tasty

some pics!

tunafish

Very nice! What camera did you use?

kw00k

Tasty - when you said you had the wrong fakra cable, did the one you have originally not fit or was it a different impedence? i'm asking because i have the same problem w. a blank screen. the cable i have is actually an SMB (which is a FAKRA cable without the plastic colored housing). It fits snug into the COMAND but I think it might be a 50 ohm plug (vs. a 75 ohm). I'd think at worst that would cause a distorted image, but I get no image at all.

capflam

You guys make this all thing sound like it's very easy. Doesn't look that easy to me.
Doesn't it say that you need to solder something? I never did this in my entire life


I looked for kits to make my life easier, I've looked up Cartronics the other day and they also said it was easy though they suggest you buy the VIM kit. Total almost $1,000 plus any manpower required to istall.

If I could find anyone to install this thing for a decent price in Florida I'd pay instantly lol

tunafish

I had the same hesitation that you have. I don't think the "kit" is that much easier, and it is certainly more expensive. I sent a link to this thread to three car audio/video shops in my area and followed up with a phone call. Two of the three said they would give it a try. I picked the guy who specializes in after market electronics for Mercedes (mostly video and radar detectors). He first removed the AV head unit and just plugged in a camera he had with a makeshift cable. When we saw that it worked fine, I told him to go ahead with the install. It took him about 3 hours at $75/hr. (It is a fair amount of work). The only problem was that he powered the camera from the backup lights. While this worked fine most of the time, occasionally the camera would not synch the first time I moved the gearshift to reverse. When we switched the wiring so that the camera is on whenever the ignition is on, it has worked perfectly ever since. Total cost, including $120 camera, cable, labor, tax was about $400, which is pretty much what the same option costs on a new C-class.

Cartronics

This thread has wondered and several people have chimed in, however most Mercedes do not have inputs for a camera... That is what our kit is for.. PLUS it gives several more video inputs that some people use for front cameras and/or entertainment purposes.

However, on the scant few new Mercedes that have the input, all that is needed for JUST a backup camera is the adapted cable.

capflam

@tunafish I whish I could find what you found, he in Florida.

@Cartronics in my case I have the MM, P2 and pretty much every options. You are saying that there is no camera input?
I wouldn't think that I would need WIM from the videos and pics I watched so far. I'm a newbie thought.

tunafish

But, as far as I know, ALL W204's (2008 and later) C300 and C350 Mercedes with the large MM screen have the camera input. Is that your understanding as well?

Cartronics

That is correct on the 2008 and up C Class with COMAND (large screen). The only reason to have the VIM on that particular car is if you want more video inputs. Without the VIM, install a camera using switched ignition 12v power, so the camera is on when the key is on. Then it will not have sync problems.
ALSO, it is our advice not to skimp on a camera... There are HUGE quality differences available on cameras. There are a plethora of cheap ones on the market, and many won't last long, won't work at temp extremes, won't work in low light, have plastic lens that fog over time etc etc. NEVER use a CMOS camera as they are the worst.
We obviously carry cameras, and all of ours are not cheap by any means. BUT they have all been weatherometer tested for accelerated aging and extremes testing. They work in low light without the goofy (and ugly) ring of LED's, and perform flawless. Two of the three we offer are the same Mercedes and BMW offer on the new cars (for a fraction of the price) You don't want to have to redo a camera because it fails because it takes a long time to install.

tasty

@tunafish, kenwood cmos200 through ebay. $130ish
@kwook, i bought a blue colored farka on ebay and it didnt work. You def need a green colored one. If you cant find one midcity has one for 30ish..
I would say its the cable cause i had one and no image at all came. Try hooking a camera of dvd player to the cable straight up and put in reverse to see if it works. If not, its prob the cable

capflam

Ok so that's what I thought, big *** screen means no VIM necessary in my (and many other) people's case.
I'd gladly buy this thing even if useless for me IF this would mean that my intall would be made easy but apparently it's the same process.

I think that the Kenwood camera that most people talk about here in this thread are pretty good.

for me it really comes down to installing this damn camera

Leo I.

Will this DIY work for a 2003 CL500? New to the forum and modifying and just want to make sure I'm covering all the bases.

Cartronics

No, it will work ONLY on the latest CL and C models. The earlier models have no camera option or ability without a Video In Motion kit.

kw00k

I think it was my soldering job that messed it up initially. I ended up ordering one from midcity, but they use the light blue FAKRA (universal adapter), which fits just fine. So at the end, I only ended up buying the Kenwood camera, midcity adapter, and 2 wire taps.

I mounted EVERYTHING behind the glovebox and it was very clean install. Tapped into the switched 12V and ground (pink and brown wires, respectively) from the cigarette lighter behind the glovebox and ran the FAKRA adapter-connected RCA cable to the headunit through a hole to the left side of the glovebox. WARNING - don't run the RCA cable through the "big" hole you see to the left when you open the glovebox cover although it is tempting. That hole gets sealed up when you close the cover and could snag/damage the wire. The really long camera cable was then run along the door sills to the back of the car. This allowed the video signal to travel without interference from a 12v wire running alongside (since the 12v was attached in the glovebox verse to the trunk). The hardest part was mounting the camera and getting the angle correct.

Thanks to everyone who posted the DIYs and pics. It really helped. I think we all learn as we follow others and whatever I said above are just lessons learned.

P.S. I should add that I have a 2008 C, iPod connector, non-updated COMAND e.g., old school way of enabling camera worked

mugennosora

Just did my tonight with 40 dollar ebay cam, took roughly 2 hours, but yeah total cost was 50 bucks. and works just as good

sorry about the shaky hands. it was at night and cam wasn't perfect.

icio67

I also used a cheeper Chinese camera bought on Ebay for less then 20 buck, it works, but the image is mirrored...
Your?

Cartronics

any camera will work....but for how long and in what light conditions, and how many washings, how much heat will it take, how much cold will it take, lens glass or plastic (under $100 it is plastic) which we all know hazes rather quickly in the weather and street grime.

If your camera is mirrored, it is a front camera.

icio67

I think you right.... cheeper camera=poor quality...

So, I've just order the new Kenwood CMOS-300..

Ben'sBenz

Hey guys. I finally got around to installing my camera yesterday. I have run into a situation however. When I tested the camera before I put the car back together, it worked great. But this morning, I started the engine, and put it in reverse. The are lines all over the screen and I can barely see anything. I can change gears and then put it back into Reverse and it is normal. Did any of you experience this or have any suggestions? I made sure all my connections were tight as I worked along and taped everything at the connectors as an added measure. I tapped my camera into the reverse wire for power. I really don't want to have to take everything apart again...

tunafish

This is EXACTLY the problem I had. The issue arises from the fact that you wired the camera power to the backup light. This means the camera is only powered up when you go into reverse. For some cameras (like mine and yours) there is a slight activation delay when the camera is powered on, resulting in a failure to synch with the display properly. Taking the car out of reverse and then back into reverse fixes this problem, but is a pain. My solution was to wire the camera so that it was powered on whenever the car ignition was on. This fixed this problem but caused another problem in my case. The other problem was that whenever the camera is on, it emits radio frequency interference (probably because of breaks in the shield where the wires are soldered). For me, the RF interfered with the tire pressure monitor. It took the dealer a week to discover the TPM problem, and I am very lucky I wasn't charged for this. The solution was to disconnect the camera.
You can try what I did...i.e., wire the camera to be on whenever the ignition is on, but be on the lookout for a warning the the TPM is inoperative. It may not interfere, but if it does, you will have to find an alternative solution.

Cartronics

The camera needs ignition power. The reverse light is low current for one, and low cost cameras need several seconds to generate a stable sync signal. Better CCD cameras can do it in about 1 second... Still not quick enough. If this is a CCD camera, then having on ignition power will not be a problem. If it is a CMOS camera its life will be greatly reduced.

cactusbob

Well I got my camera installed. It's a CCD PAL one,not NTSC, I am in the UK. I get a rolling picture when engaging reverse. Strangely enough though if I turn the reversing camera off in the settings and just use it as an auxillary video input the picture is fine.

I've ordered an NTSC replacement to see if it fixes the issue. I can't seem to find anything in the Comand Engineering menus that will let me set the reverse camera signal format

Ben'sBenz

Can anyone recommend an ignition power supply on the passenger side of the trunk? I know there's a fuse panel and a sh*tload of wires but I'm afraid to connect to one that has too much current. Are they all 12v? If you can't tell, I know next to nothing about automotive electronics.

Cartronics

Electronics 101... You can not connect to too much current. Current is what is being USED. So you can connect the camera to ANY switched 12V circuit (known as circuit 15 in Mercedes schematics (not to be confused with any fuse labeled 15)), as it uses only a few milliamps. You need a voltmeter, and someone at the key and turn it on and off while taking readings. Also, keep in mind, many of the circuits do not go dead immediately with key off. Some take up to two minutes to turn off.
If you really don't know much about it, a decent honest installer should be able to sort it for you in a few minutes. In our installs, we run the video feed, camera power and reverse sense all up to the dash and use the circuit 15 power on the back of the cigarette lighter. We use NO supply in the trunk, although you certainly could. We just prefer to keep everything together if any sort of troubleshooting is required down the road, it makes it much easier for someone in the future. But all installers have their own methods....

Cartronics

Sorry to say that was a REALLY crappy camera. Again, I know people hate when I harp on this, but I am an engineer on these damn things....DO NOT buy CMOS cameras. They are cheap, have crappy video results, short life span, and cause all kinds of issues.... Buy only GOOD CCD cameras. Spend a few bucks and do it right. For crying out loud, we are all driving $40,000 - $200,000+ cars on this forum. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish. A $40 - $120 camera is not going to cut it. Good sensors, quality drivers, quality cabling, quality GLASS lenses (that don't fog and scratch in weather) all cost money. Let this poor guy here teach us a lesson please.
Tunafish call me tomorrow... I have a demo camera (no box and papers) that I can let go pretty cheap that will get you going GUARANTEED. We have sold hundreds and not had one, not even ONE, fail.