aowhaus

I'm on the fence on this. When I first saw it in a Mercedes commercial I thought it looked really cool. It had a nice soft glow, but in reality it has a distinctive sharp outline which I think looks a little too harsh.
It would be nice if it softly illuminated the interior of the spokes of the star, but would be hard to do as the interior is a matte black which absorbs light instead of reflect.
I was hoping it would look more like this (this might be photoshopped):


Here's a photo of the illuminated clear plastic part behind the chrome star:


Unfortunately the aftermarket industry is catching on:

I'm worried that it will become a passing overdone fad, just like matte paint.

JaredP

Ordered these parts today. Star was $210 CAD, and I think the connectors came to around $30 or so. I'll post again once it's installed.

Guy in parts at my dealer seemed a bit surprised I knew all the numbers.

TheRulesLawyer

Interesting. I wonder how long it'll take for a replica to become available? Seems like it should be under $50 based on other lighting kits.

JaredP

Most retailers of aftermarket grills will sell their grill slotted with an Authentic MB star. Leads me to believe the stars themselves must be pretty cheap from MB. I'm sure they'll start grabbing these and lining them with fiber optic light strips or something, ha.

TheRulesLawyer

I guess they have sort of done it.....

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-3...96132.html?s=p

stratman1954

I like it!

Al benzo

HI

ph350

if you want to have it turned on all the time, just hook it up to the drl. No need for harnesses or control boxes. The star works with any 12V source. Use a T tap from your local hardware store and just splice into your existing wiring.

JaredP

Vic stated the reason he didn't do that is the voltage supplied to the DRLs is variable depending on ambient light.

ph350

Hook it up through a relay to turn on for anything above 5v and hook it directly to the battery.

wally AMG

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-Benz-Illuminated-LED-Star-C250-C300-C350-C63-AMG-W204-Genuine-/190888674344?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c71da0428&vxp=mtr

vic viper

Or just read the entire thread and notice that I have hooked it up directly to the parking lights.

ph350

you don't have it on a dimmer switch to control the brightness?

vic viper

I dont see why?

MBA2007

I think it looks awsome!! My cousin just got the illuminated star on his 12' C300 and I can't wait to get it on my car as well.

JaredP

I'm going to install this tomorrow. Still undecided on whether I should wire it to DRLs or my parking lights... I'm thinking parking lights because the wiring will be easier, but would prefer it wired to the DRLs. Which wire is it that needs to be spliced into to illuminate the star with the parking lights?

JaredP

Wired this to my DRLs this weekend. It looks good, but is not very bright. I might try getting 12v from somewhere else and have the DRLs activate a relay.

CarolusRex

Hey, looks good in my opinion.

But I noticed somthing more in your picture. You have both the parking light "c" and led daylight on at the same time but without the main headlight? This possibility is an issue that has been discussed both in this and other forums.

How did you manage to do this?

If I put my parking light on (left position on switch) the "c" is lit, but not DRL. In auto "c" lights up with low beam and DRL in low glow. But I can't get "c" and DRL to light together in daylight.

JaredP

The car is probably just not started. Parking lights + DRLs run when you unlock the car in darkness, or after the car has been sitting in park for 5 minutes or so. It's impossible to drive with only the parking lights + DRLs.

Also, I rewired my star to my parking lights, and it is illuminating much brighter.

jgoga

I have the exact same headlights with the c lights, i am trying to hook up the star but i can't figure out where to hook them up to. Did you hook them up to the main light head unit? I want the star to come on when the c lights turn on.

Thanks in advance.

John

JaredP

Read this thread. He outlines which wire is for the parking lights on 2012+ bixenons.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...2009-c300.html

Unplug the passenger headlight. Splice the wire that goes to your parking light (the "C" light). Wire your star to the spliced wire. Ground your star.

jgoga

Jared,

Thank you for the prompt response but could i just simply wire it to the front side (marker) light? I read the whole post and it states that the star doesn't draw much current. I was looking at it last night and it seems that would be a lot easier to just hook it up to the side marker light since those come on at the same time as the C lights or would that draw too much current?

Thank you,

John

benzdude

Dude, don't worry about other people, 50% will always hate what you do. that looks sweet!

I don't have $400 to spend on that, so I will be making my own with 8$ leds. lol

benzdude

WTF?

JaredP

I don't think you will have a problem with that. I think the job will be more invasive, for sure. You will have to drill into your wheel well, or do some complex wiring at the least.

The sidemarkers uses the same bulb as the parking lights in W204s without bixenons, which is what I have my star wired to. No parasitic effect on the parking light, and the star illuminates bright.

Don't attempt to wire it to your LED DRLs. You star will not light up to full brightness.