I finally got tired of dealing with the rear-mounted CD changer, so I bought the Dension Ice Link. I paid $399 from logjamelectronics.com and shipping was fast. For the iPod, I bought the 20gig color screen U2 edition. I am a U2 fan, but not a fanatic. Mainly I just wanted black because I intend to keep the iPod in the ashtray, and I figured that would be more discreet than white.
Installation was very easy and straightforward. It took about an hour, although I have not yet routed the 15 feet of extension cable. I didn’t want to destroy the OEM wiring on the CD changer electrical connection, so I made my own male connector by soldered some hard leads onto the Ice Link wires and using heat-shrink tubing to get the spacing correct. If anyone’s interested, the wiring is (from Ice-Link to vehicle): black-brown, red-orange and blue-pink. The only “problem� I ran into was not knowing which fiber optic wire to connect to which port on the IceLink. At first it didn’t work, so I reversed the leads and it did.
I ordered my Ice-Link with the connector cable instead of a mount. I am placing the iPod in my center console ashtray in my 2001 ML, so it’s conveniently between the shifter and window switches. I removed the ashtray insert, and cut a hold in the plastic housing under the console to route the connector wire. The iPod sits quite nicely in the “pocket�. I just had to leave enough slack in the cable so I can pull the iPod out far enough to release the connector. I may look into building a more secure dock into the ashtray slot, but for now it’s fine.
The only thing left is I need to figure out how to connect an auxiliary input to the IceLink. According to Dension’s instructions, once the iPod is disconnected, the Ice Link switches to AUX input mode, but seems to require some sort of optional connector. I’d like to connect my rear-seat DVD player to this and do away with the cassette adapter. Anyone have any information on this?
not bad looks good. for some reason i thought all the fiber optic MCS are the darker color.
I believe they changed the MCS screen color in 2002. Personally, I like the blue better. Oddly enough, I do have the Bose system, but my screen does not say “Bose� when powered-up. I believe the color and Bose logo can be dealer-programmed. Also, I don’t have NAV (although I am thinking about adding a drive if for no other reason that to have a single-slot CD player). IIRC< MCS with NAV has some screen color differences.
Looks good Rodney. I have mine wired straight to the ashtray as well and spliced power off of the lighter (so it powers on and off with the car power). With my model year, I'm using the blaupunkt adapter cable straight into the back of my mcs. I took apart a Belkin Autokit (so it has the one dock cable with power and audio running out) that allowed me to do all the hardwiring easily. It's nice to be able to simply close the ashtray when not using it and no one would ever know you have an ipod input. I did get some felt and lined the inside of the ashtray for added protection for the ipod.
Linear Mode
