BlueBus: A fully integrated A2DP Bluetooth solution

[AdamM3]

Ted, question for you. I was trying to change the bass/treble etc. on my radio(business cd). I cant really do it because of the artist/ track information takes over the menu to quickly, the display overwrite seems really agressive. I think it have it in block mode, is that why its doing that? I dont adjust that very much so not a big deal, or maybe i have a setting wrong...

[Feakara]

When adjusting bass, treble etc. press the Bluetooth button then adjust your settings. When done press Bluetooth and get the meta data back on the display.

[t3ddftw]

When adjusting bass, treble etc. press the Bluetooth button then adjust your settings. When done press Bluetooth and get the meta data back on the display.

This is correct! For clarity, the "2" button on the Business Radio is the metadata button

-Ted

[AdamM3]

thanks!

[Stegi]

Hi Ted, Id love to get a unit for my car but I cant find the cables for connection. At the moment Iam using Grom and the car was originaly equiped with mobile phone holder so I assume the Bluebus should work also for phone calls. There was not a CD changer and I cant locate TCU neirher. The lose cable I have found is marked as "Tel. k". I have 2004 European touring. Can you pls check the cable Ive found and let me know if Ill be able to connect it somehow? Ill be happy to order neededconnectors from you if you have it. Thank you.

[t3ddftw]

Hi Ted, Id love to get a unit for my car but I cant find the cables for connection. At the moment Iam using Grom and the car was originaly equiped with mobile phone holder so I assume the Bluebus should work also for phone calls. There was not a CD changer and I cant locate TCU neirher. The lose cable I have found is marked as "Tel. k". I have 2004 European touring. Can you pls check the cable Ive found and let me know if Ill be able to connect it somehow? Ill be happy to order neededconnectors from you if you have it. Thank you.

Hey There!

I feel like you posted this elsewhere and I forgot to get back to you -- my apologies!

Anyways, it looks like your car did not come with the CD Changer prep package as the GROM unit has been tapped into power, ground and I-Bus from the BM54.

Can you remove the quadlock on the BM54 and snap a picture of the bottom holes? It's possible someone retrofit the 6 pin connector for the CD Changer, which would make the change to a BlueBus much easier.

In any case, you will at least need to re-tap the three wires in your picture for the BlueBus, and you'll need a three pin connector, but I can provide that (for a couple bucks USD, with a harness).

P.S. the three pin you found is power for the telephone compensator, I believe.

Thanks!
-Ted

[S54 Power]

Hooked up my Bluebus today and love it.

I couldn't immediately find instructions on how to pair my phone but eventually I watched this video (https://youtu.be/BlRXlBEV0ts?t=552) which also shows how to change various settings.

For those who prefer to read rather than watch a video: after hooking up the Bluebus you'll want to power up the car, press the "mode" button until the display says "bluetooth", and then use radio preset button 6 to put the Bluebus into pairing mode. Go to your phone and select the Bluebus, and you should be connected.

Enjoy!

[t3ddftw]

Hooked up my Bluebus today and love it.

I couldn't immediately find instructions on how to pair my phone but eventually I watched this video (https://youtu.be/BlRXlBEV0ts?t=552) which also shows how to change various settings.

For those who prefer to read rather than watch a video: after hooking up the Bluebus you'll want to power up the car, press the "mode" button until the display says "bluetooth", and then use radio preset button 6 to put the Bluebus into pairing mode. Go to your phone and select the Bluebus, and you should be connected.

Enjoy!

Awesome, glad you're enjoying it!

Yeah... Instructions need to be made for the unit. Just haven't had the time

https://github.com/tedsalmon/BlueBus/wiki/CD53-UI

This exists but it's also lacking

-Ted

[Fffrank]

Had the weirdest audio related thing of my life happen today and REALLY hoping there is an explanation because if not I'll need to call a priest and schedule an exorcism of my car.

Was listening to Spotify on my Galaxy Note 10+ today and in the middle of the song it started playing what sounded like a MIDI or Karaoke version of Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (like a record.) I checked my phone and it was still showing the previous track playing. I paused it - the midi song kept playing. I turned the power off to my phone (the midi song continued.) There was no other Bluetooth device nearby and the bluebus device still displayed my Note as the paired device (although the indicated light had turned red.)

The song finally stopped when I switched to FM and then back to the blue bus.

Pleeeeeease tell me that my car is not haunted by an 80s ghost?

[t3ddftw]

Had the weirdest audio related thing of my life happen today and REALLY hoping there is an explanation because if not I'll need to call a priest and schedule an exorcism of my car.

Was listening to Spotify on my Galaxy Note 10+ today and in the middle of the song it started playing what sounded like a MIDI or Karaoke version of Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (like a record.) I checked my phone and it was still showing the previous track playing. I paused it - the midi song kept playing. I turned the power off to my phone (the midi song continued.) There was no other Bluetooth device nearby and the bluebus device still displayed my Note as the paired device (although the indicated light had turned red.)

The song finally stopped when I switched to FM and then back to the blue bus.

Pleeeeeease tell me that my car is not haunted by an 80s ghost?

Uhhhhmmm, could Spotify maybe have bugged out? Could it have been the song you were listening to stuttering?

-Ted

[Fffrank]

Uhhhhmmm, could Spotify maybe have bugged out? Could it have been the song you were listening to stuttering?

-Ted

Def not stuttering and unlikely it was Spotify bugging out because it continued for over 2 minutes after my phone was completely powered down. Was really hoping I stumbled upon some kind of Easter egg or demo mode of the blue bus. Freaky!

[t3ddftw]

Def not stuttering and unlikely it was Spotify bugging out because it continued for over 2 minutes after my phone was completely powered down. Was really hoping I stumbled upon some kind of Easter egg or demo mode of the blue bus. Freaky!

Huh... That's a first. It sounds like the BC127 might have bugged out, then. That's not something I've experienced, but please let me know if it happens again.

Everyone else: please let me know if this is something you've experienced.

Thanks!
-Ted

[WOODOO]

Finally got around to putting mine in my 02 M3 after receiving it 2-3 weeks ago. Overall, it works great! I did have to fool around with mine a bit as it did not just work perfectly out of the box for me.
I unplugged my POS Grom unit and plugged in the BlueBus, easy. The first thing I noticed was this new bright red light on my Nav unit. I later found out this was the bluetooth status indicator. I noticed the new Bluetooth menu, cool! I connected my phone and say the red light turned green, Ooo. I tried to play a song and didn't hear anything even though my phone volume as maxed. I cranked up the volume on the Nav and could hear the song faintly along with some static. After trying different songs, turning the car on and off I thought the unit had an issue but then I browsed the settings. After awhile I found the "Volume" setting in the Audio menu. This was set to something like -20dB, strange. Clicking the knob decremented this value by 1, so after clicking the knob for what felt like an eternity I got from -20 to +24db back down to 0 db and the volume was good. I later set this to +5dB as I always found better Bluetooth audio quality with my phone around 50-75% volume. I tried out some of the other settings, At one point I set the Menu to "Dashboard" and could not get back to the settings menu (or "Main") that it normally showed. After fooling around more I got the setting menu to pop back up somehow but I have no idea how. So I set the Menu back to "Main" and will not change back to "Dashboard" again. I saw E39Source's video on these options but he skips over how he got back to the Settings menu.

Suggested software changes:
1. Make Audio Volume setting selectable and the adjust via clockwise/counter-clockwise instead of decrementing 1 with each click
2. Option to disable Bluetooth status indicator. This is a cool feature but I prefer no indicator. Didn't see a setting for this

Other suggestion:
1. Instruction section on webpage about controlling the unit from different BMW headunits, steering wheel controls, etc. E39Source youtube videos have been helpful but would be nicer to have diagrams, instructions or something instead of skimming those videos. Maybe there is and I just don't know where they are.

Also, I was wondering if there is a status page with shipment dates? I know you said the cases will ship later but I don't know when that will be. I also plan to order a TCU adapter, will do that now, but I'm not sure when those are anticipated to ship.

Lastly I just wanted to say awesome job on this project Ted! And thanks for creating this!

[t3ddftw]

Finally got around to putting mine in my 02 M3 after receiving it 2-3 weeks ago. Overall, it works great! I did have to fool around with mine a bit as it did not just work perfectly out of the box for me.
I unplugged my POS Grom unit and plugged in the BlueBus, easy. The first thing I noticed was this new bright red light on my Nav unit. I later found out this was the bluetooth status indicator. I noticed the new Bluetooth menu, cool! I connected my phone and say the red light turned green, Ooo. I tried to play a song and didn't hear anything even though my phone volume as maxed. I cranked up the volume on the Nav and could hear the song faintly along with some static. After trying different songs, turning the car on and off I thought the unit had an issue but then I browsed the settings. After awhile I found the "Volume" setting in the Audio menu. This was set to something like -20dB, strange. Clicking the knob decremented this value by 1, so after clicking the knob for what felt like an eternity I got from -20 to +24db back down to 0 db and the volume was good. I later set this to +5dB as I always found better Bluetooth audio quality with my phone around 50-75% volume. I tried out some of the other settings, At one point I set the Menu to "Dashboard" and could not get back to the settings menu (or "Main") that it normally showed. After fooling around more I got the setting menu to pop back up somehow but I have no idea how. So I set the Menu back to "Main" and will not change back to "Dashboard" again. I saw E39Source's video on these options but he skips over how he got back to the Settings menu.

Suggested software changes:
1. Make Audio Volume setting selectable and the adjust via clockwise/counter-clockwise instead of decrementing 1 with each click
2. Option to disable Bluetooth status indicator. This is a cool feature but I prefer no indicator. Didn't see a setting for this

Other suggestion:
1. Instruction section on webpage about controlling the unit from different BMW headunits, steering wheel controls, etc. E39Source youtube videos have been helpful but would be nicer to have diagrams, instructions or something instead of skimming those videos. Maybe there is and I just don't know where they are.

Also, I was wondering if there is a status page with shipment dates? I know you said the cases will ship later but I don't know when that will be. I also plan to order a TCU adapter, will do that now, but I'm not sure when those are anticipated to ship.

Lastly I just wanted to say awesome job on this project Ted! And thanks for creating this!

Thanks for your feedback! I'm really sorry you had trouble with the unit -- it should've come with the volume set to -10dB, which is about perfect for full phone volume on non-DSP vehicles. The menu issue leads me to believe you might have a buggy firmware version (I've iterated a few times since beginning to ship units).

I recommend upgrading the firmware on the BlueBus to this version: https://t3ddftw.s3.us-east-2.amazona...ebus_1_1_6.hex

Here are the upgrade instructions: https://github.com/tedsalmon/BlueBus...rmware-Upgrade

Suggested changes:
1. This is not really possible due to limitations of the UI. I might be able to improve this by removing all other options when an option is selected, then allowing you to rotate the wheel to change the setting. Selecting it again would set the value and return all other settings.
2. Sure! This is easy enough. For what it's worth, disabling Handsfree will also disable this indicator

On documentation: It will come. I know it sucks right now, but documentation is the bane of my existence, and I kept putting it off for software improvements.

There is no status page with shipment dates. I program and ship units as time allows, and I'm doing about 75 units per week at this point. I'm hoping to have all cases and TCU adapters out within the next three weeks.

Thanks again for your feedback! I will work towards integrating some your suggestions.

Thanks!
-Ted

[t3ddftw]

At one point I set the Menu to "Dashboard" and could not get back to the settings menu (or "Main") that it normally showed. After fooling around more I got the setting menu to pop back up somehow but I have no idea how. So I set the Menu back to "Main" and will not change back to "Dashboard" again. I saw E39Source's video on these options but he skips over how he got back to the Settings menu.

After reading this again, I think you might not be utilizing the "Dashboard" correctly. Once you're in there, tapping the knob once will drop you back to the Main Menu.

Hope this helps!
-Ted