Dension ICE-Link Plus Issues

I just installed my new ice-link plus with a Kenwood EZ700SR head unit. The firmware version is 2.07.

So far, operation is extremely flaky with this Kenwood model.

In Dension-UI mode almost any operation from the head unit puts the iPod into REPEAT and/or SHUFFLE mode. And, as with almost every other iPod->car integration scheme I’ve read about, communication with the head unit and LCD updating is extremely slow.

In iPod-UI mode (if you can get it there – you must make sure the disc number is NOT set to 6 before reconnecting the iPod) the track/fast forward/backward skip functions sometimes work, and sometimes don’t. The pause function seems to mute and/or power-down the iPod instead of just sending a pause command – I’d heard this was a kludgy side-effect of some Mercedes factory HUs, but the Kenwood?

I never got any response to my pre-purchase “support ticket” to Dension tech support asking about specific ice-link integration with the EZ700SR, and I couldn’t find any first-hand reports on the web about experiences interfacing these two products. There’s no forum on their site (they’re probably leery of the avalanche of flame postings) and their firmware page says “everything is up to date” – yeah, right. (A 2.11 beta release is already available at the http://www.tomke.de link mentioned above.) Faced with this total lack of information, I figured I’d order it, hope for the best, and return it if it didn’t work.

At this point returning the unit looks like the best way to get value back out of my $200 purchase. Even though Kenwood’s own iPod-interface has received absymal reviews, it can’t be worse than this, and hopefully the integration with Kenwood’s own head unit will be more graceful.

I recently got an Ice Link Plus for my Kenwood KDC-MP8017 and at first it was really frustrating. However, I found the 2.11 (shows up as 2c11 on my ipod) firmware online and updated my Ice Link. After that it worked pretty much flawlessly. Every now and then my radio will lose connection from my ipod (30 gb photo) but after turning off my ignition and turning my radio on and off it works again. A quick note about my 30gb photo ipod. On Dension’s website they said that the 30gb photo ipod wouldn’t work with the active docking cradle. However, it works fine for me. I don’t know if I got a new version of the cradle that fits or something but it works fine. For anyone with a Kenwood head unit, it took me a while to realize that the FM and AM buttons control the Disc changer (discs 1-6), which gets you to the ice link menu. While I have had to tinker a bit with the ice link plus, for the most part I am satisfied. I haven’t tried any support but I have heard it’s bad.

Tim, you don’t say what your head unit is. My (first) probléem was that I had a JVC navigation unit, but was using the Becker version of the ICE>Link (because I thought that the JVC, being a rebranded Becker, would have the same CD-changer protocol — I was wrong). This is “solved” by getting a “proper” Becker head unit. If you are using the AUX input, then I don’t think that the ICE>Link is needed. This may be why the click-wheel doesn’t respond, since I guess it would be disabled by the ICE>Link. Have you tried resetting both the iPod and the head unit (disconnect it from the power supply)? This may enable the iPod to be recognised when using the CD changer option, and let you configure it. Also, check the software version of the ICE>Link to make sure you have the latest compatible version. You say you have the JVC version, but as far as the Dension compatibility list is concerned, there isn’t a JVC version. Go figure. Perhaps you should check with the dealer who sold it. I hope this helps.

John

I just purchased a Harmon/Becker Traffic Pro 4773. I received a new 30GB ipod for Christmas that I need to be able to play throught the TP. I talked by phone to a salesman about the Dension products. He suggested that I buy the Dension universal which they have listed as the Dension I20-Aux rather than the Dension I20-Porsche. He stated I would control from the Ipod only and that the I20-Porsche would only provide limited control through the 4773. He also stated he had never seen the 4773 used with either Dension products. If someone with personal experience would offer advice I would be verey appreciative. Thanks.

ice link causes an unbearable amount of alternator whine and dension provides no support. 250 bucks in the trash.

SOLUTION TO THE BMW ENGINE NOISE, WHINING DENSION ICE LINK PROBLEM.

For all of you that have probably been ripping your hair out trying to figure out this problem I too have wasted many days on this. I tried to install the dension iceLink in a couple of 2002 & 2003 330i models as well as an 05 M3 and always had the same problem this annoying buzzing sound accompanying all of my tracks. I tried playing with the connections, re-wiring all the cables, hell I even bought the latest version of their product as of late 2006 and none of this solved the problem. I tried playing with different setting like the iPod EQ, turning the halogens on and off to see the differences and NO FIX!!.

Until finally after contacting Dension almost 2 dozen times and them having told me buying the latest product would fix my problems, which it never did I was able to get a PDF document out of them which in 8 super easy steps details the process of switching the ground wire around. Apparently this is a known issue, and known enough that they have a document with pretty good high quality images that explain how to move the ground wire around that should be on one of the connectors in the trunk. After months of struggling with this, in about 10 minutes I switched the ground around and VOILA! No more buzzing, no whining nothing. It was all gone. Here is a link to the pdf I through up on my server, please enjoy, I hope it helps and pass it around as I know hundreds of people are having this same problems.

http://www.level209.com/downloads/dension/bmw_ext_cbl_repair.pdf

Please HELP me.I have the icelink plus in my AUDI A4 and I was trying ot upgrade the firmwar from 2.05 to 2.15 and i started playing the start_update file then inserted the ipod into the cradle.My cd changer display imediately started scrollin throught tracks 1-99 but when it got to 99 my head unit switched to the in dash cdplayer and the icelink never rebooted.I cannot switch to the cd changer at all anymore and nothing happens when i insert my ipod into the cradle.I tried pulling the fuse for a few minutes but still nothing from the icelink.Is it dead? Can’t I reload the firmware to it somehow for another try.I can’t get it to do anything.I even unplugged the module from my headunit for awhile and then put it back in.Still nothing.any help would be much appreciated.Thanks

Ozone you rock man…i was so pissed for the last 4 weeks thinking id just have to get used to the noise…U ROCK! it works!

This was originally written for mini2.com’s thread but I couldn’t post with all the URLs in my document. See the original thread at:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/interior-ice/77777-ice-link-plus.html

And here’s my post:

Hopefully this will help someone. I went through all the firmware nightmares before when installing my ICELink>Plus I20-BMW-T into my 2001 BMW E39 530i with Business single-CD HU, and I was rewarded with three years of solid, fully-functional use on firmware 2.2B2. If I remember correctly, I had to swap out my ICELink>Plus hardware version 1.1 for a hardware version 1.2 in the troubleshooting process.

Imagine my surprise to find that the exact same ICELink>Plus unit would work in my R52 2007 Mini Cooper S Convertible with non-Navigation Harmon Kardon (Boost single-CD) HU! (It did take a while to figure this out, as no source specifically mentions the 2007 MCSC as being supported, but I found that it’s pretty much the same as the 2006 MCSC, in which there were two or three success stories on the web.)

Some time ago, I had driven over to Dension USA in Signal Hill, CA and swapped out the cradle for the glove-box dock cable and the trunk cable (noisy, even with the proper pin-swap), so I effectively have a back-of-the-head-unit kit, not the original I20-BMW-T (trunk) kit. I had reinstalled the kit so many times I can do it in my sleep and know the pitfalls (such as the HU connector not seating properly, resulting in crackling/cut-outs in some of the speakers).

Here’s what I did:

1) I followed the DIY instructions at

http://www.newministuff.com/new/index.php?section=13&diyid=6

to remove the HU.

2) Then, the instructions at:

http://www.newministuff.com/new/index.php?section=13&diyid=8

to install the back-of-the-head-unit cable, but of course I don’t have the cradle and decided to drill a 0.5-inch hole in the left-side of the glove box to feed the dock cable through. I used a strain relief-type grommet to plug the hole and secure the Dension dock cable.

3) At this point, the ICELink>Plus was working in the following ways:

• My 60GB Video iPod w/ iPod firmware 1.2.1 is detected by and plays properly through the ICELink>Plus
• track info is shown on the iPod but only “TR01″ on the HU Multifunction Display
• iPod wouldn’t respond to any of its own controls and could only be controlled by buttons 1-5 and Next/Prev on the headunit and the steering wheel controls
• HU button 6 does not bring up the Dension menus
• RND button shows and works

But hey, I was happy, since I could play my first five playlists and charge the iPod while it’s hidden in the glove compartment. This is a step up from using the AUX jack, and at no additional cost for hardware.

4) I read here and at MotoringFile that some people had succeeded in getting ID3 tags working on 2005+ Mini Boost HUs with a firmware upgrade (from early versions such as 2.01). So I searched for and found the latest possible BMW-specific firmware, 2.2B4.

I downloaded the latest BMW-specific ICELink>Plus firmware, 2.2B4 at:

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/311541

Looking at the included text file that shows the changes, it appears that there really is no benefit to me upgrading from 2.2B2 to 2.2B4–they are pretty much functionally identical. In the face of the high risk of bricking my ICELink>Plus, I figured I’d go ahead and upgrade it. Doing so was as simple as:

a) putting all the firmware files into iTunes and putting them all by themselves into my iPod’s first playlist b) plugging in the iPod and turning on the car, at which time it began playing the last song I had played c) pressing the HU button 1 to force the ICELink>Plus to play the first playlist containing the update. I had to do this because I could not access the ICELink>Plus Setup Menu either through the HU button 6 or through the iPod, which was not responding to its buttons

The upgrade went fine from TR2 through TR99 and then rebooted the ICELink>Plus, resulting in my HU switching to FM radio and telling me I could disconnect my iPod.

d) I pressed HU button “Mode” to switch back to the Dension, at which time it discovered my iPod and displayed firmware version 2-2B4. Success!

5) But my HU still wasn’t displaying ID3v2 tags, and I still couldn’t control the iPod except with the very rudimentary Next/Prev and playlists 1-5 buttons. So I began reading more of this thread and tried:

6) resetting the Dension by unplugging the fuses at F10 and F27 (F10 did nothing–it was F27 that shut down the radio). This didn’t work.

7) Downloading and playing the CarIf_Clear.mp3 file from:

http://support.dension.com/support-center/index.php?x=&mod_id=2&root=8&id=40

(The trick with this and the following steps is to detach the iPod, turn on the car and HU, switch to the CD changer mode, then press play on the song, and then quickly attach the iPod to the ICELink>Plus.)

This did nothing either, and it would just start playing the very first song on my iPod.

8) Downloading and playing the CarIf_BMW.mp3 file from an earlier post in this thread.

No luck–the Dension still ignored the file and skipped to the first song on my iPod.

9) I figured that since my ICELink>Plus and iPod appeared to be half-stuck in iPodUI mode and half-stuck in BMW Text mode, I’d probably have to reset the unit to be fully in either one of the two modes. I found the BMW_Text_disable.mp3 file:

http://support.dension.com/support-center/index.php?x=&mod_id=2&root=10&id=67

This did the trick! I saw some text on my radio (“ANNOUNCE” if I remember correctly, but it flashed by pretty quickly). Then, I pressed the HU button 6 to activate the menu, which showed up in teeny tiny text on my iPod’s screen.

10) The iPod’s face controls were still not working, so I used the Next/Prev buttons on the HU to navigate through the Dension menus (Playlists, Artists, Albums, AlbumPlay, Setup). I drilled down into:

Setup>Text On

and then I held down the Next button to activate this.

Immediately, the tiny menus on my iPod disappeared and I started seeing the menus on the headunit’s Multifunction Display. “Artists” showed up clear as day.

And I found that even though my iPod’s face controls still didn’t work, the iPod now showed no track info on the screen, just the Dension logo (as it did before when in my E39). More important, the HU button 6 now works and kicks the ICELink>Plus into its menus.

So, everything appears to be working great (have yet to let it burn in to see if electrical problems surface, but I made sure that “Charge>Play” was set so that it doesn’t charge the iPod nonstop.

11) Finally, for safety purposes, I removed all the ICELink>Plus files from my iPod.

With this switch, I avoiding having to spend $160 on a new DICE unit or $500 (dealer-quoted hardware plus install) for the official OEM Mini iPod interface. I hope that someone else can make use of these instructions–thank you to all the other people who posted their problems and solutions in various forums, because it was your answers that helped me assemble my solution.