Hi All,

So i was working on a different part of my car when i noticed that my Ed1 has no provision for the phone charger (currently it does not have one).

I know there is the "telematik" base module but anyone have a harness part #?

I would not recommend wasting time and money on trying to retrofit the OE wireless charger. It doesn't work very well. It's slow as molasses and pretty much doesn't work with newer phones at all. I have it in my 2019 C63S Coupe. It charged my iPhone XS, albeit very slowly, but it pretty much fails to charge my current iPhone 16 Pro. I think it's partly the interference from the MagSafe ring that's built into the phone, but also the air gap created by the protruding camera lenses. I had to toss out my charging pad I had at home as well as it didn't work with the iPhone 16 anymore, probably for the same reasons. Now that I can charge at 25W wirelessly with a MagSafe charger, all those 5W-7.5W charging pads feel like stone age. It's a little different for Android phones. While Apple made the MagSafe spec available and it's part of the Qi2 standard, the charging power is limited to max 15W with Qi2 and there are practically no Android phones with the magnets built in, so you have to use a case or stick on magnets for more optimal charging.

I usually don't charge my phone in the car, unless it's plugged in for CarPlay, but I would just get the MagSafe charging puck from Apple. Biggest problem with wireless charging is consistent placement and the phone moving around degrading the charging efficiency. MagSafe eliminates that as the charging coil gets aligned magnetically, so it's always in perfect alignment, not matter how much the phone moves.

Agreed with superswiss. To add, my 2020 has the wireless charging pad but since carplay is wired only, it gets charged from the cable. I keep the phone on the wireless pad but I do not remove the magnet "pop socket" I have on the case which prevents it from wireless charging anyways. I do recall from my C63 I had previously that if the wireless/NFC option is not installed there is an ashtray in its place and the carplay input is relocated to the center console storage, unsure if its the same in the E63 but I wonder if this makes the retrofit more difficult or complicated.

for the sake of this post though...

Ignore the slow charging and the carplay wiriing.

The harness, i had believed that it was part of the car but that is not true so when the dealer adds... it takes

The phone charger module (numerous modules)
harness.

Then the question becomes, where does the harness connect?

This might help. Part 600 and 610 perhaps. There are two different harnesses for each. I don't think it's a question of where it connects, but it's a complete replacement of the harness. With the wireless charger the 12V socket for example gets relocated below the glove compartment, so it's physically a different harness to wire up the center console.

https://mbparts.mbusa.com/v-2018-mer...wiring-harness

If you have a 115V socket, it's very conveniently located to reach a phone in the console storage box with a short cable. With my Samsung, there's nothing like the superfast charging from an AC powered charger. I only bother with it on road trips, but with wireless Android Auto it's great and much better than any 12V charger. And yes, charging through the NFC pad is useless.

So on going.. talk with the parts counter guy which was immensely helpful.

Even with straight access to WIS/Xentry online.. the harness is a pain in the *** to find so did not press him for more than 5 minutes and then told him to not worry for now.

So next inline.. is to open up my wifes 20 CLS and see if there is anything worth noting.

As stated above, the wireless phone charging pad almost totally useless. Although the bigger problem is that area is so tiny it's hard to pick up a large phone once it's dropped in there, much less do it repeatedly while driving.

More interesting would be find find a way to run a real 20W wireless charger with USB C power to that area and keep all the wires hidden.

As I mentioned, I use an AC charger on road trips. The cable fits fine through the split in the console box doors, so it's neat enough. For anything less than long drives, my phone charge is sufficient.

That said, if someone is looking for a project and they don't have the 115V power socket, I wonder if anyone has installed the little inverter and socket. Maybe most of us have the socket already, but that would be a worthwhile project if you don't, I would think.

Not that difficult

requires pulling the OEM wireless charger apart and doing some fancy soldering/desoldering... the bad part is you would lose the "charging" indicator on the screen.

with the 12v lighter/acc port there.. two wires and you are good. at 20w that is only a 1.7 Amp draw, well within the lighter amperage.

Another forum member mentioned magsafe might work as well.