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      10-08-2018, 12:04 PM   #67
Jason B
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Quote:
Originally Posted by evanevery View Post
When you posted that message it was Friday night at 7:36 pm in Germany.

Not likely any help available till Monday... :-(
Yep, big time difference. Should hear back today, but looks like we got it figured out! When in doubt, install latest software I guess

Quote:
Originally Posted by z4driver View Post
Quick update..

Managed to get it all working this weekend!

My wiring was all done correctly but i needed the new beta to detect the new sound module.

First impressions: this thing sounds amazing!!!!!

the app allows a lot of customisation to allow you to tweak the sound how you like it. Things like rough idle which fluctuates the sound slightly makes it seem more real and not digital.

Also the 5 new sound choices are also really good and allow you to tweak the sound exactly how you like.

Now my i8 sounds just as good as it looks!
Good feedback here. WHen I was talking with them 3 weeks ago everyone there was excited the new updates.
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      10-15-2018, 09:56 AM   #68
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any better examples of the different options in exhaust? I have the masi module and wanted to see if its worth it to replace with the new module
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      10-15-2018, 10:01 AM   #69
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Quote:
Originally Posted by z4driver View Post
Quick update..

Managed to get it all working this weekend!

My wiring was all done correctly but i needed the new beta to detect the new sound module.

First impressions: this thing sounds amazing!!!!!

the app allows a lot of customisation to allow you to tweak the sound how you like it. Things like rough idle which fluctuates the sound slightly makes it seem more real and not digital.

Also the 5 new sound choices are also really good and allow you to tweak the sound exactly how you like.

Now my i8 sounds just as good as it looks!

Any chance you can provide side-by-side sound clips of the 5 different sounds produced by the new module?
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      10-15-2018, 07:39 PM   #70
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Sorry I have been busy and haven't had a chance to play, will try and get some videos over the weekend if the weather is better.
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      10-31-2018, 03:28 PM   #71
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this is so cool that I'm about to buy a used i8 just to do it
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      11-06-2018, 10:17 AM   #72
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Can anyone share videos from the latest Maxhaust module? I'm really keen on getting one, and want to be certain that the 'Maserati' AMP isn't needed for great sound.

Thanks,
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      11-06-2018, 10:30 AM   #73
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Quote:
Originally Posted by z4driver View Post
Sorry I have been busy and haven't had a chance to play, will try and get some videos over the weekend if the weather is better.
Hi Z4,

Did you purchase just the SoundBooster, or did you also buy the 299 Euro sound module also?

The site isn't clear on whether both is needed to get a decent sound improvement.
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      11-07-2018, 11:20 AM   #74
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nice
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      12-08-2018, 02:04 PM   #75
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Quote:
Originally Posted by z4driver View Post
Quick update..

Managed to get it all working this weekend!

My wiring was all done correctly but i needed the new beta to detect the new sound module.

First impressions: this thing sounds amazing!!!!!

the app allows a lot of customisation to allow you to tweak the sound how you like it. Things like rough idle which fluctuates the sound slightly makes it seem more real and not digital.

Also the 5 new sound choices are also really good and allow you to tweak the sound exactly how you like.

Now my i8 sounds just as good as it looks!
I think I might be in the same boat as you. I just finished the installation of the new module and I have no sound. Checked the blue/white wires, etc...

Where did you get that Beta App? I'm running v2.7 from Google Play and I'm wondering if I need an app update as well...
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      12-08-2018, 04:10 PM   #76
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I found "the problem"...

Would you believe Maxhaust doesn't currently have an ANDROID version of their app for the new sound module?

You need an Apple device to control the new sound module!!!! (currently, anyway)

I didn't see any of the new sound module features in the current Android app, and I couldn't find a Beta App for Android, so I thought I would try the latest IOS app. Luckily I had an old iPad nearby!

Also a few observations/tips regarding the install...

CANBUS Wires: I gotta call bullshit on the "some i8's have the wires one way and some i8's have the wires the other way" crap. BMW doesn't do some cars one way and some cars the other... The Blue Canbus wire goes to pin 1 and the White CANBUS wire goes to pin 2 on the little connector. If there is any discrepancy with this layout, it is likely because the Maxhaust wiring is not consistent (not BMWs wiring).

The Maxhaust Power Wire: The Maxhaust Power Wire is terribly undersized. (It looks to be only about 20-24 Ga) Regardless of how many amps the wire is actually asked to carry, the voltage loss would be completely unacceptable. (https://www.bluesea.com/support/arti...r_a_DC_Circuit). Even the wire on the little power tap is 16 Ga! Maybe the Maxhaust devices are more tolerant of the voltage drop, but if I'm going through all the hassle of running a power wire to the back of the car, I'm going do do it with a proper size wire. I ran a 10 Ga wire. Its also a bit stiffer and will help if you need to poke or guide it somewhere.

The "Blue Plug": I'm pretty sure the reason many people are bypassing this plug is because they don't have the connector pins fully inserted! If you have ANY PORTION of the metal connectors sticking out the back of the plug, then you don't have them fully inserted and you won't get a reliable (or maybe any) connection. I spent a lot of time with this just to get it right.

If you look at the plug when it arrives you will note that the holes for the Black and Black/Grey connectors have been hogged out at the Maxhaust shop. The connectors on the Black and Black/Grey wires simply weren't made for this type of connector. That's why they hogged out the respective holes. The connectors are VERY tight when inserted and if these holes aren't done perfectly, then the connectors won't slide all the way down into the plug and the little purple locking mechanism wont close (thats a clue). I spent probably an hour with a small triangular jewelers file, and running back and forth to the car, to get these holes fitted properly. Take the time to clean them out and square up the internal corners of each hole and the plug will work. It looks like they used a round bit to hog out those holes so the corners won't be square enough.

Once you clean out and square up each hole, you should be able to push each wire FULLY into the blue plug. Use needle nose pliers to push on the connector (not the wire) so you have a good solid pushing surface. You can also use the pliers to pull the connector back out (NOT the wire) if you need to refit. The connectors should go ALL THE WAY in to the plug. You should have no "tail" from the metal connectors "protruding from the back of the plug. If you see ANY metal from each connector sticking out the back of the plug, then your connectors aren't fully seated. You can also use the tip of a jewelers screwdriver to help push the connectors firmly into the plug. The blade of the screwdriver will fit right into the hole and push on the front of the connector. Once you have both connectors fully inserted, the purple locking clip should be closable. (You may also have to file/trim the holes in the locking clip)

I did my install on my 2019 Roadster. Obviously the routing of the power wire is quite different than the coupe (although I did route it under the door sill (above the rocker panel). There is quite a lot of disassembly required on the Roadster, but one you make it to the back of the Roof Storage Compartment its very easy. Don't be shy removing panels and it should all go pretty quickly. With the Roadster, you will want to do much of the routing with the roof PARTIALLY open so you can get into the roof storage area.

Here is a list of the panels I had to remove on the Roadster in the approximate order (sorry, no photos - once I get going...):

1. You will want to unbolt the seat belts from the floor of the car so you can completely remove the big panel we are going to do next.

2. The big upper panel that runs all the way across the back of the Roadster. (It has the upper speaker grills in it). It mostly just snaps out but there is one trim rivet on each side of the car, which has to be removed from within the roof cavity. These two rivets are located just behind the top, outside corner of this panel on each side of the car.

3. A little panel inside the cubby behind the passenger seat. Its inside the cubby and defines the oboard wall of the cubby. Pull one trim rivet, tip it out from the back and it will unhook at the front.

4. That little panel we just removed now makes it easy to remove the little panel just in front of it and behind the door sill (as removed in the OP's posting). This one has two inboard snaps to be pulled straight out (inboard) and then two sliding fasteners which will slide inwards so you can remove the panel.

5. Loosen the outboard trim panel inside the roof storage cavity just behind the passenger. I don't think you can completely remove it without disassembling the roof, but all you need to do is loosen it so you can get your hand behind it to help route your power cable. There is one clearly visible trim rivet in this panel but you will also want to pull out the "roof retractor cable rivets" to loosen the cable. (Curiously, I found that BMW used one zip tie were they probably should have used a cable trim rivet!)

6. Remove the big trim panel which runs all the way across the back of the roof storage cavity. If memory serves, there are about 9-10 clearly visible trim rivets which have to be removed before the panel can be snapped out.

Once you got all of those panels removed, you can run your power wire. I used my own 10 Guage wire and ran from the front to the back (I thought this would be easier). Here's the routing:

a. Fuse box
b. Door Sill (as in OP's posting)
c. Then follow along the big cable bundle coming up and out of the back of the door sill.
d. I pushed my relatively stiff wire, along the path of the big bundle, and down along the outside bottom corner of the roof storage cavity. This path is easily visible and obvious when looking via the door sill.
e. I then used a very stiff piece of wire to reach down and hook the end of the wire and bring it up thought the outside edge of the roof cavity and towards the upper rear bulkhead of the cavity. You will want to leave enough cable slack here so the cable runs along the bottom of the cavity and then up the rear outside corner. This will ensure your cable does not get bound up in the roof mechanicals.
f. There is a little plastic wire conduit/manifold on the rear bulkhead of the roof cavity at the top outside passenger corner. I pushed my wire through that manifold.
g. After exiting the conduit/manifold its a quick shot through the big rubber cable grommet and into the trunk area.

It probably took me 2-3 hours to do the entire disassembly and wire routing as there was no existing info on this. I'm also pretty patient and careful. But the path is pretty self evident if you take the time to get the panels off. Basically just following a bug bundle of wires which routes out the back of the door sill and then into/under the roof cavity, then up the back of the cavity and through the rear firewall at a very conveniently placed rubber cable grommet.

I'll be happy to help answer any questions that anyone may have (to the best of my ability). But no, I'm not going to disassemble the car again just for photos... ;-)

Last edited by evanevery; 01-03-2019 at 10:34 AM..
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      12-09-2018, 12:08 PM   #77
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The saga continues...

1. You need to use the app for IOS (iPhone or iPad) to control this unit (already noted above). The Android app will not work with the new module...

2. It looks like the Maxhaust system might not be compatible with 2019 i8's (despite their claims). I can't be absolutely sure and I'm waiting to hear back from them. But here are my observations which lead me to this conclusion:

- The IOS App will properly see the Bluetooth module (although the reception is a bit sketchy). Never-the-less, I should be able to make my settings and then not have to use the app any more. It should also be noted that while the Bluetooth reception is a bit intermittent, the actions and sounds from the Maxhaust system are NOT. (Its not an intermittent power issue)

- The App see's when I change between eco<->comfort<->sport. The mode change is properly reflected in the app. So the device is obviously seeing the mode change via the CANBUS and communicating it properly back to the app.

- The sound of the exhaust also changes when I change it in the app. So the app is properly sending commands to the Bluetooth module and changing the settings/sounds in the device.

- The demo mode in the app will allow me to virtually "blip" the throttle.

The big problem I am having is that the device apparently does not track the actual engine RPM! When I took the car out for a test drive, the exterior sound just stayed at idle the whole time. Its a bit tough to hear with the factory fake interior sound, but the exterior sound never tracked the engine RPM! A secondary issue is that the device always runs with the idle sound even if the engine is NOT running at all (in EV mode).

The fact that the device is obviously capable of reading the CANBUS mode settings (eco/comfort/sport) indicates to me that it might not be interpreting the CANBUS RPM info properly. Could this be due to changes in the 2019 model year?

I've been all through the app and don't see any setting which could cause this.

So now I have the volume for all modes (eco, comfort, sport) set to zero as the car REALLY sounds stupid running around at "idle" all the time...

I'm waiting to hear back from Maxhaust...
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      12-10-2018, 10:02 AM   #78
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Update...

Still having issues. No sound now at all. Maxhaust did reply to my email to ask for my phone number but have yet to call me back. I'm sure the 7 hr time difference is not helping.

Anyway, here are some more data points:

1. Sketchy Bluetooth: Bluetooth reception is intermittent at best in the i8 with the Bluetooth module in the trunk. Perhaps it has something to do with the carbon fiber cage, but who builds a Bluetooth receiver and then encloses it in a METAL enclosure? I don't think a metal enclosure is the best design for a Bluetooth radio receiver...

2. Sound Quality: I did get sound to follow my RPM range briefly before I loaded the second i8 (Ohne Hybrid Mode) "car" definition and lost all sound (although the app does continue to track eco/comfort/sport modes). (Reloading the original i8 definition did not help). The sound quality is "interesting" at idle but it doesn't seem to follow the engine RPM very well. It sort of lags behind a bit. It also sounds pretty artificial. I did have the opportunity to try all six "sounds" they provide and they sound best at idle. Once you start moving, all bets are off. There are several more tweaking options but none of them seem to really get the sound to track the engine speed properly (In their tutorial PDF, they even make note about setting "Idle RPM" to 10 and "Dynamic RPM" to 30 to follow the car RPM 1:1 but this doesn't appear to do the trick)

PDF Tutorial: http://firmware.maxhaust.de/Manual/EN/Anleitung.pdf

Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH9qS6Kx3sU

The English translations are pretty poor. I'm definately not the guy who thinks the entire world needs to speak English, but they really should spend some time with this. I think it would be easier for everyone - particularly if they are selling into English speaking countries...

3. i8 Interior Sound Conflict: Not only does the Maxhaust sound NOT track the engine RPM accurately, it also has a really noticeable conflict with the engine sound BMW pumps into the car. BMW's interior engine sound is spot-on perfect, but when you hear the Maxhaust sound from the outside at the same time something is quite noticeably incompatible. The BMW interior engine sound climbs accurately with engine RPM but the Maxhaust exterior sounds do not. Maybe this type of solution works well with cars without augmented interior engine sound but not so much with those that have it. Maxhaust sound is quite noticeably out of sync, doesn't climb the full RPM range, and lags behind.

4. Pending Questions: I've also asked them the following questions:

- What is the difference between the "BMW i8 2013+" car configuration and the "BMW i8 2013+ (Onhe Hybrid Mode)" configuration? I understand that "Ohne Hybrid Mode" translates to "Hybrid Mode Only". Does that mean if I use that configuration I will ONLY have sound when the gas engine is running? The other configuration seems to have sound even when the gas engine is NOT running...

- If I turn off the Maxhaust system by using the App will this then allow the BMW factory Sound module to perform exactly as the car was provided from the factory?

- When willthey have an Android App which works with the new sound module?


Anyway, I'm not sure I'm going to keep this unit in my car. A $170K automobile should not sound like a bicycle with baseball cards in the spokes. However, I'm going to give Maxhaust the opportunity to solve my problems before I make my final decision...

Last edited by evanevery; 12-10-2018 at 01:23 PM..
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      12-11-2018, 11:11 AM   #79
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Still waiting for that call from Maxhaust...

Meantime, I have given some thought to what Maxhaust is doing and how they are integrating their system into our cars. I'ld like to have an easy way to switch back and forth between "Maxhaust Sound" and "BMW Sound" and maybe even "Maserati Sound". (PRIMARILY cause the "Maxhaust sound" ain't working in my car right now...) I think I figured out how to do that so I'll share my thoughts here...

1. Maxhaust essentially only uses 4 wires from the BMW harness. Two of them are clearly CANBUS and the other two almost have to be the wires which supply sound to the BMW amplifier. It appears that in our configuration, Maxhaust doesn't provide any amplifier, they just steal the sound input wires and inject a different audio signal (Maxhaust sound or Maserati Sound) and feed that to the BMW AMP.

2. CANBUS wires: Maxhaust clearly documents their use of the CANBUS wires (Blue, White). We remove these from the BMW Connector but we also replace them with the Orange/Black and Orange/Brown wires. As CANBUS is a multipoint bus, its pretty clear that Maxhaust is just tapping into the bus (Blue,White) while continuing to pass the bus to the BMW Sound Module (via Orange/Black and Orange/Brown). The CANBUS is where Maxhaust gets the vehicle real-time RPM information (also other info I expect). It might be that the car will post an error if the BMW Sound Module is missing off the bus. In any case, I think the BMW Sound Module is still on the bus, even after the Maxhaust install.

3. Sound Wires: The only other wires we disturb during the install are the Black and Black/Grey wires removed from the BMW Connector. Through the process of elimination, these HAVE TO BE the wires used to provide the sound signal to the BMW Amp. First, its the only other wires we mess with, and second, they are REMOVED from the BMW sound module so it doesn't provide any conflicting sound.

4. The BMW Sound Module is perfectly active (even after the Maxhaust install): Based on the above, the ONLY thing we have disconnected from the BMW Sound Module is the wires which carry sound to the amp. They are now connected to the Maxhaust module. This makes perfect sense - and overlooks a very convenient opportunity!

5. Switching Sound Source: Since BOTH the BMW and Maxhaust Sound modules appear to be active at all times, and only ONE of them has the amp wires attached at any given time, all we need is a simple DPDT (Double Pole Double Throw) switch to select which source we would like to use! Sound wires could come to the switch from BOTH the BMW and the Maxhaust module. We could then use the switch to select which source we would like to pass to the Amp. It would be a very simple, cheap, and effective solution and I have no idea why Maxhaust wouldn't already do this!

...Hold on it gets better! "Order in the next two hours and..."

6. Maxhaust "Blue" Connector: Everyone appears to hate this connector (for good reason). It appears many folks have broken their pins when trying to move them from the BMW connector and have just bypassed the Maxhaust Blue Connector. Why not just replace it completely with another (more useful, better designed, more functional, easier to use, readily available) connector? We would have to replace both the female and male connectors provided by Maxhaust...

7. The New Connector (8-Pin): The Maxhaust connector has 4 pins (Power, Ground, Sound+, and Sound-). The new connector set I am proposing, would have 8 pins. Here are the pins I would use for the Connector which is attached to the vehicle:

- Sound+ from BMW Sound Module (Black to BMW Module)
- Sound- from BMW Sound Module (Black/Grey to BMW Module)
- Sound+ to BMW Harness (Black to BMW Harness)
- Sound- to BMW Harness (Black/Grey to BMW Harness)
- CANBUS Hi (Blue tap)
- CANBUS Lo (White tap)
- Power + (from Fuse Box)
- Power - (from Vehicle Gnd)

Here are the corresponding pins which go to the Maxhaust harness:

- (not connected)
- (not connected)
- Sound+ from Maxhaust Harness (Color TBD)
- Sound- from Maxhaust Harness (Color TBD)
- CANBUS Hi to Maxhaust Harness (Orange/Brown)
- CANBUS Lo to Maxhaust Harness (Orange/Black)
- Power + to Maxhaust Harness (Red)
- Power - to Maxhaust Harness (Black)

Here is where the magic happens. A second "loopback" connector, which when plugged in (instead of the Maxhaust harness), will put the BMW Sound Module back in service!

- Sound+ from BMW Sound Module (Loopback Wire "A")
- Sound- from BMW Sound Module (Loopback Wire "B")
- Sound+ back to BMW Harness (Loopback Wire "A")
- Sound- back to BMW Harness (Loopback Wire "B")
- (not connected)
- (not connected)
- (not connected)
- (not connected)

All you need to do is unplug our new improved Maxhaust Harness Connector and plug in our "Loopback Connector" and the car is fundamentally back to its factory configuration (providing sound from the BMW Sound Module)!

Why is this better than a simple selector switch? Because not only can you easily switch the car back to the factory config, but you can also easily switch to a completely different sound module (Maserati Sound module) as long as you modify that connector in a similar fashion!

(Now I don't want to get too crazy, but you could also make another connector to feed completely rogue sounds (from a BlueTooth Audio Receiver or MP3 player, for example) to the BMW amp as well. Want you car to sound like the car from "The Jetson's"? In fact, we could wire in a remote relay (on OUR side of the connector) to switch on-demand from the onboard BMW Module to a source of our choosing. Maybe an Arduino with a sound generator? ...add a CANBUS shield to monitor the cars RPM... Anyway, I digress... First things first...)

So all three Sound Modules (BMW, Maxhaust, Maserati) can be easily switched back and forth using a single connector. All you need is to add a couple of 8-pin connectors. You will also have to manually cut/tap/solder the 4 associated wires in the BMW harness (Blue, White, Black, Black/Grey), but I think its well worth the minimal extra effort. It makes a much more flexible and maintainable installation.

While I wait for Maxhaust to sort out my problems, I am going to do exactly that. It keeps my factory sound fully available (unlike the current Maxhaust config which "steals" Pin 1 and 2 from the BMW connector). Their "blue connector" sucks in any case and it apparently has caused lots of problems for other folks as well. It will be easy enough to change the connector on their harness in comfort at my workbench. I have a soldering station and a full selection of shrink tubing to professionally insulate the solder joints. I hate electrical tape...

I just purchased two different sets of 8 pin connectors to see which type I like best:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm confident enough in all the above info that I'm going to start on this for my own car. I've also asked to purchase a Masertai Sound Module/harness for comparison.

In any case, I'll confirm all the above info if/when Maxhaust calls me back...

Last edited by evanevery; 12-11-2018 at 12:34 PM..
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      12-11-2018, 02:47 PM   #80
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Very very cool and good updates here. It seems with a few inexpensive pieces you can give yourself a bunch of extra options that didn't exist before. I didn't know you were that handy!

I just wondering if there would ever be a way to take a sound clip if a Ferrari and somehow get that working
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      12-11-2018, 03:41 PM   #81
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An Arduino or ESP32 with a CANBUS board/shield would allow you to grab the CANBUS info (RPM) and work with it. (The ESP32 has onboard Bluetooth!)

Add a Wav or sound generator board/shield to control in response to the RPM and you could pretty much play back anything you want. Feed it to the BMW amp via the Black and Black/Grey wire and it comes out the back of the car.

I'm not sure if just speeding up the playback of an audio sample in response to the engine RPM would be good enough. I would want to be able to play with various aspects of the sound sample (loudness, compression, bass, treble, reverb, etc) at the same time..

Last edited by evanevery; 12-11-2018 at 04:18 PM..
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      12-11-2018, 04:01 PM   #82
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1. ESP32 Processor (Arduino IDE Compatible) as the project "brain" - with onboard Bluetooth to enable Remote Control ($11)

2. CANBUS Decoder board (ESP32 Compatible) to read Engine RPM in real time ($9)

3. VS1053 Audio Development board (ESP32 compatible) to play back and manipulate audio ($7)


I'ld still like to get my Maxhaust Sound working before I try to "improve" anything... Still waiting for that call...

Last edited by evanevery; 12-11-2018 at 04:19 PM..
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      12-11-2018, 04:30 PM   #83
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Oooooh, Me likey THIS one!
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      12-12-2018, 11:02 AM   #84
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Maxhaust just called me back and they solved my problem!

It seems that the Maxhaust Sound Module completely lost its firmware when I loaded a different i8 configuration file. Luckily this can be easily fixed using their app. I had to select the "software" function from their app, and once it saw that the sound module had no firmware, it presented an option to download and update the device.

I also obtained the following info while I was on the phone with Maxhaust:

1. Maxhaust has confirmed everything I documented in my post #79 (above).

2. Maxhaust also specifically confirmed I could install a switch (as documented in #79), or a "loopback" connector (also as documented above), to allow switching between the Maxhaust and BMW sound modules. (They also seemed to think it would be a pretty neat idea.)

3. Maxhaust also confirmed that the Maserati and Maxhaust sound modules/harness are plug and play pin-compatible. So once you set up your car for either module, you can easily switch between modules by just unplugging one harness/module and swapping in the other one.

4. The Rep also told me (in passing) that I would likely be happier with the sound quality produced by the Maserati Sound Module (vs their new module)

As I've noted before, the sound quality and performance from the Maxhaust Sound Module is pretty poor. It sounds more like a joke than something appropriate for a $170K vehicle. Maybe on a little Fiat it could get some laughs...

Its somewhat surprising for them to admit their new module wasn't as good as someone else's (Maserati). However, I'm not trying to throw the tech under the bus or anything and I actually respect the company even more for their honesty. If you are considering exhaust augmentation for your i8 however, you should know about this BEFORE you make your purchase! The new Maxhaust Sound Module might be cheaper and have more adjustments to play with, but the Maserati Sound Module has better sound quality. Maybe the Maxhaust Sound module will improve over time, but right now, its not particularly impressive.

I already have my order in for the Maserati Sound Module and I'm going to replace their harness connectors and modify my wiring (as in post #79) so I can easily switch back to BMW factory sound at any time (or use the Maxhaust or Maserati sound modules as I please)
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      12-13-2018, 03:29 AM   #85
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Will be good to know your opinion of the maserati module compared to the maxhaust one. I also have the maxhaust one and havent really had a chance to play with it properly yet.

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Originally Posted by evanevery View Post
Maxhaust just called me back and they solved my problem!

It seems that the Maxhaust Sound Module completely lost its firmware when I loaded a different i8 configuration file. Luckily this can be easily fixed using their app. I had to select the "software" function from their app, and once it saw that the sound module had no firmware, it presented an option to download and update the device.

I also obtained the following info while I was on the phone with Maxhaust:

1. Maxhaust has confirmed everything I documented in my post #79 (above).

2. Maxhaust also specifically confirmed I could install a switch (as documented in #79), or a "loopback" connector (also as documented above), to allow switching between the Maxhaust and BMW sound modules. (They also seemed to think it would be a pretty neat idea.)

3. Maxhaust also confirmed that the Maserati and Maxhaust sound modules/harness are plug and play pin-compatible. So once you set up your car for either module, you can easily switch between modules by just unplugging one harness/module and swapping in the other one.

4. The Rep also told me (in passing) that I would likely be happier with the sound quality produced by the Maserati Sound Module (vs their new module)

As I've noted before, the sound quality and performance from the Maxhaust Sound Module is pretty poor. It sounds more like a joke than something appropriate for a $170K vehicle. Maybe on a little Fiat it could get some laughs...

Its somewhat surprising for them to admit their new module wasn't as good as someone else's (Maserati). However, I'm not trying to throw the tech under the bus or anything and I actually respect the company even more for their honesty. If you are considering exhaust augmentation for your i8 however, you should know about this BEFORE you make your purchase! The new Maxhaust Sound Module might be cheaper and have more adjustments to play with, but the Maserati Sound Module has better sound quality. Maybe the Maxhaust Sound module will improve over time, but right now, its not particularly impressive.

I already have my order in for the Maserati Sound Module and I'm going to replace their harness connectors and modify my wiring (as in post #79) so I can easily switch back to BMW factory sound at any time (or use the Maxhaust or Maserati sound modules as I please)
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      12-13-2018, 09:33 AM   #86
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Are you happy with the sound of the Maxhaust Module? Do you think it sounds appropriate for the pedigree of a car like the i8?


My Maserati Module and Harness is on the way. I'm going to modify the BMW harness this weekend and add that new connector (as indicated in post #79). (Those two sets of 8-pin connectors I linked should be arriving today). I'll also replace the connector on the Maxhaust harness and make that loopback connector.\

By the end of this weekend, I'll be able to easily switch between Maxhaust and BMW sound. Once the Maserati Module arrives, all I'll have to do is change the connector (at the comfort of my workbench) and plug it in! I will then have three easily swappable exhaust sound options...

Once I upgrade the connectors it will all be plug-n-play!
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      12-15-2018, 01:59 PM   #87
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I got the connectors in on Thursday as expected. I examined them and decided to use these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For my modifications (explained in post #79), I'm going to cut 4 wires in the vehicle harness. I'm also concerned about breaking the BMW pins we inserted into the Maxhaust "Blue" connector. Since I'm going to cut the harness anyway to solder in my wiring, I figured I might as well do it while the BMW pins were still inserted into the Maxhaust connectors. This way, I could then take the harness up to my workbench and have lots of light and a good selection of tools to extract the pins from the Maxhaust connectors (instead of trying to do it while bent over the trunk).

I pretty much surgically destroyed the Maxhaust Blue connector so I could be sure I could get the "BMW" pins out without breaking them. I wasn't going to reuse that connector anyway... (Success!)

I wired together my harness with some spare suitably sized wire I had laying around. I was able to match the Red (+), Black (-), Blue (CANBUS Lo), and White (CANBUS Hi) Wires. The other four colors I just chose at random (but duly noted).

After I finished the connector to graft into the cars harness, I cut down and rebuilt the Maxhaust harness. I also built my BMW "Loopback" connector.

Everything works great! (Whew!) I can now choose whether I want to use the Maxhaust Sound Module or factory BMW Sound just by changing whats plugged in via a SINGLE connector. The BMW "Loopback" connector is also very easy to just tuck back inside the little cavity behind the fuzzy door panel.

I don't know why Maxhaust used TWO connectors to connect to our cars when a single connector would work just fine. That horrible blue connector even had many holes to spare!

Anyway, I think this is the way they should have done it in the first place. I understand why they wanted folks to extract those 4 pins from the BMW connector (so nothing had to be spliced or soldered), but this modification provides a much more functional, convenient, and flexible solution.

Now all I have to do is wait for my Maserati Sound Module to arrive! I'll be sure to update this thread at that time. Its should have already shipped and I expect it might be here by the end of the week!

I'm particularly anxious to compare the Sound Quality of the Maserati Module vs the Maxhaust Module.

The photos below show the Maxhaust sound module and bluetooth unit on the floor of the trunk (and in the little cubby). I used to have them mounted behind the rear trim panel, but I don't see much point permanently mounting them (yet) if there is a good chance I might switch to to the Maserati Sound Module.

Stay Tuned!
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      12-15-2018, 02:19 PM   #88
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Ok, very cool again! A bit of research and you made this a very easy option for others that would want this flexibility. I'm going to talk to Maxhaust and suggest this to them as well.
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