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What happens when BMW "Wonder Wheel" is disabled?

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BradB:
Hello,
I have a 2014 BMW R1200GS that has the latest Hex EZ CAN installed.  My EZ CAN utilizes the BMW "wonder wheel" to adjust the brightness of my Denali D4 lights. I am going to disable the "wonder wheel" and install a different Navigation unit (Garmin Zumo XT).

Since the "wonder wheel" will be disabled, how do I adjust the brightness of the Denali lights? Does it just stay set to what I configured with my laptop and the EZ CAN unit?

Thanks....and Happy New Year!

Brad

Ruan:
Hi Brad

Thanks for reaching out. With the LC ezCANs, we utilize the inputs from the handlebars, which amongst others include the Wonder Wheel commands. A few questions on your new navigation system:
Will the replace your existing wheel with another, or will the original remain but no longer interact with the navigation system?

If the former, depending on the new wheel, it might work as expected, as there are only 4 inputs that should be mimicked. If the latter, I suspect the wheel's communication to the navigation system will be disabled, but not the wheel itself, as you'll still need it to operate on board controls for your bike, which means the inputs will remain the same, allowing your normal use with the ezCAN.

On a side note, will this replacement be done by your BMW dealership?

Kind regards
Ruan

BradB:
Ruan,
The wheel will be completely disconnected at the factory harness and will be inoperable. I can still view the bikes data through the gauges but there will be no bike data viewable through the navigation unit. There will be no new wonder wheel.

I understand that the ability to control the intensity level of my auxiliary lights will no longer be possible through the wonder wheel. But I didn't know if I could control this function in some other way or if I could only control the lights now by hooking up my laptop and setting the intensity level through the exCAN/laptop connection.

I will do the wiring of the Zumo XT navigation myself, not the dealer. It's actually very simple since there is an unused power plug already located at the front of the bike. This will be used to power the Zumo XT. The old harness that controlled the Wonder Wheel will simply be capped and unused. There are several YouTube videos describing this conversion.

What I am doing is becoming quite common with the BMW LC bikes. There are many problems with the OEM BMW Garmin Navigator VI nav units (Garmin is aware of the defects) so people are upgrading to the new Garmin Zumo XT units. BMW does not (yet) have an integrated Wonder Wheel wiring connection for the Zumo XT so the old one has to be disconnected and a new power supply and mount is run to the Zumo XT. This deactivates the function of the Wonder Wheel. But the bike data once seen on the Garmin unit and controlled by the Wonder Wheel is redundant and available on the gauge cluster. (Or TFT display depending on the bike model year) So BMW LC owners are sacrificing Wonder Wheel convenience for a much better navigation system.

Ruan:
Hi Brad

Thank you for the details on this. Currently, there isn't another way of altering the brightness (you'll still be able to turn them on/off with the TSC button). I will however add this to our feature request list - this will first need to be evaluated, keep in mind that we are running out of handlebar controls :-) so it is not guaranteed that this will be implemented/developed.

I'd suggest signing up to our newsletter below, as we send you an email for each release with the new changes that were implements:
https://www.hexezcan.com/

Then, you can also post the feature request here:
https://forum.hexcode.co.za/forum/index.php/topic,3344.0.html

Kind regards
Ruan

BradB:
Thanks Ruan, but no, we don’t need an additional method to “remotely” turn on accessories. I was just asking what happens if I disable the Wonder Wheel. I know that I will no longer be able to adjust the brightness on the wheel. But I want to know if I can still adjust the brightness through the EzCAN control panel when I hook up my laptop.

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