unixadm

I know there are some people on the forum who have 2008 or 2009 C63's in the US which have wanted to install the Media Interface Plus. Last weekend I installed my Universal Communications Interface (UCI) from Comand Online in the UK. For the most part it's fairly straight forward if you have the right tools and a bit of automotive know how. At the end of the install, the vehicle now has option 518 installed. The things you must have:

Tools/Services:
1. Mercedes pulling hooks
2. Metric socket set
3. Wire stripper
4. Torx bit driver set, T25
5. Sharpie
6. Dealership with Mercedes STAR Diagnostics tool to activate UCI

Items Removed:
1. Passenger kick panel
2. Passenger glove box and dash end cap
3. Driver and passenger panel above footwell
4. Passenger sill plate
5. Center HVAC vents (pulling hooks required)
6. COMAND Unit
7. iPod Integration Kit

My car had the iPod integration kit which had the module located near the passenger side kick panel. If you have this installed in your car, be sure to remove the ENTIRE kit (module/harness/iPod cable), not just the module. The kit installs in line with the original COMAND head unit via a very large harness which is placed in between the body harness and the COMAND unit. You have to remove the MOST fiber connections from the iPod integration harness and move them over to the body harness during the UCI install. All of the installation steps are documented fairly well from their instructions. You have to install three wires, one to the COMAND harness behind the head unit (inline splice), one to the DLC above the driver's feet (soldered splice), and the other to a grounding location behind the passenger's feet (larger ring terminal) on the body itself. Everything I needed was included in the kit except for a ring terminal. You also have to add the UCI into the fiber MOST ring, which necessitates removing the inbound fiber from the COMAND connector, using a MOST splice adapter to feed that into the UCI inbound fiber connection, and then connect the UCI's outbound fiber into the COMAND connector. It sounds a bit complicated, but in reality it's very simple.

I went to El Dorado Mercedes Benz today and met with Daniel, who's my assistance service manager. This guy is great and if anyone in the area needs a top notch dealer to get service done at, this dealership along with Daniel is excellent. Let him know David W. sent ya. Anyhow I met with the technician, explained what I needed done, and was out the door in a few hours. Mind you I had a couple of warranty issues addressed, they updated my COMAND system to the latest version (takes like 90 minutes), and updated my ECU/TCU firmware. They also fixed a rattle in the interior, and took me out into the shop to show me the undercarriage of my car on the lift while letting me look around. Really cool guys especially when they did all of this for free. The only thing I had to pay for was the new set of wiper blades which they installed. Total cost spent thus far, $700 for the retrofit kit, cable set, and pulling hooks.

Overall the UCI is installed and it's working on the COMAND screen and also the cluster. My navigation screen also has a few new options, though the traffic button did not show up. I want to figure this out because I want live traffic. Anyone have any ideas if it's a setting in the COMAND system or related to the Sirius tuner? Perhaps the STAR tool can turn it on?

I also went and ordered the MIP while I was there, so I should have that in a week or so. Thus far I'm not a big fan of the iPod interface on the UCI though. On my iPhone 4, it starts playing as soon as I connect it. I cannot pause the music, and if I start Pandora, it will play for about five seconds and then flip back to the iPod. Perhaps I'm missing something, but on the iPod integration kit, it would allow me to switch to Pandora and not keep reverting back to automatically playing the iPod portion on my iPhone. Any ideas anybody?

Pics: Click Here

BO Knows

What did the updates improve or fix? Did you ask them or they told you, you need an update?

unixadm

There are some added options on the COMAND screen, for example weather band, and in FM, there's now an INFO button at the bottom to display additional RDS data which was previously shown on a single line. In the NAVI there is a compass screen with angle, heading, and a meter showing your height above sea level. The NAVI also has stars and clouds which I never noticed before, and there are some Hybrid vehicle options in the engineering menu.

I requested the update as part of the UCI activation process. On my 2009 it wasn't required to get UCI working, however I figured if I was there I'd see if I could get the latest firmwares loaded on the car.

yamahazing

Did you get the MIP yet?

unixadm

I have not received the MIP yet. The dealer has not called me yet so I'm assuming it's still in transit. They said it had to come from the east coast. if I don't hear anything in the next few days I'm just going to order one online and tell them to put it on the shelf for another customer when it arrives.

yamahazing

Ok, cool, thanks. So the grand total to do this would be around $700 plus the cost of the MIP?

unixadm

I'm at the dealer right now. I had them check to see if they could enable live traffic. It sounds like the Sirius module needs to be replaced to get the TMC option to work in the 2009. I also have the MIP in hand and will install it when my car is out of service. Getting the diff oil changed today for piece of mind since I have an LSD. I'll report back how the MIP works later today.

The cost thus far has been $1124 with the MIP.

unixadm

I installed my Media Interface Plus (MIP) on my 2009 US Spec C63 and it's working perfectly as expected. I was able to transfer my iPhone contacts, stream Bluetooth audio, and get Pandora working without any issues. It took more time to upgrade the firmware/bootloader on the MIP, otherwise it was a plug and play device after I installed the UCI / Option 518.

I'm going to research installing a 2010+ Sirius tuner in my car and that should get the traffic component working. The issue is it lacks the secondary ID for traffic only. I'll research the part number and post it up if anyone is interested. Depending on the price I may or may not opt to get traffic working. It really isn't that important to me but none the less it's been talked about a lot on the forum so if I can figure out the details I'll post them up.

El Dorado Mercedes Benz was once again a pleasure to work with today.

DuaneC63

I have an 09 and would love to have the IPOD menu show up on the Nav Screen (like in the 2010). Dealer says it's not possible. Any ideas.

unixadm

See my original post in this thread. I have the same year car (2009 C63) and have the iPod/iPhone working on both the cluster and the COMAND screen.

exdes

do you have rearview camera? does the UCI use that optical port people are using to fit aftermarket rearview cameras?
can you play video through ipod?

unixadm

The UCI uses two interfaces into the COMAND system. The primary is the fiber optic connection on the vehicle MOST ring. The second is connected to the Aux Video connector on the back of the COMAND unit. I don't know how they do it on a 2010/2011 with the UCI and backup camera, because I believe both use the Aux Video input. With the addition of the MIP you can play iPod Videos providing you have the UCI connected to the Aux Video connector and have the appropriate iPod cable which supports video transmission. I never intend to play iPod videos on my car, so I'm going to disconnect the UCI from the Aux Video connector and install the DIY $200 rear view camera. I'm more about driving the car than watching videos and if you want to switch for a long road trip, it's 15 minutes worth of work at the most. I do like Pandora on my COMAND system - that is pretty sweet.