Grim001

So what I am "hearing" is that the FM antenna needs power but you can only get it by hooking up 12Vs to the black wire off the FAKRA connector, not the wire from the anntenna adapter itself. The antenna adapter wire doesn't need power to make it work.

brodey10

Yes. But I do not know how well a powered antenna adaptor, like the VWB-4A will work with its power cable unconnected. I did not try it.

Grim001

gotcha, I'll let you know. I plan on doing mine within the next week or two and I have the VW adapter

so maybe the stock HU gives the antenna power when you turn on the FM radio! Has anyone ever asked or found out why the VW adapter is powered, or is it just an adaptation from another vehicle that fits the MB and is cheaper?

valexv

so which unit would be better, the alpine iva-d106 or the pioneer avic-n5. i want to retain the steering wheel function and have a nice in-dash.

ELBMAN

These may be of help to someone in the future.......

billbugger

IMO i'm going for the F90BT as it accomplishes all i want:
iphone integration (ipod hookup and bluetooth for phone part)
steering wheel controls
navigation
ability to customize

I'm looking at a budget of about $1,200 for the whole project which is over priced since you can find the HU for ~$600 online with google.

Painful

Hey guys, I'm new to the Forum and kinda new to the MB ownership. I found this... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Merce...fAudioQ5fVideo

and I was wondering if anyone knows if it is a direct replacement for the unit in my 05 C230? I don't have Nav but I want it.

Thnaks,
Brett

wblynch

That unit is for the 2003 and 2004 C Class. It won't work on 2005 and up since they changed to the MOST system in 2005.

Good price though.

Painful

Ya, figures, I'll just get the Garmin. Thanks

heuer007

i dunno if this is inappropriate to ask but Im in the Vancouver area, i have an 05 c230 coupe, and I would love to get this Pioneer F90BT installed in my car as well as a speaker upgrade. Does anyone know where I can get this install done if I supply all the equipment? Im willing to drive a bit (washington) if necessary.... pm me if you think its better

tonydr00

wow i was thinking about the new pioneer but i'll stay with my Avic D3. after all that trouble installing the steering and ipod controller lol
The D3 will do just fine lol

RW C55

Just finished installing an F90BT onto my '05 C55 with H/K system, it took me more than 8 hours!! (Of course this is my first car stereo job)
I wanted to write a DIY guide but the installation alone was too much for me, plus my camera is with my girlfriend so i couldn't take any pictures. However if anybody has any questions, I'm more than happy to share my thoughts.

BTW, The Scosche adapter worked fine on my car.

Grim001

Yeah, I just got through installing mine in my 05 C240 and let me tell you I was disappointed with how things went, not my first install but my most intricate one. I plan on doing a writeup as well, I took pictures. This week I will put it all together and write up my experience. I main problem was with the wiring adapters. I bought the VW style and it doesn't match for some of the critical wires. I ended up wiring things to my cigarette lighter wires. I am still getting a weak radio signal, I know several people have had this problem. I will be working it out this week. I also have the powered VW antenna adapter. Let me know which wiring adapters you bought.
My install included a GPS antenna system, a backup camera , and the HU unit.

stuntman314

I just purchased an Eclipse avn 5435, and the dash kit/wiring harness:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=230159549227

Im installing this in my 2006 c230, will this be an easy job? How hard will it be to wire up with this harness?

Grim001

That's the kit I bought, well the one he offers for the C class . Like I said I'm not happy with it. The power wires are messed up, well at least for my car, 05 C240. The yellow main power is constant 12V no matter if the car is on or off ,so it will drain the battery and leave the radio on 24/7. The illumination wire doesn't have power at all. The ACC wire only puts about 8V when car is off, not sure if that is enough for my radio to keep the memory good, i'll find out soon.
So basically you have to find a switched power source, I used the cigarette lighter, but there are two power wires on it. One is for night time cigarette lighter light, which is what I used for my radio illumination, and one is a switched 12V, I used it for main power. I believe the harness is the cause to why the radio FM signal is weak or maybe the antenna adapter is wrong. I'll figure that out too.

RW C55

Hey Grim-
Connect your yellow wire out from the HU to the red wire on the metra harness, and the red one from HU to the yellow one from the harness.
Read the option B in the link-
https://mbworld.org/forums/3164961-post777.html

Grim001

But the red wire has voltage after the car is off, don't want to drain my battery...please explain. Iread that but I thought it was on older setups, i'll look at it again. ANy idea about the illumination wire, why it doesn't work?

stuntman314

So are you satisfied with the dash kit atleast? Does anyone else have this harness? Can you take pics and post them?

valexv

im planning to add mine in this week, i would like to know which is the best harness, going with the poineer n5

jreC230

Hello Grimm001

The yellow wire on any after market radio has to be constant 12V to keep memory, it will not drain your battery as long as you leave the red ACC wire connected to the cigarette lighter plug for ignition. leave the illumination wire as is it will work fine with no problems.

this is the antenna adapter i used in mine which seems to work fine. http://www.installer.com/item/displa...php?it=40-eu10

Grim001

Not sure if I am happy with the wiring adapter ,when I get it all straight I'll know more.
jreC230 I think I may order that one an see how it does for me.
Does anyone know why there are two antenna jacks on the back of the stock radio, which is better to hook up to a custom HU (yellow or black)?

stuntman314

Can someone help me my HU is coming in tomorrow and I really need to know how wire this harness do I need anything else? I dont want to run into many problems

Grim001

I will have mine all solved today so I can give you all the info you need, since you have an06 it should be the same as mine. Except for the antenna, I ordered the passive adapter because I can't get the powered one to work well (yet)

oel

I ordered the complete kit from this guy, and still waiting for it to arrive.
But I already bought the wire harness and antenna adapter locally, and for me 02 without bose, everything except for bypassing was pretty much plug and play(color matched the wires) to the F-series. Everything works great, AM, FM, etc. I am using BHA1784 and BAA7 from this link
http://www.bestkits.com/SearchResult...001%20-%202004

RW C55

Alright I got one question, for the 05+ with H/K systems, are the 2 speakers in each doors (both front and rear) wired in parallel or in series? If they're in series, does that means the load is 4 ohms for each set ? ( I read somewhere in this forum that its 2 ohms each speakers for the H/K system)
Reason I'm asking this is that my HU reboots itself whenever a higher bass kicks in. I need to figure out what did I do wrong.