What happens if you change the stock head unit on a E55 with lets say an Alpine, what happens to the control functions on the steering wheel? Does this get disabled and you can't have any use for them or what??

 

Yes, all the integrated stuff and the MB 6 disk changer wont work.

MB's have two networking type systems in their vehicles

D2B - an optical ring - that interconnects the CD, Teleaid, Phone, VCS and head-unit, any manafacturer can make kit to the standard (licenced from C&C electronics in UK) and it will work with kit made by other manafactueres to the same standard. Sadly the standard doesnt define the optical connector, and MB use one type, another vehicle manafacturer use a different, and theres also a twisted pair copper standard around aswell.

CAN - a bus where lots of things sit on the bus, everything listens for messages that interest them, and anyone sends.
CAN is used extensively in MB vehicles, - theres a CAN bus around the engine bay, theres one for the inside, and theres a couple of others. (see later) - for instance, when you press the window up button, it sends a "he pressed driver window up" on the CAN bus and the door control module picks it up the message and winds the window up - this saves *lots* of wiring - its a 2 wire (plus power) bus. The exact messages are MB defined, i.e not available to people !

Back to the Head-unit.

All those buttons on the steering wheel connect to the cluster, and the cluster connects to the head unit via CAN - the head-unit then can see which buttons are being pressed. Also, reverse signal, lights on, speed etc are sent down the CAN bus to the head unit. (on COMAND the unit is connected to two seperate CAN bus;s and I dont know what signals come down what bus)

The Head unit is connected to the cd, vcs etc via the D2B bus described above.


The long and the short of it is, if you dont use a MB unit the steering wheel controls etc dont work.
And, you can use any D2B CD changer with the correct connector on it - but that limits you to the MB supplied unit (actually an Alpine standard chassis with an extra box on it), or one particularly Becker model.


R

 

Richard

Do you know if a car audio shop is able to attatch those cables from the steering wheel to the Alpine head unit? Or am i stuck with the stock head unit and that if i want to get a cd changer i have to get a MB brand?? I'm just trying to justify if i should get a new head unit and a cd changer and then not be able to use the controls/functionality of the steering wheel??

 

Almost certainly not - Im pretty sure that theres just two or three wires coming from the steering wheel, each button has a different "resistance" and so you need some clever stuff to work out which button was actually pressed.

If you want those buttons, you'll have to use a MB head unit - I guess they did that on purpose ...

R

 

Well that's damn pretty smart of them. I guess os that you have to buy their brand right? Damn marketing people!!

 

Yup, things like having to buy a MB phone [although thats not true in Europe] also clearly are the marketting dept ...

However, as the head units etc become more and more integrated into the cars, with things like COMAND used to display air conditioing and other stuff, I expect that there will be less and less aftermarket stuff you can put in ..

R

 

I can understand about this marketing thing but if you were to lets say buy a MB cd changer you know how much that thing costs i heard is about $1200 bucks ouch!!

 

Actually I think its about 500 bucks [someone in the US can probably be more accurate]

R

 

Just talked to my dealer and he said he has in stock 20 of the 6-disc changer (by the way he said this is actually made by Alpine) in stock and that he could do the install everything for $750.00.

Is this a good price??

Thanks Richard!

 

On US cars, the install is trivial as its pre-wired, ie you just need to buy the changer and the bracket and possibly a connector and plumb it in. The head-unit does need "coding" to tell it that its there, but it will work without that (but you should get the dealer to do it next time its there for service)

On EU cars, they dont install the optic fibre or wiring loom unless you ordered the CD from factory, so its a complete pain-in-the-backside to install it (same with phone and voice recognition)

The unit is made by alpine but its special for MB and has some extra electronics on it. Becker also make a compatable unit.

I think clairparts sell the CD changer and bracket for $700 - so $750 from the dealer seems good.

It may be cheaper to pick up the CD player and bracket in Europe [not in UK..]

R

 

He also said that the connector on this is Fiber?? Does this make a difference?

 

Yup, thats the "extra electronics" I mentioned in a previous post. Theres a fibre optic bus that connects the head-unit, teleaid, vcs, phone and CD changer so they can all talk to each other as needed.

R

 

So i guess the $750 really is a good deal then huh?

What about the speakers? Should i be worried if i need to upgrade them or do these have special cables too??

 

If you have BOSE amp, dont touch the speakers ... they are all some odd impedance ...

I dont know what impedance the head unit expects , but im sure its written on the old speakers !

Cheers

R

 

This really helps me a lot!

Thanks again Richard!

 

hi RICHARD!
i am from TBILISI, republic GEORGIA
is there alpine aftermarket head unit for w210 wich works with steering wheel controls?
i know english not so well to understand evrything in this forum so i am sorry if i misunderstood something.