Phone cradle removed but ac vent remained

[Jscotti350]

First post here. Just removed the phone cradle from my 2015 X5 50i but wanted to maintain the ac vent. Since I'm not skilled enough to drill out the bracket that hides the wires. I just removed the cradle assembly and put back in the original bracket. Keep my ac cooled center storage and no more useless cradle

[CatalinP]

There is no a/c vent there, is just a fan designed to cool the phone while charging.

[Jscotti350]

Originally Posted by CatalinP

There is no a/c vent there, is just a fan designed to cool the phone while charging.

Originally Posted by CatalinP

There is no a/c vent there, is just a fan designed to cool the phone while charging.

I can assure you there is AC. It pulls from the rear climate control ac vent. I stick my hand in there it's a good 20-30° cooler than ambient

[CatalinP]

The air pumped in by the fan is cooler than ambient because it adjacent to the vent pipes for rear seats, but it is not blowing air from those vent pipes directly.

[Jscotti350]

Originally Posted by CatalinP

The air pumped in by the fan is cooler than ambient because it adjacent to the vent pipes for rear seats, but it is not blowing air from those vent pipes directly.

Perhaps. The exact method for cooling matters less to me than the fact that it cools that area lol

[Allen Aquino]

Originally Posted by Jscotti350

First post here. Just removed the phone cradle from my 2015 X5 50i but wanted to maintain the ac vent. Since I'm not skilled enough to drill out the bracket that hides the wires. I just removed the cradle assembly and put back in the original bracket. Keep my ac cooled center storage and no more useless cradle

Once had exact similar issue

[Qsilver7]

Just an FYI that may explain the discussion above about the fan for the phone and the cooler temp in the compartment. If you have rear AC (4 zone climate option S4NBA) …the duct runs (I think its below) the compartment…so if the rear AC is running…that duct keeps the center compartment cool. I don’t think it was an intentional design to have a cooled compartment…but the proximity of the duct to the closed compartment creates a cooler-like environment.

The ducts (#4 in diagram below) are what keeps the center armrest compartment cooled when the rear AC (4-zone climate option) is running.

[foo2002]

Inside the Console center you have rear Blower: