I can check later on the questions. I have them and have some easy access to them since I have a pop top.

Personally, I would use aftermarket wired to the house battery. So many more choices and options.

 

Thanks @pounce ! Like I said no rush. I don't have a pop-top and would rather not modify the headliner too much. The grab handle lights would require just a small increased cut out in the existing place. And as a bonus I would get the clothing hanger hook.

I actually found one from a used C300 that has the same handle color and has the light. The button is of a momentary type and the connector has 6 pins. I don't have a wire diagram yet, but can probably make something using a micro-controller. A fun little evening side-project when I procrastinate on things I really should be doing.

 

I am working on curtain rails for my passenger van, and while I am attaching the curtain rails to the headliner, I figured I might try to add some lights. I thought the cleanest look would be to use the Mercedes specific grab handle reading lights, which were an add-on at the time of ordering, and my van didn't come with them.

For those fortunate who have them in their van, could you please share a little bit about them? Questions I am having:

1. Do they have a on/off button, and if so can you turn them on even when the key is not in the ignition?

They do. It's a soft switch. It works with the key out of the ignition.

2. Do they automatically light on when the doors are opened, and if so, are they following the instructions of the ceiling control panel above the driver's seat?

All the grab handle lights turn on together, along with the rear cargo lamp, when you 1) press the rear lighting button on the overhead panel, or 2) open a rear door, unless the door-activated-lighting-OFF button is clicked in.

3. How bright are they and do you find them usable for reading/finding things/camping etc?

They're bright. They're about as bright as I would want without being obnoxious.

 

@Gottlieb Thank you very much for your feedback! This helps me out a lot. Next I must "just" figure out what the 6 pins do. If I could find a connector I would be even more ecstatic. Otherwise I am facing some further modification and soldering.

I stopped by a few junkyards nearby but nobody had connectors. One guy said he would but I would have to buy the everything for a hefty price. But I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet.

For those electricians out there. Would one of the pin be a ground and then a power line along with signal wires from the door, and control panel. The button is momentary and doesn't stay latched. I guess that's just working to send a signal to the control unit saying something like "hey I have been pressed - now give this light power".

One way might be to hook the lights up to the dome light, but then they couldn't be turned on individually by the button (at that point one might as well get a slightly older light model which doesn't have the push button - but is still the same physical shape). The other way would be to connect to the control panel up front. Third would be to hook up to a microprocessor, in which case you might even be able to control dimming (if you program it right).

I'll be sure to update this thread or create a how-to when one day in the far distant future I have figured it out.

Here are some photos I took of the used handle/light (from a 2016 C300):

Here are the 6pins and connector.

Backside of handle with light removed from the bracket. The grab handle mounting distance is the same, with or without light. The only thing is I would have to cut an additional hole in between the mounts to allow the light to fit.

This is the backside of the light itself. It looks like the black piece could be separated but the grey points are melted "clicks" to hold it permanently in place. I am not yet ready to operate on it, but I imagine behind it I would get access to the circuit board.

 

The wiring diagram does not provide an explicit pinout. At first blush it looks like pin 1 is reading lamp positive, pin 2 is the flood light positive, pin 3 is the button backlight, pin 4 is the button signal, and pins 5 and 6 are grounds. You can get a better idea what's going on with a DMM.

Remember these are LEDs, so polarity matters and current needs to be limited or you could blow them up. I would probe the connector with your meter in diode test mode, which may faintly illuminate the lamps themselves.

I believe the connector female housing is Mercedes p/n A0015409781. It looks JST-ish. If you can measure the pin pitch and thickness that will narrow down what it actually is. If you can find a female housing and read the numbers off it, that would be even better.

 

@Gottlieb this is pure GOLD! I have lots to study. Thanks so much!

 

I am working on curtain rails for my passenger van, and while I am attaching the curtain rails to the headliner, I figured I might try to add some lights. I thought the cleanest look would be to use the Mercedes specific grab handle reading lights, which were an add-on at the time of ordering, and my van didn't come with them.

For those fortunate who have them in their van, could you please share a little bit about them? Questions I am having:

1. Do they have a on/off button, and if so can you turn them on even when the key is not in the ignition?
2. Do they automatically light on when the doors are opened, and if so, are they following the instructions of the ceiling control panel above the driver's seat?
3. How bright are they and do you find them usable for reading/finding things/camping etc?

I realize my van may not have the pigtail connectors pre-wired in the ceiling, and will likely need to wire them myself (which will be a challenge). I might consider wiring them to my house battery and maybe with a dimmer.

Any feedback, photos would be appreciated. It's not an urgent matter as I have so many other things to work on, and I can probably pre-wire figure out as I go, and then fine-tune.

Thank you in advance!

1. Do they have a on/off button, and if so can you turn them on even when the key is not in the ignition?
YES to both

2. Do they automatically light on when the doors are opened, and if so, are they following the instructions of the ceiling control panel above the driver's seat?
NO, manual turn on and off

3. How bright are they and do you find them usable for reading/finding things/camping etc?
Not too bright - more an ambient light. I use the reading lights on the Ceiling control panel as well as the side door lights. I have the Metris passenger vehicle.


Hope that helps.




I realize my van may not have the pigtail connectors pre-wired in the ceiling, and will likely need to wire them myself (which will be a challenge). I might consider wiring them to my house battery and maybe with a dimmer.

 

@sahollis I appreciate your additional input. I was able to power both the flood and reading light in my apartment with a 12v battery. You are right, they don’t seem too bright, and that’s probably on purpose for driver safety reasons. I think they are still decent and probably good enough for the purpose. Both lights can be dimmed but need about 5-6 volt to light up.

@Gottlieb the pins were exactly as you stated. I printed the whole wire diagram and cut and taped them together. A fun exercise and lots more for me to learn about it. There doesn’t seem to be a backlight for the button. At least I couldn’t get that to work. the font on the button also doesn’t seem to have opacity. Maybe it’s just the lights I have…

I think I am going to hook them to my house battery and chain the four flood lights to a dimmer, and then later try to control the individual reading lights with a controller.

I still need to figure out the JST-ish connector and buy some 5 conductor wire (if I can’t implement the 6th pin for the backlit button).

 

Consider adding 12v connectors up there as well.

I still think after market lights are an advantage esp if you aren't using the oem harness. My lights ramp. They also time out.

I'm a big fan of red interior lights as an option when camping.

 

@pounce Good idea on adding 12v connectors up there. I have some XT60 panel mount connectors that could just fit and be useful. Need to think a bit more about it. When you say your lights "ramp", what do you mean by that? Which lights have you implemented in your ceiling?

I hear you on the red lighting. Will try to come up with something.

 

The lights dim when turning off and reverse when turning on. I have the stock passenger lights with the divider mount sockets.

 

Just a small update here, but I will make a full how-to thread when I'm done with my mod.

I bought the plastic coping connectors from Mercedes and just as @Gottlieb mentioned the part number was "01-540-97-81". They were $3 each and the dealer helped me find the part number for the terminal connector "016-545-41-26". Only thing unfortunate was that each one of these female contact terminal connectors cost $4.20!!! That would be hundred bill for all of them!

I bought just one so I could examine and measure it and hopefully find another source. I believe I can now call myself a graduated researched if not doctor of terminal connectors. I found them for a fraction of a cost!

They are made by TE Connectivity and are exactly the same. You can have them in either tin, silver or gold and I chose gold based on TE's recommendation. Price difference is so small. The cheapest tin was $0.10 a piece and for the gold you had to splurge $0.24 each. A nice saving from Mercedes' inflated price.

Part number is: 5-963715-5 (and the last digit 1 for tin, and 6 for silver)

The far right unattached connector is the OEM Mercedes. The ones attached to the strip are TE Connectivity MQS type connectors.

I'm a pigtail farmer now!

 

Great find on the connectors! Did they correlate with the MB P/N's or did you have to identify them otherwise? I remember the adventure of finding the EK1 "contact springs" 011-545-80-26 from a Freightliner dealer as leftover parts from their brief Sprinter foray.

 

@focus805 it was a little bit of luck. I didn't have anything to correlate to. I measure the dimensions of the one female connector I had purchased and then started my "hunt" on DigiKey for something that looked similar in the photos. But they had thousands and thousands of terminal connectors and the browsing was tedious.

Then at some point I found an image on the web for commonly used connectors in Mercedes Benz. In the upper left there was one that seemed similar to the one I had in my hand, particularly the "hook" part. The type in the image listed as "MQS". I started researching that and eventually came closer to a TE drawing that seemed to match. From there I chose my AWG size and material and ordered on DigiKey.

I suspect Mercedes uses a lot of these connectors from TE Connectivity. If I ever need another one of a different type, I will take the same approach. Attaching a PDF article I found relating to TE connectivities automotive connectors. It's an interesting read and also helped me convince myself I had found the right connector.

I remember I used your research for the EK1 connector springs so it definitely helps to share the knowledge. Thank you for that!

 

Attached also the drawing/diagram for this specific female connector. It's interesting how much details go into these.

 

"But they had thousands and thousands of terminal connectors and the browsing was tedious."

That's what I was afraid of! Thanks for the work and sharing a great source!!