Replacing stock air vents in a S205/W205 with "turbine" type - with ambient lighting????

[Dc99]

Hi,
My S205 has 3 colour Ambient lighting.
I see that the stock air vents in the front and rear can be swapped out with a more modern looking "turbine" like vents? they usually come with LEDs for the ambient lighting.
I'm handy enough at fitting things and the physical aspect should be no problem.
My problem is I don't want to be splicing wires etc in wiring looms.
For the life of me - i cannot see on the instructions for installation (where they actually post the instructions) how it is wired into the existing ambient lighting system. Most that do have some detail show extending the ambient lighting to a car that has had the lighting system fitted after market (i.e. not factory fitted ambient lighting).
The vendors do say that it is plug and play for the new lighted vents. but what does this mean? is it a case of unplugging the ambient light harness and inserting an adaptor plug to extend the system? or would i need to get to a fuse box and find where the original lighting is operated from?
I want to be sure that I can manage the installation before I purchase if I can.
Has anyone replaced the original vents as described above? Done the wiring for the new LEDs?

 

[SarahAnn200]

I've been looking at ambient lighting and the lighting added around the console is plug and play into a blue connector behind the centre console. Console needs removing. The brightness is controlled by the dash dimmer switch near the light switch. Not sure if it all runs from the same place. I would think that there would be instructions on youtube as there are instructions on there for the console lighting

 

[Dc99]

Hi, I’m not sure if that the same thing. The vendor does say that the new ambient leds work off the original settings in the NTG5. Not the dashboard brightness switch next to the light switch - can you post the YouTube instructions link you are referring to? Cheers

 

[merc estate]

I like the look of them, there is a video on youtube on how to fit, maybe a link on an item on ebay, but watching that i'm not going near, as we all know the wiring on these cars is something beyond easy. The thought of adding or cutting wires could be the kiss of death to my sleep anyway. Let us know what you decide and how you get on with it.

 

[SarahAnn200]

I like the look of them, there is a video on youtube on how to fit, maybe a link on an item on ebay, but watching that i'm not going near, as we all know the wiring on these cars is something beyond easy. The thought of adding or cutting wires could be the kiss of death to my sleep anyway. Let us know what you decide and how you get on with it.

There is no cutting of wires for the ambient lights around the console. It's plug and play into the connector that is already there. Connecting the turbine vents looks more of a faff on the supplier sites but I haven't watched any youtube vids on the turbine connections

 

[Scooby_Doo]

It'll be like deciding which wire to cut on a boobytrapped bomb.

 

[GAV105N]

How did this pan out DC99 ? Did you ever fit the vents as I’m planing on doing the same

 

[Dc99]

Hi,
As it happens I just received my package in the door today very happy chappy.
I purchased from Ambient Light for Mercedes C class/GLC (I hope I'm ok posting a link???) Andy there was super communicative. I had loads of questions and he was very patient with me.
very reasonable price for my s205 (2016) - 5 front and the rear set. Shipping was super fast and I should have had it last Thursday (I ordered it Saturday the 22nd May !!! It was delayed due to the Incorrect phone number and they omitted the Post code on the address. When i contacted FedEx to chase it on Thursday last they took down the Post Code incorrectly- so really I should have had it for the weekend.).
I did a good bit of research on the termination - I had access to some layout drawings and wiring information. The Units look first class - the test will be the fitment of them.
I now need to put aside a couple of hours to install. (Have you looked at the videos on YT for the install? - seems pretty straight forward). I have seen two methods of removing the left an right vent- one is to pry it out of the dash (not my favorite- but could be ok) the other is to use two small hook tools which slot into two holes inside each of the vents (not the centre console ones though). I might make up a set from an old wire hanger.

The wiring is very straight forward you find the fuse box just at the bottom of the A pillar in the front passenger foot well. Very accessible. When i was doing my research i removed the plastic trim on the door jam as well (at the edge of the carpet. you will need to do this anyway. Just watch the way it clips into the car for re-installing.
The kit comes with a piggy back fuse holder - just remove a suitable fuse and plug the piggy back in and then insert the removed fuse into it. A separate earth ring terminal goes onto the convenient earth stud on the metal. Now here is the tricky one. the potentiometer control wire (a twisted brown wire pair terminated in a black plug). there is a CAN B set of sockets under the carpet between the fuse box and the front of the seat. And this seems to be the big secret as I have found only minor information on this - except for my access to MB layouts and wiring and one particular post on a different group. The difficulty is that my car is a UK right hand drive and the MB information is generically laid out as a left hand drive car.
The CAN B seems to be on BOTH sides of the car though. The small difficulty is that there are two white socket sets under the fuse box (and a similar set on the driver side but no fuse box)). On my car the one directly under the fuse box is relatively free with empty sockets, but the one to the rear of it has no empty sockets at all. and I THINK it is the one directly under the fuse box is where i plug the potentiometer (the brightness control) for the ambient lighting goes. However other information says that the socket sets with brown twisted pair plugged into it is the place to be which it just to the rear of the one under the fuse box (but mine is full on the passenger side and the supplier has said they have never seen the correct socket place full- so there is some confusion. Also I am not sure if the supplier is talking left hand or right hand drive.....I'm second guessing myself.

So answer your question- it looks very simple and easy to do - everything - except plugging the one pair of brown twisted wires into the correct place. but I think i can make an educated guess. I'm also prepared to solder on an extension wire to plug the brown control wires into the drivers side where there are plenty of free sockets on what i believe to be the same CAN B buss....

There is no cutting of wires and no removal of door panels for my car. (Unless I want to extend the NEW wire to plug into the driver side as i said above.)

Apologies for the long reply, but i believe it might be helpful to you? I can send you a photo of the CAN B if you like?

 

[SarahAnn200]

Looking forward to seeing it

 

[GAV105N]

DC99 pictures would be good mate , I’ve got the 5 front kit and the rear waiting to install into my 2017 c class , I opted for the 3 colour only as per original in the car now , I wasn’t interested in the 64 colour option they sell , my looms are all black plugs which all connected together from the new vents and a few white plugs which I’m unsure where to connect ? Have checked you tube but the kits all seem different to mine , I’m hoping you can shed some light on where to connect
By the way the side vents pull out easily with a genuine mb dash puller

 

[Dc99]

Hi,
I fitted the rears already- not plugged in yet -I did the rears as a taster. Flexx Alexander on YT is one of the better ones for most of the fitting - just poor like every one else on the wire termination.
My one has also the 3 colour to fit with the original factory colour.



These are the termination my set of ambient lights has (other than the wire loom to each vent. The yellow is a piggy back - unplug an existing fuse in the passenger foot well (Bottom of the "AA" Pilller) insert he removed fuse into this yoke and then plug this into the slot where you removed the fuse.
Terminate the open ring to the car body stud.
Apparently the brown twisted pair are the control signal fires (the dimmer??) From my research they should plug into CAN B - marked as X30/33 in the picture. The vendor for mins was saying i plug into X30/20 - but i think there is a bit of confusion here as it was done via email. From the access I had to MB wiring and layouts - X30/33 (or X30/32 for the right hand side), is the internal CAN B. this is described as "X30/32 Left Interior CAN (CAN B) potential distributor electrical connector". (bear with me - the access i had was to official MB docs, but they wee for a left hand drive car, mine is a right hand drive (Ireland/England) So X30/33 might be the proper identification instead of X30/32 - I swapped them round due to the said left and right hand steering wheels. The upshot is my fuse box is on the left hand side and the wires in the first photo are just long enough to the left hand side (or reverse if your fitting to a left hand drive (for clarity - there is only a fuse box on one side of the car in this location.




This picture is taken under the carpet in the passenger side of my car. X30/33 is indicated - warning - i have not plugged mine in yet. But i have decided that this position will be the first place I plug in the Brown twisted pair wire/plug (top of first photo). My vendor had said X30/20 is the position, but i still think my photo was not that clear and he may have it wrong. also as you can see here my X3020 is full anyway (adding to my suspicion that the vendor is confused).

To get here you need to remove the plastic door jam trim (pull up at the rear and back from the front (it is not difficult - just watch where is comes out of - for re assembly. Lift up the carpet (remove the mats to make it easier as the carpet is quite stiff. You only need to do this at the end to fit the brown twisted pair. The plastic trim you have removed is also the cover for the fuse box.

So lift up the carpet- you will see some black plastic covers under the carpet and over the white socket bases you see in picture 2.
Then cross your heart and pray and plug it in (Disclaimer - I have NOT done this yet and hope that X30/33 is the correct place - I'm counting on it not blowing the new LEDs if its incorrect...- Plug this in at your own risk- let me know if you have and that it works - cause I'm hoping to do it this weekend (Monday is our Bank Holiday on Monday).

Follow Flexx's video and others on removal of vents and running of wires. (I ran the wires for the rear vents along under the left side of the centre console.

I have gone ahead as I said and fitted the rear set. very nice (not lite up yet as this plugs into the front harness that i got with the new vents. (Flexx's video shows removal).
With the set I have - i did not need to remove the vent knob from the original vents - (the original rear vent has a common internal open and close flap - where as my new ones operate separately - like the new front ones. so you see a silver blanking knob fitted (supplied with kit).





NOTE - offer up the new parts together to make sure you are fitting them correctly - do a dry run. The new inner rings go on in a specific manner - they line up with the other parts in a specific way - in other words the parts are "keyed" to assembly correctly. The only piece i need to force together was the new blanking knob on the rear vents (see picture 3 above).

Let me know if this is helpful and if you see any flaws in my logic???

 

[Dc99]

I should spell check my post again…some stupid spelling - AA pillar should just be A pillar, fires should be wires

 

[GAV105N]

Great info mate and thanks , but unfortunately my wiring looks nothing like yours , I’m beginning to think I ordered the wrong kit ..... I’ll let you know how I get on

 

[Dc99]

So I installed last weekend. looks great - but I made a mess of one side. (I broke the LED FFS).



I tried to force the passenger side in with too much force and may have broke the LED Emitter (well it is broken). Getting a new one sent out. Plus a set of replacement door speaker covers that are ambient as well Buying these as the cost of shipping is way too much for just a small emittor and wire..) Not that dear anyway - might have brought the speaker covers previously if I have seen them.
Anyway the pitfalls.

The units fit together is a specific way. they are keyed with plastic bits. - all three of the centre ones are the same but there is a top and bottom to the silver ring inserts as well as the main vent. (there are two very small slots on the bottom of the ring that have to line up with the vent - also two small notches on the top of the same ring that must line up with the top. of the vent.
the outer vents have keying as well. look out for them. I thought i had kept the left vent outer shell (the grey piece you reuse - and there is a top and bottom to this as well.) on the left and the right on the right. I think now that I mixed them up and this caused the LED emitter to get damaged. There is a sizable bit of plastid on these grey bits that line up with the ducting - i think i did mix them up....
The wiring was very straight forward - watch Flexx Alexander for wiring - except for the driver side i dropped the plastic cover that is over the foot pedals (2 screws) and routed the driver side wire over this cover into the centre console) this was possible the fiddliest bit- routing the wire down from the drivers vent straight down. i cut a length of wire and gently tapped the plug to the end and careful snaked the wire straight down. then grabbed it and over to centre console.
Passenger side was a lot easier - i pulled the end cover from the dash off (a small panel that is hidden when the door is closed - you can see the side of the duct when this is remove and it is simple to feed the wire straight down.
The wire harness comes with a small control box - and is supplied all plugged together - except for the rear vents (this is a separate kit - but is full compatible and made to go together).
So in a previous picture above I thought that the correct place to plug the brown wires was X30/33. IT IS NOT. i did plug in here and it affected my collision warning something or other. The vents did light up (but not in colour and i was doing this in daylight so it was tricky to define the colour (blue is what i have mine set to). Unfortunately I had put the car back together at this stage...I went and checked the colour changing and brightness changing - didn't work and then saw the warning light.
The Correct place is indeed X30/20 (see photo in previous post). However - this bank of sockets is full on my car. Not to worry . from my research I know that there is a duplicate set of sockets on the opposite side of the car.
So out came the soldering iron - extended the brown pair of wires (making sure to not mixed them up). I then plugged it in to the opposite side of the car and hey presto - full working - colour change and brightness levels. so then I dismantled the car again to route the wire along the same rout as before. unfortunately this meant removing the centre console again (easy but a pain).
So all working (just need to wait for replacement LED :-(

Also due to this I am now getting the Door speaker covers with Ambient (that are branded Burnmaster?)
(I'm getting the door covers not the pop out tweeter - though this crowd sell them as well..).

So its probable that it was my error in damaging the passenger side emitter.

Also I made this tool from coat hanger wire to remove the left and right vents (see Flexx video.) its the same width as the inside edge of the vent.


I got my kit from Ambient Light for Mercedes C class/GLC
They were fantastic at communication - every email was promptly replied to. very helpful in my installation questions (I sent a lot of emails on different aspects of the install - BEFORE I purchased.
Shipment was unbelievably fast. via FedEx - I ordered on the weekend and a delivery attempt was made on the following Thursday - (Make sure they put the FULL address on the package).
Deffo recommend them.
So hardest part- snaking the wire down from the driver side (fiddley not hard) and extending the wire - also not hard really.

 

[SarahAnn200]

It looks great. You must be very satisified. Are you in your pyjamas? That's dedication, getting us a night time photo

 

[Dc99]

LOL - yes i didn't think anyone would spot that in the dark. its my PJ's LOL.

Here is the rear set - should have had the map lights off for it but you can see the effect.

 

[SarahAnn200]

The lights look great. I wasnt sure before you fitted them.
My ex had the same pj/dressing gown combo lol so probably stood out more to me

 

[Ted]

Passes the Ted cool test
looks fantastic - great job.

 

[vijilants]

Looking good. Did you also add this mod ? Mercedes C Class Ambient Light Enhancement Strip W205 S205 C205 A205....https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265020136369

I did on mine...its dead easy to do and does make a big difference.

 

[Dc99]

Hi,
My car already has this as standard 3 colour ambient, although they are noted to bee not very bright:-(

I also have them in the doors and foot wells of the car

I think I i can replace the emitters with aftermarket ones to bring the brightness up.

Cheers