tom@densionusa

I can't recommend anyone who I've personally worked with in the bay area - any qualified 12V Audio install facility should be able to perform the install for you in under 90 minutes.

Tech support is always available through myself if needed.

160over90

I just received my kit today for a 2004 SL500. Anyone know where I will find the connectors inside the car. I have the CD changer pre-wired - is it underneath the CD Changer? The instructions refer to the rear driver's quarter panel - but it isn't clear if they mean the trunk or around the factory installed CD changer.

160over90

Also.....

Anyone come across a Pro-Clip that will work on the 2004 SL500? When I ordered the unit, there was not a mounting option for the later year SL500... Now that I got it.. I should have gone with the straight plug-in because the cradle is useless without a mounting bracket. Lucky for those who have the appropriate mounting clip…..

tom@densionusa

The ice>Link will use the connectors going into your present CD Changer. Remove the 2 fiber optic cables and 3-pin connector and simply plug them into the ice>Link and you're about ready to go.

tom@densionusa

Pro Clip has 1 mount for the SL:

Pro Clip 2004 SL500 Mount

Skylaw

Here's the alternative location; it works out much better. I have a swivel mount coming from ProClip that will make this permanent.

awiner

I just got the -power / ground / control- wire factory couplings assembled. Now this is truly plug and play as no permanent modification of the factory wiring needs to be destroyed.

Thanks to Sunil for the MQS pins.

The first picture shows the MB factory connectors that Sunil gave me the part #'s for.

The second picture shows the MQS pins soldiered to the Denison Power/GND/Control wires.

The third picture shows the Denison power cable in full, detached from the D2B interface unit.

The fourth picture shows the Denison power cable next to the last two connectors that will have the factory MQS female wires inserted into.

Once that is complete the two side of the connector will snap together for a factory fit.

awiner

I got the rest of the Ice>Link Plus system installed tonight. I still need to do some final tie ups tomorrow in the daylight but this is what I can show everyone so far:


The first and second picture is the location I chose to mount the Ice>Link Fiber interface adapter. You will see in stock form the VCS (Voice Control System) module to the left all by its lonesome.

awiner

I removed the VCS module and mounting bracket and used a good amount of velco to attach the Ice>Link Fiber interface to the back of the VCS mounting bracket.

awiner

Here I reinstalled the VCS module and bracket with the Ice>Link Fiber interface now attached.

The first pic shows the VCS and bracket removed, the second and third picture show the VCS module and bracket with the Ice>Link Fiber interface installed and it its place. You could see the 2 new fiber splices in black coming out of the Ice>Link fiber interface.

awiner

Here are some quick pictures of the routing of the main Ice>Link harness from the fiber interface to Ice>Link module which resides behind the center console ashtray housing (As seen in my first set oh photos).

The first and second picture shows the Ice>Link harness being run with the factory wiring/vacuum lines/fiber from the trunk (Drivers Side) into the drop which resides behind the rear seat back.

Notice the use of the factory zip ties in order to keep everything clean and factory looking.

awiner

The next set of pictures show the Ice>Link harness coming form the trunk into the rear driver side behind the seat back (Which is now removed). The harness then runs down behind the rear door panel and into the area where the drivers side factory wiring duct is.

Again, notice the use of factory zip ties to maintain a clean and factory appearance.

I had to remove the rear seats completely as well as the rear center storage bin and drivers side rear door panel. The big white unit you see in the first picture is the rear drivers side door airbag.

awiner

Ever wonder what a CL looks likes with no Rear seats ?

awiner

Ok, here are the final pcitures of the wire routing and wrap up. Notice that I used uber German cloth tape just like the factory uses when they wrap wire bundles.

You can see the Ice>Link harness cable in the last picture as it is the only black cable not wrapped in the cloth tape.


By the way, thanks to SkyLaw for tiping off me about the channel running down the rear transmission hump. The Ice>Link harness runs perfect in that channel and leaves no bumps in the carpet.

awiner

It is still early on and I will get used to the new source of musical enjoyment. I will post a review in a week or so.

Until then I have 2 comments that hopefully Denison will take note of.

First, the din cable that plugs into the Ice>Link fiber interface is inconveniently located. It blocks the Rx fiber port and while this really isn't a major issue, it involved removing the Din cable every time I needed to pull the fiber to route/re-route. Maybe in the next revision of the fiber module this should be looked at.

I needed to re-route the fiber a few times to get rid of an annoying pop/hiss in the audio. The fiber was very touchy and didn't like the slight bend I had first used to route from the fiber module to the fiber couplings.

Second, after playing with the Audio Level selection in the Denison menu, I found that 2V is a little low and 4V is too high. Hopefully Denison will add a 3V option or a 2.5V option into the next firmware release.

While not a complaint as I knew ID3 text info was not implemented as of this firmware, hopefully Denison will find at least a way to port some information over to COMAND. I have a feeling however that COMANDs limitation of what it can display on the CD changer screen is limited and this is something Denison can do nothing about.

Another thing I noticed is that getting the Ice>Link to sink with the Ipod at first was a pain. I had to pull the fuse a few times until it all worked right. What would happen is that the dock cable when inserted wouldn't tell the Ipod it was inserted. Charging would work but the Denison interface would not come up. Re-initing the fiber bus had no effect. Power had to be removed from the Ice>Link fiber module in order to get it re-sinked.

Once sinked correctly that problem went away. I hope it does not come back.

awiner

Just an FYI... Checked the COMAND diag menu and it shows the Fiber System configued just as before. So, indeed the Ice>Link Fiber Module is maskarading as the CD chager. LOL

jules

How about some screen shots of the ICE Link screens?

awiner

I assume you mean the Ice>Link menus from the Ipod ?

jules

Well, what I want is a feeling of how it is like to operate this thing when it has been connected by the ice>link. Do you get in the COMAND screen an exact replica of whatever is in the iPod screen? Do the steering wheel and COMAND buttons control the iPod?

awiner

Yes the steering wheel buttons control the Ipod. The COMAND screen as of now looks just like when you are playing a CD (CD # which now represents play list # and Track # which now represents song # in the play list). ID3 text is not yet able to be transmitted to COMAND as per my previous posts.

Skylaw

I concur particularly with the quoted coments, awiner. I didn't have the other problems you discussed, but the phone bulletins on Paul H. Di ck's website caution against excessive curvature (bending) of the fiber optic cables.

I have had my iPod in for a little over a week now, and I have adapted somewhat to the button sequences for getting into the Dension menu, then the playlists, then the tracks within the playlists. However, getting back to playlists from songs can be a problem requiring reference to the iPod screen. It really would be more convenient if playlists were shown as "CD" and songs as tracks - with the best implementation being the ID Tag info being displayed on COMAND and the instrument cluster.

Really nice installation, and super documentation!

awiner

Weird thing is that the bend/curve of the cables wasn't too severe. Seems the Denison fiber was just picky or the ends were off a little. If the static/pop comes back I will request a new set of fiber to be sent under warranty.

BTW, good write up on BenzSport. You should have asked how your backseat upper backrest comes out. I would have told you how to do in in 2 seconds.

awiner

Today was the first "Real" commute with the Ice>Link Plus Ipod integration.

First I must say that I have NEVER heard the Bose system sound so good with any other source. The high constant VBR of Ipod music is a real treat for the ears.

I used the system in the Ipod UI mode today. I will try using it in the Denison UI mode tomorrow and see what I like best.

As for the ID3 text info, I was thinking that maybe Denison can push at least the song name to COMAND by pushing that info to the "CD Name" tag. I am not sure if this is possible as the CD Name info may load when a CD loads and not at any other time.

However if it is possible to push this between songs it may be a short cut.

Of course the CD NAME field is limited to a small amount of characters (13-15 characters if I remeber right).

SUNILP

I will buy the icelink if they do have the song test displayed on the comand. I am hoping for this to happen soon.

scorchie

Glad it sounds good! That's kind of the same thing I thought when I first played an MP3 CD in my changer... high encoding rates sure make a difference (although I do not use VBR).

I believe the CD Name information is stored in the COMAND and has nothing to do with the CD changer. The CD changer/COMAND interface is just dumb (until the newer COMANDs).

-s-