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Fully Integrated Bluetooth Solution

226K views 1K replies 168 participants last post by  Rittmeister 
#1 ·
Hey guys!

I'd like to share a project I have been working on for almost a year -- it's a Bluetooth adapter for our cars that integrates as if it were factory equipment, much like the "Intravee". The adapter, known as the BlueBus, also integrates with other vehicles from the E39 era which were equipped with the IBus.

The only thing to note here as that I'm still working on MID integration.

Here's a video explaining the BlueBus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO9WvRbNzZg

You will also find more information about the project on the website listed below.

Anyways, I'm getting close to having them manufactured, so if there's any interest for it here, I have a "pre-order" form on the project website: https://www.bluebus.dev

I will not be taking money from anyone until I am ready to send off to manufacture, so keep that in mind, please.

Additionally, if you're capable, the project is fully open source, so you can have the boards built and source all of the components yourself, if you wanted :).

P.S. The main thread where I have been talking about the development of this module is over on M3F: Interest in a fully integrated A2DP Bluetooth solution? - BMW M3 Forum.com (E30 M3 | E36 M3 | E46 M3 | E92 M3 | F80/X)

Thanks!
-Ted
 
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#1,104 ·
Very excited Ted! I'm order #3050, how do those look? Might hit you up with a question re install, PO put in DICE unit.
 
#1,108 ·
1 more question Ted .
I have found the digital cable for the bluebus , and the 3 pin power for the CD player , mine is not equipped with 6 disc .
But i have nothing in that pit of harnesses that have 6 pins and match the bluebus .
I plugged in the digital feed and power .
My mid powers up and i can pair my phone , but have no audio other than a buzz .
I presume it is because i have not found the audio plug .
 
#1,109 ·
1 more question Ted .
I have found the digital cable for the bluebus , and the 3 pin power for the CD player , mine is not equipped with 6 disc .
But i have nothing in that pit of harnesses that have 6 pins and match the bluebus .
I plugged in the digital feed and power .
My mid powers up and i can pair my phone , but have no audio other than a buzz .
I presume it is because i have not found the audio plug .
It's probably best to email me for support (support@bluebus.dev) but it's not that you're missing the 6-pin connector, it's likely that the coax isn't making a good connection. Can you swap ends so the right angled end is in the BlueBus and the straight end is in the Amplifier?

Thanks!
-Ted
 
#1,112 ·
Super pleased with the unit. Was a little worried old DICE install would complicate things, actually made it easy to find the power and radio plugs. Almost thought I was going to have to call you @t3ddftw could not find the DSP plug anywhere. PO had it up behind the Nav DVD. One time after install the display would drop out of BlueBus mode, hasn't happened since. Hands free, streaming and a bunch of extra features like auto unlock? And from a guy who had been great to the enthusiast community?

Anyone on the fence order one today!


Trunk Electrical wiring Motor vehicle Gas Vehicle door
 
#1,114 ·
I mounted mine using one of the case holes with a spare nut and use of the CD changer bracket. Nice and snug, plus no interference with the cubby door.
Electrical wiring Gas Cable Machine Wire


Hey @t3ddftw I know it was talked about awhile back. Can't remember specifically when. But was there any possibility of having the mirrors fold/unfold when it came to lock/unlocking as a future feature? I'd dig through the thread, but I don't have the time to go through 1k post lol.
 
#1,115 ·
Hey @t3ddftw I know it was talked about awhile back. Can't remember specifically when. But was there any possibility of having the mirrors fold/unfold when it came to lock/unlocking as a future feature? I'd dig through the thread, but I don't have the time to go through 1k post lol.
I know this feature has been in the pipeline for a while, but I've needed to prioritise family in the last year or two.

While it's a reasonably straight forward feature, it requires a good deal of due diligence, as issuing the wrong diagnostic command can be potentially hazardous. This became apparent when developing comfort blinkers, as the command to activate the blinker in one vehicle would activate high beams in another. As you can imagine, unwittingly blinding oncoming traffic is, er..., suboptimal, to say the least!

However, unlike the light modules- which are reasonably straight forward with only eight variants, the central body electronics (ZKE) encapsulates over twenty module variants between three buses (K-Bus, I-Bus, and P-Bus). I've already experienced the pitfalls of this complexity when during testing I managed to double lock/arrest the doors (as you would when leaving the car), but.... the key was still in the ignition. Needless to say, I've gotten used to entering/exiting the car via the boot which now remains ajar during development :p

Anywho, the feature is largely completed, but you'll have to bear with me. I'll get there! :)
 
#1,116 ·
I received my unit last week. After a few initial difficulties, it works for now. However, I still have the following problems:

• Autostart does not always work. Especially when you come back to the car after several hours.
• Sometimes the green LED on the BM lights up directly, but then changes to the permanently flashing red.
Most of the time, the red LED flashes permanently from the beginning.
• OBC High does not work. It is activated but it only sometimes shows CDC [...] but not the name of the tracks
• sometimes the connection with Bluetooth is messed up, I had to disconnect the device from power, because nothing worked

Positive things:

• the audio quality is really very good. I previously had a BT receiver on the AUX pins on the radio and the difference is like night and day.
• Phone worked right away and the person I was talking to understood me clearly right away

Is there somewhere an overview of what all the settings mean? I must have forgotten. For example, I have no idea what is meant by the setting BMBT.

And I think there was a discussion/vote about what should happen at Follow me Home / Leaving home?
It would really, really be a dream to have the Angel Eyes light up for a few seconds when unlocking and locking the car. If this option could be added it would be perfect.

My configuration:

09/2000 E39 facelift
16:9
BM54
MK4
No DSP
Bluebus adapted via SES
cord telephone (no longer needed)

@t3ddftw
 
#1,117 ·
I received my unit last week. After a few initial difficulties, it works for now. However, I still have the following problems:

• Autostart does not always work. Especially when you come back to the car after several hours.
• Sometimes the green LED on the BM lights up directly, but then changes to the permanently flashing red.
Most of the time, the red LED flashes permanently from the beginning.
• OBC High does not work. It is activated but it only sometimes shows CDC [...] but not the name of the tracks
• sometimes the connection with Bluetooth is messed up, I had to disconnect the device from power, because nothing worked

Positive things:

• the audio quality is really very good. I previously had a BT receiver on the AUX pins on the radio and the difference is like night and day.
• Phone worked right away and the person I was talking to understood me clearly right away

Is there somewhere an overview of what all the settings mean? I must have forgotten. For example, I have no idea what is meant by the setting BMBT.

And I think there was a discussion/vote about what should happen at Follow me Home / Leaving home?
It would really, really be a dream to have the Angel Eyes light up for a few seconds when unlocking and locking the car. If this option could be added it would be perfect.

My configuration:

09/2000 E39 facelift
16:9
BM54
MK4
No DSP
Bluebus adapted via SES
cord telephone (no longer needed)

@t3ddftw
1. Autoplay is a bit inconsistent, and I am going to work on that, however sometimes your phone kills the media app to save memory / battery, so it's not "on" to listen for the "play" event that the BlueBus sends.

2. Sounds like you still have the cordless phone module connected.

3. OBC High has never worked. It has never been considered an important feature, but it is on the TODO list.

4. You'll have to explain this in a bit more detail (what was going on, how many times it has happened, etc).

Settings are documented here: BoardMonitor UI

I'm still unsure how I want to handle follow me home / welcome home lights. That's the only reason I haven't implemented it

-Ted
 
#1,119 ·
Hey Ted,

Got my BlueBus a few weeks ago for my 2001 E39 M5 and it's working great but wondering if you have any input on the following.

1. There's low static coming through the speakers at any volume. Once I have music playing the static gets drowned out, but if I'm sitting in my car in silence, you can hear it. Is this normal or should I try replacing the digital dsp cable?

2. When starting my car the bluetooth connects with no issue and the autoplay feature works great, but the screen display does not switch over to the BlueBus dashboard unless I turn off the radio and then turn it back on. Have you come across this before and have any troubleshooting advice?

3. Do you have any mounting advice? Ryan from E39source's bracket mounting solution looks to be most ideal but it's a bit overkill for me. I was planning on using double-sided tape and sticking it against the amp as I've seen others do in this thread, but wanted your input if that's not advisable for any reason (overheating, vibrations, things of that nature).

#1 and #2 are both very minor inconveniences and apart from that you've created a fantastic product. Can't wait to see what new features are added in the future!
 
#1,120 ·
Hey Ted,

Got my BlueBus a few weeks ago for my 2001 E39 M5 and it's working great but wondering if you have any input on the following.

1. There's low static coming through the speakers at any volume. Once I have music playing the static gets drowned out, but if I'm sitting in my car in silence, you can hear it. Is this normal or should I try replacing the digital dsp cable?

2. When starting my car the bluetooth connects with no issue and the autoplay feature works great, but the screen display does not switch over to the BlueBus dashboard unless I turn off the radio and then turn it back on. Have you come across this before and have any troubleshooting advice?

3. Do you have any mounting advice? Ryan from E39source's bracket mounting solution looks to be most ideal but it's a bit overkill for me. I was planning on using double-sided tape and sticking it against the amp as I've seen others do in this thread, but wanted your input if that's not advisable for any reason (overheating, vibrations, things of that nature).

#1 and #2 are both very minor inconveniences and apart from that you've created a fantastic product. Can't wait to see what new features are added in the future!
Not Ted, but I think the audio hiss is kinda normal to a BMW, unrelated to the BlueBus. I've noticed it in all of my (4) E39s. It's probably some circuit somewhere, but I don't know what it is and it's never bothered me enough to go chasing it.

The BlueBus interface should come up automatically if it was the last thing on the display. If you press the little "Radio/screen" button (the one that switches between radio and whatever other screen function you were last using, opposite the Mode button), it should bring forward the BlueBus interface.
 
#1,123 · (Edited)
Got my bluebus in and it's been great... when it works. I'm having an intermittent static-y issue and was wondering if anyone had suggestions for a potential fix. 2000 M5 with MK2 and 4:3 nav. Already tested a different C43 and switching ends on the coax cable. No change. It seems to happen most frequently after sitting overnight and the noise is present in all modes. I have a 16:9 that I could try testing but I really would prefer to keep my 4:3 nav if that isn't the issue. I never had this happen until after the bluebus installation.


 
#1,124 ·
Same! Your video is spot on but it doesn't really do justice to how loud the static is. Even at low volume it's practically deafening and scared me half to death the first time it happened. I have to turn off the car and turn it back on for it to work again but it always comes back unexpectedly. I also tried switching ends of the DSP cable with no luck. I have the MK3 with 16x9 nav so I don't think it's due to your MK2 with 4x3.
 
#1,128 ·
Glad to hear as I'm planning on doing the same. I was originally going to switch to analog dsp but I'd rather just switch out the amp and stick with digital dsp. Any noticeable differences with sound with the Philips? I also have a Lear amp and am curious if there's any noticeable differences with the Philips amps.
 
#1,131 ·
Hi Ted - I wonder if there's a roadmap over the next few quarters/years for software features now that the new hardware is out? In terms of smaller things, having song information in the cluster display would be awesome. In terms of larger things, I think reactivating the armrest telephone for handheld calls via the bluebus would be an insanely cool retro feature (I assume by emulating the original telephone box on the bluebus).

I wonder if there's a Kickstarter-like way for Bluebus users like us to contribute to future software updates financially (realizing that as Bluebus hardware starts to fully penetrate the BMW enthusiast community, there will need to be future revenue streams to make continued investment of your time worth it)
 
#1,132 ·
Hi Ted - I wonder if there's a roadmap over the next few quarters/years for software features now that the new hardware is out? In terms of smaller things, having song information in the cluster display would be awesome. In terms of larger things, I think reactivating the armrest telephone for handheld calls via the bluebus would be an insanely cool retro feature (I assume by emulating the original telephone box on the bluebus).

I wonder if there's a Kickstarter-like way for Bluebus users like us to contribute to future software updates financially (realizing that as Bluebus hardware starts to fully penetrate the BMW enthusiast community, there will need to be future revenue streams to make continued investment of your time worth it)
There's no real roadmap, to be honest. The next features coming are:
1. Time Sync via GPS (Nav Only)
2. Time Sync via iPhone (only iOS supports it) on HW 1.x units
3. Navigation Map autozoom based on speed
4. Welcome Home / Follow me home lights

After that, auto folding mirrors, as well as better support for the myriad of body modules that BMW used over the years.

Displaying song info in the cluster on song change would be pretty easy -- it's just one of those things I don't notice as an E46 guy :p

On the topic of the hardware, I'm having to make some alterations as the 2.x redesign introduced some incompatibilities with certain DSP amplifiers and digital audio. So, HW 2.5 will be a thing soon o_O

Reactivating the armrest phone is out of the question. Not only would it require additional hardware, but it would require a lot of reverse engineering. Even worse, using a handheld is illegal in 30 / 50 states.

For now, I am not too worried about funding development of the software. These are still selling at a consistent rate, with zero marketing being put into action, so I'm well motivated. Plus, I am my own end user, so I will always be tweaking things and adding features.

-Ted
 
#1,134 ·
Great to hear that soon new functionalities will be added to the BlueBus :D
 
#1,135 ·
Hey @t3ddftw are there any new phones you know of that are having compatibility or connection issues with Bluebus? Asking because my Samsung Galaxy S10+ is over 3 years old and the battery is shot. So it'll have to be replaced soon. Not sure what I'll get for replacement. But I'd hate to get a new phone only to find out it's not going to work. I have the most recent software on my Bluebus.
 
#1,142 ·
There are no known compatibility issues after the Samsung Galaxy S8 :)

Hi Ted, Came across this old thread and wonder if your project is finalized anf if it works on BMW bike like K1200LT 2005-2009? They have a BNW Profesional 2000 HU which is a Becker radio probably Mexico. BR
I don't know anything about "Beamers" :D. I would not expect it to work, at least out of the box because I doubt your bike's IKE broadcasts ignition status. Even if it does work, it would be overkill IMO.

Hey Ted. Have you had time to fix the issue with the BMBT off feature where the screen won't turn back on?
Yeah, that's fixed in the newest builds.

-Ted
 
#1,136 ·
Hey guys! I'd like to share a project I have been working on for almost a year -- it's a Bluetooth adapter for our cars that integrates as if it were factory equipment, much like the "Intravee". The adapter, known as the BlueBus, also integrates with other vehicles from the E39 era which were equipped with the IBus. The only thing to note here as that I'm still working on MID integration. Here's a video explaining the BlueBus: You will also find more information about the project on the website listed below. Anyways, I'm getting close to having them manufactured, so if there's any interest for it here, I have a "pre-order" form on the project website: BlueBus I will not be taking money from anyone until I am ready to send off to manufacture, so keep that in mind, please. Additionally, if you're capable, the project is fully open source, so you can have the boards built and source all of the components yourself, if you wanted :). P.S. The main thread where I have been talking about the development of this module is over on M3F: Interest in a fully integrated A2DP Bluetooth solution? - BMW M3 Forum.com (E30 M3 | E36 M3 | E46 M3 | E92 M3 | F80/X) Thanks! -Ted
Hi Ted, Came across this old thread and wonder if your project is finalized anf if it works on BMW bike like K1200LT 2005-2009? They have a BNW Profesional 2000 HU which is a Becker radio probably Mexico. BR
 
This post has been deleted
#1,143 ·
Hi @t3ddftw - I'm trying to update my firmware to 1.3.3 but I can't seem to find the file on github. Can you help out here?

Also, I've been trying to check if I have CVC or not, but the tool gives me an "Error, please try again" message shortly after reading my serial number. The device shows up as "USB Serial Converter" in device manager despite having already installed the FTDI drivers. Interestingly enough, however, the firmware update tool picks up the device just fine (yes, the switch is in "App" and "Boot" when using the CVC and Firmware tools, respectively).

Thanks again!
 
#1,144 ·
Hi @t3ddftw - I'm trying to update my firmware to 1.3.3 but I can't seem to find the file on github. Can you help out here?

Also, I've been trying to check if I have CVC or not, but the tool gives me an "Error, please try again" message shortly after reading my serial number. The device shows up as "USB Serial Converter" in device manager despite having already installed the FTDI drivers. Interestingly enough, however, the firmware update tool picks up the device just fine (yes, the switch is in "App" and "Boot" when using the CVC and Firmware tools, respectively).

Thanks again!
It is not on GitHub -- try:

CVC isn't applicable to the V2 (blue LED) BlueBus units -- what issue are you having?

Thanks!
-Ted
 
#1,150 ·
Hi Ted,
I am running into some connection issues with my Bluebus. It all started when I switched from an Iphone 12 to a 14 a few months ago. I have the original bluebus running the 1.3.0 software.
The issue I have is the phone no longer reliably connects when I start the car. Before it would connect within seconds. Now, it can take up to a minute, if at all...and often will not connect, unless I go into the phone settings and manually connect. I have tried rebooting Bluebus and the phone, no improvement.

Any suggestions?
 
#1,152 ·
Hi Ted,
I am running into some connection issues with my Bluebus. It all started when I switched from an Iphone 12 to a 14 a few months ago. I have the original bluebus running the 1.3.0 software.
The issue I have is the phone no longer reliably connects when I start the car. Before it would connect within seconds. Now, it can take up to a minute, if at all...and often will not connect, unless I go into the phone settings and manually connect. I have tried rebooting Bluebus and the phone, no improvement.

Any suggestions?
I get this same problem with my Galaxy S22 .
How do you determine what software your bluebus is ,and update if needed ?
Thank you.
Not sure if this will help, but I recently also changed my phone and relied on the iPhone auto connecting on its own even though I didn't sync it. I ran into similar issues, so I reset pairings on both the bluebus end and the phone, re-paired it, worked like a charm.
 
#1,156 · (Edited)
I updated the software to 1.3.3 beta over the weekend and after a few drives, I noted the following:
1) If I have an music app open on my Iphone 14, like YouTube Music, the Bluebus will connect immediately, like it would with my previous Iphone 12 and 10.
2) If I do not have a music app open on my Iphone 14, it will conect automatically, but takes 25 to 30 seconds.
 
#1,157 ·
I updated the softwares to 1.3.3 over the weekend and after a few drives, I noted the following:
1) If I have an music app open on my Iphone 14, like YouTube Music, the Bluebus will connect immediately, like it would with my previous Iphone 12 and 10.
2) If I do not have a music app open on my Iphone 14, it will conect automatically, but takes 25 to 30 seconds.
How do you update to a different software ?
 
#1,163 ·
I just installed my BlueBus and so far so good. However, I don't have the factory mic, and am about to order part # 84318380338 (I do have the SRS & got the adapter, so I can take phone calls in the car, but the other person can't hear me :D I can hear them on the speakers though). Does my car (M5 6/2000 build date have pre-wiring for the mic? or do I need to get something like part# 61128373781 along with the mic to hook it up?
 
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