Please report back! I just checked the UPS site for my order and it says that there was a 'delay in transit', but it's on its way now, with a ETA of the 22nd.

Hope to hear it goes well!

-Paul!

 

well, that's a bummer! Hopefully you'll get it sooner. Those notices are notoriously inaccurate. Me, I apparently just missed the stock-on-hand and am on the waitinglist for the next batch... I still plan on integrating the aftermarket radio, but as the DICE is a plug and play solution, I thought I'd give it a try in the interim...

 

Well, I installed it following the instructions downloaded from DICE's website, and the radio doesn't seem to recognize the iPod interface. I pulled the radio fuses, per the troubleshooting section, and after putting them back, the radio display just said -DISABLE- and it wouldn't do anything. After disconnecting the iPod interface, it went back to normal. I'm going to have a sandwich, and then go try again.

 

What kind of sandwich?

Seriously, I can't wait to hear the results of your installation. Call those dudes if isn't working! I was on the horn, and by horn I mean telephone, with someone at DICE/Denison today for awhile and they certainly SOUNDED confident... but why wouldn't they, the week the product goes to market. HA.

 

Hmm... doesn't bode well! I would ask if you double-checked to make sure that you hooked up the cables correctly, but from looking at the install guide, you couldn't hook them up wrong if you tried!

Good luck, and keep us posted! (I'm going to be really PO'd though if we end up being public beta testers like the IceLink+ early adapters... I put my faith into that they learned all of their lessons during that whole debacle. We'll see, I guess.)

-Paul!

PS - Claancy, did you try it in DICE mode and/or iPod mode?

PSS - All, for your reading pleasure, the BMW/MINI specific instructions are now on DICE Electronics' web site!

 

Yeah, it's as simple as they come, from the website's installation instructions anyway...

 

I ran into a similar problem installing an iCruze - trying to solve what acted like a ground loop when using the Sirius pass-thru. The H/U got to a point where it said "disabled" also. I kinda freaked out, but then pulled the battery cable and left the whole thing sit for 20 minutes. When I hooked everything back up the H/U went back to normal operation and the iCruze was functional again, albeit still with the ground loop hiss. I was able to remove the iCruze without any further problems and now just waiting patiently for the new unit to arrive. I know several folks here locally who have the IceLink+ with Sirius pass-thru working, so counting on this unit to do the same for a few $$ less. I should get my Dice by Friday but won't be able to give the installlation a shot until Monday or Tuesday.

Good luck to the first couple of you to get these - I have faith that Dension/Dice will do a better job this time around.

 

Wondering if the installation might be a bit too much for me. I don't really have any experience installing car electronics or stereos and am worried about routing wires. Any input from those who have done the installation already would be appreciated.

 

Smoked turkey and Swiss.

So I called Dension tech support, and the guy I talked to asked me to try a few things (check the connections in the boot, disconnect the 12-pin cable from the box, and plug it in after a few seconds without the iPod connected) and they didn't work, so he thinks I may have a defective unit. Of course, they're out of stock, but they'll be getting more on Monday. I'm supposed to call back Monday and they'll "express ship" a replacement unit to me then.

After I got off the phone, I decided to poke at it some more....and got it to work! It turns out that the 12-pin connection is really touchy, and I had to have the cable oriented just right for it to make good contact. I played with it some in my driveway, and it's pretty slick. The head unit scrolls the ID3 tag info, in the format: Song Title * Artist * Album Title

So, I decided to go for a ride. Rolled down the windows, cranked up some tunes, and drove off. When I hit a few bumps, the sound would cut out and then come back, presumably because of the aforementioned flaky connection. After one bump, the text display on the head unit messed up, and it would only display the first four characters of the song title.

Now the bad news - at some point on my way home, the airbag light came on. I'm not sure exactly when it did, but even after disconnecting everything, it doesn't go out. Hmmmm.....

 

clanncy,

I don't know if I should or ! It sounds like you might have gotten a flaky cable. Hopefully yours was just a fluke! I do feel for you though. Usually I end up being the 'lucky' one!

As for the airbag light, that's... weird!! I would like to think that it's was just a very odd and unrelated coincidence, as can't fathom how a connection to the radio could set off the light? But then again, I've seen stranger things with these cars!

Anyhow, thanks for the update. Did you happen to notice any significant 'lag' while using the radio or steering wheel controls?

-Paul!

 

I've done a similar installation of an aftermarket XM antenna. If you're not too picky on how well the wire is hidden, you can hide it pretty well without yanking any panels. You can go between the right back seat and the side back panel, then pull up the weather strip for the passenger door, and route the wire there, if the wire doesn't end up being too thick. After that, pull the carpet up in the back of the passengers footwell and place the wire there, and finally route the wire kind of to the side and underneath the center column, tucking it where you can, leaving the end loose for easy hookup to an iPod.

Although, if you want to do a 'professional' install, I did it in about half a day, and that included yanking the back seats out and various panels. It's really not too hard, but it is admittedly intimidating if it's your first time doing so! (Oh, and have panel clips on hand. Some will inevitably end up breaking! They're cheap and disposable though.)

-Paul!

 

I guess that's what I get for being one of the first people to get this adapter. Oh well.

Tonight, I plan to see if I can adjust the pins in the cable so they fit tighter. It could be that just one of them isn't making good contact all the time, and that's what caused the problems.

As far as the airbag light, I'm hoping that it's unrelated. There have been reports of early versions of the Ice Link making the airbag light turn on, but I don't think this is the same thing. It seems that the Ice Link would also make the seatbelt light come on, and the problems would go away after the Ice Link was removed. I guess it was throwing some weird signals out onto the connection bus, which messed with the car's computer. The Ice Link could also cause other problems, with other warning lights, and even making the exterior lights not come on.

Once I figure out how to get the DICE unit to work consistently, either with my current box or a replacement one, I'll pull it out of the car and then take it in for service. I guess that one advantage of using the rear CD changer connection is that it's easy to plug things in and test them without any major disassembly. I'm glad that I tested everything before running the cable (I just tossed it over the back seat, and had all the components sitting in the passenger seat when testing). I do recommend that everyone else test it thoroughly before doing a final "neat" install, so if you need to remove it you can do so quickly.

 

Anyone install it yet? Hows it work? Can it display the info on the Nav screen?

 

Claancy
That's one of the things I LIKE about the DICE, the rear-changer attachment. I know it's a pain for some, and certainly for permanent installations it's irritating that you don't have a choice of rear or HU install, but I personally like the fact that it is plug-and-play and can be removed easily. I have half of my aftermarket stereo in a box in the garage, and am holding off on a system design for the MCS for awhile while using the stock sound for now. The DICE system is a great way to get iPod functionality without too much commitment...

How's the control lag on the DICE< by the way?

I'm scheduled, theoretically, for the same shipment as your replacement. We pay for early-adoption, I'm sure...

 

Yep! If I had any patience, I would have waited a few months for any bugs to get ironed out, but.... Ah well, it's more fun this way, right?

I knew that there were problems with the early IceLinks, but not like that! I did some skimming through some of the early discussions with the +, and sure enough, there were all kinds of funky stuff going on with them! I really had no idea that everything electrical in the MINI was that interconnected!

Still though, if the light was caused by the DICE, it should be just a simple software refresh to set everything right again! (I hope! )

In any case though, thanks for the updates! I'm still on schedule to receive mine on Monday. I'm going to be working a night shift then, so everyone can expect a report from me no later than Tuesday afternoon.

-Paul!

 

There seems to be an option in the online manual for it, but I think that the nav version of the DICE is not out as of yet.

If you give DICE Electronics/Dension a call, you can probably get a better update!

-Paul!

 

The BMW instructions show how to change where the ID3 tag info is displayed, with choices between radio head unit, nav screen, and a couple other things that certain BMWs have. I'm not sure if that's mentioned in the online manual, but it is in the printed manual that I received. Of course, that manual also doesn't actually mention MINI anywhere, just various BMWs. As I don't have Nav in my MINI, I don't know if that option is compatible with the MINI system. Though, if you set it to display on the HU, maybe it won't interfere with the Nav map like the Ice Link did/does.

 

I may have solved the problem with my DICE unit. Using my generic MicroCenter multimeter, I found which connections were flaky when the connection to the DICE box was wiggled. I then adjusted the offending pins (black and brown ones on the end, which lead to the 3-pin plug; I think they're power and ground, but I'm not completely sure). By adjusted, I mean that I used a tiny screwdriver to mash the female pins in the cable plug, so they make better contact with the male pins in the DICE box.

Time to go out and test it in the car! Wish me luck!

 

Good luck!!!

 

It's been nearly and hour, either it works and he's out listening to the ipod, or was electicuted by the "modification" to the plug!

Claancy, come towards my voice! You can make it!!!

Ok, I admit it I'm bored

 

raise the bonnets and hope he sees the spotlights!

 

Thankfully, it works and I was out listening to it. No electrocution here.

A few observations:

• The headunit didn't recognize it until I plugged the iPod cable into the DICE box. The iPod doesn't need to be connected, but its cable does.
• If you turn on the HU with the ignition turned off, the iPod works. However, there's no text display until the ignition is turned on.
• Skipping between tracks is usually near-instantaneous. Occasionally it takes a second or so, but I think that's the iPod's hard drive spinning up, since it occasionally takes a few seconds to change tracks when I'm using it with headphones
• Occasionally when it's really quiet, I could hear a little bit of a digital chirping sound in the background. Mildly annoying, but not bad.
• Skipping playlists via the radio controls was a little awkward at first, but it makes a little more sense after I played with it for a while I need to give my playlists better names / put them in a more logical order
• You can pause the iPod with its click wheel, and the head unit says "PAUSE". I have no idea if you can pause/unpause with the HU controls
• You can press the "RND" button on the HU and the RND characters light up just like with a CD. I don't think it actually does anything, though.
• There's a limit to how many characters it will display in the song title and album title. Presumably there's a limit for the artist, too, but I didn't listen to anything by an artist with a really long name.
• Overall, it's pretty damn cool.

I took a few pictures, and put them in my gallery. I also made a crappy MPEG movie of the scrolling text on the head unit. It's really dark, and there's no sound because my camera is kinda crappy.

Now that it works consistently, it seems to be a pretty nice unit. If it works well for the next few days, I'll see about getting my airbag light taken care of.

 

claancy,

Good to hear! I was worried about the lag in pressing the radio buttons and getting a response. It seems like that it won't be a problem! And I agree with the occasional delay. My iPod, while in the car, occasionally takes a bit to 'catch up', even occasionally skipping a song. I found that this is due to road vibration. Some iPods are very bad with this, others hardly at all. Mine seems to be in the middle.

And it looks like all of the problems then had to do with the loose connection. While it's a shame that you got the 'bad apple', I'm glad to hear that it wasn't some software/firmware issue!

Thanks for the excellent mini write-up! (Pun most certainly intended! ) And the video clip was a very welcome touch! Keep us posted of your thoughts and/or troubles!

-Paul!

 

Wow! Thanks for being the guinea pig! The lag thing is HUGE!!! I'm a big proponent of the iceLink Plus (you can read my posts) in spite of the shortcoming because I truely believe it was the best out there. Now, if someone an confirm the NAV behavior, I may have an iceLink Plus for sale.

Thanks again.

Steve

 

I remember once a guy mentioned that DICE unit allows user to listen to all playlists, and to browse songs by artist, album, etc. How does this actually work?