G500 CD changer / battery swap

[inexplorata]

I'd not been able to find a picture of this before I started, so for anyone else here's what it looks like on mine. MBUSA G's have the CD-changer in the left rear position, an auxiliary battery does fit there (like it's meant to, because it is), with a little room for a fuse box.

CD changer:


Battery (in my case MTX-48/H6):



Note: it helps to have a local mechanic's computer convince the G's computer to stop looking for a CD changer, because it will never stop complaining otherwise.

 

[BigSek]

Great Mod, thanks for sharing! Will definitely reference this when I go down that road in the future. Denver area? What local mechanic are you using to make computer changes if you don't mind me asking? Need someone to change the diff settings to help with my larger tires and the ESP.

 

[inexplorata]

Mark @ German Motors in Lakewood, he's done a ton on my G and has a few that visit him on the regular.

 

[craig]

Love this!

While I’m sure we can figure it out, a few more details about what you guys did would be awesome.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[creede]

I'd like to tackle this in the next couple of weeks. I've got an older National Luna fridge that doesn't have any battery protection and I've drained my battery before on long camps where we aren't starting the car for a few days.

Fitting the battery into the CD change spot looks pretty straight forward. I did a search through the forums and it looks like a few people are running the National Luna dual battery system, is that still the best way to go?

It looks like I'll just need the "intelligent solenoid" and the "dual battery controller" plus whatever extra cabling I need.

 

[creede]

Well, I went ahead and finished this project up this week. In case anyone else is looking into doing this here is the approach I took. Instead of a simple solenoid system I went with a Redarc BCDC. It handles all the charging and let's you mix and match battery types and has provisions for solar if I decide to go that way in the future. I used an H6 size marine battery mounted to a universal battery tray. Relocation of the extra electronics was pretty straight forward. I used Bussman breakers and a Blue Sea fused panel and 12v outlets mounted to a little cubby I built. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out and loved camping over the weekend and feeling like I had all the battery power I could use.

 

[inexplorata]

Your cubby is all sorts of awesome.

 

[creede]

Your cubby is all sorts of awesome.

Thanks man! It's a bit sloppy, but it matches the interior pretty well and it's super convenient. You can never have too many storage spots.

 

[Metric]

Nice work. What do you have on the drawer sliders? Fridge?

 

[creede]

Co

Nice work. What do you have on the drawer sliders? Fridge?

Yes, it's the Clearview drop fridge slide. I just installed it a few weeks ago, unfortunately the fit with my National Luna was a tiny bit too tight. The good news is I was able to sell the NL easily and a new Engel combi is in the mail!

 

[safariguy]

Creede, your vehicle is looking like you are taking care of it and in the right way: you are using it. I miss the G and I am glad it has a good home now.