[Nomana]

Originally Posted by Ashhong

The weirdest thing about this issue is that it's intermittent. When it's happening, try pushing around the USB connection to the car. If I push it firmly towards the front of the car it usually stops. I'm not sure why the problem would stop if it was a power/current issue. Maybe most cables just don't make a strong enough connection?

Exact same with my car 2014. I thought it’s because of bad usb port since I had to adjust the plug 90% of the time after restart the car to make the phone connected.

[ArjandeV]

So I have the same problem. But it only exists when I code 6NS to my car in stead of 6NH (default).

I followed this message by shawnsheridan

Step 1. Change FA from 6NH to 6NS:
E-Sys - How to change FA in F-series car.pdf
Step 2. VO Code Head Unit and standalone Combox (CMB_MEDIA) if present:
Connect => Read FA (VO) => Activate FA (VO) => Read SVT (VCM) => Right-Click on Head Unit ECU (e.g. HU_NBT, HU_CIC, HU_CHAMP, HU_ENTRY, HU_ENTRYNAV, etc.) (the ECU itself not the underlying CAFD) => Select CODE (Not Code FDL).
Repeat Step 2 above for and standalone Combox (CMB_MEDIA) if present.

* Note: 6NS is used for NBT Head Unit. For cars with 6NH and ENTRY or CHAMP2 Head Units, use 6NK, or 6NL if car is equipped with BMW Assist.

[quadrophenic23]

I have a 2015 F36 and mine was working fine until I had my headunit coded to enable enhanced bluetooth. Seems to be a bit of a pattern.
It connects eventually but it normally involves a lot of unplugging until it stays stable. Using an iphone X.

I just want spotify to work!

[marpap]

Unfortunately I do face the same.
Does not matter the cable (tried over 10).
iPhone SE with iOS 11 and now iOS12

[perryo91]

Anyone got a solution? Bumping an old old thread.

I'm gonna try buying this cable seeing if it works (Doubt it)

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerLi...ightning+cable

[stroker15]

I have a 2013 F30 with HK system. I just bought the Grom Wirelinq cable. That allows me to plug my android phone (Note 4) into the USB port and control it with the Idrive. I can play music, spotify, etc. It works great. Only problem is, it shows it's charging but my phone will go completely dead after less than an hour driving. I'm also using a new battery. I can see the battery percentage dropping as I drive, with the charging indicator on. Mine stays connected, rock solid, just not getting enough juice to make a difference. I even tried dimming my screen and turning on power saving mode.

The reason I want a wired connection for my music is it sounds MUCH better than playing it through Bluetooth. Only problem is I use my phone for Nav, and when it dies, I'm lost.

[Xawesm]

Originally Posted by perryo91

Anyone got a solution? Bumping an old old thread.

I'm gonna try buying this cable seeing if it works (Doubt it)

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerLi...ightning+cable

So the issue is that it fights to provide power between bluetooth and USB. The USB is limited at 500w power so it's not adequate for the phone from the start. For your phone to work properly you need to have bluetooth off ON THE PHONE. From there, the cable should work fine for the most part. There are still times where I have to unplug the cable and re-plug once or twice, but once it's working, there are no issues. Its almost as if the car needs time to provide the power properly to the USB. Not to mention, its limited at 500w power so it's not adequate for the phone. I don't plug it in immediately, maybe like a minute or so after turning on the car.

[smashingly]

Hi, I've got an E92 but just wanted to reply to two things people have said:

1) That the power output of the USB port is "500w" - that's incorrect, that would be 500 watts, which at the USB voltage of 5 volts would be 100 amps. Your lightning cable would melt and catch fire if it tried to carry 100A I think what the poster meant to say is 500mA, which is the standard current for USB 1.1. At 5V that's 2.5 watts. 500mA is what the E92 M3 manual specifies as the USB charging current, and it's the standard for USB ports on computers, generally speaking.

2) I had the issue of my phone battery running down on the first day I owned my M3 and was on a big road trip in the South Island of NZ. I was using an Apple Lightning cable that works just fine with all other chargers and computers. But I just tried my Belkin cable from my other car, which is coiled, like a telephone handset cord, and lo & behold, the phone charge indicator came on. I reverted to the Apple cable and wiggled connectors etc at both ends, but that cable still does not work.

I grabbed a brand new Lightning cable (still wrapped from the iPhone box) and tried it, and it charges fine. Utterly bizarre - all three cables work just fine with other devices, but somehow only the Belkin or the brand new Apple cable work in my E92.

But I also think one of the recent posters is also really relevant - that if you are really drawing serious power from your phone's battery, the BMW's measly 500mA charging current won't be sufficient. Way back in 2009 I remember driving in Spain with an iPhone 3GS running Google Maps, with the phone plugged into a cigarette-lighter USB charger (500mA) - the phone battery percentage either stayed the same, or very slowly decreased. My point being, running satnav apps that use the GPS chip and the screen continuously (TomTom, Google Maps, Waze, etc) are actually pretty heavy on the battery. My iPhone 8 went from 70% to 40% in a couple of hours of driving.

So whilst I'm glad I figured out my cable issue (and I'm really surprised that this was the cause), I'm going to do days/weeks more testing to see whether that's really resolved it, or whether A) the 500mA current isn't enough to offset heavy app/GPS use, B) my cable discovery was some kind of random coincidence and that the third cable I tried just coincided with an intermittent issue coming right.

Appreciate that the F30 is a different beast to the E92 but I reckon my points apply to this forum also, based on the symptoms and the posts/replies.

[Ringway007]

Originally Posted by quadrophenic23

I have a 2015 F36 and mine was working fine until I had my headunit coded to enable enhanced bluetooth. Seems to be a bit of a pattern.
It connects eventually but it normally involves a lot of unplugging until it stays stable. Using an iphone X.

I just want spotify to work!

Originally Posted by quadrophenic23

I have a 2015 F36 and mine was working fine until I had my headunit coded to enable enhanced bluetooth. Seems to be a bit of a pattern.
It connects eventually but it normally involves a lot of unplugging until it stays stable. Using an iphone X.

I just want spotify to work!

Hi,
Im facing the same issue i coded EBT using bimmercode ios app and I have the same charging on/off issue and wont connect at all. In the external devices menu the USB is greyed out. Did you manage to find a fix for this would be eager to know?

[Ringway007]

Originally Posted by DeeKay

I have recently bought a 2013 BMW F30 with pro nav and enhanced bluetooth with streaming music etc.

However I would like to use the armrest USB socket for music playback, to get album art etc. and have tried for a while now but no luck.

Every time I plug in my phone it keeps turning charging on/off constantly - like twice every second! Of course this also means no connection to the car at all.

I saw this thread http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...048&page=3 on Bimmerfest with people experiencing similar problems and have tried all their solutions but without luck. I only have original cables - have tried 3-4 Apple OEM cables AND the original BMW cable. No luck. I have also tried their solution of deleting the Bluetooth and turning it off on the phone - no luck

Now you could say that the USB port might be broken, but I managed both a multimedia update and a full map update from a USB stick without a single issue and twice for a very short time I managed to get the phone to connect and saw that precious album art and WANT MORE

Please if anyone has suggestions it would be appreciated

For some reason I think it could have something to do with the power output but might be wrong

Originally Posted by DeeKay

I have recently bought a 2013 BMW F30 with pro nav and enhanced bluetooth with streaming music etc.

However I would like to use the armrest USB socket for music playback, to get album art etc. and have tried for a while now but no luck.

Every time I plug in my phone it keeps turning charging on/off constantly - like twice every second! Of course this also means no connection to the car at all.

I saw this thread http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...048&page=3 on Bimmerfest with people experiencing similar problems and have tried all their solutions but without luck. I only have original cables - have tried 3-4 Apple OEM cables AND the original BMW cable. No luck. I have also tried their solution of deleting the Bluetooth and turning it off on the phone - no luck

Now you could say that the USB port might be broken, but I managed both a multimedia update and a full map update from a USB stick without a single issue and twice for a very short time I managed to get the phone to connect and saw that precious album art and WANT MORE

Please if anyone has suggestions it would be appreciated

For some reason I think it could have something to do with the power output but might be wrong

Hi,
Where you able to fix this I am having the same issue with my 2913 328i GT?

[Ringway007]

Originally Posted by quadrophenic23

I have a 2015 F36 and mine was working fine until I had my headunit coded to enable enhanced bluetooth. Seems to be a bit of a pattern.
It connects eventually but it normally involves a lot of unplugging until it stays stable. Using an iphone X.

I just want spotify to work!

Originally Posted by DeeKay

I have recently bought a 2013 BMW F30 with pro nav and enhanced bluetooth with streaming music etc.

However I would like to use the armrest USB socket for music playback, to get album art etc. and have tried for a while now but no luck.

Every time I plug in my phone it keeps turning charging on/off constantly - like twice every second! Of course this also means no connection to the car at all.

I saw this thread http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...048&page=3 on Bimmerfest with people experiencing similar problems and have tried all their solutions but without luck. I only have original cables - have tried 3-4 Apple OEM cables AND the original BMW cable. No luck. I have also tried their solution of deleting the Bluetooth and turning it off on the phone - no luck

Now you could say that the USB port might be broken, but I managed both a multimedia update and a full map update from a USB stick without a single issue and twice for a very short time I managed to get the phone to connect and saw that precious album art and WANT MORE

Please if anyone has suggestions it would be appreciated

For some reason I think it could have something to do with the power output but might be wrong

Hi buddy,

Having the same issue as you. Were you able to find a fix to this?

I have a 2013 328i GT coded it to use EBT and the usb is now playing up constantly connecting and disconnecting when i plug my iphone.

[Ringway007]

Originally Posted by marpap

Unfortunately I do face the same.
Does not matter the cable (tried over 10).
iPhone SE with iOS 11 and now iOS12

Originally Posted by DeeKay

I have recently bought a 2013 BMW F30 with pro nav and enhanced bluetooth with streaming music etc.

However I would like to use the armrest USB socket for music playback, to get album art etc. and have tried for a while now but no luck.

Every time I plug in my phone it keeps turning charging on/off constantly - like twice every second! Of course this also means no connection to the car at all.

I saw this thread http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...048&page=3 on Bimmerfest with people experiencing similar problems and have tried all their solutions but without luck. I only have original cables - have tried 3-4 Apple OEM cables AND the original BMW cable. No luck. I have also tried their solution of deleting the Bluetooth and turning it off on the phone - no luck

Now you could say that the USB port might be broken, but I managed both a multimedia update and a full map update from a USB stick without a single issue and twice for a very short time I managed to get the phone to connect and saw that precious album art and WANT MORE

Please if anyone has suggestions it would be appreciated

For some reason I think it could have something to do with the power output but might be wrong

Originally Posted by marpap

Unfortunately I do face the same.
Does not matter the cable (tried over 10).
iPhone SE with iOS 11 and now iOS12

Hi,

Did you get a fix to this?

[scimini]

It is the port. The USB port in the armrest isn't powerful enough and as a result it is shutting down hence the disconnect and re-connect.

There is nothing that can be done according the BMW so I just don't use it.

[Ringway007]

Originally Posted by scimini

It is the port. The USB port in the armrest isn't powerful enough and as a result it is shutting down hence the disconnect and re-connect.

There is nothing that can be done according the BMW so I just don't use it.

Originally Posted by scimini

It is the port. The USB port in the armrest isn't powerful enough and as a result it is shutting down hence the disconnect and re-connect.

There is nothing that can be done according the BMW so I just don't use it.

I think BMW really have to look into this its appalling. We splash so much money at them buying their cars and a USB port cannot actually connect our mobile devices. Shocking!

[bhenault]

I had a similar problem as OP, I tried new and multiple Apple lightning cables with no luck, so I switched to a cheap amazon cord, a braided one, and works perfectly. The one working Apple cord I had working stoped working within a week and had the same problem as OP. So maybe try a "cheaper" cable to see if that does the trick. Hope that helps someone

[UKLooney]

Hi,

I have a possible fix for this. I've had my F82 for a few years now, it's a 2014/15MY?. Tried getting the BMW LapTimer App working on my wife's iPhone when I first got the car, but came across this issue, so I gave up and kept using my Android phone via Bluetooth. I've got a spare, hand me down iPhone SE now, so when I heard the BMW LapTimer App had been updated to support the GoPro Camera, I thought I'd have another try. I goolagd, found this thread, and eventually got this working for me. Total cost was around £14 ($20US).

If you want to try, you will need:

1. Apple compatible USB Data Sync Cable (I used a short, generic 4" one from eBay)


2. A Dual Power Charge, Y Adapter Cable (USB Male to USB Male and Female)


3. USB Power Bank (I used a smallish Maxell 2800mAh)





That is all you will need if like me, you only plan you use the iPhone in your car infrequently, and charge the Power Bank separately (e.g. data logging on track days).

I've attached some details of the items I sourced from eBay.






Hope this helps someone else.

[stroker15]

Hey UKLooney that's a great idea. I bet if you used a USB extension cable, you could pull power from the rear cigarette lighter port. Plug a USB adapter into the power port behind the armrest, then use a 3 foot USB extension to power the Y cable.

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters...94&sr=8-6&th=1

[stroker15]

This is the link for the Y cable on Amazon US. https://www.amazon.com/Duttek-Splitt...-2-spons&psc=1

[locar]

Just wanted to say thanks guys!

I was having similar problems with my radio shutting off in my e90 intermittently with iPhone 7 plugged in over USB (option 6FL). If you look in the BMW TIS the 6FL can only supply 500mA power and if you had the snap-in adapter 1000mA whereas these newer iPhones want to pull something like 2100mA to charge.

I ordered one of these USB powered USB hubs (you read that right) and a BMW cigarette USB adapter. I plugged the USB data-plug into the 6FL USB port and the other USB for power into the USB cigarette adapter to get additional power. The radio hasn't shut off since!

[Ringway007]

Originally Posted by DeeKay

I have recently bought a 2013 BMW F30 with pro nav and enhanced bluetooth with streaming music etc.

However I would like to use the armrest USB socket for music playback, to get album art etc. and have tried for a while now but no luck.

Every time I plug in my phone it keeps turning charging on/off constantly - like twice every second! Of course this also means no connection to the car at all.

I saw this thread http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...048&page=3 on Bimmerfest with people experiencing similar problems and have tried all their solutions but without luck. I only have original cables - have tried 3-4 Apple OEM cables AND the original BMW cable. No luck. I have also tried their solution of deleting the Bluetooth and turning it off on the phone - no luck

Now you could say that the USB port might be broken, but I managed both a multimedia update and a full map update from a USB stick without a single issue and twice for a very short time I managed to get the phone to connect and saw that precious album art and WANT MORE

Please if anyone has suggestions it would be appreciated

For some reason I think it could have something to do with the power output but might be wrong

Hi buddy,
Think I found the culprit to this! 😃I also had my usb port in the armrest flap with an on/off intermittent behaviour.
It was only till a few days ago a member on here brought to my attention that one of the values needed to be changed via coding.

I used BIMMERCODE and this was what I had to change:
HU_NBT > HMI 3000 > CDMM_USB_AUDIO = all

You need to change the last value at the end to first and this will fix the flapping issue. 😃
Note I used BIMMERCODE in expert mode. Its pretty much simple! Let me know how you get on if you still have your car and have this issue?

[Nomana]

Originally Posted by Ringway007

Hi buddy,
Think I found the culprit to this! 😃I also had my usb port in the armrest flap with an on/off intermittent behaviour.
It was only till a few days ago a member on here brought to my attention that one of the values needed to be changed via coding.

I used BIMMERCODE and this was what I had to change:
HU_NBT > HMI 3000 > CDMM_USB_AUDIO = all

You need to change the last value at the end to first and this will fix the flapping issue. 😃
Note I used BIMMERCODE in expert mode. Its pretty much simple! Let me know how you get on if you still have your car and have this issue?

[gasman82]

Hi all, just a follow up from what people are discussing about this usb centre console charging issue, I can confirm I have installed new genuine usb socket, tried lots of brand new apple cables which made no different. But last night I tried the bimmercode change has mentioned above and so far so good, I am using a iPhone XR by the way.