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I have a 2018 C 300 and want to take the plastic cover off of the rear view mirror. I have no problem pulling it down from the windshield but I don't know how to remove the back portion with the emergency buttons on it from the front part so I can take the front portion down from the mirror. It has to come apart to take it off of the mirror but I don't want to break it. I don't know if you push it up and out or pull it down. Any help would be appreciated. The picture above shows the same cover that I have. I am hoping that I can use a mirror tap to plug into a 12v power source and a ground wire for a dash cam. Thanks.
I am still hoping someone can give me some info on how to separate the mirror cover from the emergency buttons so I thought I would give it one more try with this bump.
GreekUPS, thanks for the reply. I have seen this video and just about every video on mirror removal, dash cam hook up and radar hook up to the mirror. Unfortunately, non of them apply to the mirror cover that I have shown in the picture above. When I pop the mirror cover down the entire piece comes down together. the rear portion holding the communication buttons has to be separated from the front portion in order to take it off. There is such a small amount of space between the cover and the windshield when pulled down that I can not see how the two pieces are connected to be able to separate them. Until I get them separated I can't get to any of the wires above. I did find the same mirror cover on another Mercedes site and an explanation was given with a link but the post was so old that the link no longer works. I also tried to contact the original posted but he is no longer on the site.
Sentralfyr, thanks for the reply. I never saw this illustration before but unfortunately the cover is not the same as mine. However, if I do get it off, the wiring diagram may be helpful in finding the correct wires to power the camera.
Why don't you just tap into the fuse box at the end of the dash with an "add a fuse" and run the cable up the A pillar and across the headlining?
Chrisdean, Several reasons. It is a lease with only 20 months left so I just want to plug in to the mirror power with the invisicord tap. Secondly, it is a cabriolet so it can't be tucked into the headliner. What I want to do would be very easy if I just knew how to disconnect the two pieces without breaking what ever tabs hold it together. I am hoping someone who knows how to separate the two parts will see this.
How did you go with this? I have the facelift model and have tried the various connectors behind the rearview mirror cover and none are switched power, they only turn on when activated.. ie parking camera's etc. Not sure if there are any wiring diagrams about?
How did you go with this? I have the facelift model and have tried the various connectors behind the rearview mirror cover and none are switched power, they only turn on when activated.. ie parking camera's etc. Not sure if there are any wiring diagrams about?
Matthew, I don't know what the "facelift" model is. I never found any info on how to separate the two sections of the cover so that I could remove the cover to look at the available power sources. In my case I wanted a power source that shuts off when I turn the car off. I don't want the camera running all the time only when the ignition is on. I have a mirror tap that I want to plug into a power source when the car is on. If, I got the cover off I was going to use a meter to find a source that turned off when the car is off. If, you have the same two piece cover as I have and you find out how to separate it please let me know. At this point I only have 14 months left on the lease so I am hoping my next car will have a different cover that is easier to remove.
Hi, the face lift model is a revised version of the C-Class that came out last year. I am after the same thing, something that turns off when the ignition is off.
I have managed to remove the 2 pieces around the rear view mirror, that video linked above is still relevant, the tricky part is removing the smaller piece first around the front of the mirror, using a card or a trim removal tool will let you push on these small clips then pull down the piece. Use a trim removal tool to then remove the larger piece, comes off relatively easy. There were 3 connectors I found under there which I tested with a multi meter, worked out the polarity of each. Testing each of those with the mirror tap didn't work, thus would be useful to find a wiring diagram and find out if power is only provided to those connectors when they are in use..ie 2 of those connectors are for the parking cameras thus power may not turn on until the camera is activated.
Hi, the face lift model is a revised version of the C-Class that came out last year. I am after the same thing, something that turns off when the ignition is off.
I have managed to remove the 2 pieces around the rear view mirror, that video linked above is still relevant, the tricky part is removing the smaller piece first around the front of the mirror, using a card or a trim removal tool will let you push on these small clips then pull down the piece. Use a trim removal tool to then remove the larger piece, comes off relatively easy. There were 3 connectors I found under there which I tested with a multi meter, worked out the polarity of each. Testing each of those with the mirror tap didn't work, thus would be useful to find a wiring diagram and find out if power is only provided to those connectors when they are in use..ie 2 of those connectors are for the parking cameras thus power may not turn on until the camera is activated.
Matthew, I looked at the video again. The mirror cover in the video is not the same as my cover. My cover is shown in the picture in my original post. My car is a convertible. I used a trim tool to pull down the entire cover (front and back) which was easy. The hard part was because of the thickness of the cover when you pull it down there isn't enough room between the glass and the cover to see what is holding the two together. They would not just slide apart. If, I get a chance I will look at it again to see if the front can be removed with the trim tool before pulling the entire cover down. My guess is it is very simple to do once you can see how they connect together. My thought was to tap into the windshield wiper rain sensor plug that is up there. That should only have power when the ignition is on. I did a lot of searching before I posted and didn't find anything with the same cover as I have. If you have success please let me know.
Thanks
Looking at your original photo, I have marked where the clips are approximately. The green arrow is the direction you need to push on the clip to release. That little plastic section will then pull down and slide out. For mine I had to remove the large piece first so that it came away from the headliner to be able to get the tool in a bit easier. I am going to try all the connectors again shortly to see if there is anything I missed.
Looking at your original photo, I have marked where the clips are approximately. The green arrow is the direction you need to push on the clip to release. That little plastic section will then pull down and slide out. For mine I had to remove the large piece first so that it came away from the headliner to be able to get the tool in a bit easier. I am going to try all the connectors again shortly to see if there is anything I missed.
Matthew, You may have solved my problem. As I mentioned I pulled the entire cover down but had no idea where the clips were or what direction to push to release them. I am having a knee problem at the moment and won't be able to look at it until I get some flexibility back. As soon as I can I will check it out. Do you have wiper sensors? If so I would think that would be a good power source. It must have power when the ignition is on to be able to sense rain. If you have any luck let me know. Thanks for the info and good luck!
No problem. I have an update and not quite working yet as I think it the cable I am using is the problem as it is flakey when I move it around, thus have ordered a new one (https://radarmount.com/products/3005202w) This suits Blackvue cameras and has a built in fuse.
It seems that the rain sensor does get power with the ignition on so is the right source.
Above is the rain sensor as mentioned
This is with the cover removed
This is the small piece to remove first, you can see where the clips are located
Above is the where the large cover clips to, use your trim tool to remove it from here. Be gentle it comes off quite easily. Below is the rain sensor and the connector in blue.
After testing with a Multimeter, the Red/Stripe cable is positive, the brown cable is negative. Run your wiretap into this.
Below are the other connectors that I found, going to retest these again when I get my new cable. But the rain sensor connector should suffice. The rest of the installation is neat from here, tuck the cable into the headliner and place the covers back on.
Matthew, I am glad that you had some success. Hopefully, when you get the new wire it will work for you. Thanks for the pictures and explanation. I now can't wait until I can check mine out again. I did learn during my research that the connector to use was probably the blue plug and I did find out that the brown was neutral. It's good to know that the red stripe wire is a good power source. I hope in the future that they outfit these cars with an outlet to plug cameras in as they are getting more popular. I don't remember what website I got my connector from but I think it was called "mirror tap". Mine has a fuse and it has a phone type connector for radar but I bought a battery escort radar a few years ago so I didn't have to mess with the wire. Again, thanks for all the info.
I got my replacement cable this week and it was the culprit as to why it was flaky. So I pulled the cover off again today to try those connectors. While it works, it turns out even with the car turned off power still remains on, I let it sit for a good 10 minutes to see if it would turn off but it didn't. Tried a few of the different connectors under there and got the same thing. So it is not switching power like I thought which means the only way will be a fuse tap or wire to the 12V outlets as these are switching (off when the car is off). Not sure if anyone has wiring diagrams of the connectors behind the rear view mirror but it may help a bit.
Matthew I thought for sure one of those wires was for the rain sensor. The rain sensor definitely shuts down when the car is turned off. I haven't gotten to mine yet but if I have the same problem I will just forget it until the lease is up and hope I have better luck with the next one. The only thing I can think of is if your camera has a built in battery that maybe it is running off of that until the battery dies. Mine has a battery but it only stays on for about 30 seconds after I turn the car off. I think the main purpose of my battery is to turn the camera on briefly if the car gets bumped when turned off. I hope you can get it to work.
Just seen this I also have 2017 cabriolet, I prised the big cover off closet to windscreen and tucked the wire from drivers side to passenger side then ran the wire under head liner and down the drivers A Piller to fuse box, used 5amp fuse tap and grounded to the big silver bolt, works amazing and no wires shown any where.
Very difficult to remove A piller as it is one piece with the top and passenger side A piller but it prises enough to be able to pass a wire, I used the Next base hard wire kit.
Hope this helps someone reading the thread in the future.
Due to several other time consuming things I sort of gave up. Lease car with only 10 months left on lease. I once took the mirror cover down which was easy but I couldn't figure out how to separate the two parts to be able to access the wires. I have a mirror tap kit that works for both radar and camera. Hopefully, my next car will have easier access. I think you could probably use the rain sensor plug and a ground. The rain sensor should shut off with the ignition. If, you have any success post it here as it seems to be a question a lot of members have. Good luck!
Several people on here have taken the route you took but I didn't want to pull everything off to get to the fuse box. The mirror tap makes it easy if I were able to separate the two pieces over the mirror. Didn't want to take a chance and break the cover.
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