ctsvette

I have been thinking about buying and installing the ambient LED vents for a 2021 C43. None of the directions I've found online explain where the Ambient light CAN bus is. They show a close up of the bus but not where it is. Anyone know?

PaulR7

I'm not sure if it will be the same but I have an aftermarket kit (no factory ambient light) that uses the NTG to change it and I had to plug it in underneath the passenger footwell carpet, there is a row of CAN connectors there and either one of them will work.


Plug #6 from the door control module also has those but I'm not sure of the pinout on that one and it's probably a bit more of a pain to get the wire going through that tube.

ctsvette

It's that the passenger side where the seat is? It's your car right hand drive or left hand drive? Orientation looks odd.

PaulR7

My car is RHD so if yours is LHD it will be essentially mirrored over to the other side.

Andy74

Have a look at this thread. I understood that if the car has factory ambient light then the connection is somewhere in the Central Console. You will need to connect your new vents to the existing ambient light socket found in the central console.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...air-vents.html

ctsvette

Thanks, I'll ask on that channel.

Tank1983

Hi,

I am stuck with the same problem. I have a 2016 W205 C63 with 3 colour ambient light from factory. I am planning to upgrade the factory colours from 3 to 64 colours for the centre console and 4 doors.

My kit contains this AML box. It has three connectors on the other side of the power cable:


1. Ground
2. 12V
3. Canbus Row

Here is another closeup of the box.



I plugged the ground and fuse connectors to the following places under the carpet on the passenger side (yellow colour). As you can see, my kit came without an adapter that lets two fuses get plugged into the same slot. Most videos on the internet have people using that adapter to plug two fuses into the same slot. So I plugged mine into an empty fuse slot in the square yellow highlighted area. As show in the picture below:


After this I plugged the CANBUS connector, next to the green wired connectors on the Canbus row, because I have no empty slots in the row with brown wired connectors on the Canbus. Installation videos and pictures on the internet have the CANBUS plug going into an empty slot in the red circled area. Please refer to the picture below:


After doing all this I plugged the battery back but none of the LEDS came on. I can see a small red light inside the AML box, I guess its an indicator that the box is receiving power. However none of the LEDs harnesses connected to LED 1, LED 2 and LED 3 came on!

Also, I received the following 4 harnesses in the kit for each door:



I plugged the door harness as per the picture above. However, the LED lights didn't come on after I started the car. Changed the light switch to all settings but no luck. The OEM LEDs in the door are on and showing one of the three OEM colour, but the aftermarket LED harness connected to slot number 3 remained off.

If someone can please answer the following queries, I can open the car next weekend and try again:
Questions 1: How does the aftermarket door harness work with the AML box? Do they communicate wirelessly? The reason why I ask this question is because the plug going into the door harness has 2 cables, red and black. I am assuming these only provide power and no control signal to change colours. Assuming I have correctly plugged the new door LED harness into slot 3 of the factory door module, shouldn't they at least display a random colour? Mine don't even come on. The only reason why this might happen is if the new door harness needs the AML box to work.

Question 2: As for the AML box. Even if I am plugging the CANBUS connector from the AML box (power cable) into the wrong slot on the car's CANBUS row (since I have no empty slots on the rail which have black plugs with brown cables), shouldn't it still turn the on the LEDs harnesses connected to LED 1, LED 2 and LED 3 slots of the AML box with some random colour? Do you think it needs input from the CANBUS to even turn on the LED lights?

Question 3: Is there another place under the passenger seat CANBUS row where I can connect the can cable from the AML box?

Question 4: Why are the door harnesses, which are pretty straight forward to install, not working? Do they go into slot 3 or some other slot in the door module? My OEM door harness was plugged into slot 3.

Question 5: To upgrade from 3 to 64 colours, most listing says that I just need to replace the factory harness. Does it mean that I should completely take out the OEM harness / cables and replace them with these? or just unplug the factory harness from the optical tubes but leave behind in the doors?

This is the only document which came with this kit from the seller:


I also bought the front and rear AC vents from this person but they came with no information. Also, the listing shows a kit which is slightly different from the one I received.

Apologies for so many questions. I have been searching online for weeks. Most information on YouTube and other places show different LED kits or installers working on W205s with no ambient light from factory. If I can just get the 3 to 64 colour upgrade working, I can then connect the AC vents to the AML box and finally get a good night sleep.

They say it is plug 'n play, I say it is plug 'n pray!

Cosworth2000

Any update on this.. did you get it work? I have the same one and getting ready to install it but need to find a good CANBUS that will not mess up my car. It went crazy when I plugging it in but I'm not sure it was because I did not disconnect the power. It was cold outside so I need to warm up the car so nothing broke.

MaverickC43

Buddy is doing mine Friday, I hope.
I’ll see if he can answer any of this
I have factory 64 color

Cosworth2000

Thanks so much,

MaverickC43

Not sure if this is an answer to the correct question but

MaverickC43

benzdude

Hey, what year is your car? I have questions. I assume 2019+, cause you have a digital dash and new style steering wheel.

MaverickC43

2020

g_whitloc

just wanted to know if you ever got your answers? I have the exact same kit and I’m stuck in the exact same spot you are. Not really sure how to get the rest of this thing installed. thank you again for hosting your pics and showing me where you tapped into the fuse box in the foot wheel. Unfortunately my 2020 C300 coupe has no fuses that run off a AC switch. They all directly taped to the battery so the module stays the whole time and run. If you have any answers to those questions, I would appreciate knowing how you installed and got the system to function.
Thanks