BlueBus: A fully integrated A2DP Bluetooth solution

[t3ddftw]

Officially giving up and canceled my ECS order I’ve had since October 21.

It’s been far too long with little updates or support, other than further deadlines pushed back. Guess we’re stuck ordering an after market unit for functions

Sorry to hear that! I wish you would've responded to my PM back in March a bit quicker so I could've gotten you the hand-made unit I offered you. Either way, best of luck bringing your infotainment up to snuff.


To everyone else: If you're wondering the status of your order, the project or anything related to the BlueBus, checkout the website: https://www.bluebus.dev

I am also always down to chat, but keeping up with PMs and forum posts doesn't always work out either because I forget to check in on the threads or I miss an update email. Please email me at support@bluebus.dev if you have any questions about anything.

The current status is:
Assembly is slotted to take place late next week. They'll be shipped out from Australia back to the U.S. and I'll start shipping the last week of this month. It'll take me around one and a half weeks to get them all shipped out.

If you've been waiting for yours from ECS Tuning, they'll get their allocations within 2 - 3 days of them arriving at my door. They're still going to have around 10 units on back order until September, then they should actually have them in stock.

Thanks!
-Ted

[Chas3n]

Officially giving up and canceled my ECS order I’ve had since October 21.

It’s been far too long with little updates or support, other than further deadlines pushed back. Guess we’re stuck ordering an after market unit for functions

[hobo]

I didn't either until hobo brought that up .

-Ted

Can you even spell BMW, Ted?

[hobo]

Fair enough! Did not know it required the software disc, great info. Either way, I appreciate the reply.

No problem 😎

The language coding is a bit misleading. What you're ostensibly doing is choosing the navigation speech "synthesis".

In terms of mid-90s consumer electronics, the storage requirements for this are quite large, hence it's only possible to store a subset of languages on the device.

"How large?" I hear you definitely not asking. Great question! Many, many megabytes!

1.8M 26 Jul 2001 d_f.csf
797K 8  Oct 1998 d_m.csf
1.8M 26 Jul 2001 e_f.csf
759K 8  Oct 1998 e_m.csf
1.5M 23 Jan 2002 f_f.csf
680K 8  Oct 1998 f_m.csf
1.4M 26 Jul 2001 gb_f.csf
592K 8  Oct 1998 gb_m.csf
1.9M 28 Jan 2002 i_f.csf
844K 8  Oct 1998 i_m.csf
2.0M 26 Jul 2001 usa_f.csf
688K 23 Jan 2001 usa_m.csf

Hence, when you update the language coding, you need the disc in order to copy the applicable speech "synthesis" files to the device 😊

[t3ddftw]

Not my photo, this is from a youtube installation video, but yes. The telephone cable bundle did have the blue connector and a black wire. So I should try that solution you linked and go from there?

Yeah, the SES adapter will work if the connector is blue. And yes, the rest of your issue can be resolved with the other connector I linked .

Hey Ted I signed up for the June batch I believe will we receive a email when it’s ready to so we can make payment?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Did you pre-purchase from me or ECS Tuning? If not, you won't have a reservation which means you'll end up in the September batch -- I'm sorry.

Fair enough! Did not know it required the software disc, great info. Either way, I appreciate the reply.

I didn't either until hobo brought that up .

-Ted

[repoman89]

While simple in principle, such a feature has a major drawback.

Coding different languages requires the navigation software disc. Thus, a convenience feature becomes a major inconvenience when you can't find said disc (assuming you even have one...!). Here is Jochen- author of NavCoder, confirming the need for the disc: https://xoutpost.com/665701-post4.html

Putting that aside, there's also the cost/benefit. This is not a trivial feature to implement, and based on the nature of BlueBlue support queries, if you're swapping navigation units, understand coding, and are familiar with NavCoder, you're not a representative of BlueBus user, thus it's unlikely to benefit more than a handful of users.

My point being, it'll take us longer to implement than it'll take you to code via NavCoder 😋

Fair enough! Did not know it required the software disc, great info. Either way, I appreciate the reply.

[hobo]

t3ddftw — minor feature request

Would it be possible to sync the language of the nav computer with the language setting in bluebus? I know NavCoder can set the nav language via ibus so should be doable.

I swapped in a Mk4 to my E39 either without a language setting or set to Spanish and now the cluster messages are all Spanish — Bluebus could correct that and save an ibus interface purchase.

While simple in principle, such a feature has a major drawback.

Coding different languages requires the navigation software disc. Thus, a convenience feature becomes a major inconvenience when you can't find said disc (assuming you even have one...!). Here is Jochen- author of NavCoder, confirming the need for the disc: https://xoutpost.com/665701-post4.html

Putting that aside, there's also the cost/benefit. This is not a trivial feature to implement, and based on the nature of BlueBlue support queries, if you're swapping navigation units, understand coding, and are familiar with NavCoder, you're not a representative of BlueBus user, thus it's unlikely to benefit more than a handful of users.

My point being, it'll take us longer to implement than it'll take you to code via NavCoder 😋

[repoman89]

t3ddftw — minor feature request

Would it be possible to sync the language of the nav computer with the language setting in bluebus? I know NavCoder can set the nav language via ibus so should be doable.

I swapped in a Mk4 to my E39 either without a language setting or set to Spanish and now the cluster messages are all Spanish — Bluebus could correct that and save an ibus interface purchase.

[Grke46m3]

Hey Ted I signed up for the June batch I believe will we receive a email when it’s ready to so we can make payment?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[campful]

Sorry, I didn't get notified about these updates



For the telephony connectors you found, was there a Blue one, Black one, or both?

Since your car has Nav, it's not too difficult to rectify the CD Changer wiring situation -- the easiest bet is this: https://shop.elektronikidee.de/de/bm...kabelbaum.html




It's weird that the BlueBus is randomly connecting to your phone. This should not happen until the ignition position 1 message is seen on the bus.

Do you have any oddities with the ignition cylinder?

The fact that you know the BlueBus is shutting itself off tells me that it's probably not at fault, since the way that would've worked is the BlueBus just stays on and sends messages that wake the rest of the car up.

-Ted

Not my photo, this is from a youtube installation video, but yes. The telephone cable bundle did have the blue connector and a black wire. So I should try that solution you linked and go from there?

[t3ddftw]

To clarify, I didn't verify that the BlueBus was properly shutting itself off until after I upgraded the firmware. I never leave the car unlocked in the garage, so this is the first time I've come across this situation. I don't think there's anything odd about my ignition cylinder, but it does stick once in a while and I have to turn it with a bit of force past the initial position.

Nothing changed from .16 to .18 with regards to how the BlueBus shuts itself down, so there's that.

If it keeps happening, it would be interesting to note what lights, if any, are on in the cabin (cluster display, radio, etc).

If your battery is draining to the point of needing a jump, it may be worth removing the BlueBus and seeing if that persists (which I would expect it would).

-Ted

[r4dr]

It's weird that the BlueBus is randomly connecting to your phone. This should not happen until the ignition position 1 message is seen on the bus.

Do you have any oddities with the ignition cylinder?

The fact that you know the BlueBus is shutting itself off tells me that it's probably not at fault, since the way that would've worked is the BlueBus just stays on and sends messages that wake the rest of the car up.

-Ted

To clarify, I didn't verify that the BlueBus was properly shutting itself off until after I upgraded the firmware. I never leave the car unlocked in the garage, so this is the first time I've come across this situation. I don't think there's anything odd about my ignition cylinder, but it does stick once in a while and I have to turn it with a bit of force past the initial position.

[t3ddftw]

Sorry, I didn't get notified about these updates

Hi guys following up on my post about getting a blubus for free. I went to install this on my 2001 BMW M3 with 4:3 Nav (cd changer in the back). Well upon digging, I do have the CD changer which should have the two connections I need to plug into the blubus, but the previous owner did a custom sub/amp setup with custom wiring. I cannot find the two connection needed even though the car came wired from factory. The CD changer was unplugged. I did also find the bundled cables which have the phone mic. My BMW tech who was installing this with me recommended asking if there is a connector cable that would work with the mic wires I found?
I can provide photos if needed. Regardless pretty bummed the PO installed this setup and it's not as plug and play as I hoped given this weird setup.

For the telephony connectors you found, was there a Blue one, Black one, or both?

Since your car has Nav, it's not too difficult to rectify the CD Changer wiring situation -- the easiest bet is this: https://shop.elektronikidee.de/de/bm...kabelbaum.html

Someone in here had the idea to leave a USB cable plugged in and accessible without taking the trunk apart, and I would HIGHLY recommend that. I had a battery drain issue where the car would die if left unlocked, and I happened to narrow it down to the BlueBus because my phone kept connecting to it via Bluetooth at random times from the garage. I ended up running a cable through the nav drive door, so future firmware updates are as easy as opening that.

Still loving the BlueBus. My favorite QOL mod for this car.

I went from the .16 firmware to .18, we'll see if that fixes my issue. I verified that the BlueBus green light turns off at ~60 seconds.

It's weird that the BlueBus is randomly connecting to your phone. This should not happen until the ignition position 1 message is seen on the bus.

Do you have any oddities with the ignition cylinder?

The fact that you know the BlueBus is shutting itself off tells me that it's probably not at fault, since the way that would've worked is the BlueBus just stays on and sends messages that wake the rest of the car up.

-Ted

[r4dr]

Someone in here had the idea to leave a USB cable plugged in and accessible without taking the trunk apart, and I would HIGHLY recommend that. I had a battery drain issue where the car would die if left unlocked, and I happened to narrow it down to the BlueBus because my phone kept connecting to it via Bluetooth at random times from the garage. I ended up running a cable through the nav drive door, so future firmware updates are as easy as opening that.

Still loving the BlueBus. My favorite QOL mod for this car.

I went from the .16 firmware to .18, we'll see if that fixes my issue. I verified that the BlueBus green light turns off at ~60 seconds.

[campful]

Hi guys following up on my post about getting a blubus for free. I went to install this on my 2001 BMW M3 with 4:3 Nav (cd changer in the back). Well upon digging, I do have the CD changer which should have the two connections I need to plug into the blubus, but the previous owner did a custom sub/amp setup with custom wiring. I cannot find the two connection needed even though the car came wired from factory. The CD changer was unplugged. I did also find the bundled cables which have the phone mic. My BMW tech who was installing this with me recommended asking if there is a connector cable that would work with the mic wires I found?
I can provide photos if needed. Regardless pretty bummed the PO installed this setup and it's not as plug and play as I hoped given this weird setup.