I've begun to look at the wiring. To clear up a few questions, I had a chat with Spiral Audio. As I understand it, it's pretty darned easy to connect. The only wire that needs to be attached to the car is the yellow constant power wire. All the others connect to the HU or plug into the factory connections.

I ordered a USB/AUX flush mount outlet. Unfortunately, there was no US stock so it's on a slow boat from China. Alleged arrival is early March.

 

Wiring harness done. Nice and tidy as I can do.

Also a photo of my old girl in the mad scientist laboratory. Radical rides are therein created.

 

More progress. The factory radio support was in need of TLC. I also had to build part of it up to support the adapter assembly. This thing is going to fit like a glove. An install shop would have never taken the time to hand fit and repair. JB Weld Steel Stick is a wonderful repair item.

I have the wiring for the satellite radio and backup camera run and the main power supply is run as well. I still have to run the front camera wire. I also bought an adapter so that the head unit will connect to the original GPS antenna. The flush mount plugs have cleared customs and should be here soon.


You can see how damaged the radio support was.

There's a small indentation that I had to build up so there were no gaps.

The washers take up enough space so that the radio will sit on them and not be supported by screws and mended plastic.

 

So I really didn't want to put a GPS antenna on my dash and since the car has one already in it, I got to looking. The Kenwood HU has a square plug and the car a round blue one. (Or I hope it's the blue plug.) I found this PAC adapter on Ebay. Supposedly it's to fit a Kenwood into an early 2000s Chrysler. And since Chrysler owned MB back in the day, I gambled $19 that it would fit. And it DID!

 

How I spent my yesterday. The USB/Aux port took just 12 days to get to Ohio from China.

I also have the wire from the front camera fished through. Since the power should be switched, I have a cool plan working on the switch placement. Stay tuned.....

 

So one of my innovations is the switch for the front camera. I was originally going to have it powered all the time but was advised against that. I really didn't want to just put a random switch somewhere, so I got to looking. The console has several switch blanks. The ones to the right of the shifter seemed easy to access. I dug in and came up with this solution. That's a small momentary switch fashioned into the switch housing. Took a bit of drilling and gluing but damned if it didn't work out well.

 

Brilliant. So have you been able to make that blank cover movable? Does the momentary switch trigger a relais?

 

The blank cover can be made moveable by trimming some plastic from the underside of it. Just compare it to the one that does move and you can see how to modify it. The momentary switch powers the front camera. I decided to use a momentary switch because I know that I would forget to turn it off and it only needs to be on long enough to park the car.

 

Did you consider a timer? Would't be bad having two hands at the wheel/shifter...

 

The front camera will only be used when pulling into a parking space. Just so I don't hit the curb.

 

So it's all in. Cameras work, Android Auto works, steering wheel controls work. I still have to check the Sirius radio but it's too muddy to take the car out. There's no radio reception at all and there's a buzzing when it's turned off. I'm hoping that the buzz will be cleared up with a good ground and the radio reception from hooking up the power boost for the antenna. Spiral Audio tech said not to hook it up. I think that was wrong.

I absolutely LOVE the map function from AA. That alone was almost worth the trouble. The Harmon Kardon amp still sounds fantastic. So far, so good. It's so nice having a user friendly, up to date head unit.

 

Thought I'd give a final wrap up report.

The above mentioned buzz was actually a product of a poor design in the supplied wiring harness. As it comes, the amplifier is switched on by ACC power. Spiral Audio tech support walked me through a trouble shooting session only to discover that the amplifier has to be turned on by the amplifier wire out of the head unit. Kudos to Spiral Audio tech support. They helped me with a few items BUT the harness that they sell is NOT plug and play for a 2009 SL63.

That brings up the other issue. The adapter plate that comes with the kit does is not a direct fit into a 2009 SL63. Probably not any 2009+ R230. I had to clip and trim and fabricate quite a bit to get a good, sturdy installation. I"m going to double check with them tomorrow that I got the correct part but I believe I did.

All in all I'd rate this installation an 9 out of 10 on the difficulty scale. Just for reference, I've been building cars and motorcycles for over 45 years. Not as a job, just a constant hobby. This job was not an easy installation. Anyway, I believe it's all done and running now as well as I can make it. Definitely an improvement.

 

I yanked out my entire Command system a few years ago because I couldn't find any aftermarket band aids to satisfy my Hifi OCD. I bit the bullet and installed an Alpine Halo head unit w/ Alpine amps Focal and Morel drivers. I installed the system myself but, it took me two months of weekend and lots of cussing to get int done. My system now rivals the $4,500 Burmester system in my buddy's AMG GT-R. I installed high end systems back in the 90's so this wasn't difficult but, definitely had to do a lot of fabrication and innovation to get it working seamlessly. I was able to marvel at the amazing engineering of my SL55 under all that carpet and sound deadening panels.

I utilized OEM speaker locations except for the rear panel where I installed Morel mids and tweets to get more "fill" than the tiny OEM speakers back there. I have two subs, using the OEM sub in the passenger foot well and a 10 inch sub in the spare tire area. The fidelity is amazing and is tuned to my taste of "adult" music. The components cost about that same as a small car but, you only live once right?

 

The final product in all it's glory. The add on Sirius receiver doesn't sound near as good as the USB music so I'll probably tuck it's wires back in the dash. Looks cleaner, too.

 

That is an excellent under dash approach! It ought to be included in WIS.

 

If you are 50 years old or over, I don't recommend this position very long. My back ached and had vertigo for an hour after! Ah what joy it was when we were young!

 

 

Thanks for this! I have 3 switches (ugly old school ones for my camera hidden behind my floating screen. I will remove those this weekend and use my blank buttons on the dash! I own you a case of German Beer sir! Thank you.