Hello:

I had previously asked a question about the electrical system and my phone, but this is a more direct question.

Is anyone her using (or know of anyone using) the NewMiniStuff bluetooth kit with the 2008 Mini Cooper S convertible? We have now tried two different kits from Mikey, and the battery failed both times; the first battery was about 3 months old and the second was brand new.

Is anyone using any other bluetooth kit with this car?

In researching this online, I was surprised to see that one company has a kit for the 2007 convertible but says it does not work with the 2008. Since I had been told they are the same (with no real change till the 09 model), I wonder if anyone here has any idea what all that means?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Fantastic Choice

 

Yes, I am using the Parrot 3000 EVO with the MFSW Multicom, for bluetooth. Also, I installed the Gateway-100 iPOD controller, and enabled text display of iPOD menus and songs/artists/albums, etc, on the radio display. I have a 2008 convertible with Harmon/Kardon radio. I bought both from newministuff.com. Everything works great. I highly recommend newministuff.com.

Since I got two harnesses (one with the Parrot, and another with the Gateway-100) I combined both into one wiring harness, before I did the install.

 

Can you tell me how long you've had this set-up?

Thanks for your help.

 

I have had it installed about 2 weeks. I understand your concern is discharging the batteries? If I don't plan on using any of my vehicles for 3 weeks or more, I always put a battery maintainer on the ones I don't plan on using. I put a quick-connect on each vehicle so it is easy to connect the battery maintainer. I do this because modern cars have constant drains on batteries, with their memories, computer chips, etc. So, I can not tell you if my Mini battery drains FASTER with the iPOD and bluetooth accessories I added. I did notice when I bought my mini the dealer had battery chargers running on some of the minis in the showroom, and each of his Minis had a battery charge schedule in the glove-box. Also if your constant +12volt, and the ignition +12volt were accidently reversed during installation this would drain your batteries faster. How fast does your battery drain? Since my installation the longest my mini sat was 3 days, so far. Also why don't you contact the company that says theirs does not work on a 2008 and ask why - maybe their issue is battery drain also.

 

Hi. Again thanks for your reply.

I am copying in below one of the earlier messages I had sent about this before I sent the one you saw. It was in a different thread, and since no one with a like problem responded, I wrote the note you found. Here it is:

NewMiniStuff kit and car battery

I have not been able to find the answer to this question anywhere, and I think I've looked at every site that would relate. I have seen pieces of the problem, but never the whole problem put together.

I have a 2008 Mini Cooper S convertible, with the Sidewalk package.

We have our bluetooth phone system from NewMinisStuff installed and working beautifully for almost a month, and I love it. (It does use the steering wheel buttons.)

But we had a weird thing happen with our electrical system. Yesterday, the car wouldn't start because, as it turned out, the battery was drained. And I mean drained. Trying to start it didn't even make a sound. The inside and outside lights went on, but nothing else. It was so drained that jumping it 3 times didn't do anything for it. But the Roadside service guy showed up promtly with a bigger charge and it started. It is fine today.

I drive this car every day, and the most it sits is 12 hours, and even that is unusual.

We took it into the Mini dealer today, and they are saying everything checks out, but that there is a 120 milliamp drain on the system when the car is off. The onboard computer, they say, doesn't go to sleep (because of the phone) as it should, and the battery is drained. They said they disconnected the the loom and its connctions, and the drainage is more like 1.5. Is this possible? Although the mechanic is saying it would drain the battery in about a week, and although we have driven the car every day, they are still saying the parrot system is at fault. Could this be the case, and what can I tell them?

I wonder if anyone else has this kit from Mikey and what car they are using it on. Mikey said they have used it on a car like mine with no problem. (I haven't heard back from him yet about my problem, but it would help me to get whatever information I can. Because they say that it takes about a week to drain the battery and the minimum I put on the car daily is 10 miles, but there are 4 days a week it gets at least 25 miles, what could this mean?

My car is really brand new; it has not quite 1850 miles on it.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.[/B][/B][/B]

So its not like I don't use the car for any length of time. It seems as if the battery, after about a month

Again, later, I wrote:

Continuing...NewMiniStuff kit and car battery
No resolution, and we are continuing to search. Mikey sent us a new loom, and the same thing happened again. Apparently there is something different with the wiring on our 2008 models than on the 2007. Mike said he has not heard of it, so it would be good if you let him know about yours.

I have just about given up and am thinking about getting a gps navigation unit of some kind, a Garmin Nuvi with lots on it, including bluetooth. Apparently they can be ordered with our model of car, so they "must" work?? If they do, then I can use it to do handsfree communicating, but the down side is it won't use the mfsw, but at least it will work easily, I would hope! I've sent a letter to the local service dept, and I hope to hear tomorrow if it will work.

My husband and I have both tried to work this through with Mike and others, and no one seems to have a clue. My husband is going to try higher up in the tech part of MINI, regionally or wherever.

So far, you're the first person who has communicated with us about having this issue! I'll let you know what I hear as soon as I hear.

And then it happened again, yet another time. So I did purchase a Nuvi 760 which more than meets my needs. We have it wired so its totally integrated, and, since we are using the aux plug-in, I can indeed use the steering wheel controls.

My husband has a 200t MCS, not a cabrio, and he has the newministuff kit working in his, with the second loom, with some extra stuff added.

It will be interesting to see if anything (negative) happens with yours. I sure hope not but hope you keep me posted, either way.

Thanks again for your help.

BCG aka Fantastic Choice

 

Thanks for the information. I'll keep you posted.

 

Hi FantasticChoice,
thought I would give you an update. My Parrot is working fine.
I wrote to Parrot Tech support in France. They explained the drain on the battery for the Parrot memory is about the same as the radio memory itself, i.e. practically nothing. I put a meter on my battery and simply disconnected and reconnected the power (in line fuses) to the blue-tooth. Parrot is right, no visible difference on the meter. Last, I checked my battery charge before leaving the car for 4 days and then returning - absolutely no loss of charge. The explanation you got from MINI "the computer does not go to sleep" makes no sense to me. My business has been computers all my working life. I would love to hear them explain how the MINI's computers work, re this problem. I think they are smokin' something. I would like to know if your battery continues to die with the Parrot disconnected. Have fun with your new MINI.

 

Hi All
i seee the thread has been inactive for some time.
i am from south africa and i have been experiencing the same problems above , i have had my carbo 2008 since march and been constantly having flat batteries , some after 2-3 days , sometimes after 5-6 hours.
my local mini dealer have had enough of me and i have jumper leads in my car all the time.
i have had my car current draw tested twice and they have concuded that my bluetooth is my problem.
i have had 3 Parrot CK 32000 intergrated onto my steering wheel and now got to the point where i am looking for another brand to use in my car .
as soon as i have no bluetooth connected to my car - i have absolutely no problems hat so ever .
has anyone got any solution to this ???
my dealer says that the cabro and the standard minis are wired differently and thats why there is this problem.
i have had enough of Parrot , so if anyone could asssist i would be extremely greatful.
thanks

 

HI i am from south africa - and i know this post has been dead for quite some time.
i have been experiencing the same dead battery problems with the parrot ck 32000 blue tooth kit on my cabro 2008 .
i have had 3 kits put in my car sine march 2008 and all seem to do the same thing , either after a few days or even a few hours .
i wanted to know if anyone has a solution to this or if there is another bluetooth kit that can be recomended,
i all i want is to have bluetooth incorporated into my steering wheel to take and make calls.i have had my car current draw tested by mini twice and they have put it down to the bluetooth . as soon as i have no bluetooth connected - bo more problems.
any help is most appreciated
thanks

 

Its definitely not bluetooth! I have come upon a solution that does not involve this particular kit, and in the long run, I'm thrilled.

But it is bluetooth, I have used it for months, and have had NO problems.

I bought a NUVI 760 gps, a kuda "holder", and we wired it all into the electrical system of the car. Its a GPS with bluetooth, and my call all come through and go through the NUVI, through the auxiliary to the car speakers (not directly to the car speakers -- its important that it goes from the phone to the NUVI to the car system. Apparently using the NUVI directly through bluetooth messes up the sound. We then wired the cigarette lighter plug with the traffic module directly to the electrical system. The only thing that shows at all is about 1.5 inches of wire behind the holder as it goes into the dash. The only negative is that though the NUVI remains portable, I cannot take the adapter with the traffic module into another car, since it is permanently wired in, but I probably wouldn't anyway.

The sound is great. In addition, I get a phenomenal gps, far superior to my husband's factory nav in his MINI, an audio book reader, traffic alerts, both visual and audio, full use of the steering wheel controls, and all the other goodies on the NUVI 760. I've even been able to use a personalized MINI icon as the pointer on the gps.

My husband and I got lots of pieces of input from this list, and we were able to add our own little bits of creativity, to the point that I wouldn't change it even if I could get the old phone kit to work and get it for free.

I was able to find the NUVI 760 at a great price online, bought some of the parts needed on ebay, and luckily have a husband who gets this stuff and was happy to do this for me.

I would guess we could put together a little explanation of what we did and how we did it if it would help, although I am not sure we could get to it immediately.

Our next little project is to retrofit heated seats. My 2008 MCSc Sidewalk came loaded with everything except heated seats (it came from Texas), but we have discovered, through reading this list and others, that many of the cars come with everything built in ready to be "activated" with one electrical component. One thing I read said it is true of all the English Malt Leather seats! So......

Mikey tried to be helpful but never acknowledged the problem to be really there. I now know of 8 such cases. Too bad.

I hope this is clear. No Parrot, no "kit", just a NUVI 760 with wires and fuses added. By the way, when I'm listening to an audio book, it stops for traffic alerts and then picks up right where it left off. I LOVE the whole system.

bcg

(not proof reading, got to go to work!)

 

hi fantastic choice
thanks for the reply , you sound very happy with the alternate choice.
i am not looking to go the whole extra features section , i just want a normal bluetooth that i can use with the steering wheel , just to answer calls and make calls.
i am not on the road that much , but when i am , i need the hands free.
i have been told there is another kit called blue smart that works with the car - any one know anything about it , or has it .
i had a parrot ck 3200 in my previous mini , and had no problems , but i got rid of it so that i could put the parrot ck 3000 in the new car with steering wheel intergration ,so i wouldnt have any clutter
cheers

 

Fantastic choice, do you have pics of your set up? I also have the 760, and might do the same thing. I use the 760 speaker bluetooth, and the sound is ok, but your set up sounds awesome.

 

I don't right now, but I will get some. Unfortunately I am not where I can get them for the next few days. If my husband gets a chance, I'll have him take some for me. Otherwise, I'll get back to you by the beginning of next week. It is a great set-up!

 

Can you include me in the list for request for pics for nuvi 760 set up.

 

Sorry it has taken more time than I had promised to get these photos up. WE have had unfortunately difficut stuff to deal with, but here they finally are!

There are three here, and I will do another post with the last two.

bcg

 

Here are the last two photos.

Here is our explanation, also:

Kuda mount, with connectors. On the right, the upper connector is the right angle auxiliary cable which plugs into the aux port in the glove box. Below that is the mic connector, which runs up the driver's side pillar and across to the light console above the mirror. On the left is the power connector and traffic antenna, which plugs into a female 12V connector wired into an add-a-fuse in the fuse box. Popping off the instrument panel decorative trim allows access to the space behind the dash; all cables are run to that space and behind the dash to their connecting points. Neat!

 

Very clean, thx for the pics. Another project while the car will be stored for winter

 

I know this thread has been dead for a while, but I have the same problems with the newministuff bluetooth kit in my 2007 Cooper S sidewalk cabrio. I love the thing, and it works beautifully, but the battery gets flattened every now and again.

Mike has been really great in trying to work through the problems, but I had to pull the kit out last weekend. I am really bummed about this, and would much rather have found a solution.

 

hi There
the parrot agent managed to make a plan and used a different cam interface device .
he also connected it so that the unit was completely off when the ignition was off . this mean s there is no memory kept on the bluetooth , but ensures that it works and i dont get a flat battery . so everytime i start my car it takes the bluetooth kit about 10 secs to re register.
let me know if you need any more info
cheers and good luck

 

Really sorry to hear that. But I'm not surprised. I had written above several times, and just fyi, I am more than thrilled with the setup I talked about above (with the Nuvi 760 gps). Never have had a problem.

Good luck.

 

Hi faty

I'd love to get more info on your setup, as I would rather get the parrot kit working properly

I did work out one thing - the battery only went flat if I left the stereo in the "on" mode when I turned the car off. The stereo went off when I removed the key, but something seems to have kept power to the parrot.

If I turned the stereo to "off" before turning the ignition off, the battery was fine.

Weird huh? I am open to any and all advice.

Phil.

 

Hi Phil,

I am very new to this forum but have a lot of experience with Parrot Car kits. I have just fitted a CK3200 to my wifes 2008 MCSS. When fitting the kit there was a couple of things I noted that my be an explanation for the battery drain being experienced. The Parrot has 2 power inputs 1 is a constant +12V or battery input and the other is is an ignition +12v. When I connected the kit I found that the +12v inputs from the car were HK Headunit were crossed and as a result the +12v from the battery was connected to the ignition +12v input and the visa versa. This situation is easily fixed by changing over the fuse holders to ensure the correct power orientation. I have trippled checed the install and the kit is definately off when the ignition is off. What I also found is that if the headunit is off then there is no output from the parrot to the speakers, this is quite strange behaviour.

Hope this helps,

Craig

 

Hi Aussie_Sidewalk

(Interestingly I am an Australian too, and I own a sidewalk, but I live in California ).

I'd be very interested in getting more information from you on how to troubleshoot my kit - I am going to have another go in a few days. Your comment here is interesting:

"When I connected the kit I found that the +12v inputs from the car HK Headunit were crossed and as a result the +12v from the battery was connected to the ignition +12v input and the visa versa."

I'll pay close attention to that and let you know how it goes.

Also, what do you mean by this:

"What I also found is that if the headunit is off then there is no output from the parrot to the speakers, this is quite strange behaviour."

Do you mean that even if the headunit is off, the parrot should be able to answer a call?

 

Hi Phil,

We Aussies do get around.

From my testing the Parrot is fed with 2 power feeds, a battery feed (the red wire) and an ignition feed (the orange wire). Note, I am assuming you have the standard Parrot wiring loom. When you connect the plug and play adaptor cable into the mini wiring and then plug the Parrot wiring loom in you will find that the orange feed from the mini wiring is powered all the time and the red feed is controlled by the ignition. The problem here is that if you leave the wiring as is the bluetooth module is constantly powered and potentially active, this will definately consume the battery. Prior to changing the power around I was not getting a Goodbye message when I turned the ignition off, When I corrected the power issue, I discovered I was getting a phone disconnected message then the Goodbye message. So do double check the power feeds to the Parrot.

With regards the audio, on further analysis I have discovered that the Mini with HK audio has an amplifier between the headunit and the speakers and that with the headunit off the amp is off. Additionally, I have not been able to bypass this as the HK headunit does not appear to have a mute input. If it did I could install a standalone speaker to overcome the requirement to have the sterio turned on. In most vehicles I install the Parrot kits there is no amp post the headunit and the parrot drives one of the factoy speakers.

Hope this helps,

Craig

 

Hi Craig

I am using the wiring harness from Mike at newministuff. He's been really great with helping with the troubleshooting. This morning I confirmed that the Parrot CK3000 has the right power to the right leads - the accessory power and permanent power is in the right place.

I also did some significant testing, and the Parrot definitely disconnects the bluetooth phone when the ignition switch is off, regardless of the position of the stereo (on or off). However, previously if the stereo was left in the "on" position when the key was removed, the battery is completely drained.

The only weird thing I noticed is that there was an "initialization" noise from the head unit when I plugged in the Parrot data cable (without the power attached to the unit) - i.e. the CD motor whirs..

What I am thinking, is trying the Parrott with the permanent power removed - do you think that should work? I don't store anything in the Parrot memory. Will it work just being powered by accessory power?