COMAND - TMC, Rear, and general FM/AM tuning

[Twenty4play]

So I got my Euro COMAND installed today, made a hybrid navi DVD with both the MCSII and APS versions and it works like a charm, practically plug-n-play! However I do have a couple questions for you guys, since I have run into a few things I haven't seen on the MCSII COMAND, in the Navi screen there is an option for TMC, when I click it says that TMC doesn't have a signal. Second, in the radio section, I have 'Radio', 'CD', 'CDC', 'AUX', and 'Rear'. I know what all of them are except for 'Rear', I clicked it and it does nothing. If it's something the US cars don't utilize, any chance I might be able to port my Sirius sat radio through there? Last, when on FM radio, how do I adjust the frequency? Let's say that when I search or scan for the next station, it skips a station, how can I tune that in?

Thanks ;-)

 

[richard]

TMC is our traffic messaging service that is a data feed that makes the system re-route around traffic jams. The data is broadcast alongside the other RDS data. I guess there is no transmission in USA, so taht is to be expected.

You probably need the COMAND's tuner coded for US frequency range/spacing, sounds like its using Euro spacing. You can enter a frequency directly by pressing * then the frequency

Sounds like your COMAND unit electronics came from a ML which has the Rear entertainment system. This means it has an extra AUX input on the back, so you could connect your sirius to it.

I dont have access to circuit diagrams to tell you which pins they are on though.

Richard

 

[Alfie]

So I got my Euro COMAND installed today, made a hybrid navi DVD with both the MCSII and APS versions and it works like a charm, practically plug-n-play! However I do have a couple questions for you guys, since I have run into a few things I haven't seen on the MCSII COMAND, in the Navi screen there is an option for TMC, when I click it says that TMC doesn't have a signal. Second, in the radio section, I have 'Radio', 'CD', 'CDC', 'AUX', and 'Rear'. I know what all of them are except for 'Rear', I clicked it and it does nothing. If it's something the US cars don't utilize, any chance I might be able to port my Sirius sat radio through there? Last, when on FM radio, how do I adjust the frequency? Let's say that when I search or scan for the next station, it skips a station, how can I tune that in?

Thanks ;-)

The euro comand units have different station spacing so you may well find that it skips stations. The way to tune to a particular frequency is to press the '*' button and then type the actual frequency number in on the keypad.

As far as I am aware the TMC function only works here in Europe as it relies upon information broadcast only on certain radio stations. Here in the UK its Classic FM only.

The 'REAR' option is for cars that are fitted with the rear entertainment package.

 

[Twenty4play]

Awesome! Thanks for the info guys. ;-) Anyone know where I can find a wiring diagram for the COMAND? I think I'll try plugging the Sirius wires into 'Rear'.

 

[Alfie]

Awesome! Thanks for the info guys. ;-) Anyone know where I can find a wiring diagram for the COMAND? I think I'll try plugging the Sirius wires into 'Rear'.

Yep, I think there is one for the pinouts anyway, in WIS. Richard will know for sure though ;-)

 

[richard]

On the multiway connector on the back of COMAND there are two plug in sections along one side. One has a white shell and one a black shell.

On NTG2 (which is what you have)
The white shell one is the AUX input
The black shell one is rear stuff (DVD and audio out)
On USA cars the black shell one also contains reversing camera wiring
On Euro cars the reversing camera wiring is on a seperate green coax fakra

W211, W219, Hard Disk COMAND and Japan is a whole different game !

So, on Euro comand NTG2 on the black shell (called C sometimes), the connection to the DVD player is as follows
Shield: 2
Black: 1
Yellow: 7
Brown: 8
From memory, that means Black is audio ground - and you;ll need to experiment for left and right for yellow/brown. Or you can add a 3.5mm AUX socket there and if you use the MB part it will have the right coloured wiring

If none of that works, you could try 11 for ground, 6 for left 12 for tight, but I recall that as the output to the rear-audio.

As you have a US car you may well already have a connector in the black one with the wires for rear audio from which you can remove existing wiring and put new ones in. If you have an iPod kit it will have the black connector in there and you can scavange that and connect to the iPod wiring loom that plugs into back of COMAND rather than the car's wiring loom multiway plug (which is plugged into the iPod loom).


R

 

[Twenty4play]

Thank you Richard - I'll have a look at it when I get the time tear the center console and COMAND out again. I am a little confused about the iPod section though. I do have the iPod kit, which I installed myself, and it does have the extended wiring loom/harness that goes in between the stock harness/loom and the COMAND. Are you saying that I could or should remove wires from the original loom/harness and put them into the iPod's loom/harness?

 

[richard]

The iPod harness (as you know) sits between the car's wiring harness (that used to plug into the COMAND) and the COMAND.
It passes all wires straight through from the car's wiring harness to the iPod, except
a) It breaks the CANbus network and passes it through the iPod interface so that it can see the steering wheel presses and put info on the cluster
b) It provides power to the iPod kit
c) It ignores the AUX wiring from the car (on the white 12 pin) and connects the iPod output to the AUX pins on the COMAND

What i;m saying is that you should
1) look on the car's wiring, if there is a black 12 pin on the car side, then open it up and remove the wiring in pins mentioned above and connect the Sat Radio input instead
2) If no black 12 pin on car wiring harness, just do the same but to the one on the iPod wiring harness
- Given your car is a C not a ML, it wont have the black plug on car's harness, so you will need to do (2)


Richard

 

[Twenty4play]

Thank you for the clarification Richard. I'll let you know how it works out.