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Mercedes W204 interface   

Installation manual 

 

This Mercedes W204‐specific  interface can  insert RGB navigation video or CVBS video  into Mercedes W204 screens: 

C200, C230,screen[5 –inch screen which has 280*100 resolution], 

C280, GLK,SLK: [7 inch 800*480 resolution]. 

  It also has the following advantages: 

Compatible with Mercedes C ‐5inch screen and 7‐inch.[Selected by DIP8] 

All installation is plug and play. 

Two  display mode:  one  full  screen mode  and  one  high  resolution mode  for 

5‐inch screen. 

Original keys can be used to control navi very conveniently. 

ACC is generated by the interface box[ACC=12V when screen is working] 

 

 

                                                    

 

 

                                                                     

1. Interface connection： 

 

 

 

RGB‐NAVI 

AV1/2 

CAM‐AV 

CAN/POWER 

The  monitor’s  video 

connector  is  inserted 

onto  the  daughter 

board in this way. 

3  keys  for  color 

tuning. 

GLK, 09E, SLK  C280 

C200,C230 

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The daughter board can be 1.8 meter away from the  interface box,  it accepts the car LVDS  input plug, and send out the 

LVDS output plug to monitor. 

 

 

4Pin CAN connection： 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GLK/SLK special considerations: 

GLK’s ground  is more  fragile behind  the monitor, when  interface  is  installed, noise 

will happen and hurt the image quality when the horn is    pressed, the image may 

jump at the same time. In this case: 

Please connect the separate extra GND black wire to the screw behind the monitor, 

then GLK’s image is perfect. 

 

The connectors behind the monitor: 

[there are 2 connectors behind the monitor, one is video‐LVDS, the other is 

power  and  CAN,  it  is  not  necessary  to  take  out  the  CD  and  make 

modifications there.] 

 

Name  Color  in  Car 

connector[8PIN] 

Color  in  Interface 

‐CAN‐BOX[4Pin]

CAN ‐  BLACK  BROWN  with 

orange

CAN +  BLACK/WHITE  BROWN  with 

BLUE 

GND  BROWN 

[2 are the same] 

BLACK

BATT 

[13.8V] 

    RED /Blue  YELLOW  with 

2A FUSE   

[note: CAN wrong connection is not hurting device, the LED will be blinking when connected correctly。] 

CAN box’s 4P should be connected 

to  car’s  8P  connector[behind  the 

monitor]. 

                The 6P connector ‘s signal definition [6P output from CAN box] 

YELLOW:    12V battery power 

RED=ACC：when screen is On this wire goes to 12V. 

BLACK：Ground for chassis。 

GREEN：reverse wire[=12V]。 

white：  switch signal when =12V.[max 25V] 

GRAY：  specific control signal from the CAN box. 

GLK:  Use  one  screw  to  connect 

GND  of  the  daughter  board  for 

better noise immunity. 

The  interface  box  can  be  installed 

inside  the  foot‐stand  of  the  front 

passenger.  The  navigation  unit  can 

also  be  placed  here.  The  CAN wire 

and  LVDS  wire  are  long 

enough.[1.8Meters] 

There are two connectors： 

10P video connector to monitor，8P CAN/power 

connector. 

The  video  is  inserted  on  that  10P  connector,  the 

CAN/POWER are sharing the 8P connector. 

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2. Control NAVI with original keys ： 

 

 

                                                             

         

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Grey wire of the RGB connector is IR ouput, it should be connected to the IR sensor input of the navigation 

unit. 

The Gray wire of the AV input is IR output for DVD changer. OSD will shown 

when the user push the knob right/left side, so the user can control DVD. 

Possible DVD types are: 

Sanyo 6-disc, Alpine, NECVOX, Jianghai, Jianghai Changer,

Panasonic, etc. The DVD type can be selected by using the 3 keys on the 

side of the box. This OSD display can be disabled by DIP6. 

 

3. DIP switch setting:

DIP =ON =OFF

1 RGB enabled RGB disabled.

2,3 AV1/2 enabled AV1/2 disabled

4

5 Reverse go to AV4 [Green wire= 12V] Reverse go to car video

[Green wire= 12V]

6 Original key control for NAVI/DVD on Original key control for Navi DVD off.

8 Mercedes C-5 inch screen.

[ 5-inch]

Mercedes C280 or GLK big screen.[not

5-inch]

4. Touch screen connection[Optional accessory]： 

When in RGB input, the original keys can be used for navi control, it is not necessary to add touch screen.

The user may also use touch screen, then handwriting on navi is possible.

Press this key to switch 

to car video 

The knob Press：no function in any interface input to avoid car

operations in the background. 

UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT PUSH ：=“UP/DOWN /LEFT/ RIGHT”operation to the

navi. 

DOWN Push for 3 seconds ：  input switching RGB AV1 AV2 Car。

LEFT/RIGHT rotation ：showing left/right portion of the video displayed in

High resolution mode, and jump to high resolution automatically when in RGB

input. 

The  ribbon  cable 

should  be  in  this 

direction.

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5. Accessories：     

（1） [ ] Interface box.

（2） [ ] CAN box with input/output wires

（3） [ ] LVDS cable

（4） [ ] AV input wire 2PCs + CAM+AVout wire 1PC + RGB wire 1PC.

（5） [ ] optional touch screen + extended ribbon

6. Troubleshooting 

When installing many audio/video devices inside a car, the most easily happen problem is the video interference. This

usually happens when devices are added on the dashboard also at the same time on the rear trunck of a car. The usual solution

is: use a single point ground for all the added device, and try to avoid ground loop[all devices are connected in a Star

connection].

Since it is more than 5 meters when both devices are installed on the front and rear of the car, the video ground/noise

isolator is a suggested solution when DVD changer and Headrest

monitors are installed.

for Reverse camera：

When camera is installed, please do not use ground at the

rear of the car, only give positive power supply is enough,

otherwise wave noise is found.

There is already ground connected to the camera on the RCA connector.

For DVD changers or DVBT tuner, there is video distortion.

[Image shaking, wave noise, or especially image noise which goes together with engine RPM speed]：

DVD changer of Digital TV tuner consumes much more current than a camera, so we may take the same way as

camera connection, since the wires goes 5Meter, the voltage increase on the wires is already hurting the video very much,

since video is usually only 0.7V.

In this case, and video noise isolator is very helpful to isolate the noise as well as the ground voltage difference .

The Chassis, which should be just one solid ground location as we hope so, actually usually have different voltage

when the driver turns the ignition on, in this case, please use a video noise filter in between.

Headrest monitor noise：

Headrest monitor consumes much current, so be sure to use the same ground location when connecting video, this

can help to reduce the video noise to be minimum, otherwise, put video noise isolator in between, then the power supply

and ground can be connected to any location of the car.

Do not  connect Ground  at  the  rear 

of  the  car,  if  you  do,  use  a  ground 

noise isolator in between.