Broken CD Changer Optic Lead

[davidjbarber281]

Hi All, can someone please advise me on how I may solve this issue, I have read lots of threads but I am going to be honest electrical issues are not my area, what happened simply is I have broken one of the fibre optic leads that go directly into my CD Changer, the changer has been working on and off so had it out few times, however on this occasion I have pulled the optic cable out and its broken, regardless how many times I have tried it just wont work and the knock on effect is I have lost my radio and cd so having to drive around with just my brain to keep my happy and after 30 seconds its driving me mad, I didnt realise how much you miss music in my car. I have 2007 CLK and as I am a techno fobe thats it CD changer, Radio & Single slot CD so how the hell do I fix this problem, is it possible to have the radio working without the cd changer plugged in, please HELP

 

[andy27168]

Hi,
Why don't you just repair/replace the fibre optic?
Has the fibre optic completely snapped? or just snapped inside the outer cable sheath?
They can be repaired, have a look on u-tube for fibre optic repair.
Also try looking on e-bay for Mercedes fibre optic.
To take the CD Changer out of circuit you can buy a fibre optic bypass plug, which also show up in the e-bay search above.

 

[davidjbarber281]

Hi,
Why don't you just repair/replace the fibre optic?
Has the fibre optic completely snapped? or just snapped inside the outer cable sheath?
They can be repaired, have a look on u-tube for fibre optic repair.
Also try looking on e-bay for Mercedes fibre optic.
To take the CD Changer out of circuit you can buy a fibre optic bypass plug, which also show up in the e-bay search above.

Thanks I will have a look now

 

[Jigglyjohnson]

Hi 2 things u can do either get in touch with your local dealer and get a new optic cant see it being that expensive or get to an indy who can re code the unit so it doesn't think u have a CD changer as at the moment the radio is programmed to look for certain unit hence CD changer and if it doesn't get a response it shuts down the system

Regards

 

[Blobsta]

I don't think this idea will be very successful as the fibre optic is a loop through all devices and if it's broken you won't get a response back from the amplifier either. Happy to be corrected of course.

I don't know for sure on the Mercedes but on a BMW I had there was a join behind the glovebox where you could connect a changer/iPod interface etc. If you can find the same thing by following the fibre cable back you may be able to remove the part that you have broken and join them together there. I'll have a look to see if I have some pictures of the BMW one somewhere to try and guide you as to what you are looking for if you want.

 

[davidjbarber281]

I don't think this idea will be very successful as the fibre optic is a loop through all devices and if it's broken you won't get a response back from the amplifier either. Happy to be corrected of course.

I don't know for sure on the Mercedes but on a BMW I had there was a join behind the glovebox where you could connect a changer/iPod interface etc. If you can find the same thing by following the fibre cable back you may be able to remove the part that you have broken and join them together there. I'll have a look to see if I have some pictures of the BMW one somewhere to try and guide you as to what you are looking for if you want.

Thanks for that, ive touched both ends together and the radio comes straight on so now I am looking into how you can connect them as its not straight forward being a fibre optic so any advise will be very welcome.

 

[andy27168]

Hi,
You can splice the broken fibre optic cable together simply using a rubber sleeve.
See the utube video below

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[andy27168]

If you want to bypass the unit using a fibre optic bypass loop then this relies on the fibre optic cabling to it being ok.
The bypass loop just completes the car's fibre optic loop which runs from each piece of kit (Radio, Nav processor, voice control, telephone, TV etc.) when you remove the faulty unit.
If the car's fibre loop is open (or in youre case a broken fibre optic cable) the whole system shuts down.
The utube video below will explain it better

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[richard]

If your car has only CDC (i.e no phone and no Harmon Kardon and no voice recognition) then you can order a new pair of fibres and just install them. If it has more options lets hope you broke the fibre between the COMAND and the CDC as you can buy that, the other one goes down the car to the back.

Richard

 

[Blobsta]

Hi,
You can splice the broken fibre optic cable together simply using a rubber sleeve.

I wonder if a bit of heat shrink sleeving would be better than rubber hose for a quick and dirty fix until you can obtain the parts to do a nice job of it? Good to know it's not a bit problem by the look of it.

 

[davidjbarber281]

I have managed to splice the optics together which gives me the radio & CD back for now, called Mercedes Newcastle and the parts man could not see the part I needed even given the chassis number and was suggesting I buy the full wiring loom at £241 + VAT, talk about clueless, he said "I will call you back if I can fine what you mean" its an Optic lead from the head unit to the CD changer how hard can it be, its clearly to hard for this guy. So now I am trying to find a new optic lead so any advise once again would be helpful guys.

 

[andy27168]

I am not sure what the heat rating of the fibre optic cable is but I would certainly try it, though it would have to be very small diameter heat shrink (pre-shrunk) I am not sure whether even shrunk down it would hold it tight enough.
I personally would use rubber vac pipe, longer length than he used in the utube video and possibly splint it with a couple of cocktail sticks or the like (depending on how stiff the vac pipe is) and insulation tape to keep it straight, and maybe a dab of super glue under the vac pipe at each end of it to keep the fibre ends butting up close together.
I have 4-5 lengths of MB Fibre cable (with ends on) and I have a couple of unused metal ends for it, and want to try to shorten a couple for my Linguatronic retro fit in my CLS 219, but I believe there is some specific heat/crimping process which requires a specialist tool set to do it, so I maybe adopting the vacuum pipe jointing method above once I have it all working.

 

[andy27168]

I have been trying to buy individual fibre optic cabling from MB and I havent been able to find individual cables in the EPC though I am pretty sure MB do them somewhere though I would expect that they would classed as repair parts and you would have to specify a specific length from a specific selection.
My dealers solution was to order a new loom, which in my case was just for the rear of the car and was only £65ish but I have been waiting for nearly two months for it.
You can buy fibre optic cables with various connectors and lengths on E-Bay.
Do you know how long the snapped fibre is?