Contact our support email, send you the installation video.

Support@carlinkitlife.com

 

Email sent

 

Just ordered mine! The installation video you reference is the same one linked by Bernard22 in their post, correct?

 

Looking forward to reviews and observations.

 

Just got my package, nine days for shipping from China, and a few days at the border for Canada customs. Well packaged, and looks professional so we will see how the install goes when I find the time





If this goes well, maybe I'll tackle the torn seat cushion next

 

Got halfway through and realized the instruction video for 4.5 was different from the one shared. Email Carlinkit support, so hopefully I can finish soon.

 

Same with the 4.7

Having other issues, see below.

Im trying to install the non Becker unit as we speak. I followed the video you emailed me for the installation but I’m not getting any power to my screen now. Also in the video there is no mention of the toggle switch positions which I assume I have set correctly. My 2014 e63 has the 4.7 system with a 7” screen. So the according to the included paper the toggle positions should be 00010001. I’ve installed units before so I’m at a loss on why I don’t have any power to the screen and seemingly no sound. But prior to install my I had Bluetooth music set up so I have no idea if anything is trying to play. I really don’t want to have to take it all back out.

so I unplugged the large power connected that was supplied and replugged the factory directly into my head unit bypassing all the CarLink stuff and it’s working like normal. There’s an issue with the connected that is supplied, see the pictures below. Is this normal?


Factory harness to Headunit. Note the round connections in the top left.


Carlink harness to factory harness. Note the set of pins on the left, no round ones.


Carlink harness to headunit. Note lack of round connections.

 

I’m assuming those round connectors are fiber optic wires that need to be moved to the top left of the harness that connects to the head unit. I saw those mentioned in a different video. I could have continued trying to follow that other video, but I really want the installation video straight from Carlinkit. I’m a little concerned if you got the 4.5/4.7 video and it didn’t mention the fiber optic wires or audio input.

 

Q: When switching to Carplay or Android the screen displays no signal, a blank screen , abnormal screen or no response ?
A–Check the LVDS wiring is connected as per the wiring diagram.
A-Check that the pins in the LVDS connectors are not bent or not making contact
A-Check that the dip switch setting is correct. Try changing them . Make sure you unplug the box power each time a pin is changed.


Q: I don't have any sound ?
A–make sure the cars original MOST fibre optic cable has been moved to the new connector on the T harness
A-Activate the AUX from the cars engineering menu. Select AUX on cars audio settings.
A-If its not possible to activate the AUX you will need a AMI to AUX converter cable

 

I’m getting no signal to the screen at all. Not even the Mercedes emblem start up.
I’m not sure what wiring diagram you are referring to, there wasn’t one included in the box nor could I find on the website. I followed the video that you emailed to me. Not sure which car that was one but there was minor differences. I do believe that mine is connected correctly.
There is no mention of a dip switch anywhere or that it needs to be changed. I believe it’s labeled the Toggle Switch. And if so, then yes it’s correct.

There was no mention of the fiber connections needing to be moved in the video or the paperwork that came in the box?

 

So after a week and a half of shipping, I put the kids to bed and spent 2.5 hours the first night installing the CarPlay unit in my garage. Not recommended to any of you unless you have really good lighting at night... all the shadows were a pain in the *** when routing the cables behind the headunit



The hardest part was fishing the wires and pushing the HU back in place, but that's all been documented before in other postings so I was prepared

Anyway, imagine my dismay when I reconnected the battery and lo and behold, no sound even from the factory radio, and it was strange I could only access two selections on the menu screen. Quick research and emails to Andy at CarPlay helped me change some dipswitches. Make sure you know your car screen - mine had to be changed from the factory settings to 7" screen and NTG4.0 instead of 4.0S.
Also remember to wait 10-15 minutes for the residual power to shut down and let the module reboot and reset, changes are not instant. It was getting late that night and I had to work the next day, so I called it a day without sound

More online research revealed that my car has Harmon/Kardon sound - I didn't realize it, but there is an optical cable that must be transferred from the original harness, by separating that wire and plug directly into the headunit onto the new harness Quadlock.

Bingo!!! Sound was fixed. But I still couldn't access the screen settings on CarPlay strangely. More online research and emails to Andy at CarPlay - he was very responsive and helpful - and I realized the problem was actually on my end. My scrolling controller knob in the armrest needed the dreaded and common repair. Luckily it is available in aluminum from Amazon for $10 and I got it shipped the next day

That silver circular piece was tricky to slip off



The broken plastic shaft inside the scrolling knob

The new metal shaft piece is definitely much better than the original plastic one. A very well-documented repair on Forums here, and on YouTube

So probably six hours total work including research and YouTube watching, but this works great and is a nice modern upgrade for a 12 year-old car

My favourite things so far are:
1. improved sound quality over the factory Bluetooth connection, less skipping and lag time
2. Google maps and Waze for real-time traffic info, which my old system didn't have
3. Spotify connects automatically and quickly with my phone, as opposed to having manually connect each time
4. Modern look and colour scheme
5. Good support from the supplier - very timely and he tried to help with tips on email (even offered to order the replacement control shaft for me). Did not get the sense he was dodging me, like other experiences I have had with different vendors over the years

Good luck to the rest of you who are thinking about upgrading with this, or with alternate systems. I think it's a good value for $300 and six hours of my life, it's about the same amount of time and money I'd otherwise spend at the golf course + cart fees, cigars, drinks and dinner with the guys afterwards

And also probably the same number of F-bombs dropped when stuff didn't go well the first time around

 

Turns out while the website shows that based on the graphics of the COMAND unit I should have the NTG4.7, turns out it's the 4.5. I finally got it all set and installed but now I'm stuck again. I swear I'm usually better at these things.

I have my iPhone paired to the unit and it shows up in the paired devices under the main carplay icon, but it is NOT showing up as a CarPlay device to use. That subscreen is blank. I've made sure and I have the carlinklife connected under my carplay setting on my actual phone.

Any idea on how it have my phone show up on the car side carplay device?

I've reached out to their support too, who have been in touch and told me to change my toggle switch settings, even though I had just figured it out.

 

Got it all set! Took some figuring out to fill in the gaps of the instructions but it’s working great now. If anyone has questions I’ll be happy to help as much as I can. Great update to the car.

 

I finally got it all put together. Whew, what a hassle! CarPlay shows up, it shows the video from my phone, but I didn’t have sound. I get sound from the regular radio, so I know the MOST cables are good.

I had sound from CarPlay for a minute, but I think it keeps losing the BT connection to my phone. I check my phone and it says it’s not connected to CarPlay. I’ll fiddle with it more tomorrow. It was getting cold and I needed to grab a beer and watch football.

 

I have the same issue you did. The phone is paired to the CarLink unit, but doesn't show up under paired devices. I can see the CarPlay video display from my phone on the screen, but cannot get any sound. Sound works fine when I go back to the normal Comand radio and Bluetooth audio.

What did you do to fix it? I feel like I'm close and the wires are all connected properly. I know there's no way I'm taking all that apart again!

 

Q: Unable to connect with wireless Carplay ?
A–make sure Carplay and wifi is turned on on the mobile phone
A-Clear the Bluetooth devices from the cars menu and the phone . Then pair and connect again
A-On the main menu select Wireless Dev , rest the Bluetooth then pair
A-Check and restore Mobile network on phone.
A-Check that the mobile phone Siri permissions are all turned on.
A–Check the wifi antenna is connected and not attached to Metal or the black box itself. (fit away from the black box)

 

I deleted all of the connections and pairings. Hit BT reset. Moved the wifi antenna away from the box.

After all that, I hit connect mobile device and paired my phone. It shows up as connected under Paired Device, but nothing shows up on the CarPlay Devices screen.

My phone connects to the black and white CarPlay screen (first pic). As soon as I pair my phone and it switches to the color CarPlay screen (see pic), the Bluetooth connection drops. Happens every time. The screen mirrors my phone, but I get no sound.

Could it be one of the dip switch settings, or would I get nothing at all if they were wrong?

 

Fixed it, thanks to help from Treehouse. The instructions say to connect it via the 'Aux' selection on the COMAND radio, but I only got sound by selecting Bluetooth Audio.

 

@Carlinklife, I am interested in this mod, are these still for sale? I checked on your site and I got a 404 error.

 

https://carlinklife.com/products/wir...40299070521421

Not sure if your car is NTG 4.0 or 4.5, but it looks like they still have it in stock.

 

Hi friend Contact us :support@carlinklife.com

 

Much appreciated! Email sent, let's follow up on there

Btw you might want to upgrade the URL on the OP while you're at it! That was my issue!

 

I have a 2014 NTG 4.7 with 360 camera. When I select reverse, does the unit switch to the MB Comand 360 camera view or does it show the reversing camera in the Carplay interface?

Are phone calls handled through carplay or MB Comand? Does it use the stock factory fitted microphone or does it use the iphone microphone?

 

I have the Road Top unit, which looks identical to the unit on the carlinklife webpage. With the MBWorld discount, carlinklife is certainly a better deal. That said, the camera automatically reverts to the COMAND version when activated, which is good. But the phone part gets a little tricky. It's more of the iPhone trying to figure out which Bluetooth device to use -- the COMAND or the CarPlay app. When I get a call, if the other party can't hear me, I switch to the COMAND connection on my phone. But it doesn't happen all the time. People who know me know not to hang up right away. It seems that the factory microphone is used either way.

 

Thanks for the reply. That's very helpful. So, is the iphone still connected to Comand via BT eventhough the display shows the carplay interface? When the call does come through Carplay, is the audio OK?
Thanks