purplecones

I've been meaning to write this for a while now but haven't had any time to write it up. Ever since I bought the 07 c280 I wanted some way to integrate my iPhone with the car. I think I found the best or at least pretty good solution for all you iPhone users with AUX-IN plugs. I am going to attempt to write some kind of guide here so be easy on me, I have bad organization/writing skills.

Here is how I have things in my car. I have my iPhone connect to a device through bluetooth. This device transmits the music into the aux-in plug and through my speakers. Now it may sound simple, but if you know the iPhone, then this opens up a ton of possibilities. These are the features I have in my car now.

All of the below are wireless. No cable connected to iPhone.

• Music
  • Listen to music that is on my iPhone
  • Control the music (pause/play, prev/next)
  • Listen to Pandora (pause/play, next)
• Calling
  • Initiate a call (voice control which is an iPhone 3GS only feature)
  • Answer a call
• Navigation
  • Turn-by-turn navigation
  • Lowers music level for voice cues

I can do all of the above without touching the iPhone and without any cables connected to the iPhone. This means that the iPhone can be anywhere in the car and your music can be blasting through the speakers.

In order for all of this to work you NEED an aux-in plug hooked up. I did not have this for my car (07 C280) so I had to follow a guide on here to make a custom cable, take apart center console and connect the cable to the audio unit. These are the steps I had to take for all of this to work. I'm going to try and be as detailed as possible.

1 - DIY Aux-In
https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...e-warning.html
I followed this great guide for this. Props to tbirdsaw for making a great guide. My car did not have this setup so I had to buy a cable from mb dealership, mod it, and install in car. Follow the guide if you have an 07 C-Class, otherwise find a way to get AUX-IN for your car. If you have it already, you're in great shape because the worst part is over. :-)

btw, when you are almost done, you will have to decide where the cable will come out from. I decided to have it come out a little right next to the cig lighter. You can route the cable through the gap of the plastic cover that opens and closes. You'll see why I did this later.
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2 - Kensington LiquidAUX™ Bluetooth® Car Kit
http://us.kensington.com/html/14484.html
This is where all the magic happens. I love this little thing, without it none of this would be possible. It lets you connect your iPhone to it via bluetooth, and then transmits the signal into the car via AUX-IN. It has its little flaws, but I am so glad this thing exists. Props to Kensington for this great device. Buy the device from amazon or something.

Once you get it, plug it into the car charger. Connect the cable coming out of it to your AUX-IN cable. Pair your iPhone to the device. At this point you are 80% done. You can play music through your car wireless. With the LiquidAUX, you get a little remote that can control the music. I attached this little thing to my wheel, right next to the volume buttons. This way, I can control volume, pause/play/prev/next songs, and call/answer! Come on, it cannot get any better than this. For ALL of this to work using OEM equipment it will cost you $1000+(more if you include navigation). And it still would not be so seamless. The liquid AUX also has mic which is why you can make calls with it. This is also its flaw. The mic is not great, when When I make calls, I can hear the person very well, but they tell me that they dont hear me well or they hear themselves. I've been making a lot of calls recently with this and have not had anyone complain, so maybe it is not so bad.
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3 - Navigation
You have many options for this. The iPhone has many navigations apps, I've tried two that I tried and one I usually use. Navigon and GPS Drive by MotionX. I paid $30 for navigon for just the US east region. I like this app and prefer it over MotionX. MotionX GPS Drive is $.99 but there is a subscription for the turn by turn feature which is why I don't prefer to use this one. There are other nav apps on the AppStore but these are two that I used.

When I am driving and listening to music, the app will lower the music volume for voice cues which I like a lot. Of course, there are downsides to using the iPhone for navigation. The reception will never be as good as regular navigation units. I would say that iphone navigation works 80% of the time for me. Its great when it works, but frustrating when it doesnt. This is the only downside I would say about this, the GPS reception.
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Now I am going to write out some issues I had and resolved with this setup.
1 - Engine Noise Interference
While using the liquid AUX, you will hear a high pitched noise that gets higher and lower based on your engine rev speed. People refer to this as engine noise and it can be fixed. You will need something called a ground loop isolator. You can get this from kensington for FREE! Go to their site and create a support ticket with them. The staff was very helpful and supportive, they sent me the device for free! What you need to do is place this device between the AUX-IN and the LiquidAUX. So plug the isolator into the AUX-IN and then plug the LiquidAUX into the isolator. This fixed the problem with me and them music sounds great now. I was able to fit the entire isolator behind the HVAC unit in the center. This way I can just have the end of the isolator coming out.

2 - Prev/Next Buttons Dont Work
As far as I know, this is an iPhone OS issue. From the little remote that comes with the LiquidAUX, I can only pause/play and call/answer. I cannot go to next/prev song. And this issue I fixed just today. For this you need to jailbreak your iPhone and download a app called Music Controls from Cydia. Trial is 7 days and full version is like 6 bucks. I paid for this right away and got this working tonight, I love it. I can finally fully control the iPod from my steering wheel. All the necessary buttons are accessible from my right hand.

3 - Mount for iPhone
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ef=oss_product
I mainly needed this while driving and navigation is on. I need to glance at the screen at times to see where I am and I don;t want to look down at the phone or hold it in my hand. So I bought a mount that hooks to the vent in the center and holds my phone in the center. It works out pretty well, plus the vent cools the phone while nav is running if AC is on. It tends to get hot. The mount I bought holds the phone very well. I dont even take it off, its always attached to the left vent. Some of you might have problems with it if you have a case. I would recommend this case, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ef=oss_product. You can take the bottom piece off easily and it then becomes easy to clip the phone to the mount. Plus, its a great case.
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Ok, one last thing I want to write is how I use all of this when I drive. So I usually have the liquidAUX already plugged into the cig lighter. It does not drain the battery when the car is off. This way when i turn the car on, my iPhone connects to it right away without me doing anyhting, given that bluetooth is enable on iPhone. BTW(an app from cydia called SBSettings and sbsettingstoggles helps you enable/disable bluetooth quicker). So once my phone is paired to the liquidAUX, i usually select the playlist from my phone and shuffle the playlist. Then I remove the bottom of my case, and hook the iphone to the mount on the vent. At this point, I dont have to touch tthe phone again(unless I need nav or change playlist). I can control everything from the steering wheel. The volume from regular volume buttons on wheel, pause/play/prev/next/answer/call from the liquidAUX remote. If I need to call someone, I would press the bottom button of the remote, then iphone will go into voice control. I would say 'Call Home' or 'Call John mobile'. If the mic picked it up well, the phone will call my house or john. I never touched or looked at the phone. The music will lower, and I would hear the ringing. After the call, the music will continue. If I want to use navigation, I would fire up Navigon(music will continue), enter address and the voice cues will begin. Again, music lowers for cues and return to their regular volume. I can tilt phone to landscape if I want to view map better. The liquidAUX also has a USB plug which I can use to charge the phone on long trips. If phone call comes in navigon will quit and I can answer the call by pressing the bottom button on remote. Once call is over, navigon will fire up again. There are no voice cues while you are in a call because navigon had to quit, however you can keep navigon running with an app called backgrounder. Again from Cydia. Also, another thing I love is to have Pandora playing music for me. I can also pause/play/next songs without touching the phone. Think about it, unlimited songs!! You cannot get this sort of seamless integration and rich experience with OEM equipment. Mainly because all the logic is happening on the iPhone, with the help of LiquidAUX and its remote. Plus, all in all, I think it cost me less than $100 for everything. Compare that to the thousands you need to spend on bluetooth puck, installation, OEM navigation unit, nav DVD etc. The great thing is that it is not MB specific. You can do this in any car with AUX-IN.

Anyways guys, this turned out to be quite long. I'm sure there are spelling mistakes all over the place. If there are somethings I should elaborate on, let me know. I hope you guys get to try this. I'll answer any questions and help as much as I can if anyone is trying to get this into their car. I'm also open to improvements and suggestions on this if any of you figure something out. I would go out now and take some pictures or video but its dark here in NYC and I'm tired. Alright guys, later.

zerocover

I bought one of these, and hard wired it to my aux in.
http://direct.motorola.com/ens/carkits/learn-T605.html

Its rock stable, perfect bluetooth integration and a great mic, the only problem is the auto is a bit compressed. Before it I had the Scosche bluelife, which had crystal clear music clarity but the mic was terrible.

Hows the music clarity on the kingston? Any noticeable loss from cd qual?

kastnna

A "more hidden" option would be to do what I did...

run you aux-in line under the passenger side panels and carpeting and up into the lower compartment of the center arm rest. Or you could pull up the center console and run it directly from the back of the head unit to the center console.

Then you can piggyback a 12v outlet off of the one already installed in the back of the arm rest.

That way, the bluetooth kit and the aux-in cable would all be hidden from view (in the center console) and you'd still have your primary cigarette lighter available for other uses.

Running the aux-in line to the center compartment took an extra 10 minutes and I'm no pro.

Taiwanese

Will this work on 2003 C230 and iPhone 3GS?

ilink

You forgot this one: www.mcar.us
It is also on e-bay, cheap: http://www.ebay.com/itm/271395945115
It is only $300 and does phone, ipod, straming, handsfree and USB as the original OEM with good quality.