1. HOW-TO GUIDE FOR CELL PHONE UPGRADES, PLUG-IN AND BLUETOOTH
i have read every post in this thread and ive been to http://www.wireless4mb.com/ and even called them today to get an updated and comprehensive list of phones that works with mb blutooth. the list on their page is really old and not updated. they told me that they no longer keep track of the list of phones that may or may not work cause
1. they dont make the product anymore
2. the new mb are all intergrated now with the hu
so i guess its going to have to be a list of working phones that is added by the users themselves.
Your '03 S600 has a widescreen COMAND MOPF with a CD-based nav system and a D2B fiber optic bus.
Unfortunately there is no CarTronics, mObridge or Dension combination unit that I know of that will provide both iPod and Bluetooth connectivity for D2B systems (such units do exist for the MOST fiber optics units in the '04 and later cars). In addition, OE W220 ('00-'06 S-Class) bluetooth equipment does not support A2DP Bluetooth music streaming. Some Parrot units do (I have a Parrot-based Alpine head unit in my '78 450SL that supports it), but I don't know if they're available for D2B integration - and if it is just an add-on rather than an integrated unit, you will not have control via your COMAND or the steering wheel buttons.
It is very likely you currently have an Autosense PSE and a V60 phone cradle. If that is the case, all you need to convert it to Bluetooth is a V60 Bluetooth puck that will plug into the cradle. If your cradle is for a TimePort phone, then you need to replace the cradle with the "Puck-with-tail." It's a V60 puck with wiring added to connect inside your center console.
In the early posts this guide discusses what you need to do, and gives you links to the phone bulletins that will help you identify what you already have.
Here is a HUGE hint: AWS is no longer testing new phones with the retrofit Bluetooth equipment, so they are no longer updating the compatibility list for phones. Before you buy any new phone, be sure to test it with your car's equipment!!! It is a LOT easier to buy a phone that works with the equipment already installed in the car than to change the car so it will work with a particular phone. While the V60 puck will work with iPhones, including the iPhone 4, it is older technology and is not compatible with as many phones as the newer systems are.
The Gateway 500 for D2B has been discontinued, and replaced by the Gateway LITE for D2B. Please see http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...ml#post4403592 where I just responded to questions concerning D2B iPod integration.
Another option would be to replace virtually everything on your fiber optic loop with something like the Kenwood Excelon units (Alpine, Pioneer and others make similar ones) - such units have Bluetooth, music streaming, navigation, DVD playback, etc - but will also likely require a new amp and possibly new speakers and an audio processing unit such as an Audion Bit-1 or a JL Cleansweep. Some units work with optional interfaces that will keep your steering wheel button function; however, they will not look like an OE installation. You should consult a high-end audio shop for that, and such a system isn't cheap.
Last edited by Skylaw; Oct 23, 2010 at 10:26 AM.
http://www.navtv.com/product/16/mb20.html
I'm told, by my radio guy, that this is the one to use. Also, with the use of 2 PAC adapters the steering wheel controls will function as well.
Personally, I do not like the DICE unit; please feel free to research the comments that have been made about them.
Nav-TV makes some good equipment, and used to make it for for D2B equipped cars; but you had to pull the head unit and send it to them for modification. Folks who have done this have been happy with the result. I do not know if Nav-TV makes a combination audio/Bluetooth unit, and their compatibility chart doesn't show much for the '03 S-Class, so I don't know if more is available than they show.
Last edited by Skylaw; Oct 24, 2010 at 08:18 AM.
The Best of Mercedes & AMG
You could also look at combination kits from InCarTronics or mObridge, but they would duplicate your existing phone capability and you would have to give up your CDC. The Gateway 500 lets you keep your CDC; but the V60 puck may not be as compatible with as many phones as the InCartronics or mObridge. It does work with all iPhones, including the iPhone 4, firmware version 4.1 or later. iPhone 3GS users who upgraded to iOS4.0 lost phone book download capability, which was restored with iOS4.1. iPhone 4 users were OK with iOS4.0.
Last edited by Skylaw; Nov 21, 2010 at 05:27 PM.
So, specifically I'm wondering if anyone has issues using the Mercedes phone features with the Evo and with Sprint (i.e. steering wheel buttons, sound quality, dropped calls, etc.)
Vehicle core installation kit BQ 682 0965
Hardware kit BQ 682 0462
Linear compensator, dual band BQ 682 0829
Control module, MHI BQ 682 0936
Can someone help me confirm if the parts are the same in the 06 kit?
Thanks
I'm told there are integration constraints merrying up an IPOD integration to the AMG radio units for model yrs 07-08 ... can anyone chime in if this is correct?
If so, what is the work-around, if any exists?
Thx all.
When I try to configure the MOST ring I don't see the Tel orange wire in the trunk of my 05 CLK320 CAB. The bulletin I got from the link is not too detailed on how to connect the MOST ring. The diagram it has show the TEL included. I saw some other posts that mention there has to be some configuration down in the transmition well inside the car, but that was for a coupe. Would that also apply to a cab? there is no mention of it in the bulletin.

The connections I made were;
UHI OUT >> CDC IN
SOUND OUT >> UHI IN
SDARS OUT >> SDARS IN
The original set up was;
SDARS OUT >> SDARS IN
SOUND OUT >> CDC IN
UHI OUT >> UHI IN
The only thing that comes to mind for the microphone fix is double checking the microphone array connection. When going over identifying the cables the microphone array was already connected, but going to double check just o make sure.
Is this problem due to the fact I did not take to the dealer for coding? I thought I don't have to it as it was working immediately after I completed the installation.
Any advise if I have a coding or hardware issue?
Thanks.
Last edited by Skylaw; Mar 4, 2011 at 10:32 PM.
After working on it for an hour, it occurred to me to try the phone on the Alpine head unit in my '78 450SL; the identical thing was happening, tending to indicate that the problem was with the phone, and not COMAND.
Finally, at the suggestion of Apple support, I "restored" the entire iPhone from the "Summary" page in iTunes (and I selected the option not to restore the phone from a backup, but to restore from scratch). That did the trick. I had to go in and re-do a lot of my settings, and re-pair the phone to the car using the "MBUSA" code - but it worked.
BTW, Apple support first told me that my S500 probably needed a COMAND firmware update for compatibility with iOS4.2. He backed off that when I told him about the problem occurring with the Alpine HU as well; plus the fact that the phone had worked perfectly for weeks after iOS4.2 and iTunes 10.2.1 had been released. The problem is not the cars, at least with those Apple software/firmware versions!
NOTE: iOS4.3 was released on March 9, 2011, for GSM (i.e., AT&T) iPhones. I installed it this morning (Mar. 10) and can verify that it also has no problems with the firmware in either of my cars.
What I did not try before restoring the phone was entirely breaking the pairing between the phone and the car by turning BT entirely off, so that the "MBUSA" code had to be re-entered in order to re-pair. Doing that MAY have resolved the problem - I don't know. If so, it would have kept me from having to re-enter all of my phone settings, email access passwords, WiFi key, and the like. If anyone has the partial phone book download with an iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4, you might want to try that before doing a full restoration of your phone - and if it works, please let us know. If not, then the full "restore" will likely work.
There is a memory limit in both the iPhone and the MB Bluetooth system. The number of contacts that will download is often limited by the available memory in the car's BT system (I have seen it handle 250 entries, but I don't know what the limit is). However, if you are having trouble with partial downloads, especially downloading a very small percentage of what is in your contacts, try the "Restore" feature of iTunes.
Last edited by Skylaw; Mar 10, 2011 at 10:03 AM. Reason: Add comment on iOS4.3 compatibility
Last edited by Skylaw; Mar 9, 2011 at 05:26 PM.
I troubleshoot and found it has to do with the contact list on my iPhone. I have 3 contact lists, one near a 1000, one near 350 in iPhone contacts dir and one shorlisted to about 50 for my BMW. In my BMW, only the 50 shorlist appear on the car phone. However whenever I enable the BMW, the puck would shut down after a few minutes. One can manually power up the puck through the A20 control but it will shut down again.
If I enable the default iPhone contacts list, no further problem. Now its more difficult to select from the 300+ names from the steering wheel.
FWIW.
Out of curiosity - when your iPhone is configured for your Benz, can you download all 350 contacts? What is the largest number your car has been able to handle?
Also, how are you "enabling" or selecting the different lists to load? My own contacts list has several Groups (subsets of the "All Contacts" list on my computer) but if I load more than one Group into the iPhone, it creates its own "All Contacts" list comprised of all the numbers in the Groups that are loaded on the phone. My '05 W220 then seems to load the "All Contacts" list that is on the phone, rather than any Group.
Because I do not load all of my contacts that I have on my computer on the iPhone, the phone does not have the computer's "All Contacts" list (and I don't want it to). However, I have not been able to determine how to select only one Group to load into the car, as you seem to be able to do (except by loading only one Group into the iPhone during iTunes synchronization). It's not in the iPhone manual, in iTunes, or in my telephone or COMAND manual.
Last edited by Skylaw; Mar 15, 2011 at 08:55 AM.





