Installing 2019 rear view mirror with compass on 2021 i3 without compass

[alohart]

I just picked up our 2021 U.S. Giga BEV that had been shipped from San Diego. I immediately noticed that it does not have a digital compass in its rear view mirror as our former 2014 Giga and current 2019 Giga have. WTF, BMW? Are you still decontenting i3's as you did in early i3 models?

Do you know whether I might be able to swap rear view mirrors between our 2019 and 2021 i3's? If so, do you have any tips, warnings, etc.?

 

[eNate]

Whoa it came with a Wokeby already installed? Nice find!

I can't imagine there's anything to it that's not plug & play, especially since the directionless mirror also requires power. I did a mirror swap on my ID.4 and despite the new mirror having a few more features, the connections were the same.

 

[alohart]

Whoa it came with a Wokeby already installed? Nice find!

Unfortunately not. Today, I will be moving the Wokeby trunk extension and frunk sealing from our 2019 to our 2021 i3 which will make my signature valid.

I will also be swapping the 428 wheels with wheel locks on our 2019 with the 429 wheels on our 2021. The rear tires on the 2021 are new with <9k miles on the fronts while all 4 tires on the 2019 have been driven only 3k miles, so essentially a wash for average tire wear.

I'll swap the LFP 12V battery and 12V system logger on the 2019 to the 2021.

I'll move the BMW i Function Cover (protects the cargo floor and rear seat backs when folded down) from the 2019 to the 2021.

I had planned to swap the 2019's dark oak dashboard trim with the 2021's light eucalyptus. However, my wife made a valid observation that the eucalyptus is an attractive transition from the Galvanic Gold exterior to the dark tan Giga leather trim even though the oak is a better match to Giga leather.

I haven't decided whether to swap the 12A occasional use cable (OUC) from our 2014 i3 with the 10A version in our 2021. I have instructions for converting the old 12A OUC to a dual-voltage EVSE, but my charging circuit has no common wire which is required for the modified OUC to charge at 208-240V. I believe the newer OUC's have additional protection against an overheated 120V plug that earlier OUC's don't have. I have a 120V 20A charging circuit, so using the 12A OUC doesn't heat the outlet or plug dangerously and does charge a bit faster than later OUC's. Maybe I can find instructions for converting a later 10A OUC to a dual-voltage EVSE.

I can't imagine there's anything to it that's not plug & play, especially since the directionless mirror also requires power. I did a mirror swap on my ID.4 and despite the new mirror having a few more features, the connections were the same.

The digital compass logic should be in the mirror housing rather than in some external controller, so I agree that both mirrors probably share the same power connector and swapping should be plug and play. I'd have to split the plastic mirror housing to gain access to the interior. The two halves of this housing snap together, so if any tabs break when separating the halves, a new ($$$) housing might have to be purchased assuming it's available as a replaceable part. Being able to snap into place so much on an i3 speeds its construction but risks breakage when disassembling. I'd rather remove screws instead.

 

[tongsli]

Unfortunately not. Today, I will be moving the Wokeby trunk extension and frunk sealing from our 2019 to our 2021 i3 which will make my signature valid.

I will also be swapping the 428 wheels with wheel locks on our 2019 with the 429 wheels on our 2021. The rear tires on the 2021 are new with <9k miles on the fronts while all 4 tires on the 2019 have been driven only 3k miles, so essentially a wash for average tire wear.

I'll swap the LFP 12V battery and 12V system logger on the 2019 to the 2021.

I'll move the BMW i Function Cover (protects the cargo floor and rear seat backs when folded down) from the 2019 to the 2021.

I had planned to swap the 2019's dark oak dashboard trim with the 2021's light eucalyptus. However, my wife made a valid observation that the eucalyptus is an attractive transition from the Galvanic Gold exterior to the dark tan Giga leather trim even though the oak is a better match to Giga leather.

I haven't decided whether to swap the 12A occasional use cable (OUC) from our 2014 i3 with the 10A version in our 2021. I have instructions for converting the old 12A OUC to a dual-voltage EVSE, but my charging circuit has no common wire which is required for the modified OUC to charge at 208-240V. I believe the newer OUC's have additional protection against an overheated 120V plug that earlier OUC's don't have. I have a 120V 20A charging circuit, so using the 12A OUC doesn't heat the outlet or plug dangerously and does charge a bit faster than later OUC's. Maybe I can find instructions for converting a later 10A OUC to a dual-voltage EVSE.

The digital compass logic should be in the mirror housing rather than in some external controller, so I agree that both mirrors probably share the same power connector and swapping should be plug and play. I'd have to split the plastic mirror housing to gain access to the interior. The two halves of this housing snap together, so if any tabs break when separating the halves, a new ($$$) housing might have to be purchased assuming it's available as a replaceable part. Being able to snap into place so much on an i3 speeds its construction but risks breakage when disassembling. I'd rather remove screws instead.

When will you post pictures? Have you already done so? Can't wait to see the new vehicle.

 

[alohart]

I haven't decided whether to swap the 12A occasional use cable (OUC) from our 2014 i3 with the 10A version in our 2021.

I've decided to keep my old 12A OUC because of its higher charging power which works well with my 20A 120V charging circuit.

Do you know whether I might be able to swap rear view mirrors between our 2019 and 2021 i3's? If so, do you have any tips, warnings, etc.?

The last step in the official BMW procedure for replacing an i3's inside rear-view mirror is to program the replacement mirror. I'm not able to do this myself and would have to pay a BMW mechanic to program both my 2019 and 2021 i3's so their "new" mirrors would function correctly. Having a digital compass in the mirror isn't worth this cost. One of the split screen choices for the professional navigation system is to display a compass which is sufficient for me.

 

[eNate]

Wow, that seems nuts that the mirror needs to be coded like a donor organ. Is this to enable it to pick up compass data from the car?

 

[alohart]

When will you post pictures? Have you already done so? Can't wait to see the new vehicle.

I haven't done so yet because I'm still working on our 2021 i3. I delivered to an alloy wheel repair shop the type 428 front wheel that had been scratched and whose rim edge on the back side had been bent slightly by a previous owner of our 2019 i3. Its repair was completed on Monday.

From our 2019 i3 I have transferred to our 2021 the type 428 wheels and tires, the wheel locks, the Wokeby trunk extension and frunk sealing, the rear bumper top protector, the BMW i Function Cover, the LFP 12V battery, the dual USB port plug in the cigarette lighter socket, the 12V voltmeter in the auxiliary power port below the center of the dashboard, the flat tire repair kit, 3 important window stickers , and probably some other things that I have forgotten. I found the name and address of our 2021's previous lessee because BMW of San Diego had not deleted personal information, so I deleted this info and then applied all of the coding changes that I had made to our 2019. Today, I plan to remove the CA HOV stickers which should be my final task. I have removed the 12V system logger from our 2019 and plan to install it on the 12V terminals on top of the 2021's EME after I've bought a set of large Torx bits.

I drove our 2021 to an auto vinyl wrapping shop to look for a vinyl wrap that matches Galvanic Gold Metallic in hopes that it could be install on the roof to reduce cabin heat and protect the CFRP roof from degrading. This has worked well on our 2019. Unfortunately, I found nothing by 3M or Avery that's a good match. Therefore, I plan to have the roof wrapped in a vinyl film that is a close match to the Frozen Gray trim.

The charge level of our 2021 was ~26% when I picked it up from the docks. I drove it down to 2.5% to make sure that no unexpected power loss would occur at a low charge level and captured mi3 screenshots showing the state of its HV battery pack and cells at a low charge level. I'm fully charging it today and will again capture mi3 screenshots to compare the results at low and high charge levels. The estimated state of health at a 2.5% charge level is 98% which isn't surprising at only 8,733 miles.

I plan scan our 2021 with BimmerLink and ISTA to look for potential problems while its warranty is still in effect.

Its CA registration has expired. I still haven't received its released CA title, so I cannot register it in Hawaiʻi. I do not want to be stopped by the police, so I'm not driving it much. I've put "For Sale" signs on our 2019, so I will drive it instead in hopes that it might be seen by a prospective buyer.

Whew! Lots of work to prepare our 2019 for sale and our 2021 for daily life in Honolulu.

 

[alohart]

Wow, that seems nuts that the mirror needs to be coded like a donor organ. Is this to enable it to pick up compass data from the car?

It does seem nuts. However, it is connected to the Body Domain Controller (BDC). I believe that information from its ambient light sensor is transferred to the BDC which could tell the outside rear view mirrors to dim when bright headlights are behind. iDrive can display a compass, so maybe compass info is passed to the mirror from the BDC. However, the digital compass in the mirror can be calibrated to true north using the buttons on the bottom of the mirror. I don't know whether the iDrive compass can be calibrated with the buttons on a mirror with no digital compass. There's nothing in the 2021 Owner's Manual about compass calibration as there is in the 2019 Owners's Manual.

All in all, a pretty minor issue…

 

[alohart]

From our 2019 i3 I have transferred to our 2021 the type 428 wheels and tires, the wheel locks, the Wokeby trunk extension and frunk sealing, the rear bumper top protector, the BMW i Function Cover, the LFP 12V battery, the dual USB port plug in the cigarette lighter socket, the 12V voltmeter in the auxiliary power port below the center of the dashboard, the flat tire repair kit, 3 important window stickers , and probably some other things that I have forgotten.

Like the stainless steel road debris protection screen that I had installed behind the front grill. Might not be very important in i3's with closable louvers in front of the climate control heat exchanger such as our 2019 and 2021 i3 BEV's. However, our 2014 i3 BEV did not have these louvers, so the climate control heat exchanger was always exposed to road debris which has punctured this heat exchanger on a few i3's.