An end to finger fatigue misery!

[antijam]

Well, since the sunshine arrived today, I finally got round to installing the Remote Control Modules that I bought a while ago for the roof of the SLK

Wonderful! Not only can I now entertain the neighbours from the comfort of my living room by waggling the lid up and down at will (three plips on the ‘Unlock’ button of the key and down it goes – three plips on the ‘Lock’ and it’s up again), but as I wander the countryside at a leisurely 30mph I can decide if I want my Carbon monoxide and diesel fumes direct with the lid down, or via the pollen filters with it up. Best of all, this needs just a momentary touch on the lid control instead of half a minutes finger fatigue.

I suspect I have to be rather selective about the roads I choose to do this on – some of our local potholes would probably write off the roof mechanism if it was in mid-swing; and the automatic door locking doesn’t operate until 30 mph now, so cruising through the ghetto should only be done after having reached that speed I guess….

Still, if you have an SLK (or SL come to that) and you haven’t already done it, I think this is a great mod for improving the practicality of your car

 

[television]

Yes the speed signal shifts with this mod, and you can also watch TV in the car up to 30mph, I have distronic on my car and the mod would upset that

 

[Ellsy Tanners]

Is the speedo, esp etc still accurate with this mod?

I have never come across this before

 

[antijam]

Is the speedo, esp etc still accurate with this mod?

I have never come across this before

There have been a number of manufacturers providing equipment to do this over the years. The two most commonly encountered these days seem to be the american SmartTop by Mods-4-Cars and the german Cabrio-Module by Reinhold Engineering. I fitted the latter.

Both require the intallation of a control module (or two in the case of the Cabrio-Module) and a relay. This requires tapping into, and in some cases cutting, existing wiring - although it's fairly straightforward.
The SmartTop ofeers rather more functionality and some of the parameters are programmable - speed at which you can operate the roof for example.

As far as I know the only side effects of the mod are that the auto door locking now occurs at 50kph instead of 11kph and the windsreen wipers only provide speed sensitive operation above 50kph. I don't think the speedo or ESP are affected, but I suspect Malcolm could enlighten us further?

These links give more information.
http://www.reinhold-engineering.de/
http://www.mods4cars.com/?aff=11804

 

[jibcl500]

Well, since the sunshine arrived today, I finally got round to installing the Remote Control Modules that I bought a while ago for the roof of the SLK

Wonderful! Not only can I now entertain the neighbours from the comfort of my living room by waggling the lid up and down at will (three plips on the ‘Unlock’ button of the key and down it goes – three plips on the ‘Lock’ and it’s up again), but as I wander the countryside at a leisurely 30mph I can decide if I want my Carbon monoxide and diesel fumes direct with the lid down, or via the pollen filters with it up. Best of all, this needs just a momentary touch on the lid control instead of half a minutes finger fatigue.

I suspect I have to be rather selective about the roads I choose to do this on – some of our local potholes would probably write off the roof mechanism if it was in mid-swing; and the automatic door locking doesn’t operate until 30 mph now, so cruising through the ghetto should only be done after having reached that speed I guess….

Still, if you have an SLK (or SL come to that) and you haven’t already done it, I think this is a great mod for improving the practicality of your car

Interesting, How meuch, where from and how easy to fit?

jib

 

[television]

The speedo is unaffected, only the body components that use the speed signal for auto locking and the few things that antijam said. the auto volume level is affected as well but that is all. ESP etc are not part of this

 

[antijam]

Interesting, How much, where from and how easy to fit?

jib

The Smart Top for the R170 SLK was on ebay recently for £225 and I suspect you’d have to pay some import duty on that too.
The Cabrio-Module was open to no-reserve bidding on ebay too – which is where I got mine. The Cabrio-Module site gives the price for the ‘Ideal Solution’ that I fitted as €349 although I got mine for about half that.
I suspect in the present financial clime both companies would be open to offers, particularly for systems for older cars?

Fitting is pretty straightforward. You have to delve into both the ECU box and the main fusebox – which can be a bit daunting if you haven’t been there before. The cabling in the ECU box is very crowded and you need to make quite sure you’ve identified the right cables for tapping and cutting. The SmartTop instructions are more explicit on how to open the connectors and identify the wires and although the connections are not exactly the same for the Cabrio-Module I found it useful to have the fitting instructions for both. (The SmartTop manual can be downloaded free) The SmartTop also comes with cable taps which you need to buy yourself if fitting the Cabrio-Module.
Fitting details will obviously differ for R171 SLK's and for SL's (and I think they do one for CLK's too)

 

[paddy700d]

Hi,

After finding the Cabrio-Module by Reinhold Engineering and then the mods4cars Smart Top one, I think I'll be going for the Smart Top as its only the speed signal for the roof operation that is bypassed (and only during a roof operation). All other functions stay intact.

I got that straight from the horses mouth as I emailed mods4cars to find out as living in Aberdeen I need my wipers to work as MB intended (probably the WORST place to own a cab :Oops: though).

Thanks,
Paddy

 

[television]

Thanks Paddy,,I did not know about that one

 

[antijam]

Hi,

After finding the Cabrio-Module by Reinhold Engineering and then the mods4cars Smart Top one, I think I'll be going for the Smart Top as its only the speed signal for the roof operation that is bypassed (and only during a roof operation). All other functions stay intact.

I got that straight from the horses mouth as I emailed mods4cars to find out as living in Aberdeen I need my wipers to work as MB intended (probably the WORST place to own a cab :Oops: though).

Thanks,
Paddy

I must admit that before I installed the Cabrio-Modules I hadn't noticed that the wiper speed was proportional to roadspeed above 10mph. After fitting the Reinhold Engineering mods this (apparently) now only happens above 30mph.

With that Scottish precipitation though Paddy, I'm sure you are right about needing all the help you can get!

The SmartTop also offers the advantage over the Cabrio-Module that the windows can be raised or lowered independantly of the roof, using the key plip. Something many owners might find useful.

 

[landywood]

Hi i fitted a cbrio module to my sl and it has not affected the speed of any standard equipment but i did fit it in the storage compartment behind the drivers seat i fitted it to the mods4cars instructions if any one wants the info email me your email address and i will send it to you hope this helps (newbee)

Regards Mike

 

[Richard Moakes]

These modules baffle me. Why on earth would you want to override the inbuilt safety systems of the vehicle which enforce safe conditions for roof operation?

 

[wiltsandy]

These modules baffle me. Why on earth would you want to override the inbuilt safety systems of the vehicle which enforce safe conditions for roof operation?

I fitted the cabrio module a few weeks ago and although it does overide the 'safety systems' it's a very handy mod. That said, I wouldn't like to raise or lower the roof at 30mph like you're able to as there's just too much risk to the roof mechanism. I have used it in slow moving traffic though to avoid getting rained on and even then I thought twice about stopping first!

The feature that I do like is the one-touch to raise and lower the roof as I can leave it to do its own thing whilst I shut the garage. I also sometimes use the remote facilty from the key.

 

[Richard Moakes]

I fitted the cabrio module a few weeks ago and although it does overide the 'safety systems' it's a very handy mod. That said, I wouldn't like to raise or lower the roof at 30mph like you're able to as there's just too much risk to the roof mechanism. I have used it in slow moving traffic though to avoid getting rained on and even then I thought twice about stopping first!

The feature that I do like is the one-touch to raise and lower the roof as I can leave it to do its own thing whilst I shut the garage. I also sometimes use the remote facilty from the key.

I can see the use when leaving the garage etc...as for the other times, then I guess I must just be getting old, I don't get excited about toys these days.

 

[wiltsandy]

I can see the use when leaving the garage etc...as for the other times, then I guess I must just be getting old, I don't get excited about toys these days.

It's certainly not something I'd have paid full price for as in my opinion it's just not worth it but as I got it for less than half price it's a bit more cost effective.

 

[television]

If it starts to rain when my roof is down,,then I just go faster, although the book says it closes in 18 sec,the odd traffic lights where I close,,those behind are happy to watch

 

[wiltsandy]

If it starts to rain when my roof is down,,then I just go faster, although the book says it closes in 18 sec,the odd traffic lights where I close,,those behind are happy to watch

I've thought of doing that at traffic lights Malc but knowing my luck they'd change and I'd end up holding up the queue! :lol:

The lady's face in the car behind me when I did raise the roof the other day though was a picture when the boot lid started opening towards her!