Fitting a CD changer in e430

[mail@philsmith.]

have just purchased a '00 E430 estate, it has most of the options including comand but had no CD changer.
I have managed to get hold of a MC3198 changer which I believe would be a simple fit, but find that there are no connecting wires in the boot, I had been led to believe that all E class cars had the wiring already fitted

There are two units mounted on the changer bracket which are connected with the same sort of electrical and fibre optic connections and one is marked Nokia, so I would think that this is part of the telephone system.
(I have fitted a Nokia 5110 which works perfectly.)

Where should I look for the connecting wires or are they not always present?

 

[sym]

have just purchased a '00 E430 estate, it has most of the options including comand but had no CD changer.
I have managed to get hold of a MC3198 changer which I believe would be a simple fit, but find that there are no connecting wires in the boot, I had been led to believe that all E class cars had the wiring already fitted

There are two units mounted on the changer bracket which are connected with the same sort of electrical and fibre optic connections and one is marked Nokia, so I would think that this is part of the telephone system.
(I have fitted a Nokia 5110 which works perfectly.)

Where should I look for the connecting wires or are they not always present?

Not sure whether the power loom is there or not. Sounds like it should be with all those options already fitted. You may need to add it, but if you do the good news is that it can be wired straight into the back of COMAND with the C1 connector. The changer will also need to be connected to the D2B optical wakeup wire, which will exist already for the phone kit (blue & black) - goes into the C2 connector on COMAND. The optical connection for the changer will need to be looped into the circuit with the factory phone kit (which I assume works via Comand ?) - with the CD Changer being the last device in the loop before going back to COMAND.

P.S the other unit on the bracket is possibly an e-net compensator for your phone kit. Is it rectangular and metal in appearance with an aerial input and output + power lead ?

S.

 

[mail@philsmith.]

Yes, the units do have aerial input/output, so must be as described, thanks

What is the 'C1 connector' ? and what does the 'e-net connector' do?

 

[sym]

C1 connector is the connector plug for the 8 pin socket on the back of comand - C2 is the 18 pin connector next to it. (Not the 2 x 8 pin ISO plugs.)

S.

 

[mapleleaf]

I think there is a power connector going into the enet compensator that is teh same if not similar to that needed for the CD changer. I think there should be 3 wires, live, earth & D2B wakeup. If this is teh case all you need to do is tap into those wires with the right plug fo rthe Cd changer and connect in series the Fibre optics. its easier than it sounds! The cheapest way to get hold of the CD power plug is to buy a C (W203 ) comand harness which has everything on it and cost about £14 + vat. I would cut that part off & solder it into the relevant wires already at the phone e net compensator. I will have a look at the phone wiring on my ML and come back on this with part numbers needed. The fibre optic connector is only a few pence. I did a similar thing on my 99 E class Phone control unit & Cd changer both in the boot.(recently departed) .

 

[sym]

I think there is a power connector going into the enet compensator that is teh same if not similar to that needed for the CD changer. I think there should be 3 wires, live, earth & D2B wakeup. If this is teh case all you need to do is tap into those wires with the right plug fo rthe Cd changer and connect in series the Fibre optics. its easier than it sounds! The cheapest way to get hold of the CD power plug is to buy a C (W203 ) comand harness which has everything on it and cost about £14 + vat. I would cut that part off & solder it into the relevant wires already at the phone e net compensator. I will have a look at the phone wiring on my ML and come back on this with part numbers needed. The fibre optic connector is only a few pence. I did a similar thing on my 99 E class Phone control unit & Cd changer both in the boot.(recently departed) .

Steve - you're right - the CD power connector is the same shape as that for the e-net compensator. As it happens, I've installed a fibre optic changer already with my Comand, and I have a wiring diagram for the phone kit (on a W210), but no part numbers ! I have a full 6310i phone kit ready to install, and most of the nececssary parts, but am still missing the power loom for the e-net compensator - so might reverse engineer your idea and just tap into the CD changer wiring with a W203 connector as you suggest ! Interested to know exactly what connector you use to to connect the fibre in series - I have an assortment of fibre connectors / right angle / etc, but haven't had the time to fit the phone kit or work out how to connect that part up to the CD Changer yet - so any help you can provide will be great - esp. for the ML, as I have a 163 comand in my car.

S.

 

[mail@philsmith.]

So in theory I should be able to test the changer by simply unplugging the power and optic cables from the phone connections and plug in to the changer ?

 

[mail@philsmith.]

I was lucky with the phone, as I had a spare Motorola lying around with a Cellnet sim card still on contract, I hadn't cancelled it as I though it might come in handy.
I bought a Nokia 5110 off Ebay for £8.99, put the sim card in , plugged into the cradle and it worked!
Then I just switched call divert from my normal mobile to the Nokia, job done!!

 

[mapleleaf]

So in theory I should be able to test the changer by simply unplugging the power and optic cables from the phone connections and plug in to the changer ?

Absolutely, yes!

 

[mapleleaf]

Sym

All fibre optic devices need to be connected in a series/ loop.

I'll assume you are installing a CD changer right next to an existing phone controller.
As well as the power leads, You will need a short fibre optic loom part number 203 540 3408 £15.00 ish. And a fibre connector /adapter part number A000 545 3384 . its about an inch long, black and costs about £1.50. There is a metal clp at each end which locks down onto the newly inserted fibre red or white led.

Here is a quick how to without pics. I hope you can follow this.

Unplug the Phone Fibre and carefully open the black plastic plug. There is a little plastic catch . Some plugs have a metal slide or plastic clip that prises off and just releases the fibre ends.

The two fibre ends will be revealed and may spring out at you! Each end will only fit in the connector 1 way so they cannot be incorrectly fitted.

Do the same with one end of the new CDC fibre optic. The other end of this one can be plugged into the changer now as this a) avoids confusion later and b) helps stop the fibre loom jumping around – they are quite springy. On this point NEVER kink or tightly bend a fibre as it may break and they are not (easily) repairable.

I’ll refer to the ends now exposed as phone Red (PR) Phone White (PW) CD Red (CR) and CD White (CW)

Take the adapter /connector and slide in PW to one end and CR into the other and lock these in place with the metal spring clips. Remember these Fibre ends will only go in one way round so do not force anything.

PR can remain or be put back into it’s original plug .
CW is placed next to it to replace the PW that is now in one end of the connector.

Close up the plug and plug this back into the Phone controller.

That’s it Job Done.

The same can be done at the Comand end if you have two sets of fibre from devices in different parts of the car running back to Comand.

Steve

Disclaimer ! if it doesnt work let me know but dont blame me !
Its likely that the fibres are not in series. You cant break comand - it just wont see the devices.

 

[sym]

Steve

Excellent - thanks.

Other way round actually - I installed the CD Changer first - which works fine - now need to add the phone !

Will let you know how I get on !

S.

 

[richard]

Dont plug the E-net compensator power cable into the CD changer.

The E-net compensator is powered from the nokia control unit - the CD is powered from the head unit - Im pretty sure the output from the nokia can't provide enough current - and of course, you will be missing the D2B wakeup wire in anycase.

Looms are only pre-installed on US cars - ideally you need to run a CD power loom from the head unit back to the back of the car, but 2 of the wires you need (ground(brown) and D2B wakeup(blue/black) are already there connected to the nokia phone controller, and you could probably power the CD from the permanent feed to the nokia phone controller (but Im not sure the fuse values would be perfect)

As has been posted above, you know how to extend the fibre loop into your new device.

Ideally after this is done, MB dealer should code the head unit to know it has something extra on the D2B loop, otherwise it may (probably not) be a bit unreliable

Richard

 

[mapleleaf]

Dont plug the E-net compensator power cable into the CD changer.

OOps

I stand corrected . Sorry guys

 

[mail@philsmith.]

So all I really need to do is connect a link to the earth and d2b wire from the nokia contro unit to the cd changer and run a high output positive wire, say from the fuse box under the rear seat, to the changer as well.
Would I be right in saying that the power should be on at all times so you can remove the cassette?
I think I have worked out which wire is which on the changer.
Then just link up the fibre optics and it should work?

 

[sym]

So all I really need to do is connect a link to the earth and d2b wire from the nokia contro unit to the cd changer and run a high output positive wire, say from the fuse box under the rear seat, to the changer as well.
Would I be right in saying that the power should be on at all times so you can remove the cassette?
I think I have worked out which wire is which on the changer.
Then just link up the fibre optics and it should work?

Yes - that should work ! Power needs to be on all the time. You'll still need the C2 Connector for the d2b wire into comand though, so you might as well get the C1 at the same time for the power, run all the wires together, and do it as was intended.

S.

**EDIT** sorry - forgot you already have the phone kit into Comand, so the C2 connector will already be there. . . . so see your logic : you'll need to identify the d2b wire on the phone kit so that you can tap into it - the wiring diagram for the phone kit that I have indicates that you wire additional devices to the d2b wakeup , by soldering onto the wire already present.

 

[mail@philsmith.]

Just connected the electircs and used the fibre optic connection from the phone unit and , hey presto! it works!
Comand recognised it straight away, no problem

Will go to the local MB dealer and order the fibre optic parts and make up a loom to connect all together properly

Thanks for all the help, great site!!

 

[mail@philsmith.]

Now got the fibre optics and all is fitted and working.

Seems reluctant to play CDRs, but otherwise ok.

Once again thanks to everyone who helped

 

[mapleleaf]

Now got the fibre optics and all is fitted and working.

Seems reluctant to play CDRs, but otherwise ok.

Once again thanks to everyone who helped

Should play CDR 's Ok provided you do a straight disk copy. Def wont play MP3's on CDR.

 

[mail@philsmith.]

Should play CDR 's Ok provided you do a straight disk copy. Def wont play MP3's on CDR.

Yea, it does seem to be the stuff that I've downloaded that won't play, most of the straight disc copies seem ok.