E34 i-bus Equivalent, view the video

[billy]

Came across a link a few moments ago for sending messages to the bmw LCD, i thought that this couldnt be done on the E34?

Google Video (http://sites.google.com/a/netmgr.co.uk/netmgr-co-uk/BMW-E34-Protocol)

[gmannino]

Very cool, I'd like to use that to display track information from my Eclipse head unit.

[nirvana19]

This is intriguing, but no other information than that video? Isn't too specific, it would be nice if there was an open source project for this, but it looks like it would require a level of experimentation not many would commit to.

[doogie]

Excellent find! There was some mention of this sort of thing on the E32 board on bimmerboard but it was mainly relating to doing it on the E38/E39 range rather than the E32/E34.

I've emailed him to see if he wants to share any more details.

[E34-520iSE]

Have you heard anything yet Doogie?

Cheers,

Shaun M

[doogie]

Hi Shaun,

Yeah, I have had a couple of mails back from him, he's still trying to iron out some bugs and stuff and make sure that it all works as it should before he goes into too much detail and tries to get it going in other people's cars. He is interfacing directly from the serial port of his PC to the OBC wiring, so anything OBC, and messages from OBC to instrument cluster are fair game, but it's not possible to touch anything else like radio, HVAC etc like you can with the later cars with i-bus.

Obviously I'm halfway up the park because I already have a PC installed in the car, so theoretically it shouldn't be too much of a problem once I get more info to get a test up and running myself.

Will keep you posted!

[E34-520iSE]

Cheers! I wonder if he knows about this forum and how many people may be interested in this?

Cheers,

Shaun M

[Bo525i]

Wow, pretty cool stuff!

[Paul in NZ]

me too
range ---km
supposed to be 80 L tank...never put more than 72L in it...even at ---km range

[attack eagle]

this would be lovely if it could be integrated with bluetooth & or ipod.

Since the BMW analogue phones no longer work, a hidden bluetooth system with that as a display would be killer.

now that it has been proven feasible, perhaps someone will log the data wire for the display and figure out the 'language'.

[Jehu]

Man, hope he can afford to put some gas in the bleeding tank,LOL. Range 44M? I've never been THAT low...

[attack eagle]

Lol I've been down to - - (sub 10 miles)

[jonny5]

I've gone a good 10 miles after obc says: Range: -- miles

[Ferret]

The obc gets a bit twitchy, we found out that a 535i will idle for about 2 hours after it hits the -- mark :) go figure.

[E34-520iSE]

Here.s some info I dug up from the net regarding the e32/e34 K-bus:-

http://www.openbmw.net/bus/

http://neiland.com/Kbusproj.htm

Cheers,

Shaun M

[billy]

Here.s some info I dug up from the net regarding the e32/e34 K-bus:-

http://www.openbmw.net/bus/

http://neiland.com/Kbusproj.htm

Cheers,

Shaun M
You're mixing up the later E39 I-bus/K-Bus system with the E34 - the 2 systems are completly different.

As far as I am aware there is no information available for the system used on the E32 and E34 anywhere.

[E34-520iSE]

Oh? I must have got it wrong then - Just when I read into it, it mentions the early RS232 9600 baud based K-bus system, which is what I assumed the E32/e34 models used, and the I-bus was for later cars. I'll keep an eye on this thread to see what netmgr develops.

Cheers!

Shaun M

[E34-520iSE]

Just an update on netmgr's forum:-

http://netmgr.freeforums.org/interfacing-with-the-bmw-display-protocol-more-questions-t3.html#9

Cheers,

Shaun M

[Ross]

That's pretty slick.
So... with bespoke warnings my car could now proclaim "$$#$^%! washer fluid sensor is no good"

[E34-520iSE]

Lol - I like your thinking!

Shaun M

[attack eagle]

he has released both the hardware specs and software specs...

so now we can play with it!

Jon K... you havethe incar pc already... will we see megasquirt readouts?

http://sites.google.com/a/netmgr.co.uk/netmgr-co-uk/BMW-E34-Protocol

[E34-520iSE]

I emailed netmgr about the diagram to clarify the values of the 6 capacitors & 1 diode and he said that the capacitors should be 1uF electrolytics & a 1n4001 diode should be fine. I should build this, I have a max232 kicking around, just need the other bits!

HTH,

Shaun M