Another Intravee convert - in a Coupe

[Raify]

I've finally got around to fitting the Intravee that I bought months and months ago!

First of all, a big thank you to pvr who kindly gave up his spare time and some of the feeling in his hands to help me fit it. He certainly knows how to take apart the Z4 centre console, I couldn't have done it without him and if I'd paid someone else to do it I doubt it would have ended up being such a neat job.

I've got the DSP fitted, so there wasn't much space behind the seats to hide the Alpine box. We decided to fit it next to the battery in the boot as it was possible to poke the cables through from the centre console.

Alpine fitted and hidden:


There it is:


Here's the Intravee sitting in the centre console with an iPod:


And here's a shot of the screen:


By far the hardest thing is plugging the BMW cd changer cables into the back of the intravee because they have no slack whatsoever. I seriously thought it was going to be impossible at one stage. I was considering getting one of these from my girlfriend's surgery:

For the sake of 5cm of cable length, it could have been a 5 min job but ended up taking ages. Somehow we did it, then I was thinking we'd have to do all sorts of firmware upgrades, but it just worked "out of the box"

It's so good, I brought the Z4 to work this morning so I could play with it.

If you're thinking about an iPod connection and have the sat nav screen, this is just the best system out there.

 

[Andy]

Good to hear.. I'm just posting because of the tune you're playing 8)

 

[pvr]

Don't know about your knuckles, but my left hand looks like I have been in a fight

Good to hear you like it, you do have an older version of the firmware so at some stage you might want to update it to get some additional features (if you want those that is).

It was pure team work. I managed to get one impossible cable in, Raify the other.

 

[Raify]

My knuckles always look like I've been in a fight! I get in a fight most Wednesdays and Sundays.

I've got firmware 5.31 build 306, I'll have another go with that Intravention website to see if I can't sort out the upgrade.

 

[aquazi]

I love my intravee too! Possibly the best mod for a Z with satnav.

I would highly recommend going to V6 of the firmware - i wasnt overly pleased with V5 - took ages to search and was a little glitchy getting into its menu, but its nearly all corrected in V6.

 

[Andy]

Can you post v6 firmware ? It's a mission registering with them but I only have 5.4 too.

 

[bmwangler]

Looks like a very neat job!

Can the intravee be fitted at the front of the car - perhaps the glovebox - and routed directly into the back of the head unit, to save the fitting problems you've described?

Also, I know certain members have fitted the Dension unit (a fraction of the price). What feedback via the screen do you get, and is it any good?

Another unit I've seen for sale is the Connect 2 one, which claims the same sort of interaction/screen readout as the Intravee (again at a fraction of the cost). Anyone fitted this one, and would you recommend it?

 

[petach]

I second the question "Can it be fitted to head unit directly"?

 

[Raify]

You can't fit it to the headunit. It connects to the cd changer cables which are located behind the cubby hole box in the centre console

If the cd change cable was 5cm longer, or you could use a forcep like I posted I think you could fit this easily in about an hour (if you have pvr's knowledge of how to disassemble the console)

The interface on the screen is excellent, you can use the MFSW buttons to flick forward and back. The now playing info is complete (artist, title, album, track time), searching is much quicker than I'm used to with other Alpine interfaces.

Re the firmware, I'm having the same problems getting it. I'm registered on the Intravention forums and it says to use the same login details to access the firmware download area but it doesn't work.

 

[aquazi]

if you buy a new cd changer cable then you probably could connect it to the back of the headunit - disconnect the old - which is routed to the boot then plug the new one in.

But why would you?! the cubby hole is a great place for the ipod - and the KCA 420 is pretty big, so best place is behind you somewhere - doubt it would fit behind the dash.

To be able to dl the new firmware you would need to email them your details - but if you pm me your email add i could email it to people after it.

 

[glastoveteran]

Just resurrecting this as I'm planning on doing the install in my Z4MC - Raify, is it essential to take the centre console apart from inside the cabin or can you get to everything needed from the boot? I guess it is otherwise you wouldn't have done it!

Also I notice that you've got the Intravee in the bottom section of the console where the changer would go. As I've already got the changer in there, can I just leave it there and put the Intravee in the top section? Or is the problem that the leads wouldn't reach?

I have heard that it's a mission to remove the CD changer, but maybe it's no more work than is required to fit the Intravee anyway?

Thanks in advance

 

[Andy]

I did all mine from the boot.. & the cables will be long enough to reach the top easily. it's up to you where you locate the bits behind the carpet as there's a few choices. keep meaning to get mine out to do the firmware...

 

[aquazi]

I did all mine from the boot.. & the cables will be long enough to reach the top easily.

In my non-M there is noway i could fit mine on the top.. the damn cd changer cable was bearly long enough to reach the bottom shelf even

Also the bottom shelf has a removeable tray which you can drill a hole into.. and come selling time you can just buy a new tray to replace the one with the hole. However I think the top is part of the main unit so you would need to change the lot to fix the hole you have made.

 

[Andy]

I poked mine through the gap so didnt need a hole.. I'll just pull it back again.

On mine as well, my KCA is in the boot mounted, but the ipod fits on the top shelf as that's obviously a different cable.

Yes - you probably couldn't put the KCA on the top shelf...

 

[glastoveteran]

Thanks guys - it was the Intravee I was on about putting on the top shelf rather than the KCA (which must surely be too big anyway).

But since the changer cables have to plug into the Intravee that was why I asked if they would reach.

To be honest the only reason to put the Intravee in the cubby is for ease of updating it, but I can't believe software updates are that frequent now anyway, so as long as I update it before I stow it away then I'll stick it behind the carpet.

Cheers guys.

 

[dgm]

The updates are actually fairly frequent but if you buy a 1.5m serial/USB cable and leave it connected to the intravee then you can lead it into the space behind the battery cover in the M where it is unseen and will allow you to update it without any hassle. If you have that set up then there's really no need to position the Intravee in the cubby hole.

 

[pvr]

Also note that the upgrades include new features which are being tested (so not functional yet):

- Unlock upon taking key out of car
- Auto fold mirrors

As it is a means to the k-bus for programming, basically anything that generates a code can be replicated via the Intravee and that function can be created. So lots of scope for future nice-to-haves.

 

[glastoveteran]

The updates are actually fairly frequent but if you buy a 1.5m serial/USB cable and leave it connected to the intravee then you can lead it into the space behind the battery cover in the M where it is unseen and will allow you to update it without any hassle. If you have that set up then there's really no need to position the Intravee in the cubby hole.

Good idea. Cable and Intravee ordered. KCA bought from ebay. Weekend set aside.

 

[glastoveteran]

Sorry one more question - one guy on ebay was saying that his KCA had a modified power chip that prevented the iPod going to sleep.

I guess that can be an issue then, if you have to wake the iPod every time you get in the car? Anyone else done this mod?

 

[pvr]

I don't have the mod which is the reason why I have to have the Intravee in the cubby hole as after 1 day or so, the iPod goes in "deep sleep" and needs to be touched to be woken up (in other words, applying power to it via the KCA does NOT wake it up - unless you have the mod chip).

In a coupe, it is not as bad as with a roadster as in your case, you can still have the laptop on your lap in front of the nav screen and the cable trailing over the top. Bit difficult with a roadster ...