Rudeney

I bought this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271359691022

The seller accepts "make an offer" so I did and save almost $15. This should work on all CLK's (or C-class) cars from MY2005 and later that use the MOST fiber network.

I installed in the CLK and it was an easy job. I just tied into the connections for the CDC. I had one problem with the COMAND lockign up after a few minutes, but that ended up being an incompatibility with loading the phonebook from my Samsung Galaxy SIII. Once I disabled phonebook upload, all was well. Phone control uses the standard buttons on the factory radio and steering. The CDC "discs" select various menu options like playlist or artist on the iPod. It uses text display on the COMAND so it is very easy to use. I don't believe the standard head unit supports CD text, but it would still work, you'd just need to memorize the disc button functions. It's fairly intuitive, but I think COMAND users will be happier. If you con't have COMAND, the OEM iPod kit might be a better choice as it uses the instrument cluster MFD for text display. Oh, and the two can coexist with no problems.

Overall, I am very happy with it and the cell phone sound quality is very good. Let me know if you have nay questions.

Frank Rizzo

Wow, nice find.
My crapol-a Visseo MB-2 puck does not do siri and only works abut 75% of the time. I was going to change it out for an MB-4, but this is not much more....AND i'd get the iPod info on the main screen instead of the MFD that only displays 7 letters....

interesting. Can you keep us updated on your feelings?
.

klonsbury

I have only the pre-wiring for the phone in my 550. Do you think this will still work for me?

Rudeney

So far so good. I had an odd problem today on the cell phone - my wife could here me, but I couldn't hear her, but that could be a phone or carrier glitch. I did get an email from mCAR support about the phone book upload - they say it's probably an unsupported character or a long name that is confusing the COMAND. He said they have not seen that before - normally it just kills the upload, but there are many COMAND firmware versions so anything is possible. I'm going to "cleanse" my phone book names and try again.

@Klonsbury: The beauty of this device is that it does not need pre-wiring or anything - it just goes in place of the CD changer and emulates all of the MBZ OEM phone interface "parts".

steven 56

I'm going to try this, been using a Belkin bluetooth adapter plugged into aux input. Not very functional. Looks like I bought the last one he had!

Rudeney

I'll bet he comes back to eBay with more. I bought the 2nd of two for sale, and a new auction was posted a day later. Go ahead and download the PDF installation and operation manuals here:

http://www.mcar.us/index.php/mercedes

I connected mine and left it in the glove compartment, connected to the CDC wiring for testing. Now that I have everything working, I'm going to put it in the dash. I may try to put it next to the TCU under the passenger floorboard if the wiring will reach. If not, I'll put it in the dash - there's room below the COMAND unit, behind the ACC panel.

Oh, and on the lock-up problem I had due to the phoen book download, I have been in touch with mCAR support and they noted that the COMAND can only handle a maximum entry name of 30 characters, and some "special" symbols may be problematic. So, I cleansed by phone's contact list today and I'm going to try the phoenbook download again this weekend.

steven 56

Thanks, Rodney can i mount this unit in place of cd changer. I really don't want to pull the head unit if i don't need to. Did you need to pull head unit to wire , or catch wires at cd unit. I read your dash removel post, that will help me tremendously. I ordered a dash panel removel kit from Amazon, not to damage anything.

Rudeney

You absolutely can mount it in the glove compartment in place of the CDC. In fact, that's where mine is right now as I haven't taken the time properly mount it in the dash. The only wiring access you need is what is connected to the CDC, which is the three-wire power lead and the fiber optic connector (the two orange leads).

I just used "vampire taps" to connect to the CDC's power leads. The mCAR's black ground wire goes to the CDC's brown wire (remember brown = ground on MBZ wiring) and the mCAR's red +12v input goes to the red+blue lead on the CDC connector. Route the microphone to the sunvisor or overhead control panel and that's it - no need to break into the dash.

eddieo45

dumb question maybe but why bother moving it from glovebox to dash?

Rudeney

More room for gloves. Seriously, I just don't like clutter and I am slightly OCD - electronic components and wiring have a place and it's not just sitting around in the glove box. Besides, I am going to remove my OEM iPod interface (look for it for sale here soon!) and I have to pull the radio and the passenger floor panel for that, so I might as well install this right while I'm doing it.

Rudeney

I wrapped up the installation today. I could not get the mCAR box to fit in the dash. The COMAND needs the full depth available and the void behind the ACC module was also too small. I ended up putting in the "cage" under the passenger floorboard. The CDC fiber wiring was just long enough to reach there (the kit comes with extensions if needed, but they weren't). The kit also includes a USB extension cable, so i ran that to the glove compartment through the CDC wiring port, then plugged the iPod connector into it.

It's a nice clean install. Oh, and I removed my OEM iPod interface and will be selling it. I'll post it on the forum in case anyone wants it.

steven 56

Nice job! i'm still waiting for my unit to come, its been tangled up with the bad weather down south. So i took out the CDC from the glove box to see what kind of connecters i could use to splice in to the power cable. FedEx says Saturday delivery by 8pm. Just getting familiar with this car , Is it dificult to get into the floorboard. Where did u mount the microphone, I'm worried with the top down it may be better at command unit height.

Rudeney

Yeah, we had two inches of snow down here so the whole world came to a dead stop!


As for the floorboard access, it's easy - just pull the carpet down from its top edge under the dash on the passenger side. Only the sloped part comes down. You then remove a foam insulation panel behind that. Now there is a metal panel that has three plastic nuts holding it in place - two on the bottom (you have to feel them, you won't be able to see them without a mirror) then one on the top right corner.

as for the mic, I loosened the OCP and "wedged" the mic between it the small strip of headliner. I then ran the wire down the A pillar on the passenger side and down into the footwell.

Frank Rizzo

Hey Rud;
Any updates now that you have had it for a while?

My POS MB-2 dropped another call today and then refused to sync or release the phone so I could hold it to my ear. I had to pull over and physically remove the puck from the UHI and sit there by the side of the road and hold the phone to my ear. Ive had enough.

Im hoping it streams via bluetooth as well...

thanks in advance.

Rudeney

Frank, I still like it. There are a few quirks, but for the price and the full integration, I can live with them. One quirk is that sometimes when a call comes in, if I answer while it's still announcing the call, it doesn't stop and it doesn't connect my conversation until the lady finished her spiel. The mic quality is so-so. I've played around with the gain adjustment setting but it's just not great. Another thing, and this may be my phone, but speakerphone volume is a bit low. I have to manually adjust volume on the phone to max (my Galaxy S3 won't remember the last BT volume and always defaults to 70%) then adjust the radio volume in order to hear with the top down or on the highway. The phonebook download takes just a little too long, and it has to do it every time you start the car.

I really don't use BT audio streaming, but I did try it and it worked fine. My hearing is not good enough for me to give you any "quality" opinions on it. Also, the iPod integration is great - IMHO, much better than the OEM cluster-only display. Liek I sadi, for the price and the features, it's great.

In your case, I think you'd have to remove the factory phone interface to make this work.

Frank Rizzo

Uuughh. Good point.

Then maybe I'll buy a Mercedes puck off ebay instead of another Viseeo. I can't see doubling down on a company that did not work well to begin with.

thanks.

waveterrorist

we need to keep in mind that we are talking about supporting 10 year old discontinued technology.

as all have commented the interface is goofy but given the device works by emulating the factory cd changer i think it does a remarkable job on bt streaming and the phone works.

a better answer is likely one of the latest generation touch models out of china but that "roll" would be about double the price of one of these.

i suspect the microphone included in the kit probably costs less than $5 and maybe an upgrade will help. looks like a generic 2.5 mm

Kevin9664

Couple quick questions.

Does your phone auto-pair when starting the car? (Can anyone vouch for an iPhone?)

Do all the features work the same when connecting via Bluetooth as it does USB?

For example, when connected via Bluetooth, do song tracks display on screen?

And can you change tracks with the steering wheel and Command seek+/- buttons?

Just want to double check that you don't need to take out the Command head unit to install this and that you only need to work inside the glovebox.

waveterrorist

No need to pull the head unit.

My android phone autopairs but no i-experience.

Track selection and volume buttons on wheel work.

I tossed a bunch of mp3's on a usb stick but the device always starts with track 1 and moves sequentially.

I think the bluetooth streaming is probably the coolest feature and I am pretty sure the playlist gets scanned like any other media.

For the $ I don't see how you can do better-but this is not how Fritz would have done it, and it shows...

Pilk

I think I know the answer but I'll ask anyway...will this work on an '03 CLK500 Bose?

Rudeney

+1 to Waveterrorist's comments.

@Pilk: No, this is for MOST systems only, introduced with th My2005 "facelift". Your MY2003 has D2B. There are some options for it, but they are becoming harder (and more expensive) to find. Your best option may be a head unit swap. In fact, aftermarket head units look better int he pre-facelift cars than in the post-facelift setup.

Pilk

Thanks Rud...Its my understanding that for me to change the HU I'd have to pull the Bose amp and rewire the car from the HU back, and lose the CDC. I'm not unhappy with the current stereo except the fact that it has no connectivity for my iphone. Are there any options for just adding bluetooth? If it were just a HU swap I'd do it in a hearbeat but everywhere I go I get the same story...full rewire, new amp, new sub...yadayadayada. Sucks to be an 03.

Rudeney

It's not the MY2003 - it's the fact that you have Bose. And those with the MY2005+ have Harmon-Kardon and it's the same situation. The issue is that there is no copper wire from the head unit to the speakers - it uses fiber instead. So yes, you must run new copper from the dash to the trunk to either add an amp thee or tie into the speaker wiring "downstream" of the Bose (or HK) amp. It's really not that big of a deal. There are large channels under the door sills to easily run the wiring. to the trunk.

Daloburg

Just installed in my 2006 Cabrio. Works wonderful. Pairs flawlessly and immediately with my iPhone 5, ios 7.1. Installed in glovebox and hooked up my iPod. Interface is easy enough to use. Charges my iPod when the car is on and doesn't drain when its off. Used a USB thumbdrive before I hooked up my iPod. Had 15GB of music on the drive. I took about 3-4 min to scan before it would play. With the same amount of music on my iPod, it loads in a few seconds. I am pleased. I can even use the Handsfree mic for phone calls with the top down (windows up). It will be better when I put a windscreen on the mic.

SilverCLK

where did you mount the mic and how did you route it? I have a cabrio too. also if I already have the CDC there is no need to reprogram anything, right?