California Ocean T6 Roof Repair

[vbk1975]

Hey there - youre very welcome!
It certainly does seem the factory in Tunisia has scaled back/ceased manufacturing this particular hall sensor for BMW - likely a cost cutting exercise very much being adopted by many European car manufacturers due to the sudden influx of east Asian EVs flooding our markets and forcing our somewhat complacent car companies to pull their socks up a bit.

Unsure when these may begin manufacturing again, or at all - simply because BMW vehicle models that utilised these particular hall sensors were mostly manufactured in the 2000's - VW utilising them as recent as the T6.1.

However! It's possible to obtain an entire wiring loom for the roof from VW but just snip off the hall sensors but this can cost up £900, so ive heard.

BMW last used this hall sensor for their Z4 two seater sports car (known as the E98 frame) and its possible to grab the hall sensor from its own little connector cable;

https://ebay.io/m/Vzfcr8

The hall sensor is on the right hand side of the provided image. Its expensive due to scarcity but is available. I would recommend finding the individual hall sensor that is faulty and perhaps change one at a time, to save cost if that's an understandable concern.

There are still one or two found in the UK;

https://ebay.io/m/4IKAJs

Again, expensive but genuine.

The very last alternative is to install a manual switch so youre able to raise and lower to roof yourself. You can then "delete" the roof from the camping console via the diagnostic menu, so it wont sound lots of alarms whilst driving.
Extra care will be needed to ensure you are closing your roof before driving off - visual checks it is down fully etc. If the hydraulics are all working normally the roof will lock down perfectly well.

They are generic TE sensors, most OEMs will aim to supply parts for 10 years after last car produced

Link to post with the data sheet for the sensor

Elevating roof issues, updates

Hi All, In the spirit of learning as we go, here’s my latest pop top roof instalment, just over two years since the last post when it had been fixed. Below is a picture of a cracked roof sensor which is affecting my roof operation. In September 2018, I paid almost £800 to secure a new loom and...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

And a list of companies that have used them over the years

Elevating roof issues, updates

Good thinking vbk1975 - I'll check for that. By the way congratulations for identifying the BMW part. You're going to save a lot of people a lot of money. Just keep it secret until I've ordered a couple for myself. I can see BMW 1 series convertible people having to buy VW wiring looms in the...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[IngerJenseth]

Hey there - youre very welcome!
It certainly does seem the factory in Tunisia has scaled back/ceased manufacturing this particular hall sensor for BMW - likely a cost cutting exercise very much being adopted by many European car manufacturers due to the sudden influx of east Asian EVs flooding our markets and forcing our somewhat complacent car companies to pull their socks up a bit.

Unsure when these may begin manufacturing again, or at all - simply because BMW vehicle models that utilised these particular hall sensors were mostly manufactured in the 2000's - VW utilising them as recent as the T6.1.

However! It's possible to obtain an entire wiring loom for the roof from VW but just snip off the hall sensors but this can cost up £900, so ive heard.

BMW last used this hall sensor for their Z4 two seater sports car (known as the E98 frame) and its possible to grab the hall sensor from its own little connector cable;

https://ebay.io/m/Vzfcr8

The hall sensor is on the right hand side of the provided image. Its expensive due to scarcity but is available. I would recommend finding the individual hall sensor that is faulty and perhaps change one at a time, to save cost if that's an understandable concern.

There are still one or two found in the UK;

https://ebay.io/m/4IKAJs

Again, expensive but genuine.

The very last alternative is to install a manual switch so youre able to raise and lower to roof yourself. You can then "delete" the roof from the camping console via the diagnostic menu, so it wont sound lots of alarms whilst driving.
Extra care will be needed to ensure you are closing your roof before driving off - visual checks it is down fully etc. If the hydraulics are all working normally the roof will lock down perfectly well.

Well, I hope I were able to secure at least one sensor, that they get back in stock somehow and that VW continue to offer the wire system.
Thanks again. Fingers krossed.

 

[egena]

They are generic TE sensors, most OEMs will aim to supply parts for 10 years after last car produced

Link to post with the data sheet for the sensor

Elevating roof issues, updates

Hi All, In the spirit of learning as we go, here’s my latest pop top roof instalment, just over two years since the last post when it had been fixed. Below is a picture of a cracked roof sensor which is affecting my roof operation. In September 2018, I paid almost £800 to secure a new loom and...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

And a list of companies that have used them over the years

Elevating roof issues, updates

Good thinking vbk1975 - I'll check for that. By the way congratulations for identifying the BMW part. You're going to save a lot of people a lot of money. Just keep it secret until I've ordered a couple for myself. I can see BMW 1 series convertible people having to buy VW wiring looms in the...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

So do you think buying a second hand Colt roof ram (has two sensors on it) would be a good temporary alternative source for sensors?

 

[vbk1975]

So do you think buying a second hand Colt roof ram (has two sensors on it) would be a good temporary alternative source for sensors?

I have bought two car sets of colt Rams, inc 4 sensors a set, they appear in good condition and I paid £30-35 from eBay for each set delivered.

 

[egena]

I have bought two car sets of colt Rams, inc 4 sensors a set, they appear in good condition and I paid £30-35 from eBay for each set delivered.

That's great news. I bought just a single colt ram the other day and ive taken the sensor mini loom off it. Interestingly they're made a little different - they're not bathed in resin like the ones made in tunisia. Was £15 - £21 with delivery.

 

[vbk1975]

That's great news. I bought just a single colt ram the other day and ive taken the sensor mini loom off it. Interestingly they're made a little different - they're not bathed in resin like the ones made in tunisia. Was £15 - £21 with delivery.

View attachment 152373

Just checked one of my set and they are potted (resin) like the BMW ones

 

[egena]

Just checked one of my set and they are potted (resin) like the BMW ones

oooooo that's interesting. sadly ive just placed both sensors on my multimeter and im not getting much sense out of them, likely indicating they're both dead

 

[vbk1975]

oooooo that's interesting. sadly ive just placed both sensors on my multimeter and im not getting much sense out of them, likely indicating they're both dead

View attachment 152377

Because they are 2 wire hall effect, multi-meter isn't going to really indicate their state. They need to be in-circuit be powered and change current when active and not active. (see readings from my rig with Roof ECU)

Electric roof problem

Thanks, vbk1975! I will manually open the roof and inspect the sensor wiring later today. I replaced all four sensors…..initially front two, one of which was very corroded but got same error so replaced the back ones and still same error. If all the wires are correct, I.e. brown to brown, red to...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[egena]

Because they are 2 wire hall effect, multi-meter isn't going to really indicate their state. They need to be in-circuit be powered and change current when active and not active. (see readings from my rig with Roof ECU)

Electric roof problem

Thanks, vbk1975! I will manually open the roof and inspect the sensor wiring later today. I replaced all four sensors…..initially front two, one of which was very corroded but got same error so replaced the back ones and still same error. If all the wires are correct, I.e. brown to brown, red to...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

As others have said; Wildly useful! I can generate volts if needed. Do you recall the active circuit volts that may allow me to test the sensor/switch?

 

[vbk1975]

As others have said; Wildly useful! I can generate volts if needed. Do you recall the active circuit volts that may allow me to test the sensor/switch?

From memory the ref voltage is 5v

 

[vbk1975]

After a bit of digging, some measuring and details from others, here's where I've got to.

The IC is probably a Micronas/TDK HAL566. @soppelsa photos in the other threads read "566K" on it, though I haven't confirmed that on my own sensors. It's a 2-wire Hall switch with a current output, and it's been discontinued. The 556 is the same chip with the output the other way round, so if the marking is really 556K the polarity below flips.

TDK still make a successor, the HAL1564UA. It's the same type (2-wire, inverted, TO92UA package) and the switching points are very close: 4.1 and 6.0 mT typical against 3.9 and 5.9 for the HAL566. The HAL1565 looks similar but is the non-inverted version, so it would be the wrong one if the original is a 566.

On my rig, a new TE sensor reads low current with steel in front of it and high current with the steel removed. That matches an inverted part. The ECU expects roughly 2-5 mA in one state and 12-17 mA in the other, and the HAL1564 is specced for those ranges. A magnet on the branded face of the IC will tell you which type you've got. The inverted one drops to low current.

The PCB looks like just the IC with pins 2 and 3 tied to ground, plus one small ceramic capacitor across the supply. I haven't measured the capacitor. The HAL566 datasheet's EMC circuit uses 4.7 nF, so that's my guess.


I was thinking of 3D printing a housing, getting some magnets and trying a DIY version. The trouble is the chips only seem to be available from DigiKey in small quantities. They're under £1 each (233 in stock last time I looked) but postage was £22. Since I have a stack of working sensors already, that's a pricey experiment for me.


So I'm leaving it here in case anyone wants to pick it up. The part to get right is the magnet.