Mercedes 2005 C230 Kompressor CAN bus Questions

ImInSanDiego · 04-11-2005, 11:26 PM

I just purchased a C230 and naturally I am already planning the installion of my carputer. I've had one in my Civic now for a year and a half and absolutely love it. I've been searching the forums for a couple weeks trying to find other people who have installed a carputer in a newer Mercedes but only one or two seem to have done this. I have also found no mention of people interfacing with the CAN bus on a late model Mercedes. What I am really interested in is making use of the steering wheel controls to communicate with the carputer. I would also like to grab OBDII information as well. Does anyone have more information on how to interface with a Mercedes this way? I've done a lot of searches on Google and am turning up very little that helps.

Thanks!

ImInSanDiego · 04-15-2005, 01:37 AM

Zip-Lock · 04-15-2005, 08:45 AM

The problem with newer cars is that a newer car is that people haven't had enough time to hack them. My car uses Can-Bus too and I was sad to learn that I couldn't use the factory steering wheel controls until the device was finished development. Pac Audio should be coming out with an steering wheel control interface for Can vehicles, within a month or so. I’m first on the pre-order list.

ImInSanDiego · 04-15-2005, 09:44 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Zip-Lock

The problem with newer cars is that a newer car is that people haven't had enough time to hack them. My car uses Can-Bus too and I was sad to learn that I couldn't use the factory steering wheel controls until the device was finished development. Pac Audio should be coming out with an steering wheel control interface for Can vehicles, within a month or so. I’m first on the pre-order list.

I don't know if this is the same device you are talking about, but according to this: http://www.pac-audio.com/products/swi.htm a Mercedes is not on the list of cars it's supposed to support. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will be supported when released. I'll be interested in hearing your experiences with it when you install it. How will you map the codes that are output to be usuable with the computer? For example, it says it will ouput for Pioneer head units.

jac1502 · 05-30-2006, 04:08 PM

I know this is old but i have just finished my car computer and i want to get my steering volume controls working, have any luck?

ImInSanDiego · 05-30-2006, 04:43 PM

Surprised to see someone reply to this thread...I never really got moving on making my carputer for my Mercedes because of problems with speakers and the audio system in my car. I've been waiting to make sure all bugs are worked out since my car is under warranty before I start tearing things apart.

So to answer your question, I've never found any useful info to take advantage of the steering controls on my c230. Just this from Pac Audio, but it says only for a CLK320 (could be the same?) but it's also not out yet. http://www.pac-audio.com/products/pr...el%20Interface

Puffanug · 05-30-2006, 04:49 PM

What part of San Diego are you in? I have a can-bus car too, but haven't done any searching on it yet since I have no steering wheel controls anyways. I will be looking into though, since I want the dash display that shows cd disc and track info to maybe display info from my carputer. I think it is a canbus connection that sends the data from the stereo, but I am not sure yet...

ImInSanDiego · 05-30-2006, 05:11 PM

I bounce around between Carlsbad (work), Mira Mesa (home), Escondido (girlfriend's).

I would also like my dash display to show information from the carputer. I really don't know how I would do this because it's my understanding that the head unit in my car is the master in my CAN bus. And I was planning on removing the head unit to make room for the LCD.

Puffanug · 05-30-2006, 05:39 PM

I would think the HU was the master. My hopes (and that's all they are right now) is to have some software running on the car PC that will send the signal to the canbus, displaying info on the dash info panel. I would assume we would also need a hardware interface for the canbus. I have a lot more reading to do on canbus and ODBII stuff. FYI, I bounce between Cardiff (home) and Rancho Bernardo (work). Are you going to the SoCal Meetup in June? I am trying to plan a more San Diego centric get together too this summer...

ImInSanDiego · 05-30-2006, 05:53 PM

So if we remove the head unit, then we lose the control on the bus and something else has to take over. That's why I'm not sure I can remove the head unit.

Don't know if I'm going to SoCal meet if it's in LA, but if it's in San Diego, I would probably go to that.

Puffanug · 05-30-2006, 06:18 PM

The "something" that takes over the canbus control for us would be a software program that would send the data to the canbus. How this would be done, i have no idea. Good thing I have lots of free time at work...

ImInSanDiego · 05-31-2006, 10:52 AM

Do you know if there is CAN bus hardware that interfaces with a pc? Perhaps with a serial port or USB or ethernet. If something like this existed, it might be possible for me to write software to communicate on the Bus. I doubt this would be a small undertaking though and I know nothing about the bus.

jac1502 · 05-31-2006, 12:04 PM

i have had no problms when i removed my headunit but it is the standard cd player but i assume all teh others would be the same except the ones with a fiber optic amp connection

joeyoravec · 05-31-2006, 12:05 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by ImInSanDiego

Do you know if there is CAN bus hardware that interfaces with a pc? Perhaps with a serial port or USB or ethernet. If something like this existed, it might be possible for me to write software to communicate on the Bus. I doubt this would be a small undertaking though and I know nothing about the bus.

There's tons of hardware available. My company sells Mongoose ISO/CAN for $195 which is a great choice. When you're shopping look for something that has a standard (J2534) device driver. Also make sure that it implements ISO15765 in hardware; otherwise your life will be difficult.

As long as you have your car there, just hookup and sniff the bus. Watch what your headunit does, reverse engineer the messages, and replicate them yourself.

Puffanug · 05-31-2006, 12:24 PM

I found this hardware interface. It comes with a can-bus scanner and claims that you can send and receive all types of can-bus data. Think it may work?

http://www.canusb.com/