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Infotainment ( PCM) replacement


alank

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Anyone thinking of going the Carplay/Android /satnav replacement route should perhaps consider the ERSIN  ( ios & android ) system. Just seen an installation video on you tube and it is Plug&Play, looks to easy, all for £230 , and it worked !!

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I installed an Xtrons head unit in an E53 X5 in 2019 and, if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done it. (There are quite a few companies and many look to be same unit under a different brand name.)

On paper it was a great idea but the OS implementation was flaky, support was tedious to non-existent and operation was inconsistent. Each day was a cr*p shoot - what source what the unit start with? What volume level? Would CarPlay work? Would today be a day that CarPlay crashed?

if only it did what it said on the tin. Consistently. Every day.

I see they sell a unit for the X5 and even now, 5 years on, it has the same low screen resolution, all of 600 pixels high. Strewth!

Buyer beware.
 

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Potentially dumb question. If you replace the PCM with one of these does it mean there's no link to the little round screen next to the speedo?

I.e. does the map view go away on the dashboard binnacle?

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1 hour ago, moospeed said:

Potentially dumb question. If you replace the PCM with one of these does it mean there's no link to the little round screen next to the speedo?

I.e. does the map view go away on the dashboard binnacle?

Yup.  You lose whatever integration you had.  Newer the model /pcm more closely integrated. I guess the functions of the window remain but anything sat nav or audio is lost.  
 

that’s why most people seem to go for the addition of CarPlay / AA for the 981 / pcm3.1 and to some extent for the pcm3 in the 987.2 although that really depends on what options tou have as to how much you lose when when you remove it.  For me it would be individual memory settings, the 3 (or 4) different trip computers and the “lap” map thing for sports chronos as well as the limited nav integration into the cluster.  
 

matters more to some folks than others.  

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On 5/3/2024 at 8:39 PM, alank said:

Anyone thinking of going the Carplay/Android /satnav replacement route should perhaps consider the ERSIN  ( ios & android ) system. Just seen an installation video on you tube and it is Plug&Play, looks to easy, all for £230 , and it worked !!

is your car a BOSE equipped one? Erisin doesnt have MOST interface as far as I am aware. I did test drive a car that had one installed and it looked pretty good actually - was in a non BOSE car... maybe a converter could be used?

 

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11 hours ago, Dubdubz said:

is your car a BOSE equipped one? Erisin doesnt have MOST interface as far as I am aware. I did test drive a car that had one installed and it looked pretty good actually - was in a non BOSE car... maybe a converter could be used?

 

Other consideration with Bose is that even with an adapter box you lose amp control.  So whatever it’s set to when you change the head unit that’s how it stays. Again. Matters more to some folks than others but you can’t alter anything so I guess you need to set it, swap, check you like it before you button everything back up. 

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I tried the add in kit - support was non existent considering they admitted it wouldn't work from the start due to their software.

IT then proceeded to overheat and has since damaged the GPS board on my PCM.  These may ford for base units but mine already had Nav and DAB boards. 

We know the PCM runs hot anyway due to it meting the clock hands on the Chrono...

 

I could be tempted by a complete unit change, but I've kind of given up spending any more on hifi when I can spend it elsewhere...and I daily mine so the tunes are always on.

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ordered a Mr12Volt and will see how I fair with it..will post in my 981 thread... tempted to get a CPU fan somehow rigged to keep the PCM cooler ?

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5 hours ago, Dubdubz said:

ordered a Mr12Volt and will see how I fair with it..will post in my 981 thread... tempted to get a CPU fan somehow rigged to keep the PCM cooler ?

You have a lot on at the moment!  :)

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