Connect a device

The dongle hosts its own Wi-Fi access point. Any device with a modern browser can use it — phones (iOS / Android), tablets, laptops, even a desktop with a USB Wi-Fi dongle.

Default credentials

Field	Value
SSID	BimmerzBox
Password	bimmerzbox
IP	172.16.7.1
Channel	6 (2.4 GHz)

Change them in /settings/ — strongly recommended once you've confirmed the dongle works.

The captive portal

When you join the dongle's AP for the first time, your OS detects that the network has no internet and pops a captive-portal window: a sandboxed browser running our welcome page. You see a splash with the bimmerz box brand and one OK, got it button.

What happens when you tap it:

• The dongle records that your client has acknowledged the portal.
• The portal screen updates to "You can dismiss this window".
• On most platforms the OS closes the sheet automatically within a few seconds. On macOS you may need to tap Cancel in the corner — it just dismisses the window, you stay connected.

You can now open your normal browser app and navigate to http://172.16.7.1/.

Why not just auto-open the dashboard?

The captive portal runs in a sandboxed mini-browser that the OS controls. It doesn't have access to your real browser's cookies, extensions, or persistent state — and on iOS especially it can't reliably hand a URL off to Safari. So instead of a fragile "automatic" handoff, the welcome screen just tells you the address and gets out of the way.

Connecting on iOS

1. Settings → Wi-Fi → tap BimmerzBox.
2. Enter the password if prompted.
3. The "Sign In" sheet pops up — that's the captive portal.
4. Tap OK, got it, then Cancel in the top-left.
5. Open Safari → http://172.16.7.1/.

iOS may keep showing a "No Internet Connection" warning on the BimmerzBox network. That's expected — the dongle is intentionally not connected to the internet. The warning doesn't stop the connection from working.

Connecting on Android

1. Wi-Fi settings → tap BimmerzBox.
2. Enter the password.
3. The captive notification pops; tap it.
4. Tap OK, got it in the welcome screen.
5. Open Chrome / Firefox → http://172.16.7.1/.

Android will warn that the network has no internet. Confirm "Stay connected" or similar — the warning is correct but harmless.

Connecting on macOS / Windows / Linux

1. Wi-Fi menu → connect to BimmerzBox.
2. The captive-portal sheet appears (macOS) or notification (Win/Linux).
3. Click OK, got it in the welcome screen.
4. Dismiss the sheet (the Cancel button on macOS, or just close the notification).
5. Open any browser → http://172.16.7.1/.

Cable side — OBD-II connection

The dongle ships with a standard 16-pin OBD-II connector (or, for the DIY build, you fit one). For pre-OBD-II cars (E30 / E34 / E36 with the round 20-pin diagnostic plug under the bonnet), you'll need a 20-pin-to-OBD-II adapter cable. They're cheap and widely available.

Pin mapping the dongle uses:

OBD-II pin	Signal	Note
4	Chassis GND
5	Signal GND
6	CAN-H	HS-CAN (PT-CAN, 500 kbit/s)
7	K-line	ISO 9141 / KWP2000 / DS2
8	L-line	Output-only on dongle
14	CAN-L	HS-CAN
16	+12 V batt	Permanent battery feed (powers box)

On bench: power the cable from any 12 V source between pin 16 and pin 4 (or pin 5).

If your car doesn't have CAN on OBD-II (E46 and similar)

Not every BMW chassis routes the diagnostic CAN bus to the OBD-II socket. The E46 is the canonical example: connector X19527 (the OBD-II socket itself) has K-line but no D-CAN. The dongle's K-line side will still work — fault codes, DS2 / KWP2000 jobs — but anything that needs CAN (live CAN dashboard, NCS-Expert coding on CAN-only control units) won't see a bus.

The fix is a one-time wiring job from the instrument cluster (IKE) connector X11175 (black) to the OBD-II socket. Use twisted pair for noise immunity:

Cluster X11175	OBD-II X19527	Signal	Wire colour
pin 9	pin 6	D-CAN-H	yellow / red
pin 10	pin 14	D-CAN-L	yellow / brown

CAN topology

CAN is designed as a daisy-chained bus terminated at the two ends — not a star. Tapping in from the cluster turns your dongle into a stub branch off the main bus. It works at 500 kbit/s with short stubs (you'll be fine for normal OBD-II cable lengths), but make sure the dongle's CAN transceiver has termination enabled (or add a 120 Ω resistor between CAN-H and CAN-L at the dongle end). Otherwise you'll see frame errors under load.

Parts to source:

• Wire taps — use proper sealed quick-splice connectors, not hardware-store scotchlocks (which cold-flow and lose contact). Recommended: BMW p/n 61138364566 (TE / AMP 0-1393431-1) — the same tap BMW uses on the original loom for the same wire gauge.
• OBD-II socket housing — already in the car. It's a TE Connectivity 968915-1 (BMW OE 61138380698). For the back-of-socket terminals you'll crimp onto the new pair, see the table below.

Contact family

The OBD-II socket only mates with Micro Timer II female contacts — 1.6 × 0.6 mm tab, double locking lance. MQS (0.63 mm) and Micro Timer I contacts won't latch. Don't bulk-buy on price without confirming the family.

OBD-II socket crimp contacts — for the IKE→OBD twisted pair (thin signal wire), use the bottom row of this table; for any re-pinning of supply / ground / main signals (0.5–1.0 mm² wire), use the top row.

Wire	Plating	Reel / strip	Loose pieces	BMW OE equiv.
0.50–1.00 mm²	Gold	964263-3 (sealed: 964274-3)	964275-3	61138364519
0.50–1.00 mm²	Tin	964263-2 (sealed: 964274-2)	964275-2	—
0.20–0.60 mm²	Gold	969028-3	969019-3	61138366598
0.20–0.60 mm²	Tin	969028-2	969019-2 (or 969005-2)	—

Sealed-variant SKUs (964274-x, 964275-x etc.) are easier to find at retail than strictly-unsealed parts and are 100 % compatible — same contact-can geometry, same latch pitch. Just crimp directly and skip the rubber seal.

Other E-chassis with the same OBD-II-no-CAN limitation follow the same pattern; consult the BMW wiring diagram for that chassis to find the equivalent of X11175.

Changing the Wi-Fi credentials

1. Connect, open http://172.16.7.1/settings/.
2. Under Wi-Fi, edit SSID / password / channel.
3. Click Save, then Restart.
4. Reconnect with the new credentials.

Forgot the password? Hold the multi-purpose button on the dongle for 5 seconds at boot to factory-reset NVS. The defaults come back.