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Subject: Re: Bluetooth Breakthrough, TCU Pairing, what I know so far...
Author: crds : member since February, 2009 : 18 posts
Posted on: 2009-04-07 04:06:53       		Bookmark and Share

Merlin,

The ULF is a Voice Recognition (VR) module with bluetooth phone capability, and has been discussed a lot. I think a very complete reference on the ULF modules can be found at www.bimmernav.com, so I'm not going to try to add anything.

The TCU is a cell telephone phone module with BMW Assist capability (either CDMA or GSM, depending on the model number). AFAIK, not all TCU's had voice recognition (only ones after a certain date somewhere between 2003 and 2006 and it may be coded either on or off - anyone?). Also, not all TCU's had working Bluetooth capability (also onlt ones made after a certain date, starting somewhere between 2003 and 2006 - anyone?). Last, some TCU's are made for IBUS (older ones which say EVEREST on them) and others for MOST (newer ones, fiber optic only) so you need to know what you're installing it into, whether the TCU/phone hookups are there, telephone antennas, whether you have a Bluetooth antenna and cable (you need one) and whether you need/want VR capabilities (and if that will conflict with any other modules - see my post regarding Schizophrenic behavior in my car when I have both a TCU and an SES).

I do know from direct experience that the IBUS TCU with voice recognition that I have has a male voice unit and the voice commands that it understands are limited to the phone control (no Nav commands in the TCU).

The IBUS TCU can be paired with the following sequence: Note the 4 digit pairing code (labeled PK: xxxx on the TCU). Begin with the car off, insert key and turn to position 2, press R/T on the steering wheel (MID flashes "Searching...") then tell your phone to search for devices. If successful, the phone will find BMWnnnnn where nnnnn is the last five digits of your serial number. Tell your phone to connect, enter the pairing code from the label (xxxx) and you should now have a phone paired with the TCU. Up to 4 phones can be paired with the TCU (if you pair a fifth, the first one will be lost), and the priority when pairing (if multiple are present) is high-to-low priority in reverse pairing order so the last phone paired has highest priority.

If you want full voice command of the phone and the Nav system, then you'll either want both an SES to handle the VR and a TCU without voice or with VR disabled, or you'll want a ULF (and an SES jumper, see bimmernav). If you only want VR for the phone and Bluetooth, a TCU with voice is sufficient (and an SES jumper plug if you don't have one).

I hope all of this is accurate... I just jumped head first in to this maelstrom about a month ago, and that's the best sense I can make of it all!

-crds

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