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2013

Rear View Camera

Installation Guide Mercedes SLK R172 2011 onwards

By Dsr207, etyu & MrPix

Compiled by SLKWorld.com forum members

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Contents Installing a rear view camera in a R172 SLK .......................................................................................... 2

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2

Make sure your headunit is equipped with rear cam input .............................................................. 2

Camera needed ................................................................................................................................. 3

Removing head unit .......................................................................................................................... 3

Trunk Wiring and Camera Install ....................................................................................................... 9

Running the camera wires .............................................................................................................. 10

Tapping reverse wire (if needed) .................................................................................................... 11

Tapping in to the power .................................................................................................................. 18

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ 20

Contributors .................................................................................................................................... 20

Resources ........................................................................................................................................ 20

Credits and further information ...................................................................................................... 20

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Installing a rear view camera in a R172 SLK

Introduction This guide has been authored and compiled by members of the SLKWorld.com forum.

Some words and pictures have been borrowed (with kind permission) from some

professional installation guides where steps are most common.

Dsr207 (Mike) - I have been doing my own custom and sometimes challenging install

for a while now. Not much info available for R172 rear cam installs. I figured I would put

some info and photo gathered from the web and my own installations. Hopefully others

will have some input and share their own experience.

Etyu (Eddy) - Added easy rear speaker removal instructions from his SmartTOP

installation.

MrPix (Paul) - I started putting all the information together for my own use during a

Rear Camera install on my R172 and thought it would be great to share. My contribution

is minimal as all I did was put it all together, gain permission from image owners then

prepare the final compilation and publication of this document.

Make sure your headunit is equipped with rear cam input If yes, you will only need the camera, if no, other hardware will be needed.

The easy way to find out the answer is by shifting to reverse and see if your monitor

goes black with a message "please check your entire surroundings". If you get that

screen, you are set. If nothing happens, you might still be able to turn that option on

through the "engineering menu".

Going to that menu is easy. Just follow the simple steps.

1. Start your car (HU stays on this way) turn your radio or any other input on.

2. On the key pad of the head unit, press and hold the phone hang up , the number

symbol(#) and the number 1 , hold all three buttons on at the same time for

about 10 seconds.

3. A new menu should appear on the monitor. Now you have to go to the bottom of

this menu (HW setting) by turning the comand knob , then press to enter.

4. A new menu should appear, again go down to the bottom (HU parameter)

and press to enter.

5. Another menu appears, you will have to go page 3 of this menu. Scroll down to

the bottom and push the comand knob in the down direction, this will take you to

next page, do the same again, you should be on page 3 out of 11.

6. On the bottom if this page you should see (21 or 22) rear view camera. Scroll

down to it and press in to enter.

7. Change to SRVC.

8. Press back button and turn the unit off.

9. Turn car off. If you miss a step, at any time, you can just turn the unit off and

turn back on to start over.

10. When all done, open door and out.

11. Lock car and wait one minute.

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12. Now unlock door and turn car back on put in reverse and if the steps were done

correctly you should see the black screen with the warning.

NOTE: While in the "engineering menu" you might be tempted to change some other

settings, but unless you know what it is, stick to task. No harm is done by entering that

menu.

Camera needed Any rear view camera with composite video out will work, it just depends on the options,

mounting location and methods. You will need a clean 12vdc source and ground to power

the cam, and tapping the reverse light will be required to trigger the cam.

Depending on what you buy, some come with a control unit, and some have the grid

lines and some are wireless.

Needing a clean power source (for a good install) meaning you will have to run wires to

the front, makes the wireless cam pointless. Shop around for a good quality, low profile,

wide angle cam, CMOS or CCD.

Removing head unit I found some pictures, which does a better job on showing than my dark pictures...so I

used some, with little editing, and kept the name of the company that posted the flash.

1. Begin inside the center console...I used a small flat head screw driver, with

scotch tape on the tip, to prevent scratching

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2. ...pry and pull up

3. Remove the 2 screws

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4. Pry and lift up. raise and leave folded up

5. Remove the 4 screws, 2 short and 2 long

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6. Start from the top, left or right,

7. and pull out gently until loose

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8. Pull up on the sides until loose, the left side is a little harder.

9. Unplug, small plug and command plug, the idea here, is to lift the panel out and

lay it to the side. no need to remove all plugs. Putting the stick in D will help to

remove panel.

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10. Once HU screws are within reach, take all 4 screws out and slide the unit out,

and look in the back of it

11. The rear view cam input is in the twin green plug

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12. You will need a female RCA to Fakra adapter.. You can buy on ebay, or make it

yourself.

Run the cable in behind the unit, and drop it to the left side .

That is it for the HU...You will be plugging the cam to the cable later.

Trunk Wiring and Camera Install Most do the install to the right of license plate...Requires drilling small holes under the

trunk lip per cam instructions.

Dsr207 did his in the middle of the trunk handle and MrPix did his on the right of the

trunk handle and to the left of the license plate light.

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Running the camera wires

1. Take trunk panel off. Use a soft flat edge, I used a small flat head screw driver,

with scotch tape on the end, remove the 2 plastic inserts. Remove the 2 pins.

2. Pop the small handle cover off to get to 2 screws. Remove the 2 screws, and the

panel will pop off.

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3. Run cam wires with the other wires.

Tapping reverse wire (if needed)

Some cameras/systems require you to tap in to the reverse wire to trigger and some just need a

steady 12v feed on it’s own, so this section is optional depending on need. In most cases, tapping in

to the reverse lamp feed will not give you a clean 12v like you get from the fuse box, the latter being

the preferred method of getting 12v either from the front or the rear fuse box or like MrPix did by

tapping into the wires behind the 12v socket at the front.

1. Pull the liner back behind brake light

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2. Look for purple wire (in my case, that was the reverse wire) or use a volt meter,

to find the wire (12vdc when reverse is engaged)

3. ..after tapping the reverse wire, I used a coat hanger to run my wires.

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4. If fitted remove the air guides with a coin (quarter turn counter-clockwise).

5. For the following steps you will need a Torx T-20 and a Torx T-30 key. Remove

the bases of the air guides (3 Torx screws each) and set all the parts aside

carefully to not scratch the plexi-glass surfaces. NOTE The parts for each side are

not interchangeable, so keep the apart!

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6. Loosen the center speaker cover carefully with a putty knife or soft plastic tool,

then pull straight up.

7. Tilt the speaker cover forward and disconnect both plugs for speaker (1) and park

assist (2) if present. Remove Torx screw (3) in the middle.

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8. The side speakers can be removed in much the same way as the center speaker

cover, they are clipped in with 6 clips all together.

9. Release 2 clips on the top and 2 clips on each side. The clips are shallow, so use a

small trim remove wedge tool to free them and then unplug the speaker wires.

10. You can then tape the speakers to the seat belts to avoid damage.

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11. Remove the two round carpet holders (1) and (2) by twisting counter-clockwise.

Remove the pocket (3) by pulling it apart on top while gently pulling toward the

front of the car and up. Remove the entire roll bar cover (4) by pulling straight up

and place out of the way (NOTE picture shows the speakers still in place, but you

will have already removed these.

12. Pull both carpet bars (1) straight up, then fold the entire middle section of the

carpet down. These cars have L and R on the back for identification and are not

inter-changeable.

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13. There is a path directly to the front, behind left hand seat. I just poked a stiff wire

through from the boot run and out it popped in a convenient channel to the right

of the yellow square!

14. Once wires are through, run behind carpet, all the way to the edge of the driver

seat.

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Tapping in to the power

1. Remove panel by driver seat door, it pops up, no screws, start from the back.

2. Once removed, fold carpet back to expose the wires loom. 12V is red with purple,

and ground is solid brown. Use a volt meter to make sure you found the right

wires, tap into the power. Alternatively, you can tap in to the 12v socket

underneath the head unit.

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3. Run your cam wire to the head unit, going behind the carpet.

4. If you have to remove the left side panel under the dash, it has one screw,

behind a plastic tap...and then it pops out by pulling it in the direction of the

door...

Hope this helps!

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Acknowledgements

Contributors Thanks to Dsr207 (Mike) from the SLKWorld forum for compiling the majority of this guide and also

to etyu (Eddy) of the same forum for providing some of the images.

Resources Some photographs and instructions are reproduced with kind permission of the companies credited

below and the contributors mentioned above.

Credits and further information

your specialist in high-end electronics for convertible top and remote controls www.mods4cars.com

Audio and video integration accessories. http://www.naviks.com https://www.facebook.com/Nav1ks