Huh, when I ordered direct from DICE, I had an email PDF invoice, and a separate email with a tracking number on it within an hour of placing the call. If you got the PDF invoice, check to see if the tracking number is printed on there, as it was on mine.

-Paul!

 

I received my replacement DICE unit Friday, and all has been fine so far. No dropouts, nice clean sound, full functionality as advertised.

I've only done a few short trips at this point, but tomorrow I'll be out on the road for a more extended test. I'll let you know how that goes.

 

I never received an correspondence from DICE, and just have the invoice that I printed out when I ordered. I think I will call them on Monday. Thanks Paul.

 

So exactly what DICE model do I need to connect to a stock 06 non-HK head unit? Can it be connected directly to the HU without running cable from the trunk?

edit : I just realized I called it a trunk....I've become so Americanized, it's sickening. I did shout at the tele for a good 15 minutes after England lost on penalties today though. I guess there's some Blighty left in me yet....

 

No Chimera.
It connects to the CD CHANGER socket in the boot.
And there's only one DICE. You tell them what car you have, make and model year, and which HU, that's all.

 

Damn...oh well, I'll stick with AUX until I can stand it no longer

 

I called Dice today. They had received my order on June 12, but the unit was backordered and did not ship until June 29. They did not explain why I did not receive any confirmation, but did email me a copy of the packing slip with tracking number. The unit is scheduled to arrive on July 6, almost a month after being ordered.

 

Hey gang -

Yesterday, I had another three hours on the road with the replacement DICE. No probs whatsoever.

If I encounter any issues down the road, I'll be sure to report in.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.

Like TRDL, I'm now a happy camper.

catalyst

 

Well, that's irritating. I understand that backorders happen, but an email should have been in order...

----

I've had the updated DICE for a couple of weeks now. No problems!

-Paul!

 

Well, I thought the Dice adapter was ready for prime time for us NAV owners, but I guess I was mistaken. I finally got a chance to put this unit in and it's actually worse than my original ice-link; I'm really glad I argued with Dension to not send back the ice-link H/W first to get them to ship me the dice H/W.

So what's wrong?
1. Left channel sound is 1/3 less volume than the right side accompanied with a 4-8kHz (?) chirping sound (square wave from one of the various buses?). This chirping is present even without the ipod connected. Turning the volume up only increased the volume of the chirping.
2. All text display modes available either write to the NAV screen and radio, the NAV screen alone, or nothing at all. I tried all six display modes (described in "Dice integration kit Rev. B.02" doc which is not on Dice's web site). The issue with the ice-link and NAV still remains the same and the Dice H/W has not fixed it.

The Dice H/W I installed has the new puffy beveled sticker on the top. The PCB inside the box has a sticker on it which reads:Back to the garage and put the ice-link back in. Glad it's just behind the glove box, so it's quick to swap out. I'll be calling Dension tomorrow (7/5) and I'll update you all if this gets straightened out.

[Update] Spoke to Zoltan and he thinks the H/W box is defective. Sending me a new one on 7/6.
Also asked about the display setting using CD6 for NAV owners. He recommended just leaving it at track 1.
Can anyone with the Dice unit and NAV confirm track 1 on CD6 for display mode is correct?

 

Hey guys, I finally got my DICE unit (Big Thanks to PAUL! for helping me out) and I now have a quick NAV question. I was playing around in Track6 with the different settings but can't figure out how to just display the text on the HU and leave the NAV as is (Maps, etc...) It either displays both on the HU and NAV screen or displays no text at all. I can't find out how to turn on one or but not the other?

sneakerspray - any comments? I'd also like an "english" version of how to work the dip switches???

Peepers

 

I saw the same thing on with my Dice adapter. According to what Zoltan at Dension tech support told me yesterday, Mini's with NAV should just use track 1 for the CD6 display setting.

Zoltan also said to keep all of the dip switches in the off position (flipped up towards the big Dice logo on the top of the box).

 

Peepers

I have not yet been successful with the CD6 settings. The instructions claim that ID3 tags can be sent to only the radio but so far I have not been successful. I haven't tried a newer generation IPOD yet and am still trying this with my 3G. (Need to get the nano out of the box one of these days...)

I haven't thought much of it because my 3G seems to be the oldest supported model and since it sounds so good, I'm not too concerned and I expected some gremlins. (ID tags were just a little bonus and not my main reason for going with DICE)

That said, here are some interesting items that have occured to me:

1) Can't tell you how it happened, but text moved to radio only briefly. Then it jumped back to Nav/Radio at same time.

2)A couple of days ago it was kind of nutty in that I drove with ID tags on NAV/Radio and turned off car. Returned to car, drove away, and tags were on Radio only. Repeated this pattern for the rest of the day until I messed with CD 6 again.

3)Turned off car while on Playlist search (CD 2), and returned to find myself at the beginning of the IPOD library. Had to redo the CD 2 thing and search playlists to get out of entire library mode.

Perhaps I am being too forgiving, but these problems havent bothered me too much. I have experienced NO drops and the sound quality is excellent. The ability to go to all my playlists is great and an improvement over the BMW/IPOD kit in my wifes car.

That being said though, if DICE has a fix for the problems displaying on NAV and Radio independant of each other, I would certainly like to have it.

And yes, an english translation of the instructions for the dip switches would still be appreciated.... :P

Update-- Speednut posted while I was typing so perhaps I don't need a clearer example of the dip switches. lol

 

sneakerspray, you've discovered my work around trick for tag display on the radio only. At least it sounds the same as for the ice-link H/W.

To force the NAV screen to display maps, double tap the "menu" button on the NAV. Then select the map display. This will freeze the tag display on the radio and keep the map displayed on the NAV.
If you leave the stereo in this setting when taking the key out and parking the car for more than 10-15 minutes, when you restart the car the NAV screen will stay on the maps and the radio will display tag info. You can enter an address and the NAV system will guide you without interruption from the tag display. However, if you go to the settings or computer screens on the NAV, this work around gets reset and you have to start over.

Seems like Dension is still struggling with the tag display for the Mini since the NAV and radio are seperate units unlike the BMW cars where they are combined into the same physical unit.

Question for you sneakerspray:
When you are in playlist browsing mode (CD2), do the playlist names get displayed on the radio display?

I'll make sure to add my 3G ipod for testing in addition to the nano I normally use.

 

Hi!

Ok.. I've got an early '05 Cooper and I was hoping to get the text working on the HU but it doesn't seem to be working for me. Anybody else get this working on the '05 HU?

Install was quick otherwise and it seems to be working great so far.

Jim

 

I've got an '04, but with an '05 HU. The text should just work when you plug in the DICE. Check to see if all of the DIP switches are switched off, and check to see if the Disc 6 mode is set to 01.

-Paul!

 

I did a quickly install on my 2006 Cooper S Convertible w/ HK yesterday. Today I took it for a drive and noticed the following:

- When I plug in the IPOD (5G Video) it displays "ok to disconnect" on the Ipod. I had not heard anyone mention that before..
- In order to get the ID tags to display I have to hold down the CD 6 button till the H/U displays "Check CD". Then the unit starts to display text
- I had not been successful changing the Tone (Treble/Bass) on the Head Unit. It seems when I press the note button I can scroll thru the treble / bass, but if I try to change either - I see the ID tags being displayed.
- Changing Playlists is confusing - since it does not display the name of the playlist. I am not even sure if I am starting in a playlist or not.
- Has anyone figured out how to shuffle the songs? I seem to only be able to play the songs in sequence. I tried to select shuffle on the IPOD, but it still seems to be playing in sequence..

Big thank you to those that went ahead of me and cleared the way!! :-)

Thanks!

Alex

 

Okay, I thoroughly confused. I have a 2004 MCS with the H/K audio system. I've been looking to connect my iPod to the stereo, but am confused about the options.

From what I can tell, the new Blitzsafe iPod connector is easy to install, but fairly useless because it doesn't allow for MFSW control (or so I'm told). As for the DICE unit, I'm not getting a great feeling from all the feedback about the issues.

Can the DICE unit work with the '04 MCS with H/K and a new audio/video iPod? How difficult is the installation?

Any help is appreciated?

And hello to one and all. I haven't posted here in a LOOOOOOOOONG time.

 

If that happens, disconnect the iPod and plug it back in. If that doesn't fix it, reboot it (hold menu and the center button until it restarts) and plug it back in.

Just selecting "disc 6" (and letting it auto-select track 1) has always been enough to turn on text for me (and I have an '06 with H/K). Also, once it's turned on, you rarely need to turn text off (see below for the one case you may want to)

If text display is turned on, it's a major pain to try to adjust bass/treble/driver mode/etc. Turn text off (select Disc 6, and hit "Back" to pick track 99), adjust the settings, and turn it back on (Disc 6, track 1)

To switch playlists: Select "disc 2" The first time you hit the "next track" button, it will start playing the first playlist (alphabetically) on the iPod. It doesn't matter whether you are currently listening to a playlist or not, when you first select disc 2 and hit next, it goes to the first playlist. Each successive press of "next track" skips to the next playlist. It may simplify things if you name the playlists that you listen to starting with a number ("01 rock" "02 rap" "03 country" or whatever) Or just memorize the order of your playlists (keeping in mind that there may or may not be an "on-the-go" playlist that could screw up your counting.

To be honest, I haven't tried. The main playlist I listen to is a "smart" playlist that gets randomized whenever I plug the iPod into my computer. Other playlists/albums, I generally listen to in order, so I don't turn on shuffle on the iPod.

 

Hello,

The only Blitzsafe iPod adapter that I'm aware of is just an audio input/iPod charger, so it doesn't allow control of the iPod via the HU/MFSW. Maybe there's another one now, but I don't know anything about it.

After the bugs in the first units were worked out, the DICE seems to be a really good unit. I haven't had any major issues since I received my replacement unit. (Once or twice I've had to turn the radio off and back on after starting the car, but that fixed whatever weirdness was going on, and the DICE/iPod resumed in the middle of the song it was on when I had turned it off.)

It should work with any MINI radio, H/K or otherwise (though I think that the '02s don't support the text display) and any iPod with a dock connector (though the 3rd generation iPods don't get all the features). Installation can be really easy or a major pain, depending on how ****-retentive you are about having wires running through your MINI. The cable plugs into the CD changer harness in the boot (inside the panel on the passenger side, by the H/K amp) and runs up front, to the box and the plug for the iPod. If you don't care about seeing the cable, snake it along the edge, coil the excess under the seat with the DICE box, and plug in your iPod.

However, if you're like me and hate the idea of a cable running through the car, you can spend an afternoon taking out the rear seats and half of the trim panels inside the MINI, and totally hide the cable (until the iPod cable comes out between the parcel shelf and the steering column.)

 

Claancy,

Thanks for the info. Hmmm, maybe I can do the DICE installation on a day that I'm not so ****-retentive. Sounds like it might be easier.

My wife just order the Blitzsafe for me, so I'll wait until it comes to decide. But I have a feeling it will be going back in favour of the DICE unit.

Thanks for the help.

-vector

 

Hey I just got mine and would like to plug it in and try it on my 90 minute commute tomorrow morning. I won't finish the install but could anyone that is still up tell me where the CD changer connecter in the back is located I have a 05 MCSC. TIA Michael

 

Mistro
open boot, look right, remove panel, identify wire cluster bound with what looks like masking tape, find connector, connect to your DICE cable, run cable along side of back seat right side, under passenger seat or wherever, enjoy!

 

On a cabrio it is a little more complicated since the snap-in access panels found in a coupe are not present. I can't find the description with pics someone wrote up about a year ago, but here is a marked-up photo in IndiMini's gallery. You'll need to open the boot and remove the screw holding in the right hand panel and then the panel/cover. The CD changer cable connection should be behind the cover and most likely down low close to the floor.

 

yep found it and it plays just not through the radio controls (except for volume)... Right now I have the world's most expensive aux port!!! Will work on it tomorrow, but it is hooked up and I did ftnd the aux power port too!