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I went through complete hell trying to find someone to install . I went to professional shops ; Freeman's, sound soutions, and several more and no one would touch it, due to the fiber optic . . I finally found a fast speaking Arabic man with a shop in the hood that said to bring it on by " no problem" . He was right .took about 2 hrs and had to buy a couple things under 50$ but install was only 160$ .very impressed with the Xtrons unit , but it can be sluggish .add an sd card for memory. Also added the obd2 Bluetooth sensor which is awesome. Overall you get what you pay for and in this case the unit is a deal,but can be very aggravating installing. Ignore about half of the harnesses they send with it
Glad to hear about your success. Can you recap your setup. Did you leave fiber optic and what dashboard/display/controls still work?
I came very close to doing a large install but chickened out as my factory setup works and the idea of an electrical aftermarket nightmare frightened me. I know the CL600 would sound great with a true stereo upgrade.
Hi all, I am trying to install an xtrons unit in my E55 but I am getting no sound. I am thinking the fiber optics decoder is bad. The head unit is powered on and I have the front L/R outs going to the decoder. The decoder has power and I confirmed using a multimeter. However I don't see any light emitted out of the decoder. If there is no light would this be a sign of a bad decoder?
Hi all, I am trying to install an xtrons unit in my E55 but I am getting no sound. I am thinking the fiber optics decoder is bad. The head unit is powered on and I have the front L/R outs going to the decoder. The decoder has power and I confirmed using a multimeter. However I don't see any light emitted out of the decoder. If there is no light would this be a sign of a bad decoder?
Gazosnic was asking about all the wiring. In searching today for any answer I came across a very good write up on this xtrons unit. I am not sure if cross posting from other forums is allowed but google "Intall Xtrons head unit to work with MB AM" and you'll find the most detailed write up I have seen.
Still thinking i have a bad decoder as I have double checked every connection and still have no audio.
I went with this model because it has 32gb internal flash. The other 2gb RAM, 8-core offerings I looked at had 16gb flash memory.
The order came promptly, shipped from China via Hong Kong, and there were no import hassles or duty to pay. The vendor emailed me to confirm the amount to show for import value before shipping and had me send them a picture of my dash to confirm this is the right unit.
The harness is completely plug and play with no need for splicing into any power or canbus blocks. I installed the long harness to the trunk to use the existing speakers and wires with and removed the HK Amp.
The unit powered up and worked right away and sounds good. Paired with my phone via bluetooth and connected to my home wifi and phone's wifi hotspot. Steering wheel controls function for volume, stations, track, and phone. The unit turns on with the car and plays right away. Turns off when the key is removed. There was no battery drain overnight.
I had already had installed a back up camera and front facing camera from when I put in the previous failed unit from another vendor. I connected the new unit to these and to the factory GPS antenna and all are working fine.
I'm working through two issues:
1. the unit is not pairing to my bluetooth OBD2 reader.
2. I am getting a telematics malfunction message in the cluster, probably because I removed the HK brains and fiber-optics link.
So, initial feedback is positive for this one.
/mjp
Originally Posted by MJ-E55
I did a quick survey of a few units with Android 6.x:
Avin
currently has 5.11 unit with 1GB
-new Android 6.0 version with 2GB RAM coming soon according to chat rep
Xtrons
-replied to inquiry: Sorry, we don't have an Android 6.x, 2GB RAM, 8 core head unit for Mercedes at the moment.
I am considering Seicane since they have been in this game for a while. Is ther any feedback on Seicane quality from anyone out there who has installed one of their current or previous offerings in a W211?
Alternatively, any feedback on the ones on Ali-express or Ebay.
Hi guys, just a quick question. With aftermarket heads installed, will the factory trip computer still work. Range, Speed, Temp display. Will it affect the cruise control. I have a 2004 500SL.
Markus
Yes, your Trip computer, Temp Display, etc, will still work. Cruise Control in unaffected. Depending on how you choose to install will determine which screens in your instrument cluster LCD will be affected. I'm in the middle of an install on my 2003 SL500, which shares the same Command System as your 2004. I was having an issue with the Teleaid calling out all night long and draining the battery. Since that system is now obselete, I decided to remove it completely, along with the Command head unit, Bose amp, CD Changer, factory nav system, and factory telephone system. Now predictably I have a blank LCD readout for the following: NAV, Audio, & Phone, and that dang SOS lamp has finally been extinguished.
Worth noting on the SL. Do NOT power on the car for testing the head unit with the Center Vent Control Module removed. For some odd reason, the, unplugging that Center vent control module and Hazzard/Door switch returns and SRS warning lamp that can only be extinguished with a hi grade scan tool.
Doing a complete installation on the SL by bypassing the factory Bose system is not for the feint of heart. I laid all new speaker wire to all new speakers (component tweeter and mid in each door, replaced the 2 rear 2 inch satellite speakers with 3 inch coax 2 ways, put one of the original door mounted 2 ohm Bose woofers in a custom box beneath the drivers rear storage box where the original amp use to be, and the other Bose 2 ohm woofer secured inside the lid of the passenger side rear storage bin. I've a 4 channel amp powering the door mids and original sub, plus both those 2 ohm woofers, and the a 2 channel amp powering both door tweeters. I'm running the original front dash center channel speaker, and those 2 rear 3inch satellite speakers, plus an additional 5.5" coax that I've placed beneath the rear center console cover. Wired up the system for testing the first time yesterday and had in instant smile. See my next post below for the 10.4inch Android unit I chose, and I'm pleasantly surprise with the fitment in our SL's.
Avin
currently has 5.11 unit with 1GB
-new Android 6.0 version with 2GB RAM coming soon according to chat rep
Xtrons
-replied to inquiry: Sorry, we don't have an Android 6.x, 2GB RAM, 8 core head unit for Mercedes at the moment.
I am considering Seicane since they have been in this game for a while. Is ther any feedback on Seicane quality from anyone out there who has installed one of their current or previous offerings in a W211?
Alternatively, any feedback on the ones on Ali-express or Ebay.
Thanks so much for any responses.
/mjp
I'm in the middle of an install of the following unit in a 2003 SL500, and I can happily vouch for both the unit, and the vendor, who was VERY responsive and prompt (5 days from ordering to delivery by DHL at my front door. And the vendor followed up during every step of the process (confirmed order with personal email, confirmed payment with personal email, confirmed delivery with personal email, and followed up for feedback.) I'm very happy with the vendor, and the unit.
Vendor = JSTMAX Technology Company LTD via AliExpress
10.4" Android 6.0, Octacore, 64 Bit, 32gb Rom, 2gb Ram, OBDII, TPMS, & DAB+, GPS, & DVD (I transferred the Dashcam,and Rear-view Cam from my old Android 4.4 unit)
After 10% Ali discount, and $5 vendor discount, it was $350 delivered
I did a test mount and powered up yesterday and it's lightening fast. I had an Android 4.4 unit in my CLK, and it took the standard 20 seconds to power on and boot up. This unit is instant. The Mercedes logo shows for literally about half a second and then the boot up screen takes about 2 seconds. Night and day compared to my old 4.4 unit. And the responsiveness is amazing! I'm about 80% through my install, and will post some pics after I've gotten everything buttoned back up.
Last edited by Aussiesuede; 04-28-2017 at 06:07 PM.
Happy that people are having good luck with ordering on Aliexpress. Please share your after sales experience if you have issues with your unit. I had issues with mine after purchasing. The company was responsive for the first 2 communications and then after that they did not reply thereafter. Luckily, I managed to resolve my issues on my own. I would recommend buying on Amazon or Ebay for that reason you will at least be protected for a reasonable length of time. On Amazon check their policies on warranty etc .. there have been people that have been burned due to some vendors not giving warranties.
Has anybody else besides Xpresion able to get their CD Changer door to function again?
I'd be interested to know this too. I've just removed the motor for now but will play with the wiring and see if I can get something working when I get a spare minute or 2
Me & a friend have the android 5.1.1 unit (NA02A9BZ0701W211AN
) from ali for quite a while now and have experienced different things so far:
Installation was quite easy, only hard thing was to get the cd changer compartment to fit back in place with the new stereo (more cables & "iso harness" taking up alot of space,) so u kinda have to move things around behind there so it can fit back in without damaging any cables.
"Unit 2's" touch screen didnt want to work after we installed it, we tried everything we could (connect, reconnect etc.) was almost gonna give up and send it back untill we saw a very thin flat cable peaking out from a small gap between the plastic on the stereo, it seemed to have been squeezed between there making the touch screen not working (must have been factory assembly fault)
"Unit 1" have problems with not wanting to start up when the car does, when that happens only way to make it start is to either turn the car off for quite a while and start it again. OR disconnect and connect the cable to the stereo (which is quite annoying to remove panels etc.)
I have contacted the seller and they asked me to remove the canbus decoder and connect battery + to ACC. if the unit starts then the decoder is the problem they said.
So i did and it started in that way & they sent me a new canbus decoder (took around 1-2 months to receive it)
After replacing the canbus decoder i do believe its gotten better but its still not 100% stable, it still happens in like 1/50 starts or something like that, when it happens its quite annoying.
I havent contacted the seller again after this but since its so intermittent problem im thinking about making my own solution to it and mounting a small switch for the 12v wire to the stereo somewhere under the glove compartment so i can just flip it when it occurs.
Another problem on "Unit 2" was that there is a default setting on the stereo to mute the sound & make the screen black when u put the car in reverse, i turned this setting off on "Unit 1" with no problems, but it doesnt seem to work to turn the setting off on "Unit 2" No idea why. this made us try playing around with all kinds of settings leading us nowhere so lastly we tried to factory reset it...
Resetting it wasnt a good idea since the app (amongs others) A2DP which is the bluetooth app disappeared from the unit and we havent figured out a way to make bluetooth work again after this, tried contacting the seller but they have quite "bad" english so had trouble getting them to understand the problem & eventually they stopped responding.
If anyone knows how to fix this i would be grateful.
If it wasnt for the problems we had i would give the unit 5/5 but since its been quite problematic i can only give it 3/5
For the rest, like GPS/Navigator, Spotify, Bluetooth music, Voice calls, Youtube, Web browsing, Sound equalizer, Low level output to external amplifier, Wifi, RGB backlight, etc, etc all works fine.
I'm in the middle of an install of the following unit in a 2003 SL500, and I can happily vouch for both the unit, and the vendor, who was VERY responsive and prompt (5 days from ordering to delivery by DHL at my front door. And the vendor followed up during every step of the process (confirmed order with personal email, confirmed payment with personal email, confirmed delivery with personal email, and followed up for feedback.) I'm very happy with the vendor, and the unit.
Vendor = JSTMAX Technology Company LTD via AliExpress
10.4" Android 6.0, Octacore, 64 Bit, 32gb Rom, 2gb Ram, OBDII, TPMS, & DAB+, GPS, & DVD (I transferred the Dashcam,and Rear-view Cam from my old Android 4.4 unit)
After 10% Ali discount, and $5 vendor discount, it was $350 delivered
I did a test mount and powered up yesterday and it's lightening fast. I had an Android 4.4 unit in my CLK, and it took the standard 20 seconds to power on and boot up. This unit is instant. The Mercedes logo shows for literally about half a second and then the boot up screen takes about 2 seconds. Night and day compared to my old 4.4 unit. And the responsiveness is amazing! I'm about 80% through my install, and will post some pics after I've gotten everything buttoned back up.
Finally the octacores are out.. i've been waiting to do this upgrade but knew inevitably they would eventually throw in a better processor. I'm on there right now looking at different ones that copy the mercedes look but could you post any pictures of the one you installed? I like how the screen comes out a bit looks like the newer displays.
^
Would that even look right on our cars? I ask because with how the current stereo is shaped the new one with the extended screen appears like it's just a double din that has a larger screen. So you would have to get some type of trim for the sides or there would be gaping holes?
The one that TJ Stout posted looks horrible to me because the trim piece above it doesn't even work with it.
Will be interesting to see though as I'm sure someone will get it.
^
Would that even look right on our cars? I ask because with how the current stereo is shaped the new one with the extended screen appears like it's just a double din that has a larger screen. So you would have to get some type of trim for the sides or there would be gaping holes?
The one that TJ Stout posted looks horrible to me because the trim piece above it doesn't even work with it.
Will be interesting to see though as I'm sure someone will get it.
-Nigel
The trim pieces can be had for very cheap I think on ali express. I am interested to see how it looks as well. Plenty of people think the display screen on the newer benz's looks out of place as well so it's a matter of preference really. They do kind of have that slapped on tablet look.
(Can be used for other models around the same era as the W211)
Table of contents:
explaining the concept of upgrading the system
Head unit info
Parts required for installation
Installation info
The COMAND Units in the W211 are ancient now and do not offer much digital essence in the car. (it’s not 2002 anymore) also Navigation portion are beginning to show their age, From DVD drives beginning to fail to CD stacker door motors failing.
The head unit comes with: 1x Canbus box (deals with steering wheel communications with the car, as well as switching of and on the unit and finally lets the unit go into reverse camera mode when you place the shifter in R)
GPS modem with 3M cable (enough to run it under the kick panel and stick it on the passenger side of the windshield.
8GB Micro SD card with IGO MAPS for your country (brilliant OFFLINE navigation software)
1x External microphone, (the unit has a built in mic, but should you want to run a second one closer to you, you can)
**note, no head unit can work well with the built in Optical Fiber amp. Once you go after market, you need to be prepared to remove the optical fiber amp and either run another amp OR power all your speakers from the new head unit**
Extras that you must order (Ask the seller for them)
IF your car has Harman Kardon logic 7 Stereo (COMAND NTG1), OR if you have amp in the boot and insert your navigation CD in the boot
*6M long speaker / power cable (AkA amplifier Bypass cable) (this will bypass your original amplifier, and provide power to the new head unit and power the amplifier for your radio antenna). **note this cable will not power the subwoofer, nor the front centre speaker, nor the 2 parcel shelf speakers, just the 4 door speakers and the small tweeters**
*6M long Antenna cable (because the factory amp had the antenna connected to it, now you must run this connection to the new unit at the front).
in order to remove the stock AMP, you need to remove the cradle for the GPS DVD Player and undo the fuse box mounts. (This will give you bit more room to work with in order to remove the amp.
The amp is held in by 3 10mm bolts, 2 on the side and one between the quarter panel and boot cavity.
Completely unplug the old amp and connect the corresponding plugs from the 6m cables.
Those extras are all plug and play and will have the unit fully operating in your car. END
EXTRAS (options for the unit you can buy)
DVR camera (front facing USB camera that allows you to record as you drive)
3G USB Modem (place a sim card in it and have internet all the time)
Digital / HD TV (for watching digital / HD TV)
OBD2 Bluetooth module (allows the view of car diagnostics /info on the head unit via (app Torque)
Reverse Camera (need I explain?) END
This section here is for the audiophiles / radio heads
The HK stereo has 12 speakers all up.
4 Door speakers, 6.5”
4 Door tweeters 1.5” (They are automatically powered by the 6.5”on the same door)
1 Front centre speaker 4” maybe less?
2 Rear parcel shelf speakers 4”
1 Dual voice coil subwoofer 10”
Running the unit as is (with just the 6m amp bypass cable) will give you adequate sound levels, however because the car had Harman Kardon stereo in it, the speakers require more juice to operate efficiently and give that nice sound you previously had with the original amp, ALSO, there are a few speakers still not being powered by the head unit. Why? Because the unit simply cannot supply that much power, the old AMP’s IC alone was 10 times the size of the new units combined amp + processor IC. (Integrated Circuit)
To resolve this, we need to install a new amp(s) in the boot:
At this point, you have 2 options.
#1 Run 2 AMPS, one for the Subwoofer (mono block AMP), and one for the remaining 7 speakers in the car. (Surround sound)
#2 Run one high powered 4 channel AMP (200+WATTS per channel) and run 2 channels to the subwoofer, 1 channel to power all LEFT speakers of the car and 1 channel to power all RIGHT speakers of the car. (Stereo sound)
**note, unless you’ll be watching DVD movies on your new head unit, you won’t otherwise be experiencing any surround sound from the MP3’s you download / music you stream on Bluetooth, because they are all based on 2 channel Stereo output**
From this point I will be showing / explaining my setup which is based on option #2 as mentioned above.
* AMP: 4 channel, 4x300W = 1200W TOTAL. ~600WRMS
* 2x High to low converters (converting all 4 channels from the unit to RCA outputs)
* 1x Splitter box, (provides signal for tweeters and mid-range speakers) will be used for front centre and rear parcel shelf speakers.
* 1X automotive Amp fuse
* Appropriate gauge wires for powering the AMP etc.
LETS BEGIN:
Since the battery is in the boot, powering the amp will be easy.
Make sure you use an inline fuse for the + and DO NOT connect the ground to the battery! Follow the lead from the negative terminal and you will see a black box! That box filters out electrical noise, so make sure you connect the ground for the amp on the part of the black box that is connected to the body.
If you look at the 6M speaker / power cable. You will see a black 4 pin plug with thick RED, BROWN and a thin blue wire. (That blue wire is a positive remote trigger for the antenna amp. Splice into that to trigger the new amplifier into powering on. OR run a 5m long trigger cable from the new head unit as it has an amp trigger output.
Connect all 4 channels to the Converters so you have 4 RCA outputs in total, 2 for the FRONT, and 2 for the REAR. (Make sure you adjust the gain on the converters) (Don’t set them too high or else you will experience signal clipping which sounds like distortion)
Connect them to the AMP accordingly.
Connect the 2 REAR outputs of your AMP to the 2 inputs of your subwoofer (adjust the amp accordingly (set it to Low pass filter and set the Hz limit at 80-100Hz) anything higher and this will cause the subwoofer to play vocals (BIG no no!)
Connect the 2 FRONT outputs to the corresponding side of the car.
Front right channel connected to all the right speakers of the car (excluding the parcel shelf and front centre).
Front LEFT channel connected to all the LEFT speakers of the car.
from the LEFT output, run a new wire to the splitter box, and from the splitter box distribute the power to the FRONT centre speaker on the (Tweeter output) and REAR parcel shelf speakers on the (woofer output). (FYI, woofer on the splitter box just means mid range/ vocals and not thumping bass)
the reason why I set the front centre speaker to tweeter and not woofer is because I began to hear it crackling. And I have a feeling it’s smaller than the back 2.
That’s it!,
Set the gain and bass on the subwoofer high on the amp. Then go on the head unit and adjust the FADE effect so you have most of the sound FRONT bias, this means the sub won’t be as loud. If you wish to increase the sub level, change the FADE so it’s more REAR bias.
Extras#2 this is if you wish to retain your factory GPS module. This will result in a cleaner looking interior as you won’t have an ugly black GPS antenna stuck to your front windshield.
You need the following 3 cables to make the appropriate cable which will run from the boot to the new head unit. It’s self-explanatory as the plugs require simple common scenes.
In the original post, it states "Connect the 2 FRONT outputs to the corresponding side of the car.
Front right channel connected to all the right speakers of the car (excluding the parcel shelf and front centre).
Front LEFT channel connected to all the LEFT speakers of the car."
I'm assuming the line level converters will connect to the amplifier bypass cable speaker outputs. How do I know which wires are what speakers? Are the wires labeled? Then, when the speaker wires come out of the amps, how do I know which wires are to what speakers? That is, the speaker wires coming out of the old factory amplifier? There's and image in the original post, but it doesn't point out the color of each speaker wire.
I hope my questions make sense. I'd appreciate the help.
Had anyone success replacing a NTG2.5? Seems they moved everything from the trunk to the HU, even GPS and FM Antenna as well as CAN wires. Therefore it is plug and play but the new unit does not send a MOST wake-up signal because its not MOST and the amp won't turn on. Any suggestions?
I think you are looking in the wrong thread for NTG2.5 information. There are other threads regarding NTG2.5. I have done both this Android and NTG2.5.
NTG 2.5 does/can use MOST bus ... it is configurable to use MOST or non-MOST ... but you need NTG 2.5 Amps if you have MOST turned on I believe. Also you need to remove your old MOST components bypassing them completely such as satellite radio etc. Also remove the CD changer in the cabin and need to close off the open MOST port after removing the CD changer.
Originally Posted by alexma
Had anyone success replacing a NTG2.5? Seems they moved everything from the trunk to the HU, even GPS and FM Antenna as well as CAN wires. Therefore it is plug and play but the new unit does not send a MOST wake-up signal because its not MOST and the amp won't turn on. Any suggestions?
Hi turbo97se, thought that thread would cover android replacements in general, thats why I tried to find help here as well. So the only MOST component I removed, was actually the NTG2.5 with integrated CD changer. And I am using the MOST converter to still retain the ability to use factory amp and speakers. But because of the missing wake-up signal the amp stays off. You mentioned you have replaced a 2.5, where you able to solve that?
Wait so do you need a separate cable for amp wake up when using the Optical to RCA converter? Wont the amp wake up still work as you arent removing any of the wires from the stock amp in this setup?
03-11-2017, 03:30 AM
and the amp won't turn on. Any suggestions?
