Anyone installed the phone and compensator in a 2002 M5? - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

AMP · 10th January 2002, 02:02

Hi All,

I decided to buy a gift for my car as an apology for what those nasty guys at the dealer did to it

...so I took advantage of the "5 series parts special" and purchased the phone, compensator, and SES.

Everything installed fine, but it appears that the compensator has different connectors than the cables in the car. On the compensator there are screw-type UHF connectors. The antenna cables in the car have plastic slip-lock connectors. Is the compensator no longer required? Is there a new part with new connectors? Are there adaptors that I can purchase?

Has anyone done this install in a 2002? Was there a compensator?

If you have the phone and compensator installed in the car can you describe the connectors?

I'm stumped on how to fit this together (right now I have the antenna cables plugged together.

Any ideas? The dealer has a 20% restocking fee which I would hate to pay if I got the wrong parts!

Thanks,
-Andrew

AMP · 10th January 2002, 17:39

In case anyone is interested and for the benefit of future searchers...

The new connectors are called Fakra connectors. They are apparently the latest rage in automotive RF connectors. In order to connect to the compensator you need 2 adapter plugs which are both available from BMW.

84 11 0 025 711 Male Fakra -> Male Mini UHF
84 11 0 142 823 Female Fakra -> Male Mini UHF

I found these spec'd as part of the Z8 phone install kit on the bmwwireless site. I don't know if there's a new compensator install kit for the '02 M5 as I just used the part numbers for the E39 on the bmwwireless site.

One word of caution on the Fakra connectors. The center pin is very small and very fragile. I should know..... mine broke off! ... and I was careful with it! Rather than find a new Fakra connector I'm just going to cut them both off and go back to Mini-UHF.

Later,
-Andrew

Dallas Spikes · 10th January 2002, 22:12

Interesting! I have a very similar problem.

Took delivery of car with phone in Nov. Compensator was backordered. Later compensator came in and I took it in for installation. However, there were no "connectors" in the compensator box was the word I was given.

Now, I find that the mystery connectors are available, but there's no time to fit me in the service schedule. How hard are the connectors to put on yourself and where do they go? My car is connected up right now with the compensator just sitting in the trunk.

Chris

GlennR · 10th January 2002, 22:38

If you get the connector, you can put it in yourself. The compensator is hidden behind the panel in front of the NAV/CD unit led in the trunk. I'll check and see if I had to use the connector.

Paul S · 10th January 2002, 22:40

please tell me how your service is without the compensator. i had the cpt 7000 w/o comp and had great reception. i have the cpt 8000 with comp and reception is poor and i have many dropped calls. i'm wondering if the dealer installed correctly. att service with both.
thanks.

Dallas Spikes · 11th January 2002, 00:06

germansedanfan,

Reception is adequate on both ends without the compensator. Occasional dropped call, but reception is at least somewhat better than my handheld. Both are with AT&T service. I will let you know what it's like after the compensator is hooked up for a fair comparison.

Did you stay with the same company with your service from the 7000 to the 8000? Also, the 7000 was an analog phone (I think) and the 8000 is digital. Two points about this:

1. Whichever provider you are using (assuming that it's the same one with both 7000 & 8000) may have poor digital coverage in your area, but great analog coverage.

2. The compensator is unique to digital technology and was not used with analog and therefore not available with the 7000. However, the analogs usually had a booster installed in car that amplified the signal. It used to be very common to have MUCH better reception with a car analog phone vs. handheld analog. You can't use a 'booster' with digital signals, so a compensator essentially adds antenna to your system (simplified, of course) and supposedly improves the reception. I'll let you know if I notice a difference when and if mine ever gets hooked up.

Of course, if I'm off base and the 7000 was digital, then I'll have to think about it again and all the above is mute and void.

Chris

Paul S · 11th January 2002, 00:55

thanks for the thoughtful reply chris. the cpt 7000 is digital as well, and i was with att with it.

Dallas Spikes · 11th January 2002, 01:07

So sorry, I was mistaken. I thought the first digital phone for BMW in the US was the 8000. Oooops!

About halfway through writing that response, I thought "he's probably already thought this through." It goes back to the saying, "If it seems too good (easy) to be true, it probably is."

Don't have a clue then, but I'll give you my comparison if and when it comes.

Chris

atomic80 · 11th January 2002, 01:38

I think that JimC did the install himself and could have a few words to say here too.

Jason

DarkStar · 11th January 2002, 02:48

Andrew, I had the phone installed in my '01 and had the same problem with the connector not fitting properly. My dealer did the install and had to special order the part which took two extra weeks.

In the meantime, I drove around for 2 weeks without the compensator hooked up--just the phone. It was horrible. Dropped calls all the time (Bay Area Verizon). To use the phone I had to have it unplugged from the car, as it would hardly hold a signal otherwise. There is a feature in the nav screen where you can see your signal strength while the phone is plugged in. Most of the time it was only one or two bars.

Once the compensator was hooked up, things were fine. Phone works great. I use it non-stop and I think I have dropped 1 call in 6 months. Signal strength stays pegged at 6 bars.

Hope that helps.

-Alex

GlennR · 11th January 2002, 15:19

I've never had a dropped call since installing the compensator. Of course it might also depend on your service provider. Don't forget that most of those phones put out less than 3-4 watts and even less by the time its hits you antenna. Some guys are probably lucky to live close to a microwave tower so they don't have that problem.