When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
W211 With Factory Fiber-optic AMP installing aftermarket head unit
Hi I have a 2006 E-350 4matic. I bought a non-named 7.1 android head unit from amazon. It was supposed to be plug and play. When I got the unit it came with 3 sets of wire harnesses to install with. After removing my factory head unit I found the connection to be a pair of fiber optic cables and 4 wire pin connection in a single plug. None of the wire harnesses that came with the new head unit come close to matching the wire/fiber-optic connection I had with my factory head unit. I have e-mailed the new head unit manufacturer at least 5 times asking for assistance in wiring up the unit, but the four of five word answers they give are of no help. Has anyone out there wired up one of these aftermarket units before?
Hello all
trying to do what Busflier did. I connected everything as advised to an Erisin unit. Checked voltages with meter. Nothing works. So I have a simple troubleshooting question. With nothing connected if I connect 12v to the yellow and ground cable of my new head unit I should be able to turn it on, CORRECT?
Cos this thing doesn't even turn on. So I don't wanna spend time fixing a defective aftermarket unit.
an additional question would be, can I plug my phone using a headphone to rca Jack into the decoder box and expect the speakers to sing? Yup I've got all the dumb questions.
Someone please answer.
Thanks
Last edited by Kskanna; 01-18-2020 at 09:25 PM.
Reason: Car info
Connect 12v to ignition wire of radio with a good ground and it should turn on. For diag purposes. I used an rca to fiber converter in my 08 retaining factory amp/gateway and it sounds much better than stock. Use your Bluetooth phone abilities with your new radio for calls...
I have returned everything. My 2 cents:
1. A new head unit should be checked with s 12v battery prior to any attempt at install. My unit was not powering up when positive, ground and ACC/CAN-L lines were connected.
2. Fiber optic decoder boxes are notoriously unreliable.
3. The correct way to do this is to get an aftermarket amp and connect directly to speakers and eliminate the failing fiber system.
4. A good idea of the speaker wire color coding is needed.
Has anyone tried the head units from AVINUSA.com? Alot of us from the X164 forum used their unit, and those of use with the Harmon Kardon had to use the MOST fiber optic decoder and it works as it's supposed to.
Has anyone tried the head units from AVINUSA.com? Alot of us from the X164 forum used their unit, and those of use with the Harmon Kardon had to use the MOST fiber optic decoder and it works as it's supposed to.
the fiber optic decoders I have seen available so far have only 2 analog inputs, so what happens to the left and right rear channels and the sub channel and the center channel? I read somewhere that the Harmon Kardon amp actually has 8 audio channels.
Hi I have a 2006 E-350 4matic. I bought a non-named 7.1 android head unit from amazon. It was supposed to be plug and play. When I got the unit it came with 3 sets of wire harnesses to install with. After removing my factory head unit I found the connection to be a pair of fiber optic cables and 4 wire pin connection in a single plug. None of the wire harnesses that came with the new head unit come close to matching the wire/fiber-optic connection I had with my factory head unit. I have e-mailed the new head unit manufacturer at least 5 times asking for assistance in wiring up the unit, but the four of five word answers they give are of no help. Has anyone out there wired up one of these aftermarket units before?
Yeah, it is not all that simple because the unit you have is non fiber so you will first need to obtain an xtronics fiber optic converter box which is then very simple to install and you will have to connect it to the the fiber connector (the one that is not four pins,) then I can guide you on how to connect the rest but it will require splicing and tying wires. The box that you purchase will come with attachments that will make more sense to you because it will match some of the ones on your purchased unit.
Yes, you can jump the power from the lighter connector, since no one uses those anymore anyway. It is 12V and will power the Unit but you must use your meter to check which are the power wires if they are not clearly marked and for this you will use resistance (ohms) and check for continuity no continuity will provide infinite resistance, while any value means that there is continuity.
If you use Carplay and Android Auto in Aftermarket Android Head Unit, you can choose Carlinkit Autokit. It's specially made for Android head units, which is suitable for model system versions above Android 4.4+.
I need help I know this is old I installed new xtrons and ran new speakers and new apps why everthing works why would unit reboot when driving
Aftermarket headunit? New Amplifier? Confused what you need help with please add more info about the problem. If your unit is rebooting when driving it could be caused by loose power/ground wiring. If it is boot looping, it could be because you wired into the MOST wakeup line (pink wire) by accident and the stock amp is doing a wakeup call because there are missing components.
If you use Carplay and Android Auto in Aftermarket Android Head Unit, you can choose Carlinkit Autokit. It's specially made for Android head units, which is suitable for model system versions above Android 4.4+.
It can convert your wired carplay to wireless. It supports wired&wireless carplay, and wired Android Auto. Just Plug and Play.
If you are interested in this product, don't forget to use the discount code "MBF" to get 18% off.
If you have an Android Headunit this is the best possible purchase you can make. I bought one of these for $50 and it works great. Full apple carplay support. Run your audio through bluetooth on the car, and run the display through the carlinkit that way if the carplay app crashes or has bugs you still have audio. Any problems you have usually are resolved by replugging the unit or turning car off and back on.
Yeah, it is not all that simple because the unit you have is non fiber so you will first need to obtain an xtronics fiber optic converter box which is then very simple to install and you will have to connect it to the the fiber connector (the one that is not four pins,) then I can guide you on how to connect the rest but it will require splicing and tying wires. The box that you purchase will come with attachments that will make more sense to you because it will match some of the ones on your purchased unit.
yes I did have fiber convertor and worked good till I smoked all speakers because had it to loud. So I redid whole system and ripped out all fiber optic.
the fiber optic decoders I have seen available so far have only 2 analog inputs, so what happens to the left and right rear channels and the sub channel and the center channel? I read somewhere that the Harmon Kardon amp actually has 8 audio channels.
bend over lolthats what happens only front no fade to rear pull it out start from scratch trust me
Yeah, I did a full write up on it over at Benz world. I didn’t mind losing rear/forward fade control.
as far as CANBUS stuff goes, I hard wired most of the important inputs to bypass the CANBUS decoder box cause it felt cheaply made.
i wired the dimming wire to the light wire from the cig lighter, and the red ACC signal to the power line for cig lighter. I also hard wired the reverse line in with my backup cam that turns on with the reverse lights. I have the CANBUS box installed, but it pretty much only is there for steering wheel controls and some other stuff like showing what doors of the car are open on the screen.
Here is the link to the post I made about my install. If you're still having problems getting stuff to work, the wiring diagram should help. Just ignore the FO decoder and RCA/Fiber lines and replace them with the wiring that you did to run back to your new amplifier and speakers.