[Atchoo]

Yesterday I received mine from Unique. I previously watched some video's on how to do the install and in 1 they unhooked the car battery in the manual it just says make sure the car is in off position.

Did any off you do this without disconnecting the car battery?

Disconnecting the battery on an F31 is a pain.

[ooshnoo]

Originally Posted by Atchoo

Yesterday I received mine from Unique. I previously watched some video's on how to do the install and in 1 they unhooked the car battery in the manual it just says make sure the car is in off position.

Did any off you do this without disconnecting the car battery?

Disconnecting the battery on an F31 is a pain.

I left the battery connected as I wasn't dealing with exposed wires

[Rathian]

Same here, no battery disconnection. I had the unit playing as I was rebuilding to make sure I didn't tap anything that would stop the system working.

[steker]

I finally got to installing the Unique CarPlay unit. I have the full nav and optic fibre, so it was a pain to install (removing glove box, trying to fit all those cables in the tiniest of spaces, even just getting the iDrive unit back in there took me a while because of the extra connector). But I got it working and it's working great!



I'm really happy with it. It's fast and all apps work perfectly. Only thing I don't like is that Spotify sounds worse than when using the BMW Spotify. So I keep Bluetooth connected to BMW for calls and music and use Wifi for everything CarPlay related.

I also got the NO SIGNAL thing. It also went away after closing the car and unlocking it after a couple of minutes, but it wasn't a great start. I hope they will fix this with a software update.

But the biggest issue is that I now have the following error:



"Safety system passenger

Malfunction / Failure in the passenger safety system. Make sure to put your seat belt on. Let a nearby BMW Service centre check your car."

Any idea what this could be? I already got this error message the moment I turned on the CarPlay unit for the first time, while everything was open and cables were hanging out. I assumed it had to do with the airbag lock on the right side of the car, because that cable was disconnected, but when I put everything back together, I still got the error (the lock on the side is working). I haven't touched any other cables related to safety systems. Any ideas?

[ooshnoo]

Originally Posted by steker

"Safety system passenger

Malfunction / Failure in the passenger safety system. Make sure to put your seat belt on. Let a nearby BMW Service centre check your car."

Any idea what this could be? I already got this error message the moment I turned on the CarPlay unit for the first time, while everything was open and cables were hanging out. I assumed it had to do with the airbag lock on the right side of the car, because that cable was disconnected, but when I put everything back together, I still got the error (the lock on the side is working). I haven't touched any other cables related to safety systems. Any ideas?

I would double check that all the air bag connectors are fully secured.

[steker]

I will try that. Do you have any suggestions which ones to check? There were two cables connected to the back of the glove box compartment (I didn't take them out though), are those related to that? It might also be a sensor or something related to the seat belt.

I also read it's possible that because I turned on the car while the cable of the passenger airbag lock was disconnected, the error stays until it gets reset by a dealer. It sounds plausible, as all connectors are so sturdy (even by force some barely come of), I can't imagine them ejecting by accident.

[ooshnoo]

Originally Posted by steker

I will try that. Do you have any suggestions which ones to check? There were two cables connected to the back of the glove box compartment (I didn't take them out though), are those related to that? It might also be a sensor or something related to the seat belt.

I also read it's possible that because I turned on the car while the cable of the passenger airbag lock was disconnected, the error stays until it gets reset by a dealer. It sounds plausible, as all connectors are so sturdy (even by force some barely come of), I can't imagine them ejecting by accident.

Did you totally disconnect the airbag or just let it hang? In one of the videos I watched, they said not to disconnect the airbag, so if you did that, that may be your problem.

But from what I remember, there is only one connection for the airbag, and all those that are connected to the glove box aren't related to the airbag

[steker]

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

Did you totally disconnect the airbag or just let it hang? In one of the videos I watched, they said not to disconnect the airbag, so if you did that, that may be your problem.

But from what I remember, there is only one connection for the airbag, and all those that are connected to the glove box aren't related to the airbag

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

Did you totally disconnect the airbag or just let it hang? In one of the videos I watched, they said not to disconnect the airbag, so if you did that, that may be your problem.

But from what I remember, there is only one connection for the airbag, and all those that are connected to the glove box aren't related to the airbag

As per your tip earlier in this thread I didn't disconnect the airbag unit below / behind. I just slid out the glove box (with the two connectors left in there), which was enough to slide it out and reveal the empty space where I put the CarPlay unit.

I removed the side panel where the airbag lock is. Disconnected the cable. Then removed the bottom plastic plate. Then the glove box with he cables connected. That's it.

[steker]

On another note, has anyone here tried to connect a second iPhone wirelessly to CarPlay? My wife also uses my car and also has an iPhone. How would she connect the first time? Also by cable like the initial pairing? And what happens if we are both in the car?

[ooshnoo]

Originally Posted by steker

As per your tip earlier in this thread I didn't disconnect the airbag unit below / behind. I just slid out the glove box (with the two connectors left in there), which was enough to slide it out and reveal the empty space where I put the CarPlay unit.

I removed the side panel where the airbag lock is. Disconnected the cable. Then removed the bottom plastic plate. Then the glove box with he cables connected. That's it.

I don't know man. Unless the airbag connector is disconnected or loose, I don't know what else it could be. Might be worth a trip to the shop.

[ooshnoo]

Has anyone had any luck in getting your music to sound good? The sound quality is just absolutely terrible in my opinion. I've tried everything in the MMI box settings... Loudness, EQ, etc... and nothing matches the sound quality I used to have when playing my tunes through USB or Bluetooth directly to iDrive. Maybe that's the nature of AUX???

I always keep an old piece of crap iphone in my console which has my music on it, but if I switch iDrive to USB, I won't hear any sounds coming from carplay via AUX.

[theblues]

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

Has anyone had any luck in getting your music to sound good? The sound quality is just absolutely terrible in my opinion. I've tried everything in the MMI box settings... Loudness, EQ, etc... and nothing matches the sound quality I used to have when playing my tunes through USB or Bluetooth directly to iDrive. Maybe that's the nature of AUX???

I always keep an old piece of crap iphone in my console which has my music on it, but if I switch iDrive to USB, I won't hear any sounds coming from carplay via AUX.

You can check this post for Bimmertech Carplay:

Originally Posted by Chris_ks

When choosing option aftermarket camera (which normally should work), i see the following screen although i connected the yellow plug and the brown one(reverse input called) for extra power, hopefully when choosing factory camera i just see my factory sensors as usual without any malfunction so i choosed this option and i didn’t need to remove again the camera plugs until i find the solution to work normal..

Something more, i selected a song from car’s usb and exactly the same song playing from CarPlay, i compared them(for 10 sec listening from usb then 10 sec listening from CarPlay) and I found that I have the same volume when aux in is +8 and not +5 as suggested from BimmerTech..
I made the comparison with car’s usb to be accurate because radio was always higher on stock too.. I think that on CarPlay my bass is a little bit lower than when I was using car’s usb.. (I have hifi system with optical cable)

General it works great, no lag, it “fits” perfect for my screen.. I tested navigation and music and it’s working like it should be..

I have read somewhere in the threat that it has been fixed and when using reverse and the again forward it comes back to CarPlay and not in multimedia menu, for me it doesn’t work this way, when i take out the reverse it doesn’t go to CarPlay but on multimedia menu or Bluetooth menu...

[AlbertoSONIC]

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

Has anyone had any luck in getting your music to sound good? The sound quality is just absolutely terrible in my opinion. I've tried everything in the MMI box settings... Loudness, EQ, etc... and nothing matches the sound quality I used to have when playing my tunes through USB or Bluetooth directly to iDrive. Maybe that's the nature of AUX???

I always keep an old piece of crap iphone in my console which has my music on it, but if I switch iDrive to USB, I won't hear any sounds coming from carplay via AUX.

That's what I did to get a better audio quality.
- Set aux level to +8
- Set carplay EQ to Classic
- Set idrive EQ to reduce lows and increase highs. Adjust these to the point you're liking it.

Keep in mind that you won't get the same audi quality as bluetooth or usb audio. The best you can do is to try to get it closer to it.

[steker]

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

I don't know man. Unless the airbag connector is disconnected or loose, I don't know what else it could be. Might be worth a trip to the shop.

I did just that... I went to the dealer and he found two error codes because of me unplugging the airbag lock. He deleted the errors and the malfunction message is now gone. Problem solved

But... there is another problem! I have PDC and when I put my car in reverse the screen goes black, but the beeps are working. When I go into neutral it switches from black to the PDC screen, but obviously it's useless in neutral. It's really weird that in reverse it's not showing but in neutral it is. Anyone else have this problem?

[steker]

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

Has anyone had any luck in getting your music to sound good? The sound quality is just absolutely terrible in my opinion. I've tried everything in the MMI box settings... Loudness, EQ, etc... and nothing matches the sound quality I used to have when playing my tunes through USB or Bluetooth directly to iDrive. Maybe that's the nature of AUX???

I always keep an old piece of crap iphone in my console which has my music on it, but if I switch iDrive to USB, I won't hear any sounds coming from carplay via AUX.

Same here, Spotify in CarPlay sounds terrible in comparison to iDrive (and Unique said they even updated the audio chips). It's a very big differences and to me makes it unusable (I have the Harman Kardon audio, so the it's too noticeable).

I have Bluetooth connected for phone calls and Spotify to iDrive, in Media I also have iDrive set to Bluetooth and not AUX. This way I can still use CarPlay for phone calls and Spotify, but get the audio quality of iDrive. Only disadvantage is that Google Maps doesn't make a sound then, but I can live with that. And worse case is just switching to AUX in Media.

[AlbertoSONIC]

Originally Posted by steker

I did just that... I went to the dealer and he found two error codes because of me unplugging the airbag lock. He deleted the errors and the malfunction message is now gone. Problem solved

But... there is another problem! I have PDC and when I put my car in reverse the screen goes black, but the beeps are working. When I go into neutral it switches from black to the PDC screen, but obviously it's useless in neutral. It's really weird that in reverse it's not showing but in neutral it is. Anyone else have this problem?

It's because it's showing the backup camera video.. which I guess isn't plugged so it shows a black screen. In carplay settings, is reverse camera set to Off? If it is, then make sure dip switch number 8 is in ON position.

[ooshnoo]

Originally Posted by AlbertoSONIC

It's because it's showing the backup camera video.. which I guess isn't plugged so it shows a black screen. In carplay settings, is reverse camera set to Off? If it is, then make sure dip switch number 8 is in ON position.

In addition to what AlbertoSONIC said, here's a rather fuzzy diagram of the DIP switches and their functions, with 8 being on like he mentioned

[steker]

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

In addition to what AlbertoSONIC said, here's a rather fuzzy diagram of the DIP switches and their functions, with 8 being on like he mentioned

Originally Posted by AlbertoSONIC

It's because it's showing the backup camera video.. which I guess isn't plugged so it shows a black screen. In carplay settings, is reverse camera set to Off? If it is, then make sure dip switch number 8 is in ON position.

I first want to thank you guys how helpful you've all been. This is the first time I've opened up my car and it was an interesting and exciting journey

So I don't have a camera, just PDC and the normal PDC screen. Are you saying that because of the CarPlay unit it expects a camera feed and, because I don't have a camera, it just shows a black screen? I turned the Rearview setting to Off, but it's still showing a black screen when I put the car in reverse.
Noob question... what is the dip switch and where can I find it l

[AlbertoSONIC]

Originally Posted by steker

I first want to thank you guys how helpful you've all been. This is the first time I've opened up my car and it was an interesting and exciting journey

So I don't have a camera, just PDC and the normal PDC screen. Are you saying that because of the CarPlay unit it expects a camera feed and, because I don't have a camera, it just shows a black screen? I turned the Rearview setting to Off, but it's still showing a black screen when I put the car in reverse.
Noob question... what is the dip switch and where can I find it l

Yeah exactly! Backup camera input consists in a RCA (yellow video) cable which is in your case left unplugged. So it shows a black video screen.

The dip switches are 8 switch in the bottom side of the carplay unit (the opposite side of the one with the IDCORE logo), you'll need to tear down everything again to reach them, then use a small screewdriver or fingernails to move that tiny dip switch in the ON position.

[ooshnoo]

Originally Posted by steker

I first want to thank you guys how helpful you've all been. This is the first time I've opened up my car and it was an interesting and exciting journey

So I don't have a camera, just PDC and the normal PDC screen. Are you saying that because of the CarPlay unit it expects a camera feed and, because I don't have a camera, it just shows a black screen? I turned the Rearview setting to Off, but it's still showing a black screen when I put the car in reverse.
Noob question... what is the dip switch and where can I find it l

The dip switch is on the carplay box itself. Turning switch 8 on allows for use of the factory rear camera. Turning it off is for use with a retrofitted camera.

[steker]

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

The dip switch is on the carplay box itself. Turning switch 8 on allows for use of the factory rear camera. Turning it off is for use with a retrofitted camera.

Originally Posted by AlbertoSONIC

The dip switches are 8 switch in the bottom side of the carplay unit (the opposite side of the one with the IDCORE logo), you'll need to tear down everything again to reach them, then use a small screewdriver or fingernails to move that tiny dip switch in the ON position.

Dammit, I was so hoping that you guys would say those switches are located at an easily accessible spot So that means opening up the glove box compartment again, probably getting the malfunction error, going back to the dealer... I didn't see this in the manual, pretty sloppy.

Thanks again for the help guys, with this being such a new product there is obviously not much to be found on Google.

[ooshnoo]

Originally Posted by steker

Dammit, I was so hoping that you guys would say those switches are located at an easily accessible spot So that means opening up the glove box compartment again, probably getting the malfunction error, going back to the dealer... I didn't see this in the manual, pretty sloppy.

Thanks again for the help guys, with this being such a new product there is obviously not much to be found on Google.

You may have accidentally flipped the switch when installing the box. They're not very recessed so it could easily happen. Hopefully that's all it is.