E60 comfort seat retrofit

[zaleonardz]

To start off with, progress on all of my DIY's are pathetically slow, I do not have time, so deal with it

During this, I also did/am doing a sound thread, so if the wiring is a mess, the sound is partly to blame (diy thread to follow soon)

Lets start out by saying that my E60 is awesome, but the standard semi electric seats are terrible.

I owned an E65 with comfort seats, and nothing will compare.

I also blame my dad for his E70 with the comfort seats, so I had to have a set.

Procured 2 front seats from a scrappy.

Figured plugging it in using the exisitng plug and it will work, wrong..

even though the semi electric seats have power, but its all wrong.

The semi electric seats do not have a controller, or what is called SMFA (for drivers) and SMFB (for passanger module)

THis is of course present in the comfort seats.

THis is the seat module

This is the standard plug that is connected under the seat

The comfort seats do not use any of these wires, or in this case you can see that I tapped power from here.

What you need to do is to run a seperate wiring harness that i found on an M5

See the SMFA module, from the white plug, the 2nd on the left is the plug that you need to supply.

Wiring is simple, you need to run +12Vdc and -12Vdc, which i stole from the existing seat connector, thats easy.

There is also a thin brown wire on one of the plugs, this is just a ground, so you can attach to -12Vdc that you stole from the seat connector.

The tricky one is Canbus_H (high) and Canbus_L (Low) Yellow is High, Black is Low.

So what I did is I ran two core wire from below the seat to behind the radio, I tapped in there.

The radio wires are really short, so I cut the yellow and black, extended the wires, and added added the + wire that I installed to the yellow, and - to black on the new harness that i got.

When Canbus is added, you have comms with the seats via INPA and DIS, but the seats dont work on their controls...

This is how I connected the wiring

I still need to code the car, but will post that when i get there, first need to finish the sound...

 

[OppositeLockMT]

Great work!

The semi-electric seats definitely are annoying, almost verging on pointless.

 

[zaleonardz]

Oh my frikken hamster......

I do not actually believe this.

Firstly, a serious big up to Hugo for driving out and bringing me some bits, it assisted with the coding.

The reason why the coding on this car was such a flippen bitch is because my car had the latest firmware flash from the dealership, meaning that a great deal of the stuff available on the net just simply would not code the car.

I have NOT been able to make these seats work, the primary reason for that being, is that I am a moron and simply do not read wiring diagrams that I have stared over 1000 times.

Firstly, I figured that it was because the VIN numbers on the seat modules were differant to that of the main bus forcing them not to work.

This is where winKFP came in, and I finally, but finalllllllly managed to code the modules, and now the VIN numbers are matching, but guess what it still does not work.

I then started reading some docs I got from hugu, and pouring over wiring diagrams, here is the clincher.

You know the seat switches, that sit on the side of the seat, one would make a logicial deduction that those buttons go to the seat modules, right.... WRONG......

I mean, I can read/move the seats in INPA, but they just wont work on the buttons, surely I did the wiring correctly, and it HAS TO BE a coding issue.... right... WRONG....

The flippen seat switches are a seperate module, that you need to integrate into the LIN bus, using the YELLOW seat connector, and not the black connector that goes to the seat module, but rather the yellow plug that holds the seatbelt pretentioners ect.

This is actually then wired, with seperate power, to the SGM, or central gateway module, which is basically the switch box in the middle of the car that holds the PDC button and stuff....

So lets recap.

1. Black 8 pin plug, takes +12v and neg, it takes CAN_H and CAN_L (yellow and black) This will make the seats work in INPA. NOTE there is NO differance between the passanger seat and front driver seat modules, the passanger seat only has one additional negative that the drivers does not have.

2. Yellow big assed plug, all your exisitng sensor wiring, but you need to add in another 12Vdc and 2 negs, plus a k-line wire that runs from pin 3 of the SGM.

Seat switches run over the SGM.... as is clearly pointed out in the wiring diagrams.....

Therefore... I have comfort seats, with working memory......

THanks again HUGO !!!!

 

[Wes]

And the psychological cost of the retro-fit? Priceless

Kidding.

Well done LZ

 

[DieselFan]

:thumbs: well done bud

 

[zaleonardz]

Yea indeed, this one was exceptionally painful, but now I have more knowledge on the E60 then the average pidgeon, and will keel on learning, which is why I do factory retrofits.

I could have easily designed a circuit with a couple of switching transistors and just got rid of the entire SMFA/B completly (almost did that actually)

But now I know, and go now do a retrofit in say 4 hours instead of 6 months

And the psychological cost of the retro-fit? Priceless

Kidding.

Well done LZ

 

[applehero]

Nicely done LZ. Its worth so much more doing this yourself. Congrats!

The comfort seats, were they an option on the E60 or is it something you've adapted from an E65?

 

[zaleonardz]

They were an option on the E60.

I actually looked at a set of E65 seats, but figured, dammit it will never work, because the seat controller buttons sits on the Center console and not on the seats.

In hindsight, they probably would have worked, although mounting the seat switch would have been a pain in the nostril.

Although my SZL is now complaining that It cannot see the steering column switches, geee I wonder what I am going to have to do about that :rollsmile:

 

[gromper]

I'm currently retrofitting my semi-electric non heated seats to sports seats with lumbar support and memory.I found all the wires except the x10116 wich is the k-bus line that should be wired to my centre console switch and to both seats..I can't find the k-bus anywhere,also no lin-bus on connector 23 or 14.Car is a E61 2/2007 520d.Thru INPA the seats are working except i can't find lumbar support on the activation.
Can you help me out please raise:

 

[gromper]

Problem solved but not thanks to you guys,thanks but no thanks!!:thumbdo:

 

[Philip Foglar]

2 posts, where is your intro thread? :idea:

Welcome to the forum! :thumbs:

 

[ibbu0801]

hello there,
i have put the comfort seats in the car but i need help with k bus since my seats are not moving. Could you please post the solution? it has been a week working on these seats and i am not able to make them move. I have followed this guide http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=43227 but i am stuck with k bus now.

please help

thank you

 

[zaleonardz]

You have 3 wires.

First is CAN_H and CAN_L that goes to the seat module, if you do this, you will be able to move the seats using INPA or DIS.

The third, is the LIN bus wire, that needs to be connected to your center switch, the one that has the DSC PDC button on it.

The seat switches, are actually a seperate module, that need power and ground, and interfaces with the LIN bus of the car via the switch center module.

USe this, it will show you everything you need to know.

http://www.bmw-planet.com/diagrams/release/en/

 

[ibbu0801]

hello there,

thank you for explanation, i have already found the k bus wire which is the third one (white with a red line) atttached to it but the seats still dont move i have also supplied the seat with positive and ground. I have made the wiring just like the other car where i took the seats of. I have both cars in the garage.

I am not sure what i am missing!!!!

need help

thanks

 

[zaleonardz]

Are you aware that the seat takes two sets of pos and ground.

One into the SMFA module (seat controller) and one into the seat switch.

Also have you confirmed that your can bus is working with CAN High And CAN Low.

Also, E60 does not have K bus, it runs LIN

 

[crmtech]

Are you aware that the seat takes two sets of pos and ground.

One into the SMFA module (seat controller) and one into the seat switch.

Also have you confirmed that your can bus is working with CAN High And CAN Low.

Also, E60 does not have K bus, it runs LIN

Hi, Im new to the forum, so hello to all and im really hoping some one can help me out

I have a 2008 E60 Lci (face lift) saloon and have retro fitted fully electric heated seats into my car (previously had half electric non heated)

So far I have wired the seats up and had the car coded, the seats work though INPA and so do the heaters, I also get no errors in the ecus on diagnostics, although they will not move via the seat switches and no memory. Also using INPA i cannot see the switch's in test mode (no communication)

I have added the 12v and ground to the seat switch's and the K bus line (white/red trace/yellow spot wire) to the white module behind glove box on pin 2 (exactly as it came from the donor car but they still will not move ! the wiring diagrams are very poor in relation to the center switch control module as my car is 2007 on, and instead of the module being located at the switches in the center mine is a separate module behind the glove box, I have tried swapping the module for the one from the donor car (2007) but still nothing ! I must be so close to getting it working its painful ! any help would be massively appreciated

thanks Chris

 

[crmtech]

All fixed, I had a lad help me with remove and re install my interior as i have a bad back, and he trapped the can k line and shorted it to earth! took some finding but now it all works 100% :O)

 

[Ratslaaf]

Nicely done man.

 

[karthik67]

Hi,

Can you post the colour codes and pin assignments for the conversion please.

thanks and regards,

Karthik

 

[Mo5005]

is it possible to retrofit these seats in any car besides a bmw? id like to put these seats in my volvo since the bolt holes line up perfectly.

any advice would be greatly appreciated!