as I can get the MULF2 units used, they are tested and up to date and normally around £150, most people charge between £180-300 for them.

I have literally just sold one today for £120 which would have been perfect.

There is one on ebay at the moment for £180, I may have another one being offered to me on Monday, mate wanted one but has now bought a Pioneer AVIC-F500BT to fit to his 1er like I have so he no longer needs it.




Before anyone else asks, read the instructions to see what is involved.

If you have a 1, 3 or 5 series you can retrofit the bluetooth.
You need at least a prof radio or one of the navs.
If you have business nav or prof radio and bluetooth along with voice you already have the module and can just buy the extra wiring and usb socket and go.

Coding is best done through a local garage who use Autologic, will charge for 30mins to 1 hour, so between £35-100 depending on time and location.

Edited by gizlaroc on Friday 30th October 18:31

[///Mike]

Damn, I tried my iPhone in the USB port in the glovebox and the device is not recognised.

[gizlaroc]

The USB in the glove box is for transfering music to the hard drive from a stick, the usb/ipod connector is in the armrest.

[///Mike]

gizlaroc said:

The USB in the glove box is for transfering music to the hard drive from a stick, the usb/ipod connector is in the armrest.

Its just the iPhone then as I tried to do it from both.

I will have to put all the music I want on a stick and do it that way, not impossible, just a few hours work and a bit of a PITA but if I only have to do it once its all good I suppose.

[aeropilot]

///Mike said:

gizlaroc said:

The USB in the glove box is for transfering music to the hard drive from a stick, the usb/ipod connector is in the armrest.

Its just the iPhone then as I tried to do it from both.

I will have to put all the music I want on a stick and do it that way, not impossible, just a few hours work and a bit of a PITA but if I only have to do it once its all good I suppose.

Yes, as I now understand it, that's the way it's been designed to work.

The usb in the glove box is designed for data transfer to the hdd from a portable data storage device....NOT a media player.

The optional usb in the arm rest is a connection for playing audio files loaded on your portable media device through the car's audio...NOT a data transfer connection to the hdd.

[jayjayrs]

Hello,

Very interesting thread!
I have my bunch of quesions :-)

gizlaroc said:

You can retrofit bluetooth, if the car has phone and idrive you need to swap over the MULF module (bluetooth box) for an MULF2 Hi module and wire in the usb hub and connector.

You mean you can retrofit USB, when you have Bluetooth already?

gizlaroc said:

Let me know if you're interested as I can get the MULF2 units used, they are tested and up to date and normally around £150, most people charge between £180-300 for them.

Is there really no problem for BMW dealers to code second hand MULF like these?

Thanks

Edited by jayjayrs on Friday 17th December 14:24

Edited by jayjayrs on Friday 17th December 14:24

[gizlaroc]

Yeah, if you have phone and no nav you have the parts needed other than the retrofit harness, this is now around £340 after discount.

If you have nav you will have to buy a newer phone module that has USB as well, the reason the cars without nav have this is the voice control is built into the nav but built into the nav on nav cars.

It is called an MULF-2 or MULF-Hi if searching on ebay.

[gizlaroc]

If your dealer won't code it any garage with Autologic will.

Dealer charge around £100 where as an Autologic garage will be around £60 and a lot easier to deal with.

[jayjayrs]

Hi,

Thanks for your answer.
So after a hard search, I found a shop that has the autologic system with "write" ablility (and not just read)
But the thing is that they have the habit to modify parametres on french cars (Renault, Peugeot...) and not on german ones, thus not on BMW. Apparently, it's much harder(??)

But the guy I had was willing to to this, and asked me if I had a specific procedure?
Is there a specific way for this kind of programming, some kind of "how to" pdf that would help to programm MULF2 with autologic?

Thanks

Edited by jayjayrs on Monday 20th December 15:38