You can install DAB radio in your Mercedes. DAB stands for digital audio broadcasting. It is also known as digital radio; it offers more advantages than FM radio.
How do I get DAB Radio in my Mercedes? You can install a DAB radio in your Mercedes by selecting a suitable DAB antenna, removing A-pillar, cleaning the surface, sticking the DAB antenna at the right place, and adding the power wires.
You can listen to many regional, national, and local stations by installing a DAB radio. You will be provided with the great broadcasting of your favorite stations.
It maintains reception quality up until the digital signals become unsustainably weak. But the reception quality of FM radio gets worse if the signal weakens even a little bit.
You can easily install and use a DAB radio. If you want to change the station, you just have to press a button, and the station is changed to another station. It also provides you with visual information related to the stations such as its frequency, name, DJ, Programme, artist playing, and the name of the track being played.
How do I get DAB Radio in my Mercedes?
DAB radios are also available for different models of Mercedes and many other cars. If you have the latest model of Mercedes, the DAB radio will be installed in it already.
But if you have an old model of it and it does not have a DAB radio, you should not get worried about it. You can install a DAB radio in your Mercedes either by an expert or by yourself.
Selection of Suitable DAB Antenna
You need a DAB antenna to install a DAB radio. You should install the aerials inside the windscreen. The aerials do not need to be modified on the exterior of your car. You have to trim some interior of your Mercedes to fit a film or windscreen antenna.
The performance of your DAB windscreen aerial will be affected if your car has a polarized or heated windscreen. You should consult an expert or the manufacturer before installing a DAB windscreen aerial.
If you are having a problem with the heated window or your windscreen aerial is being affected, either you have to use a different window, or you have to choose an alternative type of aerial.
Before buying the windscreen aerial, you should make sure that the adapter comes with the one. The adapter is necessary because the existing FM aerials are not suitable for DAB reception.
It means that you need a new DAB aerial instead of the existing aerial to install a DAB radio in your car. We prefer you to buy an aerial with a magnetic mount that is usually placed on the roof of your car and offers better performance than others.
Removal of A-pillar
We know that A-pillar is the vertical support of the window of a car. It is the most visible design feature of your car. A-pillars are also known as the windscreen pillars. These are the upright stanchions that frame your car’s windscreen. They also support the front end of your car.
The first step after choosing a suitable DAB aerial is to remove the A-pillar trim. You have to remove it so that you can quickly run the cable from the aerial to the digital radio.
You have to attach the earth plane strip of aerial to the metal body of your car.
This airbag badge usually covers a screw that holds the trim in place; it would be risky if you remove it yourself. You have to pull down some of the rubber door strips before removing the A-pillar having an airbag sign. If you are not an expert or you do not have knowledge about it, you should not remove it yourself.
Cleaning the Surface
You should clean the glass surface before fitting the film part of the DAB aerial to the windscreen. You can use a car window cleaner for cleaning. You can also use a piece of cloth or a tissue paper to clean the glass surface.
You can also use the wipe that comes with some aerials. You can spray the water on the glass surface and then clean it by using a piece of cloth or whatever you want to use for cleaning.
The surface should be free of dust and debris and dry. You should also clean the metal surface for the earth plane strip. You should use a soft cloth to wipe clean.
You can add soap to the warm water and spray it over the surface you want the clean and then use cloth the clean all the dust. You can use a vacuum cleaner to clean all the types of dirt and debris from your car.
Finding the Right Position
You should find an appropriate position for the DAB aerial and the DAB radio. The position of the radio is defined already as there is already a space to install a radio.
You cannot peel the DAB aerial off the windscreen once it is stuck to it because it is so strong. You should stick it at an appropriate place on your windscreen as it is not possible to remove it and change its position. You should be very careful while installing it.
You should position the DAB aerial in a way so that the earth strip could easily reach the metal surface. There must be a gap between the DAB antenna and the top of your windscreen. A-pillar trim needs enough space to go back between the plastic part of the aerial and the bodywork.
Sticking the DAB Aerial
After finding the right position for DAB aerial, the next step is to stick it to the windscreen. It is not difficult for you to stick the antenna once you have found the right position as finding the correct position is a difficult task.
It is because if you select a wrong position, you cannot remove the aerial from the windscreen as it is strong enough to be removed.
You do not need tape or glue to stick the aerial to the windscreen. There is a sticky pad with the aerial, which helps it to stick to the windscreen.
The aerial consists of a sticky pad so that you do not have to use a tap or a glue because it will give a messy look to the interior of your car.
You should remove the sticky pad backing of the aerial and hold the DAB aerial in place to your windscreen for about thirty seconds. You should press it for thirty seconds to ensure that it sticks perfectly. It would be easy for you to stick the base to your windscreen first.
After sticking the base to your windscreen, you should peel the backing from the DAB antenna part. You should also remove the earth plane strip.
You must make sure that it sticks to the metal surface. If not, you should press and hold it for a while so that it could stick well. You can use same steps to replace car radio anteena.
Routing the Cables
After sticking the aerial to the windscreen, you should route the cable down the A-pillar. You can use insulation tape for this purpose. Insulation tape is used to hold the cables in place. You will see a gap at the bottom of the A-pillar in your car. This gap is for the cables to drop down into the footwell.
If there are two cables to your DAB aerial, you can tape them together. This taping is done temporarily to save feeding the second cable through separately.
Taping these cables together would be inexpensive than installing a new cable. It would be costly enough to install another cable separately.
Despite being expensive, there would be so many wires connected to the DAB radio that looks messy. You should check all the wires if your one car speaker is louder than other car speakers.
Plugging the Connector
The next step you have to perform after routing the cables is to connect the DAB aerial to the radio. You should twist on or plug in the connector of the radio.
The DAB windscreen aerial consists of an SMB female connector. This female connector is compatible with the SMB male connection on the Sonichi adapter.
There are many adapters available if your radio and aerial have different connectors. You can buy an adapter according to your needs and the types of your connectors.
Plugging the connector to the radio enables your antenna to catch digital signals. Once your radio antenna starts receiving the signals, it allows you to listen to many different stations.
Power DAB Radio with 12V
You must power your aerial with a feed of 12V as it is an active aerial. If your adapter offers to provide power through the coax wire, you should enable this setting and should ignore the power wire.
You can also connect a thin power cable to a 12V source. This thin power cable is mostly provided by aftermarket car radios for powered DAB aerials.
Different adapters are used for DAB radio, but plug-in-and-play radio adapters are the most preferred ones. They do not require any type of serious modification to the interior of your car. You just have to plug then in for power, attach the aerial to the windscreen, fix it in the control unit, and fix the wires neatly into place.
You can also use a digital radio conversion kit to get a radio in your car. It is complicated to install and can only be installed by a trained professional. It is expensive than the others. If you install it correctly, it will change the look of your car’s interior. You can use 8 ohm speakers in your car.
Testing DAB Radio in Mercedes
Once you are done with the installation process, it’s time to test your DAB radio.
You should check whether you are receiving the DAB stations on your radio or not before replacing the A-pillar trim or other cables. If you are not receiving the DAB stations, either the signals are weak, or you have not installed your DAB radio correctly.
If you are facing problems related to the DAB stations or signals, you should check the DAB aerial and the cables connected to it. If you do not know how to deal with it, you should ask an expert for this purpose.
Once you are done with the scanning and resolving all the problems, i.e., you are receiving the digital stations, you should re-fit the door seal, the trim, and other pieces.
If there is a little or no gap with the glass in the trim part, you should file out space for the cables to pass through.
Conclusion
If you have the latest model of Mercedes, the DAB radio would already be installed in it. But if you have an old model of it and there is a simple analog FM radio, you can either convert it to the DAB radio or can install a new DAB radio.
If you want to convert your FM radio to DAB radio, you need a DAB conversion kit. If you’re going to install a new DAB radio, you should also buy a DAB adapter for this purpose.
If you do not have knowledge about it or you are not confident with vehicle electrics, you should consult a garage or an auto electrician to complete your task.