Hope this is ok to ask here - apologies if not.
tldr - my car has tire pressure senors, oil monitor sensor etc all controlled via in the car display system. If I had this changed with a non-oem aftermarket display, do I need to specifically look for one that supports vehicle status sensors? Or is it a matter of just connecting it all and the display will have that information? And will the built in controls still function?
additional context -
I have a Mini Cooper S 2020 F55 with what I believe is a BIS entertainment/in car system. I want to change it out for one that has carplay. When I look online, read any forums, they’re all discussing how to swap the BIS with an OEM mini headunit etc (NBT/EVO whatever). Replacing them looks incredibly expensive - nearing £1000 for everything.
I want to retain all existing functionality - the vehicle status like oil and tire sensors etc.
I have looked at the wireless carplay interrupt units which can add carplay without replacing the display/head unit however it doesn’t seem there is one available specifically for the BIS unit.
Does anyone have any experience or advice? Thanks!
Call Crutchfield, they will know for sure.
I did this for a Toyota using an idatalink and retained everything plus added a few things. the idatalink translates the cars information into something a compatible head unit can understand.
TPS, oil, water, check engine, steering wheel controls, etc. some vehicles even have climate control and window controls which are supported.
Interesting, thank you! I will check them out. Much appreciated
Actually i saw the forums youre talking about and im going to guess youre out of luck if you want something simple.
An alternative is to get a dedicated carplay screen. Not that im recommending it, but here’s an example:
That might not be a bad idea, if I can find a good way of mounting it out of eye line. thanks again
Coming from VW/Audi it’s easier to just grab a factory unit and have it programmed. Yea it’s expensive, but the German cars aren’t super easy to tinker with.
I never thought about everything the car multimedia system was doing except playing music and it’s true that it might be difficult to swap them now that everything is managed through them
Good luck is my best answer.
You’d have to find out exactly how each subsystem works, and reproduce that to the extent it’s provided by the factory head unit.
Take the TPS - how much of that system is integrated into the factory unit, or does it just display data retrieved from the TPS system? If it just retrieves that data, how does that interface function? Does it run over CANBUS, or does it use a point-to-point connection with custom signaling?
You’ll have to figure this out for everything controlled by the head unit.
I really doubt this is a realistically achievable goal.
Thats pretty much what I was expecting really. The only other thing I have noticed that is semi related - others have done mods (different cars entirely) to have ODB hooked up to the display. I believe I can get tire pressure etc from ODB; possibly theres a head unit that connects that up.
thanks for the response!
Oh, yea, you can pull all sorts of stuff from OBDII, because it’s a standard.
Even then the different manufacturers like to hide data by using the custom fields of OBDII. Frankly I’m impressed that many readers today can get those custom fields (see things like the Torque app, and Bluedriver OBDII reader).
I think the more challenging part would be any controls in the head unit. I have one car that uses the head unit to control heat/AC. Figuring that out would be a bitch (though possibly not that bad, I’d have to simply look at the actual components, like the vent door solenoids and the heater control valve).
It would be a lot of work, and I’d worry about hitting a real roadblock.
