w211 steering wheel controls for aftermarket stereo

[petecb]

hi guys , I have just installed an aftermarket touchscreen head unit in my 2003 e500 w211 . everything has gone well , works great all apart from the steering wheel controls aren't connected up yet. the head unit has a clever little box on the back of it which apparently will interface with the steering wheel giving full control of the stereo. I have seen posts on other websites saying that this does work once you have it wired up but I cant find where to wired it up to. The installation instructions point to large brown connector block under the glove box but the connections are wrong for the plug that I have. So all in all I am looking for the place to connect 2 wires - doesn't necessarily have to be a port as I am an electrician and am not afraid to splice/join cables. location and colours if you could please.
thanks in advance

 

[petecb]

sorted! splice on a set of brown cables under the glove box , have full control from steering wheel , source and track info on instrument cluster and auto switching of reverse camera .
well happy chappy

 

[drscrote]

That sounds great. I might need to do this soon.

What stereo did you use please?

Also the brown cable you mention - is this electrical or optical?
Is it easy to find under the glove box?

Cheers Tom

 

[richard]

The two wires are the car's CAN network, where almost all communication between control units is done. You could have spliced into the brown/brown-red on the Quadlock plug on the back of the old stereo as the Audio-20-CD that I assume you had before is also on the CAN network.

Its electrical. Assuming you have Audio-20 there are fascia adapters and loom adapters available, so just pick any stereo you fancy. If you want steering wheel controls then you need the appropriate box to interface to the car, and a little connector lead to connect to the stereo of your choice (ensure the stereo has the appropriate input, cheapo ones may not)

Richard