Hello everyone!
New to the forum so i'll start by introducing myself!
22 years old truckdriver from sweden, currently a proud owner of a S211 E280CDI -09 estate and i've always had a passion for Mercedes, both classics and new ones!

Now to the problem, i find the reverse light being way to ineffective so the plan is to install two 18w led bars under the rear bumper, but i can't find the positive wire to the reverse light to tap into when connecting these, these will for that matter be connected with a relay so the canbus system will most likely not throw a warning due to high power consumption or so.

I've contacted the local mercedes-benz dealer but they are not able to help me with this matter(ignorant employees..) and i've tried swedish forums and google with no success, so i thought i would turn myself to you guys!

So if anyone know where to find this wire preferably in the trunk area(since the battery is there) i would very much appreciate any help i can get with this problem.

Well met! /Nylanderz

 

You should be able to find it where the harness plugs in to the taillight. When I hooked up my back up camera trigger I just went to the taillight and used a voltmeter to find the wire that got power when the car was shifted into reverse. Once I knew the color, I traced that wire in the harness until I found a good spot to tap into it for a signal. If you are just using it to trip a relay it should work fine. FWIW, the wire was grey/black on my '05 CL65.

 

Yeah i thought about trying that but since the reverse light part of the taillight is on the tailgate i'm not so sure about tearing the interior apart, i was wondering if anyone knew where you can find the wires to the harness around the SAM unit, i guess everything back there connects to the SAM somehow..