marcHitect

Just purchased a 2014 e63 AMG wagon. All is great except:
The dealer said that if I buy an iPhone adapter cable ($40) that converts the car's the old 30pin cable to the iPhone 5 style cable I would have full use of my iPhone 5 in the car.
However, this Apple cable appears to provide zero functionality. When I plug in my iPhone 5 I get this error message on my phone "This accessory is not supported by this device."
The phone wont charge or do anything at all while plugged into the car's iPhone cable through the Apple adapter cable.
You can see in the picture I uploaded how it is set up. The white cable is the new $40 cable I bought. This is a picture in the car's storage area under the arm rest.
I also tried plugging the iPhone into the USB cable. The only thing I can do using that cable is charge the phone.
The dealer tech that I spoke to said he has NEVER seen this issue. He said it should work perfectly by only buying that Apple conversion cable.

610

Hi,

I had the same problem in my 2014 E63 when using a non genuine apple converter cable, if your cable is genuine then it may be faulty.

marcHitect

Hi, the cable is directly from the Apple Store.
So, yours works perfectly?

610

Yes, when I select media interface on the screen it begins playing songs stored in the music folder on my phone.

It doesn't work for spotify or other apps for those I use Bluetooth audio.

DCubed

Walk back into your dealer and head to the parts department, ask for part # A003 827 0904, should be about $50...it replaces the current media cable in the car and instead of a 30 pin cable end, its the lightning attachment.

marcHitect

Interesting! A Google search for that part number came up with nothing. Do you have an image of this MB cable? I'd like to be able to show it to the dealer.

mystery905

Why don't you just pair your iphone via bluetooth?

You get phone and music functionality through COMAND.

PeterUbers

With a direct lightening cable connection you can browse folders, but not with iTunes over Bluetooth, good tip on the lightening cable, gunna go get that tomorrow

PeterUbers

Member solidgranite just figured it out for me: hold Siri down and say play "purchase music playlist"

Works great over bluetooth

marcHitect

I want to charge my phone AND get the functionality of my phone. This should be a no brainer but it's not. Something is not working correctly.

gyess

Mine worked on 2012 C300. Though not meant to highjack this thread, I have not figured out the playlist features. Seems to pick a set of 25 via blue tooth and then a different set via the media cable. I can browse the music on the phone directly to then select a track to play via media cable.

Agree the charging feature is handy.

PeterUbers

Siri has full functionality over mb's mic, and uses the BT connection, was messing around with it today, it works great, can even belt out a text without taking eyes off the road.

marcHitect

UPDATE:
Interesting thing happened. On a whim I decided to buy a new cable from the Apple store thinking that perhaps the cable from Apple was defective.
I plugged in my iPhone 5 into this new cable and it worked perfectly. Phone charges, works with iTunes, Pandora, Siri, everything. The car automatically detects the iPhone media just like it should.
So, I guess I happened to get a dud cable from Apple and that was the cause of my previous issues.
All works fine now.

shashivr4

Did you buy a new "cable" or new "30 pin to Lightning adapter?"

marcHitect

By cable, I mean the Apple adapter cable that converts 30 pin to iPhone 5 Lightning. It's a cable sold by Apple, about 8" long and sells for $40.
My original cable I purchased from Apple was defective.

LasVegasMike

The lightning connector from Apple actually has a little chip inside of it which allows an i-device to determine if it's a genuine apple cable or not. Perhaps the first cable you bought had some issues with the imbedded chip.

When Apple first released this new connector they were the only company with the programming code for that little chip, so as you can guess you could only buy cables from Apple! That is until someone in China reverse engineered the chips code and flooded the market with cheap cables.

shashivr4

I purchased a lightning adapter cable from my local dealer for $50 (MSRP: $59) and it does work with my iPhone 5. Unlike with BT, I am able to view my playlists which is a big plus.

samkimg

How do you choose to hold Siri down? With the button on the phone or ???

marcHitect

It looks like the functionality with the MB Lightning adapter you bought and purchasing the Apple 30pin to Lightning adapter I purchased is the same. I also can access all playlists folders etc.

marcHitect

Yes, while the phone is connected to the car, you hold down the button on the phone. Siri does her thing and you can use her the same way you would if you were using your phone at home. You can tell her to do whatever it is you would typically do: text, directions, call someone, etc.