SEICANE Android Head Unit Killed my car, Buyer Beware
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MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 1,059
Likes: 73
From: DC Metro Area
2007 Mercedes E550
SEICANE Android Head Unit Killed my car, Buyer Beware
The fate of my cls500 was sealed when I decided to try to put an "Seicane" Android head unit in my car.
The company did not provide a wiring diagram and/or adequate technical support, as they promised, so I installed it myself. It took weeks. In the process, somehow my airbag computer was fried which is a dealer only item and cost over $1800 to repair. I admit that I should have had it professionally installed, but my pride got in the way.
Thinking that my troubles were over, I had a continued parasitic drain and have went through 3 batteries since the android head unit. I did the usual stuff and pulled fuses, but could not isolate the problem. I also removed the radio and the problem continued.
I'm getting rid of the CLS this weekend; I found an amazing 2007 E550 which I bought to replace her.
These Chinese android head units really are not a DIY item. They may seem like it, and there are a handful of good videos out there, but there is just TOO MUCH that can go wrong with Mercedes ELECTRICAL.
Also, save yourself some grief and do not buy a Chinese head unit and especially not for SEICANE. You'll regret it if you do.
The company did not provide a wiring diagram and/or adequate technical support, as they promised, so I installed it myself. It took weeks. In the process, somehow my airbag computer was fried which is a dealer only item and cost over $1800 to repair. I admit that I should have had it professionally installed, but my pride got in the way.
Thinking that my troubles were over, I had a continued parasitic drain and have went through 3 batteries since the android head unit. I did the usual stuff and pulled fuses, but could not isolate the problem. I also removed the radio and the problem continued.
I'm getting rid of the CLS this weekend; I found an amazing 2007 E550 which I bought to replace her.
These Chinese android head units really are not a DIY item. They may seem like it, and there are a handful of good videos out there, but there is just TOO MUCH that can go wrong with Mercedes ELECTRICAL.
Also, save yourself some grief and do not buy a Chinese head unit and especially not for SEICANE. You'll regret it if you do.
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2019
Posts: 21
Likes: 0
From: Gulf Coast
2017 Mercedes Benz S63 AMG Cabriolet
The fate of my cls500 was sealed when I decided to try to put an "Seicane" Android head unit in my car.
The company did not provide a wiring diagram and/or adequate technical support, as they promised, so I installed it myself. It took weeks. In the process, somehow my airbag computer was fried which is a dealer only item and cost over $1800 to repair. I admit that I should have had it professionally installed, but my pride got in the way.
Thinking that my troubles were over, I had a continued parasitic drain and have went through 3 batteries since the android head unit. I did the usual stuff and pulled fuses, but could not isolate the problem. I also removed the radio and the problem continued.
I'm getting rid of the CLS this weekend; I found an amazing 2007 E550 which I bought to replace her.
These Chinese android head units really are not a DIY item. They may seem like it, and there are a handful of good videos out there, but there is just TOO MUCH that can go wrong with Mercedes ELECTRICAL.
Also, save yourself some grief and do not buy a Chinese head unit and especially not for SEICANE. You'll regret it if you do.
The company did not provide a wiring diagram and/or adequate technical support, as they promised, so I installed it myself. It took weeks. In the process, somehow my airbag computer was fried which is a dealer only item and cost over $1800 to repair. I admit that I should have had it professionally installed, but my pride got in the way.
Thinking that my troubles were over, I had a continued parasitic drain and have went through 3 batteries since the android head unit. I did the usual stuff and pulled fuses, but could not isolate the problem. I also removed the radio and the problem continued.
I'm getting rid of the CLS this weekend; I found an amazing 2007 E550 which I bought to replace her.
These Chinese android head units really are not a DIY item. They may seem like it, and there are a handful of good videos out there, but there is just TOO MUCH that can go wrong with Mercedes ELECTRICAL.
Also, save yourself some grief and do not buy a Chinese head unit and especially not for SEICANE. You'll regret it if you do.
Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 30
Likes: 1
From: Ellicott City, MD
2003 SL500 Sport Pkg, 2008 BMW X5 4.8L, 2011 Prius (my gas saver:-))
The fate of my cls500 was sealed when I decided to try to put an "Seicane" Android head unit in my car.
The company did not provide a wiring diagram and/or adequate technical support, as they promised, so I installed it myself. It took weeks. In the process, somehow my airbag computer was fried which is a dealer only item and cost over $1800 to repair. I admit that I should have had it professionally installed, but my pride got in the way.
Thinking that my troubles were over, I had a continued parasitic drain and have went through 3 batteries since the android head unit. I did the usual stuff and pulled fuses, but could not isolate the problem. I also removed the radio and the problem continued.
I'm getting rid of the CLS this weekend; I found an amazing 2007 E550 which I bought to replace her.
These Chinese android head units really are not a DIY item. They may seem like it, and there are a handful of good videos out there, but there is just TOO MUCH that can go wrong with Mercedes ELECTRICAL.
Also, save yourself some grief and do not buy a Chinese head unit and especially not for SEICANE. You'll regret it if you do.
The company did not provide a wiring diagram and/or adequate technical support, as they promised, so I installed it myself. It took weeks. In the process, somehow my airbag computer was fried which is a dealer only item and cost over $1800 to repair. I admit that I should have had it professionally installed, but my pride got in the way.
Thinking that my troubles were over, I had a continued parasitic drain and have went through 3 batteries since the android head unit. I did the usual stuff and pulled fuses, but could not isolate the problem. I also removed the radio and the problem continued.
I'm getting rid of the CLS this weekend; I found an amazing 2007 E550 which I bought to replace her.
These Chinese android head units really are not a DIY item. They may seem like it, and there are a handful of good videos out there, but there is just TOO MUCH that can go wrong with Mercedes ELECTRICAL.
Also, save yourself some grief and do not buy a Chinese head unit and especially not for SEICANE. You'll regret it if you do.
oh man. I took out the stock stereo to install the Seicane unit and read your post. I am also in the DC area and this is going in a 2007 E550 like yours.
Should I skip the install and save the car?
i have bought the Fiber Decoding box from
them and so was thinking it would be a straight forward plug and play?
Any suggestions before I do anything stupid?
Please advise.
Paul
Member
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 91
Likes: 16
From: Vermont, USA
01 clk430, 05 e500 4matic
Not to be an a$$, but the CLS's fate was sealed when the poster started DIYing over his abilities. No experience with this head unit, but do a bit more research before making a judgement based on this post
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 401
Likes: 44
From: Cedar Rapids, IA
2009 e550 4Matic
Junior Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 47
Likes: 12
From: Arizona
2004 E55 AMG, 1996 SL500, 2004 E400 4Matic Wagon
I bought and installed an XTRONS head unit (probably similar to Seicane) and have had no problems. I hadn't done this before but just took a lot of time on youtube and googling to piece together what I needed to do. It's a challenge but totally doable.
Buy a WIS/ASRA service repair workshop manual. It's cheap (< $10 on ebay) This is a great resource for this and future projects.
I bought a separate harness/adapter from XTRONS that snapped into the power harness that was plugged into the stock Audio 50 unit. I didn't use either of the two main/power harnesses that came with the XTRONS unit. Buying the extra harness ($20) saved me a bunch of time/trouble. Seicane might have something similar for their head units:
The only "taps" I had to make up front were:
1. From the MOST decoder box to the red cigarette lighter power wire - I decided not to tap into a constant power source to avoid possible parasitic drain issues. This may or may not work for you. I've seen some videos that show they had to connect to a constant power source,
2. Canbus wires from the harness/adapter to the canbus connection under the glovebox. I had to do this only because the canbus plug that came with their harness didn't fit into the canbus socket.
Other optional connections I made for a more "stock" installation.
3. Disconnected the Fakra antenna connector from amplifier and used a Fakra extension to run to the new head unit radio antenna input. I'm sure Seicane sells a radio antenna if you want to avoid this.
4. The Audio 50 head unit has no NAV but I added a splitter to the cable that comes from the "combo" antenna in the top shark fin (same thing MB does for GPS to stock NAV unit) and then ran an extension from the splitter to the new head unit GPS antenna input. This is optional because you can just use the GPS antenna that comes with the Seicane.
Hope this helps,
RC
Buy a WIS/ASRA service repair workshop manual. It's cheap (< $10 on ebay) This is a great resource for this and future projects.
I bought a separate harness/adapter from XTRONS that snapped into the power harness that was plugged into the stock Audio 50 unit. I didn't use either of the two main/power harnesses that came with the XTRONS unit. Buying the extra harness ($20) saved me a bunch of time/trouble. Seicane might have something similar for their head units:
The only "taps" I had to make up front were:
1. From the MOST decoder box to the red cigarette lighter power wire - I decided not to tap into a constant power source to avoid possible parasitic drain issues. This may or may not work for you. I've seen some videos that show they had to connect to a constant power source,
2. Canbus wires from the harness/adapter to the canbus connection under the glovebox. I had to do this only because the canbus plug that came with their harness didn't fit into the canbus socket.
Other optional connections I made for a more "stock" installation.
3. Disconnected the Fakra antenna connector from amplifier and used a Fakra extension to run to the new head unit radio antenna input. I'm sure Seicane sells a radio antenna if you want to avoid this.
4. The Audio 50 head unit has no NAV but I added a splitter to the cable that comes from the "combo" antenna in the top shark fin (same thing MB does for GPS to stock NAV unit) and then ran an extension from the splitter to the new head unit GPS antenna input. This is optional because you can just use the GPS antenna that comes with the Seicane.
Hope this helps,
RC
Last edited by rbc3az; Dec 9, 2019 at 01:50 PM.
