[rit]

Somewhere on this board somebody posted some pics of a DIY for a phone cradle installation. They included pics of a cable connection that needed to be made in the trunk, which consisted of a cable connector that was wrapped in tape or velcro. I searched and searched this morning, but I cannot find that post again.

I installed my cradle about a week ago, but I don't seem to have same cable connector in my trunk. I can't find anything in the trunk that needs to be done. The phone seems to work fine, but I'm not sure if I'm getting the benefit of the sharkfin antenna. Does anybody know if I have to do anything special to connect the sharkfin on a 2007 e90 335i?

Here are a couple pics of what my trunk looks like:

[txusa03]

does your phone works with bt without the cradle? If yes, then I think the cradle's only purpose is to charge the cell phone battery. If my guess is correct, then you don't need to wire it to the sharkfin. You just need to wire it to some power source use to charge the phone.

[lnXcel]

Let me start off by saying that your car seems to already have bluethooh installed as evident by the pictures you provided. What you probably installed was the eject box for a specific phone of which no additional cabling is required. If your car initially came with bluetooth then adding the eject box for YOUR SPECIFIC PHONE is all that is required to provide power and antenna signal from the vehicle. NOTE that BMW only provides the eject boxes for a limited number of phones. If your phone and the eject box you purchased are not compatible then you need to either [A] Find an eject box that is compatible with your phone (if it exist) or [B] Switch your phone to one compatible with the BMW accessories.

The cables wrapped in velcro that was being referred to in the trunk can be found on vehicle pre-wired for bluetooth but not having the module and other necessary components for bluetooth to work. In your case, that shiny silver box in the pictures above to which the cables are connected to is your BMW Assist and Bluetooth module.

[txusa03]

is the eject module also a charger for the cell phone battery in which case it need cable connection to a power source? If the module is only to hold the phone, then there is little incentive to get one. Just curious.

[lnXcel]

The eject box also charges the phone however no cabling is need for this. Think of it in this manner: In all e9x vehicles equipped with bluetooth, BMW provided an interface in the armrest which supplies power as well as a connection to vehicles antenna in the shark fin. This interface however is not designed only one particular phone. Since most phone are produced differently in both physical form as well external power interfaces, BMW provided what is knowned as an eject box for certain phone so that they can directly use the vehicles functinality. Simply attach the eject box to the interface in the armrest, slide your phone in and you are good to go.

[txusa03]

gotcha

[rit]

Originally Posted by lnXcel

If your car initially came with bluetooth then adding the eject box for YOUR SPECIFIC PHONE is all that is required to provide power and antenna signal from the vehicle.

Originally Posted by InXcel

In all e9x vehicles equipped with bluetooth, BMW provided an interface in the armrest which supplies power as well as a connection to vehicles antenna in the shark fin. This interface however is not designed only one particular phone. Since most phone are produced differently in both physical form as well external power interfaces, BMW provided what is knowned as an eject box for certain phone so that they can directly use the vehicles functinality. Simply attach the eject box to the interface in the armrest, slide your phone in and you are good to go.

I appreciate your reply, but I don't think that's quite right. My car came with Bluetooth, and that works fine with or without the cradle (what you're apparently calling an "eject box"). But my car did not come with an "interface in the armrest". I had to buy the mounting hardware (2 parts) and the cradle for my phone (1 part), remove a rubber tray from the armrest, then remove the emergency brake boot to access two connectors to which I attached the cradle. I did all of this according to this DIY post:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ntenna%20trunk

Only trouble is, I didn't find the cable in the trunk that plpeeple mentions in step 7. Somebody posted a picture of that connector elsewhere on this board, but now I can't find that particular picture.

Here's a different picture I found, though, and the cable looks the same as the one that I remember from that missing pic. That pink cable with the two female connectors at the end does not seem to be present in my trunk. Also, I see no difference in the number of bars that appear on my phone / iDrive when I plug the phone into the cradle. You'd think the number of bars would increase when I attach to a better antenna.

[lnXcel]

I don't dispute that bluetooth works with or without the interface box but I believe there was a question on charging the phone in which case the eject box containing the necessary phone interface is required.

On the subject of the antenna connection in the trunk, I'll take a closer look in the morning to see if I can find said connector, however I've just completed the bluetooth retrofit on my US spec E90 and the official BMW instructions made no such mention of that cable in the trunk.

Originally Posted by rit

I appreciate your reply, but I don't think that's quite right. My car came with Bluetooth, and that works fine with or without the cradle (what you're apparently calling an "eject box"). But my car did not come with an "interface in the armrest". I had to buy the mounting hardware (2 parts) and the cradle for my phone (1 part), remove a rubber tray from the armrest, then remove the emergency brake boot to access two connectors to which I attached the cradle. I did all of this according to this DIY post:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ntenna%20trunk

Only trouble is, I didn't find the cable in the trunk that plpeeple mentions in step 7. Somebody posted a picture of that connector elsewhere on this board, but now I can't find that particular picture.

Here's a different picture I found, though, and the cable looks the same as the one that I remember from that missing pic. That pink cable with the two female connectors at the end does not seem to be present in my trunk. Also, I see no difference in the number of bars that appear on my phone / iDrive when I plug the phone into the cradle. You'd think the number of bars would increase when I attach to a better antenna.

[rit]

Originally Posted by lnXcel

I don't dispute that bluetooth works with or without the interface box but I believe there was a question on charging the phone in which case the eject box containing the necessary phone interface is required.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by lnXcel

On the subject of the antenna connection in the trunk, I'll take a closer look in the morning to see if I can find said connector, however I've just completed the bluetooth retrofit on my US spec E90 and the official BMW instructions made no such mention of that cable in the trunk.

Cool, thanks. Does the bluetooth retrofit you installed include the eject box / cradle? Because it's that specific part that I believe requires the trunk connection on some models. It's possible that the 2007 already has the connection pre-wired, but I was a little puzzled that those cables didn't seem to appear at all.

[lnXcel]

Originally Posted by rit

Agreed.


Cool, thanks. Does the bluetooth retrofit you installed include the eject box / cradle? Because it's that specific part that I believe requires the trunk connection on some models. It's possible that the 2007 already has the connection pre-wired, but I was a little puzzled that those cables didn't seem to appear at all.

Yes, the retrofit kit included the eject box. I am hoping to post a DIY for this soon. Additionally, my E90 has a build date of 04/06. I'll followup a little later on today with the results of my search through the trunk.

[lnXcel]

It was a hectic day today for me so I did not get a chance to search through the trunk as I said I would. I'll try and get to it by the end of the week.