Gents,

My 2014 E400 has nothing of a camera, not even reverse camera.
In 2015 E400, in my country, the E400 I believed got the 360 surround camera.

Anyway, I been reluctant to even upgrade to 10.x or 12.x inch Android screen, which best I must do if an aftermarket 360 degrees camera is what I want.

Today it seems to hacking into the car CAN BUS and extra video feed modules are at a good level, where a true plug and play can be achieved.
As with any aftermarket products, time is their friend. Dog eat dog world, copy-cat here and there.... between various manufacturer for who has the best compatibility and capability is
benefit for us as hardware is getting cheaper today actually, than say 5-8 years ago when it was more challenging.

These 3 videos of which 2 is not in English, shows how good the add-on is sync well to the car.
From reverse gear signal, turn signal, steering angle signal and whatnot are read well by these aftermarket product, where they can mimic OE seamless operation.

In English - year 2021


In Indonesian - year 2024


In Malaysian broken Malay & english hybrid lol - year 2023


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This is DIY doing the same in year 2021.

His unit has no proper CAN BUS sniffer capability I think, as such the camera must be manually operated.


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A good setting explanation from a seller in China, this is good info if you want to DIY as I believe most Android unit is the same.


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In my country, I have not check yet but I am sure fully installed + the harware ....like the video from the Indonesian installer,
it won't be more than US$1,400.
This one is hardware + surely including installation price, only US$800 https://eurozone.id/product/mercedes...nit-2012-2015/
So US$600 spare budget for the 4 extra cameras + video feed decoders yada yada is way more than enough, so U$1,400 make sense.


I will not DIY this job, too much plastics I will guarantee to break them


If I pull the trigger on this, I will then also install a starvis 1 or starvis 2 sony sensor based rear facing dashcam, thus the wire run can be done together with the 360*cam rear camera.
It will be a standalone single channel dashcam and not 2 channel one. I already have a front facing dashcam with starvis 2 sony sensor and I like when two system are separated, reducing risk of
failure and having 2 separate memory cards is good.


I just think its a good time this 2024 to share my thoughts to you guys on compatibility maturity & decent pricing of these add-on systems.

 

I have a dashcam in both my cars since I don't want any he-said-she-said arguments should someone hit me. (I did capture some road rage that ended in a car flipping and people hurt, though I was not involved. I've posted the video elsewhere.) I say a dashcam is essential nowadays. WRT a camera, I rarely use my backup camera to back up. I rely more on the side mirrors, but I will check to make sure no one is behind me. I also have Parktronic in my SL which alerts me to obstacles when I get too close. Of course, my driving environment is totally different from yours.

Good luck with your next project.

 

May i ask which dashcam you got?; Hidden within the overhead control panel? I have been thinking about those for the E and ML

 

I don't really trust the parking sensor for its recognition of small object or odd shape object, mostly the rear ones.
If I depart my house while reversing, the amount of azz-holes motorbike NOT wanting to stop albeit I have occupied the lane is simply mind boggling.
Camera helped here to see incoming azz-holes bikes at least at 140 degrees view.

This is common bike behaviour, the car is reversing into his house, which so happened to be located on a crowded street.
In front of these houses are actually walkway for pedestrian, approx 1.2 meters wide and is also the cover for the drainage of that road.
No curb on the pedestrian walkway, usually there is one approx 20cm tall. Since there is no curb, the bike easily taken the
pedestrian walkway ... dumb-azz.



Its easy to see why my country progress very slow, because if you see the numbers of bike riders being this stupid.... is PLENTY.
It goes to show lack of discipline and zero logic these bike riders are...in abundance.

 

I use 10” android head unit on mine, as I’m afraid the 12” one will be too big and blocking some of the view. Primarily I want the apple carplay and reverse camera. There’s a module which still use the stock monitor but the price difference is very minor compared to using the android head unit. Suprisingly there is steering / line angle marker following the steering wheel. I did not expect that. Canbus info such as rpm, speed, seatbelt, which door is open also there. Even display climate controls overlays when you adjust climate controls (my stock head unit does not do this)

However, I haven’t install 360 camera. I need to improve my emissions first! hahahaha. There’s another local seller with better price than eurozone, called bmw garage. Last time they ask 360 addon for less than 500 USD.

 

360 camera is very well worth it . I highly recommend it . Rear camera itself is a very good assistant when you need . It must be clean though lol . Rear camera has the ability to demonstrate some areas which you would not see the when you back up or look at the rear window .I didn't know that but tested and I can verify that .Besides that , those systems give you the ability to have a touch display as well. Don't get me wrong , I love Command knob and lots of buttons on the console but having a touchscreen is very handy and useful too .

 

Good to know, thanks.
10inch seems good, agree. 12" may be a sore eye

So how long have you got your Android and where was it installed ?
I am very picky when someone mess/play with my car wiring, and how they route it and keep wire silent from rubbing againts X Y Z.
But me fingers are very bad with interior plastic work , me very un-delicate. I hate plastic clips.

 

Surya, maybe a Camry is in your future.

 

My 2023 low cost 7 seater 1.5L Toyota in Bali has 360 degrees camera ..... only US$20K brand new, on the road , tax fully paid.
BUT...it does not have a dedicated engine coolant temperature gauge

 

I'm sure you can add one.

 

its about a year or so. so far so good. the cables for the head unit itself is socket to socket, plug and play. The rear camera however they route new one. It's a home service, you tell the installer where your car is and they come to the address . Tell them to install all the antenna, including the 4G one. It does work when inserting "3" simcard on it.

It does show an error tho in xentry/launch, communication error with original display (original display is uninstalled and put new screen). You can see still the original UI thru the new screen albeit its al ittle bit pixellated as the new screen has higher resolution screen.

 

Home service sounds good, so I can help and watch them work and I have all the proper torx tools and lots of interior plastic prying tools .
Is this them ? https://www.tokopedia.com/bmwgarageco
Thanks my man.

BTW, when was your HVAC works, for R134a fill confirmation ? Typical r134a natural leak at the compressor seal would be 8 grams a year.
Your car would be very much probably 590 grams factory fill level, I hope the refrigerant data sticker is still there at engine bay.

 

yup that's the one. I choose them because they have better price than the other one I think they both sell the same thing.

I haven't touch HVAC system, since they are working fine so far. The only thing I did related to HVAC only cabin filter replacement. Will check the sticker tomorrow. Should I refill the R134a?

 

This has been covered in other threads, but the easiest way to tell if you have a refrigerant loss problem is to scan the A/C controller for DTCs. The next easiest way is to use pressure gauges differential to diagnose if you are low, high, or just right with refrigerant. Lastly, you can have the A/C system professionally evacuated and weighed. But, if you are low on refrigerant, the next challenge is to locate the leak. I had a very slow leak on my 2000 Ford F150 truck and every Spring I would have to "top off" my refrigerant. I discovered that one of the Schrader valves in the refrigerant lines was bad.

This video is about home air conditioners. However, search on YouTube or the internet for how to check levels using gauges.

 

 

Yes, you should verify the R134A fill level because of the natural leak at the seal.
Low refrigerant level will kill AC compressor, because R134A at proper fill level is the carrier of the compressor oil to circulate within the system.
If your compressor lacks of r134A, it will also lacks of compressor oil, because most of the compressor oil will get "stuck" at the EVAP and the compressor
will get black death over time. At EVAP is where liquid R134A becomes gas state. If the R134A fill is not proper, there is not enough refrigerant mass to carry the
compressor oil in the gas form of R134A.

Watch this video with animation :

.

Compressor black death will also kill fiter drier, condenser and EVAP and TX valve ( basically 100% of your HVAC system ), because those fine metal debris can never be cleaned
out by flushing due to the fine micro channels used on EVAP and Condenser. It will be Rp20+ mil job and your beloved dashboard will need to be removed.

However, I will not allow any HVAC workshop to touch my car, because they can not and will not dry my HVAC system to the level I wanted.
I also do not trust their RRR machine, which to date none of them paid for a refrigerant identifier system, which is US$4,000 approx stand alone for a premium unit,
while their RRR machine is only US$5K to US$7K, depending on brand and classification , single or dual gas.
RRR means : Recovers, Recycles, evacuates, leak tests and Recharges R-134a vehicle systems quickly and accurately.

By RRR and without refrigerant identifier system, if the last car they did have fake refrigerant, we next car will get a portion of it to.
Remember, none of the refrigerant is wasted in an RRR system, it is collected and re-injected to your car.
The RRR machine usually starts with new virgin R134A at say 5 KG and later RRR many cars.

Hence I DIY it and spent a great deals on the tools because I see potential Uncle Murphy at play.
I then get new toys to play with and can do HVAC for my close friends too.....which Idid.

This is my own DIY below, after this I done many cars of good friends and have invested much more on tools and one superb vacuum hose.
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ication-2.html

Total I done RRR on my car 3 times now as I get better tools/gear... it gets better and better, while I gained more knowledge.
FYI, no HVAC shop will vacuum down your system to true 400 microns or lower, their system can not do it and no one will pay for such long vacuum session.

Daikin wants their new comissioned system to be as dry as 250 microns, that is some proper reference we can use.






My friend's W204 of 2010 was purchased in 2012, by 2016 the compressor experience black death and the repair is basically almost everything :
compressor + evap + TXV + condenser and hoses. Rp23jt at that time or Rp14,000 per 1 USD = US$1,642 equivalent.
I did RRR for him this year and he was short of 90 grams R134a : https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ter-valve.html
He is lucky, I already got my super vacuum hose from USA when I did his car, hence I can do 221 honest microns in 9 hours of vacuuming.


One good thing for M272, I seen it has heater core coolant stop valve like M271.8 EVO engine.
That means your HVAC is cooler than E400 with M276.8

 

This thread proves you can never (or should never) judge a book by its cover or a discussion by its title.

 

@S-Prihadi 🤯🤯🤯 so no hvac shop able to do this properly in Jakarta 🥲 man my diy skills is quite bad (spoiled by cheap labor &#129760 . I thought its just simple refill/topup.

After getting my LTFT closer to 0 % I will check on this 😂

 

I can't agree more than this , what's R134 doing here
However, I like to see technical discussions as well

 

sorry..... it just pops out, since Tesna car is 14 years old.

 

Best bet is to call and ask if they now have refrigerant indentifier and a micron gauge.
There could be some perfectionist shop.

I last called this company , in 2022 , because they sell good RRR machine brand called TEXA which MB also uses : https://www.midia.co.id/product?id_subkat=17&divid=3
I ask them for who own the latest RRR and if they also sell the refrigerant indentifier along with the RRR machine ? They said NO one bought the identifier yet, but it was 2 years ago.
This is a simpler refrigerant identifier for the TEXA, but it will work https://www.tokopedia.com/midiatek/a...identifier-kit
Only US$2K for the TEXA refrigerant identifier, but again TEXA single gas RRR machine is only US$4.5K.... that is why HVAC shop owner would be reluctant to buy.

https://www.texa.com/wp-content/uplo...n-GB_DEX03.pdf

Basically a simple YES or NO kind of indentifier.


This is a good professional stand alone refrigerant indentifier, but more expensive..... it shows all the gases and including air. New version.




Older indentifier version of above video
This one is a systen with crazy 16% air, meaning it probably never been vacuumed properly.
Dont get confused if you add all values and is above 100%. Separate the air, as a stand alone reading and all other gases are the 100% total.



One important tip. DO NOT ever ever buy refrigerant with sealant like this one :
https://www.acprocold.com/product/ac...top-leak-12oz/
or similar
https://www.tokopedia.com/xtinepedia...dengan-adaptor


It will kill your HVAC system in the long run and also the RRR machine of the shop.
The shop will need sealant detect kit ... Duggghhhhh
https://id.msasafety.com/Refrigerant...tect?locale=en

Its a big problem for RRR machine owners and including authorized dealers, car manufacturers like Lexus even produce TSB to address this stupid sealant thingy
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...42501-9999.pdf