Pieter Schepers

I recently bought an E55 wagon in Germany witch was originally produced for the Japanese market. I decided to change the comand with a unit from Xtrons since it retains the OEM look. The unit comes with 3 different looms but my car is wired in a different way, something unique for the Japanese market. So my only option is wiring everything myself .

Connecting the 12 volts is not a problem, and the steering wheel controls work with can bus. But I have no idea how the information from the radio is send back to the instrument cluster. Does this also work with the can bus module or is it wired in a different way?

If I can't get the stock HK amplifier to work I will simply replace it with a wired one, so I'm not worried about that at this point.

If I can't get the instrument cluster to work is it possible to deactivate those screens with the star software from Mercedes Benz?


Pieter

Z_de_Suisse

Hi Pieter,

Same question than me, not much success at the time I'm still using my Japanse unit

Pieter Schepers

I have the same unit and mine has got to go since we use different radio frequencies and i have no navigation and aux in.

My car is a mess at the moment, so I want to resolve this asap. The worst case scenario is building a stand-alone system and trying to disable the screens in the instrument cluster.

shardul

iTrader: (1)

Japanese spec E55 are wired very differently.

Pieter Schepers

At this point I got the Xtrons unit to work in my car with the original AGW, however the can bus communication does not function. So I think my only option is to try to built my own interface. If anybody want to know how to install the unit, just ask and I will explain what you need to do.





Maps



Spotify

tw2

I have a Japanese Import so same problem. My case is simpler than most though as I don't want navigation etc, just a USB port. I don't even care about bluetooth. Anyway I decided I would try the AVIN MOST interface connector and see if this works with the JDM harmon kardon.




Hopefully everything I need. I have used the metra axxess ASWC-1 before and they are great.



Fibre optic connector. I have no idea if these are the CAN wires (pink and red/green)?



No idea what any of these are.



Two grounds and a live 12V?




I have installed my last two AMG's but this one is something else. I didn't know JDM was different and was expecting the one plug only at the back. The local car audio guys do heaps of MB's and seem pretty confident but they have never used the AVIN adapter. Will let you know how it goes.

Pieter Schepers

I used the chinese version of the Avin Most interface and it works great, so there is no reason it should not work on your car. You can unplug the fiber optic plug from the connector and plug it in the Avin. Remember the Avin needs a constant 12V suply.

The connector with 3 wires gives you 12V. When working on the car unplug fuse 28 on the side of the dash (5 Amps).

The green connector with gps antenne has a brown and a brown/red wire, those are the can bus wires.

I still need a fakra extension cord to connect the antenna from the trunk back to the unit. That's the reason I still have to mount my unit correctly.

Let me know how the steering wheel interface works out.

Pieter

tw2

Thank you very much for your help. I have got the head unit turning on and wired the AVIN and ASWC for power and ground. Unfortunately I don't have any sound.



I only have brown and brown/white. Do you think these might be the canbus wires?




The other side.




I couldn't find a neat way to do this so I simply cut into it for 12V and ground. The red wire below is from the cigarette lighter for +12 with ignition on.




Thanks I unclipped the fibre optic cable and plugged it straight into the AVIN. You can see the fibre optic loop in the lower left corner. This is to bypass the CD changer which I plan on removing sometime, this should work fine right?




And finally, either the headunit is not emitting sound or the AVIN is not working. It is definitely wired up to 12V constant and ground. The fibre optic can only go in one way. I am stumped.

tw2

I got it working! I got my computer amplifier and headphones and confirmed the RCA outs from the headunit are working correctly. Still no sound from the car though. Both sets of fibre optic have red lights when the ignition is on.

I swapped the fibre cables around which solved the problem. Instead of using the headunit ones, I used the CD changer ones in the AVIN unit and chucked the fibre loop on the head unit set. Success, it sounds absolutely awesome. The only challenge left is finding the correct CANBUS wires for steering wheel controls.... and somehow putting all this stuff back into the dash too.

Pieter Schepers

You can use the two wires wires in the green connector brown (can L) and brown/red (can H). Or use the terminal under the glove box.

tw2

I don't have a brown/red but I do have a brown/white on that green connector. Do you think this could be can H? Maybe I will have to try it tomorrow and see what happens.

Pieter Schepers

Strange, I have the schematics of the JDM E55 and as far as I know there should be can bus, mine has it. What year is yours, mine was produced in 11/2003.

There are 2 other locations where you can find the can bus wires.

If you unscrew the panel under the glove compartiment you will find a can bus hub just next to the center console. It is there in my car.

There is another location at the drivers feet. I haven't checked that one, so JDM cars may not have it.

Here you will find some pics:

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/audi...anbus-hub.html

Good luck

tw2

Under the glove box.




Unfortunately I cannot see any wires that match those behind the head unit so I guess it would be best to take the CAN signal from here? They are mostly brown and brown red but one set is brown and brown/yellow.

Last question I hope, how do you actually tap into them? Do I pick a random set of brown/brown-red wires and splice into them? Or do I need to somehow connect into the pins inside this plastic box they clip into?

More success- the axxess ASWC-1 does not have the E-class listed for specific instructions (no surprise here). But I found in their application table that every mercedes uses the pink/blue-pink wires on the metra harness which makes it easy and it should automatically detect the car. Once I finish this, I will do a full writeup with the dozens of pictures I have taken.

Pieter Schepers

You can pick any wire you want since it is a bus.





I just took of some insulation and soldered my wires on to them. I didn't saw any brown/yellow cables on my car but I didn't look closely. I just used the terminal to find the can bus wires in the comand with an ohm meter.

tw2

Finally finished, I have wired the ASWC-1 in and it works perfectly. I used the CANBUS under the glove box. I bought a CANBUS with wires from a wrecker and just used one of the plugs from that to plug into my CANBUS (no cutting or splicing required).

It detected the car perfectly, the headunit correctly and I programmed it to my specifications, vol up/down and I use the telephone answer/hangup for next/previous track since there is no longer a phone. I will do a full writeup at some point if it will help someone.

Pieter Schepers

Thx for the update, It's good to know there is an easy solution :p

tw2

No problem. I did a bit of a write up here https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...re-optics.html

sbpido

Hi TW2,
I am fascinated by your success in getting this to work. I am in the middle of my install, but cannot figure out how to get the canbus unit that came with the HU to work. If I go the Metrra ASWC way,can you confirm that track information is retained on the MFD?
Cheers!
Pido

sbpido

Hi,
I hit the same challenge with my installation. My canbus simply does not seem to work. Were finally able to get SWC? I am kinda stuck.
sbpido

tw2

The ASWC works really well. It was quite easy to set up but I have used it in 3 of my AMG's now. You can program it in many different ways but I have never had the track or any information show up in the instrument cluster screen. 3 different cars and 3 different head units and all it says is "audio". There might be a way to do it but I am not sure how.

sbpido

Thanks a lot. This is very helpful. How about when you flip radio stations? Does it just say audio, too?

tw2

I haven't actually hooked up the antenna but I am fairly confident it will not show up radio on the dash display either. I just use USB on mine.

sam78

Hello everybody
I'm new here in the forum and are already in front of my first problem.
I bought a W211 E55 from Japan and wanted to exchange the Japanese Comand for this one.
http://www.ebay.de/itm/PA77M211P-Aut...72.m2749.l2649
and therefore urgently need help.
I have to translate everything through Google because my English is very bad.

tw2

Is there any particular part that you are struggling with? There is a lot of information here.

sam78

Hello
no i need complete help,
which parts do I need for the conversion?
The connections of the Japan Comand is different.
best of all a installation manual I do not know where to start.
Thank you