I think I will tackle this tomm-the camera arrived and the anream unit...I am on vacation so its auto week, just replaced brakes and rotors on my mercedes metris van-but I sense this job is gonna be more of a pain.
-the knee airbag, are there any tricks? just sounds like a nightmare?
-can I use/keep the OEM microphone in the car (its center roof area by the toggles and lights right?) sounds like some confusion there?
-the camera I got, same one as navwizard, the unit comes with a bunch of wires, and the camera itself direct wire is only about 3' long, I can't imagine thats making its way to the anream unit?
I have a whole folder of videos and links on this project-wish me luck! haha

 

The knee airbag is probably the biggest pain, sounds like alot of people remove the 2 bolts that are blind, they face the front of the car, IF you can get them out, it would make that section easier to get the glovebox out (which you need to get the center console out) I watched another video where the guy just flexed the plastic panel covering the airbag down a little and it worked. See Attached Pic.

Knee Airbag panel 'flexed' out to reach the 2 lower bolts on the Glove Box

The factory Mic, yes you can use the factory mic, I just didn't know where to tie it in at, so like NavWizard says you snake it around to the passenger side (with your camera wire) and then up the passenger a pillar and over to the center console. The harness comes with a passthru to keep the factory setup intact.

For the camera, the Andream has about 1 foot of cable (2 RCAs one for Front Camera and one for Rear Camera) it also has Power, Ground, and Reverse Detect. The camera should have come with the camera itself with a very small 4 pin connector and then a longer RCA to RCA wire with a red wire attached. This longer RCA is what will span from the Andream back to the back of the car. I did see a video where a guy passed the wire from inside the car to the bumper area by drilling a small hole inside the passenger tail light housing (after the tail light assembly was removed)

I really like the unit, I just for the life of me can't understand why there are no instructions on it and we have to fend for ourselves. It should go without saying but test the thing out before you start putting the trim back together and then test once again after you have the center stack assembled before you put the rest together.

 

Well, the full system is in but presenting a new problem. Now from time to time I'm getting an "external TPMS signal interference" error. Looking under the back of the car an searching Google, apparently one of the TPMS modules is right behind the license plate near the muffler. My camera cable is in that general area but not alot of options to go another route from above the license plate. I will try to externally shield it today with foil tape. Guessing it's the camera since it's the only thing that changed back there and it comes with a very thin wire. I can disconnect the camera power to test. Takes about 15 mins to throw the air which is a blinking tire symbol instead of s solid tire symbol for low error. The Andream must keep the thing powered all the time even when it isn't being used.

 

Argh! That sucks-**** like this is my biggest concern-creating new problems haha. I think we got the same camera from Amazon too. I haven't done my job, been waiting for a day I have NOTHING to do.
Thanks for all the updates, all this helps out those that need manuals and instructions and as we know-there are none haha.

 

Ok well good news, ran foil tape over it between where it comes over the crash bar to where it passes into the boot. Drove for an hour and no TPMS interference today. Yesterday did it twice after about 20 minutes. I'll try and get pics of how I ran it. Passed the camera wire through a hole I drilled near the center Latch connection (near the rear hatch latch but in the lower we'll area.

 

Yay!
where can I find this foil tape?
Also-did you all disconnect the battery terminal during install-to insure airbag doesnt go off?

 

This guys video is long, but another one showing how to get this nightmare underway.

 

The DIP switches for my unit should be: 00010000
This a for sure thing?

 

Like so? I notice in the above guys video he’s got DIP all Different

 

only just begun and can't even get the light sensor/center vent thing off...one of the videos says stick a small screw driver in there to pop the cap off.....for life of me, not getting it.
gonna be a long day hahaha.

 

nevermind, I had a old screw driver, i put in a vice to give it a little bend to the driver to allow me to pop that cap off....
moving on, see ya in 12 hours hahahaha

 

Regarding the #10 point, the A pillar is the beam that is in between the windshield and the passenger door eh? if so-what wire that was "already there"?

 

after HOURS of getting this thing apart, im into the MMI box connection, as you all know, no instructions.
Of all the links I have saved, connecting the MMI unit is a challenge-well, getting the car apart is the challenge-I expected the connection of the new MMI box to be a few minutes.

I thought I have it right-pretty simple (the big OEM connector on my CD player, I remove that, plug in the andream mmi NEW big ole connector, plug the OE one into the new dongle coming off the new connector-figured it can't get easier than that), but, when I turn car on, the screen doesn't come on at all-so that's awesome and yes, I have NOT put the whole nightmare of a dash board back together.

the LVDS cables, in and out, I 'think' I have that right (lvds IN goes right into the lvds on my video/speedometer, and the OUT goes into the OLD/original cable)....thats how the LVDS are now and if I leave them hooked like that-even if its wrong, I plug in the original OEM connector to back of CD player and I get the screen back, but no MMI action.

Is there a hotline I can call? hahaha, kidding.
What a friggin nightmare.




Current setup-screen does not come on-but radio is playing.

 

#6--you sure about this? if the andream LVDS IN, goes into the back of the CD player pink jack, whats going on with OUT? have it piggy back off the old OEM pink that 'was' plugged into back of CD player?

 

So-you plugged the LVDS IN, from your andream, into back of CD player? what did you do with the old OEM LVDS?

 

What a total nightmare.
So-after a full day (embarrassing) I finally have apple play/carplay whatever the hell it's called, appearing on screen.

First problems:
-I can see my spotify songs, on screen, playing...but no sound from speakers-speakers are still playing my FM radio--any thoughts
-Microphone-I try to do 'hey siri' and that is not working-meaning if I hold down button on iphone to summons siri, she pops up, I ask for something, nothing happens. If I hit the speak button on steering wheel-the mini cooper audio girl comes on "sorry" or whatever
-back up camera. I plugged it in-probably wrong, in the andream setup I tried the 2 diff camera options, but no dice, if I hit CAMERA in the menu options, I get NO SIGNAL....if I put car in reverse-no camera appears on screen-any thoughts.

For the life of me, no idea how all of you made this appear so much easier, never had such a nightmare with car DIY!
Regardless, thanks for being tech support.

 

Sorry, was offline for a while, Ill keep checking in throughout the day to help if I can

 

DIP Settings of 00010000 - This is what it had to be for mine to work, essentially if it is wrong, the screen will be too wide, you will know it right away since you can't see half the stuff off to the right.

 

Yes, this is correct.

 

OK so looking at your picture, things look very similar, one odd thing is the MMI box on mine had an Andream Label on it. So hopefully they are exactly the same. I do see the Black optical cables on your system, those will have to transfer over to the connection that plugs directly into the back of the CD Head Unit. For the LVDS, It looks like you picked off the correct one BUT at least on mine it was backwards from what I thought it should be. Are you saying at this point you get absolutely nothing on the Screen at all?

 

Don't feel bad, I am very comfortable around electronics and I let out every swear in the book putting this thing in, it was harder than it needed to be for no reason other than, I can't think of any thing... My wife walked by in the middle of it and thought her car was never going to start again. Then when the LVDS was reversed and the car though a red error and said it wouldn't start anymore I freaked out but pushed forward. Now once its in, they love it.

-OK you are close! You will need to move over the 2 black optical cables (they are in your picture) so they go directly to the head unit, there is a little tab on the harness and they slide out as an assembly. Once you put this into the head unit, it will then enable the FRONT Aux Input, you will have to use this input in order to get sound from the Andream, (You select Front in your old Mini Interface, until the Black Cables are plugged in, you can't set the volume level on the front input, it stays at 0) Also the little right angle male headphone cable needs to go under the shifter right next to the cable you ran to tie into the i-drive controller and plug into the Audio input there. This is necessary to get sound from the Andream.
-The microphone - I didn't tie in the factory microphone, wasn't sure where to, so I used the one that came with the kit, It plugs into a harness that came with the kit and then the harness plugs into a female headphone jack in the harness labeled microphone. You can see in my pics where I installed it (just above the screen in the center vent so you cant see it. IF you are using the factory mic, you have to tie in up above the headliner.
-THE Camera, so there should be 2 RCA (Yellow) inputs for the cameras, the Front is the one that will pop up when you select camera from the menu, that is the easiest one to test with. If you get an image than at least you know its all good. As for connections, you need just the RCA cable for video plus the +12V power wire from the Andream harness down the RCA cable and then to the final little camera dongle. (So 2 places where you splice red to red.) You should have it set on Aftermarket in the Settings for Backup. There is a combination that doesn't work (I think it is everything on in the menu), so start with just camera, turn off all the other settings then bring them back on one at a time. I have mine set for RADAR (the Mini backup sensors, and the dynamic grid lines.) There is one other one called line or something that is off. You have to clip a little wire on the camera (2 loops, I think its the green wire) to disable the camera lines that come directly from the camera otherwise they are in the way of the ones the Andream puts on the screen.

Ill send some pics later today on how I ran the camera cable back to the back of the car, it should save you some time.

 

Thank you so much for the attention on this, appreciate that total strangers on the internet can help on a DIY project.
Let's start with the optical cable-I did that and good to go there-a bit confused on the 'right angle male headphone cable' I do not have one of those-is this supposed to be with the andream unit? or on my car? and if I DO have it, you are saying to plug that mic cable into the audio input where? the external one that sits next to a USB port under the ebrake (rear of the shifter/idrive unit?

-the mic, I don't even think they sent me a mic cable, so not even an option
-the camera, I will try to reinitiate that setup again, I only plugged in the yellow RCA cable, didnt tie in any power cables-thats probably where I went wrong.

Thanks-didn't wanna throw a second day down the drain with this project, but I now have a car sitting in driveway, in pieces haha.

 

For the sound, there should be a right angle cable with a 1/8" jack that comes with Andream, it goes into the input near the ebrake.
For the mic, my Andream came with a second small harness with a set of in and out connectconnectors and a small little rectangular cube which is the Mic, that plugged into a female jack in the andream harness labeled mic.

 

I do have the right angle mic cord, I have plugged it into the mic input under ebrake/beside the USB.....I think outside of the camera, I am in the homestretch as I can see carplay on screen, maps, spotify, I even think the included mic (found it) is working because I was able to summon siri to call my daughter-but still NO AUDIO through car system, its just playing the current FM radio, phone call wont override it, nor maps, songs from phone, etc etc.....so my phone is CONNECTED, but no sound from phone on car system.
I thought that mic cable into AUX was the final secret sauce---nope.
If anyone has any other hints i'd appreciate it.
Cheers all.

 

Keep in mind you have to select audio source to Front Aux (on the original system, hold left button by idrive for 2 seconds to flip back and firth) so you shouldn't hear radio at that point, it will then be on Aux which will take sound from the 90 degree cord. You are soo close!