What Xentry DAS Package Does Anyone Recommend? - Page 4 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

tjts1 · #46 02-23-2018, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROLLGUY

The eBay seller finally replied, and he has no idea what I was talking about. He said he only sells used MAC equipment, and has never heard of this system. I don't know what to think about this.....Rich
EDIT: this is the text of the message: Hi There!
Thank you for your email. I think you have the wrong seller.
I don't know what STAR DAS is---never sold I sell refurbished Macs.
Thanks

How much coding are on your car are you actually planning to do? I found it much easier to Simply pay someone with xentry for their time to do the work for me. Beyond that reading and clearing codes and live data can be handled by $100 icarsoft tool. While Das xentry is by far the most capable tool for these cars, the the investment in money and time (you're going to have to learn how to set it up and use it) doesn't make sense for the average DIY.

shertex · #47 02-23-2018, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROLLGUY

The eBay seller finally replied, and he has no idea what I was talking about. He said he only sells used MAC equipment, and has never heard of this system. I don't know what to think about this.....Rich
EDIT: this is the text of the message: Hi There!
Thank you for your email. I think you have the wrong seller.
I don't know what STAR DAS is---never sold I sell refurbished Macs.
Thanks

Just so we're clear, can you tell us the userid of the seller you contacted?

There are other eBay sellers who sell the same package.

shertex · #48 02-23-2018, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjts1

How much coding are on your car are you actually planning to do? I found it much easier to Simply pay someone with xentry for their time to do the work for me. Beyond that reading and clearing codes and live data can be handled by $100 icarsoft tool. While Das xentry is by far the most capable tool for these cars, the the investment in money and time (you're going to have to learn how to set it up and use it) doesn't make sense for the average DIY.

I'm an average DIYer at best...probably below average skill set. But I've found Xentry to be really useful and am glad I made the investment.

Just one minor example...on long trips the evaporator on my CDI would freeze up. There's a TSB on this...all that needs to be done is to install a humidity sensor. Found one used for $18. But, once I installed it, there were a couple of settings I had to change in Xentry so that the HVAC recognizes and utilizes the sensor.

I'm sure there will be other things like this over the years....I have no doubt that my investment will eventually pay for itself.

shertex · #49 02-23-2018, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROLLGUY

The eBay seller finally replied, and he has no idea what I was talking about. He said he only sells used MAC equipment, and has never heard of this system. I don't know what to think about this.....Rich
EDIT: this is the text of the message: Hi There!
Thank you for your email. I think you have the wrong seller.
I don't know what STAR DAS is---never sold I sell refurbished Macs.
Thanks

I think I figured out your issue. I bet you contacted gordys_gadgets. That's the wrong one. You need to contact gordysgadgets. They are two completely different eBay sellers.

ROLLGUY · #50 02-24-2018, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shertex

I think I figured out your issue. I bet you contacted gordys_gadgets. That's the wrong one. You need to contact gordysgadgets. They are two completely different eBay sellers.

I had no idea there would be two users with user names so close. You are probably correct.

jay_bob · #51 02-25-2018, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjts1

How much coding are on your car are you actually planning to do? I found it much easier to Simply pay someone with xentry for their time to do the work for me. Beyond that reading and clearing codes and live data can be handled by $100 icarsoft tool. While Das xentry is by far the most capable tool for these cars, the the investment in money and time (you're going to have to learn how to set it up and use it) doesn't make sense for the average DIY.

Well for me it’s nice because I have 4 MBs.
The 1987 124, I have never hooked up to it, but I could if I wanted to.

The newer cars it’s a necessity to see what’s going on. I have fixed several issues and on the 2014 we had a sensor go out. It was nice to be able to see what the issue was instead of rolling into the dealer (we’re still under CPO warranty) and only being able to say, uhh, I don’t know, the check engine light is on. It let me see whether we had a major problem or something we could live with for a day or two.

As a bonus, the diagnostic package also contains EPC, WIS and the wiring manual.

I have one of the eBay disk sets on a 2011 era Windows laptop and it takes forever for that to boot up and then launch the virtual machine software, and then launch XP, and then launch EWA-Net. After about 20 minutes I’m in.

The Xentry PC is a mid 2000s Dell D610 running XP. Unburdened XP is an absolute rocket for boot time compared to Windows 10. I can go from cold and dark to ready to go in about 2 minutes.

Of course this computer is stuck in 2006 and is not on the internet so it’s an island and does not have to deal with any web based interaction.

The only drawback to not being online, is if you want to print something, you can’t send it to your networked printer in the house. I use Cute PDF writer as a virtual printer, save it to a USB stick, then take it to my house computer and print the PDF file.

ROLLGUY · #52 02-25-2018, 11:16 AM

I am looking at this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-BENZ-C3-STAR-Xentry-2014-12-DAS-WIS-EPC-Dell-D630-OFFLINE-Programming/273072889424?hash=item3f94699e50:g:siwAAOSwxu5ZIwSo
Is this everything I will need to be able to diagnose my car soon after the equipment arrives? Is there other items that I will need? This is all new to me, but am willing to learn as much as I can. I have two cars myself, and service two others that would benefit from this tool (toy?)......Rich

jay_bob · #53 02-25-2018, 11:41 AM

That looks like the same multiplexer that Gordy is selling.

The DAS version is the next one after the one Shertex and I have.

I would definitely recommend buying from someone based in the USA so you don’t have to wire money over to Asia and pray it does not get held up in customs.

Don’t know anything about this seller but you do have some protection with eBay.

Just remember the cardinal rule with these: it is a bootleg copy of someone’s authorized dealer system. This computer can never see the internet under any circumstances. On my machine, the seller had not only disabled the Ethernet and wireless ports in the BIOS, but also removed the drivers, so there is no chance of it ever accidentally connecting.

Another tip: the circular connectors to the multiplexer are a total pain to line up. I took an ultra fine sharpie pen and scribed a mark on the barrel of the cable connectors to match with the line that was machined into the shell of the connector on the multiplexer. This makes it much easier to get it lined up.

Also be very gentle plugging the 38 pin into a W210/W140, the plastic on the under hood connector is very brittle.

ROLLGUY · #54 02-25-2018, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay_bob

That looks like the same multiplexer that Gordy is selling.

The DAS version is the next one after the one Shertex and I have.

I would definitely recommend buying from someone based in the USA so you don’t have to wire money over to Asia and pray it does not get held up in customs.

Don’t know anything about this seller but you do have some protection with eBay.

Just remember the cardinal rule with these: it is a bootleg copy of someone’s authorized dealer system. This computer can never see the internet under any circumstances. On my machine, the seller had not only disabled the Ethernet and wireless ports in the BIOS, but also removed the drivers, so there is no chance of it ever accidentally connecting.

Another tip: the circular connectors to the multiplexer are a total pain to line up. I took an ultra fine sharpie pen and scribed a mark on the barrel of the cable connectors to match with the line that was machined into the shell of the connector on the multiplexer. This makes it much easier to get it lined up.

Also be very gentle plugging the 38 pin into a W210/W140, the plastic on the under hood connector is very brittle.

Gordy has none right now, and he gave me the link for this one. I was mainly asking if there is any other equipment that I would need. If everything I need is included in the auction, then it seems like a great deal. Thanks, Rich

EDIT: Same for me as you, one of the greatest benefits will be the WIS and EPC.

jay_bob · #55 02-25-2018, 02:55 PM

Yes that is the total package.

If you look at photo 1 in the auction, there are 5 cables around the multiplexer.
From top and going clockwise:
- Cable for heavy truck engines
- Cable for legacy blink-code based diagnostic systems (W124, OM603-based W126, W201, etc).
- Cable for 38 pin systems (later W124s, W140, W202, W210, etc.)
- Cable for OBDII systems (everything after the above mentioned models to present day) note that on first generation cars with the OBDII, like the W210, to do anything with the system you can’t go through the OBDII, you have to go into the 38 pin port. They were still getting the electronics integration together on the W210 and they only put the mandatory engine and power train computers on the OBDII and everything else had a dedicated serial link on one of the 38 pin connector pins. This is why the third party diagnostic computers are so limited on a W210.
- Cable that connects the other end of the multiplexer to the serial port on the laptop

The only other thing I would recommend picking up if you don’t have one is a well regulated battery charger for the vehicle. They recommend doing this in the on screen instructions. When I visited an MB dealer for an MBCA event recently, I noticed that every lift bay had a 12 V power supply they could clip into the battery so they could run diagnostics without killing the vehicle battery.

ROLLGUY · #56 02-25-2018, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay_bob

Yes that is the total package.

If you look at photo 1 in the auction, there are 5 cables around the multiplexer.
From top and going clockwise:
- Cable for heavy truck engines
- Cable for legacy blink-code based diagnostic systems (W124, OM603-based W126, W201, etc).
- Cable for 38 pin systems (later W124s, W140, W202, W210, etc.)
- Cable for OBDII systems (everything after the above mentioned models to present day) note that on first generation cars with the OBDII, like the W210, to do anything with the system you can’t go through the OBDII, you have to go into the 38 pin port. They were still getting the electronics integration together on the W210 and they only put the mandatory engine and power train computers on the OBDII and everything else had a dedicated serial link on one of the 38 pin connector pins. This is why the third party diagnostic computers are so limited on a W210.
- Cable that connects the other end of the multiplexer to the serial port on the laptop

The only other thing I would recommend picking up if you don’t have one is a well regulated battery charger for the vehicle. They recommend doing this in the on screen instructions. When I visited an MB dealer for an MBCA event recently, I noticed that every lift bay had a 12 V power supply they could clip into the battery so they could run diagnostics without killing the vehicle battery.

Excellent information, thank you.

97 SL320 · #57 02-25-2018, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay_bob

This computer can never see the internet under any circumstances.

"Can never" is as in "never hook this to a network with an internet connection" . The system will phone home, and promptly brick.

Last I checked a real system is $ 20 K + $ 6 K per year to update. If the makers offered legacy systems as reasonable cost, they would actually sell and make $. For newer systems tie it to the VIN and offer a limited amount of VINs.

One issue that might be in play is liability since a system can alter vehicle functions or possibly crash and brick a car module.

jay_bob · #58 02-26-2018, 06:28 AM

I have said the same things before about them offering a legit system for hobbyists.

I would have paid for a legit system if it wasn’t priced in the stratosphere.

But they have to protect their dealer network, and the product liability lawyers would never allow it.

iwrock · #59 02-26-2018, 10:13 AM

If you're interested in working on any newer cars (W212+), find a unit that supports SDConnect.

I'm thinking of selling my Star C3 so I can upgrade to a unit that supports SDConnect.

TGcville · #60 07-13-2019, 09:52 AM

How about this setup? What else would be needed?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-full-set-QUALITY-Mercedes-C4-SD-connect-Diagnostic-Tool-with-WiFi/264389417883?epid=5021452236&hash=item3d8ed65b9b:g:cZ4AAOSw6-xa9pUt