nikiyo

I just purchased this vehicle. It has an E815 Motorola cradle installed, and I have a Razor. Both phones being Verizon. Do I have any options aside from purchasing an E815 phone? Are there adaptors available to plug in my Razor?

Thank you,
Tom

Diesel Benz

Why not change to Bluetooth?

Skylaw

Your car has been modified by the prior owner, and first you should determine what you have before proceeding. The prior owner either:

1) Installed a MikBox, which allowed use of many non-Mercedes branded Motorola plug-in phones with the installed Mercedes equipment (originally a TimePort installation in your car).

2) Installed a very basic 3rd party Handsfree unit that does not fully integrate with your audio system or steering wheel controls.

You can check what you have easily enough - if your steering wheel controls work with the phone, and if calls are heard on all of the car's speakers, you probably have a MikBox. If not, you probably have the no-frills 3rd party system operating through its own speaker, and with its own separate microphone. It may or may not mute the car's audio for cell calls.

You can check the sticky at https://mbworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=188818 for information on upgrading your system. Posts 1, 2, and 6 are particularly relevant to your car.

The only cradles I am aware of for the RAZR both require Bluetooth. One is sold by Mercedes through AWS, and has the Bluetooth integrated with the cradle. It will not function with your system, however; it is for MHI only.

The other is marketed by SmoothTalker, and requires a separate Bluetooth puck. If you upgrade to the Bluetooth configuration, it could be used with your car. The advantage of either cradle is that it allows connection of the RAZR to the car's external antenna, which makes up for the RAZR's generally lousy connectivity. Both cradles allow the RAZR to be charged.

Essentially the upgrade path is to remove any 3rd party equipment; install an Autosense PSE, a V60s cradle and a V60 Bluetooth puck. Then install a RAZR cradle, if you want the advantages of one. Your '01 should already have the dual band linear compensator and antenna switch, if you have an original equipment phone system. If not, and if you use a cradle to connect to the car's antenna, you'll need the linear compensator (but can leave the antenna switch out altogether, unless you intend to upgrade to digital Tele-Aid). If you go straight Bluetooth, you can leave out the linear compensator and antenna switch altogether.

You could also explore the Argos Bluetooth mod, if you want. I leave that to you - you might start here - https://mbworld.org/forums/audio-electronics/219296-bt-puck-vs-argos.html.

A third option, if you also wanted to integrate an iPod, would be the Dension Gateway 500 with the Bluetooth add-on. http://www.dension.com/main.htm

Diesel Benz

I see, thought it had the factory kit, obviously don't know which Motorola phones have been an option in the US...

nikiyo

Thank you for this thorough response. I'm check further on the sites you provided.
Thanks again,
Tom

Skylaw

Hi, Diesel Benz - I don't wonder that you wouldn't know, since European systems were quite different. You always amaze me with what you DO know about these cars, anyway.

The MB Motorola phones for D2B systems were either the StarTac, TimePort, or the V60, depending on model year. During the transition to MOST bus MHI systems, the plug-in phones were the V60s (which is larger than the V60 and uses a larger cradle), the E815, and V710 (I believe the latter two could use the same cradle). The RAZR V3 of course was Bluetooth only, until MB began to market a Bluetooth/cradle combination designed for it.

The MikBox was a neat system that fooled the MB OE electronics into thinking that an MB branded phone was installed. It could be added in line with the StarTac, TimePort, and Autosense PSEs (the Autosense could be used with, and automatically sensed, a TimePort or a V60). The MikBox allowed any Motorola plug-in phone with a P2K chipset (most of the phones prior to the RAZR) to be used and to fully integrate with with those systems - not just phones supplied by Mercedes at an outrageous cost. MIK also provided cradles for the phone you wanted, with a proper connector for the antenna (something the Motorola-supplied 3rd party cradles didn't have). Unfortunately, I do not believe the MikBox is sold any longer.

Many folks provided Handsfree systems that didn't integrate at all. At most they would perhaps mute the audio system, if the installer could figure out how to do it in a fiber optics system.

Bluetooth has, of course, opened up a far wider range of options - but it is still necessary to check compatibility of both equipment and firmware. This is less of a problem with MB having implemented Bluetooth 2.0 in its newer equipment, but no car system is 100% compatible with every available phone. Cell service providers in the U.S. sometimes do very quirky implementations of the Bluetooth standards and MB catches the blame when it doesn't work out.

evilgenius

I you decide to change out your phone system I would like to purchse your E815 phone cradle.

nikiyo

Skylaw you are very informative, again thank you. Evilgenius, if I swap out I'll email you.

Thank you,
Tom