Odd. I disabled mine last week for a dealer visit and everything worked as it had originally. I used the console switch to make the change, since I was only turning it off and, later, on. I left the USB port accessible and would use it I ever wanted to make more involved changes.

 

Yes, I used the console switch. Disabled it and the top was completely unresponsive. Was able to reenable it and worked OK. But no top operation with it disabled. The firmware was current when I got it.

We'll see what they say...

 

Next time I would just leave it alone and tell the dealer you have the Smart Top. The three dealers I have shown here in the DFW area all thought it was very cool.
The important thing is that the tech knows about it so if he encounters something irt the top he knows not to investigate further thus wasting time.

Walt

 

The guys at mods4cars were responsive - I'll try a few things when I get the car back. But Walt's suggestion should work too.

 

I am a bit intrigued by this mod, but not sure if I want to install one or not. Where is the control box for this installed/mounted, and how is it connected? I see it has a USB interface, does that need to connect to the car's USB ports or is that for something else?

Was looking for an installation video to show the process, but didn't find one.

 

It goes under the left flap behind the drivers seat, that covers the mechanicals when the roof is down. Very easy install - unplug a few connectors, plug in the new harness, and plug the connectors into the new harness.

The USB jack if for programming and firmware upgrades. Mods4cars tells me the release new firmware shortly after I got mine that likely fixes the issue I saw.

It works great - press 'unlock' on the remote 3 times, and the roof and windows go down. (Press it 4 times, and the roof goes down, but the windows stay up. Press it twice and just the windows go down.) Pressing 'lock' instead does the opposite. That's how I have mine set up, you can program it to operate differently.

The actual control box is only 2"x3" or so. Tiny.

 

Merlin, I can pretty much guarantee that once you have it you will very much love it!
I use it all the time and it is a great and simple mod. Mods4cars has been doing these for many years and I had the same thing on a previous 997 Cab. The Porsche community is very familiar with it.

Walt

 

Merlin - I loaned my car as the development platform for the SmartTop and quite honestly, when I did I didn't know why in the heck anyone would pay for one of these boxes. Anyway, I knew there were people on here that wanted the mod and the folks doing the work on were here in Vegas so I talked to them and figured "what the heck." When I got the car back with the mod, I flat-out LOVED IT. I was not expecting to be won over at all, but the sheer convenience of being able to raise or lower the top from the fob is great, not to mention how nice it is to be able to hit the top button from within the car and have the top go up or down without me holding the button. Long story short - get the SmartTop; you won't regret it.

 

While being able to raise/lower the top from the fob is awesome, I think I'm more excited about being able to remap the open/close toggle in the console to work like it should... up for top open and down for top close, with one-touch operation.

Any downsides of this change? It sounds like it can interfere with normal operation if disabled for some reason. How simple is it to remove and restore the vehicle to stock if it becomes an issue?

 

Everyone's different. I prefer the OEM "down" for top down and "up" for top up since it's in a novel location, on the console in this car. That seems more intuitive to me given it's location. Traditionally, the button's usually been on the windshield frame at the top, and a slider switch, which is more intuitive for top "back" and top "forward."

I've owned several other cars where the "Smart Top" was available and never purchased one. I just don't see it as being desirable since it goes up and down so quickly, but even more so on this car because it can be operated while in motion up to 30mph. You lose more time, pressing the fob multiple times while standing outside. I just get in and lower or raise the top while driving away.

 

They have new firmware which should fix the issue I had, so when you disable it, the top should work normally. I don't doubt it'll work right when I reflash it.


Everything else has worked fine, this is the only issue I had. I did note, however, for the remote roof lowering to work, the roof and windows have to be up with the car locked.


I too reversed the sense of the roof switch, and this is what caused the firmware issue. If I hadn't reversed the switch, disabling the unit would have worked fine.

 

I left the switch the way it was since I was already used to it that way.


I've never had an issue with the SmartTop and never had to disable it. I let the dealer know it was on the car when I took it in for the passenger airbag recall, but they didn't seem to care and they never had to disable or remove it.


All-in-all, it's been very nice to have on the car.

 

For me it was worth it simply to fix the stupid programming that Jaguar implemented in the convertible where raising the roof leaves the windows down at the end. I can think of only a very small percentage of time when I would want to raise the roof and leave the windows down. Smart Top fixes that. Raise the roof and the windows get raised after automatically. The one-touch is also really nice, and the key fob is just icing on the cake. Great product.

 

This has become one of the coolest features of my car. Whether I just tap the button to put the top up and down or I use it to button or unbutton the car when arriving or leaving it's just fun. One of the easiest things to install as well.

 

This is a brilliant little gizmo that neatly resolves the counter-intuitive soft top programming. I wish they would come up with something equally clever to defeat the default programming on the ECO button.

 

Took wife and cat out to dinner tonight. Midway through dinner, the skies started to look a bit sketchy. How neat is was to point the fob from inside and button things up without having to leave the table.

(Side note to DJS - my switch isn't reversed, so that explains why I could turn the system on/off without the issue you found.)

 

Hello all.. Finally worked on my car today, installed the license plate shongo, and installed the Mod4cars. Install wasn't difficult, but I had problems with the programming. It isn't taking the programming from inside the car. Directions say to use the convertible switch and look at the console and work the beeps. No good, nothing, and the module is installed well, the green light goes on etc. etc. Any thoughts on what I may be doing wrong?
Thanks

 

I recommend using the USB cable and set with switches with a laptop. I've used the console switches to turn the system on/off when I went in for service, but nothing else.

For those who haven't installed the SmartTop yet, it can be done in advance.

 

I'm having a hack of a time updating the software on my iMac running OS X Yosemite. The m4cconnect app just crashes. Any tips? I already tried the Terminal think for Mavericks and still crash!

 

Would you be so kind as to explain detail by detail what you did when you hooked this to the USB on the PC?

I want the most that could be done, which I think is #3. What exactly did you do. It has to be me at this point, and I am missing something.
Thanks,