CLS W219 DAB on a Budget!

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sgreen516

New Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2014
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10
Car
CLS 320 CDI W219
Hi all

I've had a good trawl through the site and have found some general information but nothing specific to my actual questions!

I am contemplating upgrading my head unit on my 2008 CLS W219 to the NTG 2.5 (I have managed to buy one of these at a seemingly reasonable 100 odd pound) of course I did not realise that I needed a separate additional loom that is going to cost at least another £150. But this is still not extravagant to upgrade the head to one that has the Bluetooth built in. My viseoo unit is on the verge of dying and a replacement for this is at least the price of the head unit.

So while I am at this it seems like a good time to add DAB. Now I know this can be done with the in2Digi kit but this is going to be at least another £300. Used OEM DAB modules can now be had for £50 upwards so my questions are as follows:

  • how do I work out which DAB module is suitable for my head unit?
  • has anyone tried this retrofit
  • Is the in2Digi DAB+ worth an extra £250

Of course if any of the Sages on this site have any detailed advice on this topic I would be very grateful for your expertise

thanks in advance

 
Welcome 🙂

You could do worse than to contact the lads at Comand Online. [email protected].

Let them have your VIN and what you're looking for and they'll give as good advice as you'll get anywhere.
Thanks for the reply Jukie.

I did get a quote from them - thats where I got the rough price for the loom and in2digi adapter. I'm in Northern Ireland so a visit is out of the question even if I wanted to.

Obviously comand are the experts in this area and have all the overheads of a business so not really an option if I want to do it on a budget. I'm not really comfortable asking them for all the information about something that is their livelihood.

I was hoping for some solid advice about the oem dab modules and how you work out which suits which ntg 2.5 head unit.

Any advice on the actual fitting process would be a real bonus!
 
Haven't installed an NTG2.5 because I already have one but did add DAB
This may help http://www.mercupgrades.com/COMAND+APS+NTG2+5+FAQ-faq-14.html

Fit the aux connector from the NTG2.5 into the glovebox terminating with a 3.5mm stereo socket. I installed a Pure Highway 600 (£60) in mine and then ran the audio output cable into the glove box and plugged into the socket. It is useful to do it this way because you can then use the socket for connecting other devices.

Tip on the DAB install is keep all cables away from other cables such as a camera - I didn't at first and DAB reception was terrible - both sets of cables ran down the same screen pillar. I rerouted the camera wiring to the other screen pillar and DAB reception is now fine. Also useful is whilst you have it all out is to take a feed off the back of the cigarette lighter to the glove box and fit a USB socket (that has a 12V > 5V dropper) into the glove box to charge those devices you have plugged into the Aux socket.
 
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I fitted an Alpine EZ DAB unit , worked great, put it into the Aux input and job done.
 
thanks for the advice - i have no doubt that your installations are the sensible way to go - especially as my comand unit already has the aux socket in the glove box. i am going to revisit this route but the stubborn me wants the full factory experience, no matter how irrational that is!

thanks again Simon
 
thanks for the advice - i have no doubt that your installations are the sensible way to go - especially as my comand unit already has the aux socket in the glove box. i am going to revisit this route but the stubborn me wants the full factory experience, no matter how irrational that is!

thanks again S


I'm the first one to go the factory route, but this was so much easier to install and I hid the controller in the ashtray, so looked factory.
 
  • Is the in2Digi DAB+ worth an extra £250 - depends if you think DAB+ is worth the extra
 
Funny after your message I was thinking about doing something similar and hiding it in the glove box but the ashtray makes far more sense.

I've also just realised you need a code for the head unit to unlock it and although I bought mine from a reputable salvage dealer he doesn't know anything about codes - so I may have bought a lemon!

Thanks.
 
Hi

> I'm not really comfortable asking them for all the information about something that is their livelihood.
Thank You - that is much appreciated!

So here some more info for you.

The OEM DAB unit for NTG2.5 is the black rectangular one and not the aluminium one or the one that is the size of a "single DIN radio without the front"
- It just takes fibre, power, wakeup and an decent on-screen antenna that works at 7.5V phantom feed - which means the Alpine KAE-242DA-R. Sorry I cant remember which pin is which in the 4-pole part of the MOST2+4 connector it uses.

Connect the antenna to the outer-most connector of the twin-fakra - you will have to grind the SMB on your antenna slightly to fit in the fakra hole (or chop at the plastic on the DAB tuner!),

The trouble with the OEM DAB unit is that it does not support DAB+ and more and more is moving to DAB+

Also, the NTG2.5 will need coding to enable DAB (and the fibre optics), so get that coded when you have your your NTG2.5 coded so you can add it later. If you code it and don't have DAB all that happens is that when you select DAB it says "Device Unavailable"

Cheers

Richard
 
Hi Richard

thanks very much for the further advice. this may seem a stupid question but does the comand unit need to be in the car to code it?

simon
 

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