XDA with MP3 & Satnav in car - General Accessories

I'm looking at getting this carcomm cradle as my in car solution for my XDA2 : http://www.totalpda.co.uk/product4740_0.aspx
As i understand it, assuming I correctly wire the cradle kit to my headunit's telemute cable, when a call comes in, my stereo will be muted/paused and the cradle's speakers & mic will kick in. I gather TOMTOM instructions will work the same way.
I also have a Sony headunit with an Aux in. I'd like to use the stereo headset jack to play all that MP3 goodness into my stereo. This should reduce the amount i spend on CDR's
My question is whether having the headphone jack plugged in will stop the car kit from getting the phone call audio when a call comes in. Will the XDA try to take mic in from the headset jack or the car kit. Or will it end up dazed and confused, and slump in the footwell of my car nibbling it's toenails and rocking slowly backwards and forwards? Come to that, will I?
Hope this makes sense

I can't help you, but I enjoyed the question...
:lol:

I have roughly the same setup you have, except the car cradle is only used for charging. I have all audio (TomTom, MP3 and phone) from the headset jack, including mic.
Works like a charm, you don't really need a carkit as you can feed all audio to the car stereo

I had a look at that carcomm set. It looks like the cradle blocks the headset jack of the XDA !

For mp3 audio and phone audio, I use a very cheap device called "car baby". This consists of a small clip on device with led and on/off switch. The device is rechargable and comes with lighter plug. Basically you just go to a blank preset on your in car radio, play audio on your xda 2, then tune radio to pick up the audio, the volume on the xda 2 needs to be pretty low to prevent distortion, once setup all audio is routed through the radio allowing very reasonable hands free phone calls and mp3 playback. It also comes with a nice little mount for a phone which has suction or vent mount adaptors, this isnt big enough for xda 2 but it looks very neat and will work with lots of normal size phones. I think it works on fm frequency around 106mhz.

Thanks for your feedback guys.
@ pleun - I was planning on 'modifying' the cradle to either present me with access to the jack socket or to actually plug in a jack, but this would have to be fairly flexible as the jack is obviously at an unhelpful angle.
@cruisin-thru & pleun (again) - thanks for the ideas, My only concern is that I don't really want to have to switch the headunit to a FM channel or the Aux channel when a call comes in - too much distraction when driving. It would be fine if i was only going to be playing MP3's but i will want to continue to use the CD or radio from time to time!

your questions answered.....
hey....please read my post in this forum......How to listen to all sound via a car kit[/url]

Related

Modding XDA II audio out for plugin to stereo...

Hi,
I recently got a car and and want to use one of those cassettes with the cables coming out on it to exercise my grand plan of outputting the audio from my XDA II to the car stereo.
So what I need to do is have a cable that works along the lines of 2.5mm male to 3.5mm male / female.
I have tried modding a spair XDA II handsfree kit I had, removing the head phones and tieing a 3.5mm male jack to it (so that I could retain the mic and dialing abilities) however there was no audio sent down the line in tests.
Is it possible to buy something that meets these requiremnets? (although I would like to retain dialing ability). Or is there some sort of guide somewhere?
You can buy an adapter at www.expansys.com
thanks for the link, I'd like to retain the calling ability tho , hence my wondering bout modding a set of ear phones...
you can get an adaptor which connect to the xda
and have a dongle with
1 mono jack for mic
and
1 stereo mini jack for lineout to pc, stereo, speakers or what ever
There is a very cheap and simple wireless rechargeable device called a Car Baby, this clips over the speaker and outputs all audio to a free fm channel on the radio, no cables to plug in, it also serves as a handsfree for the phone. Look on ebay and search car baby.
audio output
hi..i have an xda2, which sits in my modded xda car kit cradle, and there are is a jack plug [fem] with the kit which outputs all audio..i made a lead which plugs into my aux input, on my head unit, and bought a 1gig sd card, and loaded up my mp3,s...it rocks. on the subject of modding ur headset..that should work.....however, the wires are covered with a laquer...before u connect them...strip them and hold a match under them and burn off the laquer...it will work, i tried it first!
Right, 2 things to check out then, Car baby and the toast the wires method. Roll on this evening...
When checking car baby make sure it is the rechargeable type.
Here is battery type, costs £1.99 plus post
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14408&item=6362796007&rd=1
Here is rechargeable kit. @ £6.50 plus post
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42409&item=6362669639&rd=1
If you get one of these make sure your phone/pda is on low volume when tuning, then adjust until clarity is best, if you have too hig volume on phone/pda it will distort the audio.
3way-stereo to FM transmitter
This works:
http://www.digitaltrading.co.uk/sr20ve/xda2s.htm
You just have to be careful wiring the 4-way XDA jack to the 3-way stereo socket for your FM transmitter

Alternative way to mount Universal in your car

If you want to know where I got this idea, you should see this one first:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?p=314731#314731
I found this way of mounting my Wallaby last year, very effective and cheap and secure. So, last weekend, I tried to mount my Universal the same way. Its kind of hard, as my Universal metal case has different size of its belt clip mounting pin. So I have to put another belt clip to my car. I was finally moving the Cruise Control button to the right and use that middle spot that was occupied by the Cruise Control before to put on the Universal belt clip. And now the Universal can be mounted exactly in the middle. I do not have the audio connector yet, but I have located one that look exactly like my Wallaby one, but with 3.5mm plug.
Hope this will give some idea to some of you. Btw, I could mount my Universal with its silicon case on, but taking the padding inside the metal case out. So my metal case now primarily used as a mounting place in my car now.
Nice set up. Do you know yet of the PQTAA ( http://pc-mobile.net/pqtaa.htm ) will allow you to run audio from a call through your car speakers while still using the mic?
yes, this is exactly the one i'm getting. exactly the same as shown in my picture above, but with 3.5 mm plug. my old one, with 2.5 mm plug, works perfectly with my wallaby for few years now.
lie_ui said:
yes, this is exactly the one i'm getting. exactly the same as shown in my picture above, but with 3.5 mm plug. my old one, with 2.5 mm plug, works perfectly with my wallaby for few years now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just still worried that the mic will not be enabled on the Universal... Please do let me know if you've tested this on a Universal.
I just received this email back from the manufacturer (Pc-Mobile) of that headset (it regards to it working with the Universal):
"If it has a 3.5mm audio jack then PTAMS/PQTAA COULD be compatible but there
is no guarantee as the every manufacturer may use different pin configurations."
I'm wondering if I should just roll the dice and place an order?
galt said:
I just received this email back from the manufacturer (Pc-Mobile) of that headset (it regards to it working with the Universal):
"If it has a 3.5mm audio jack then PTAMS/PQTAA COULD be compatible but there
is no guarantee as the every manufacturer may use different pin configurations."
I'm wondering if I should just roll the dice and place an order?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like to add that, unlike phones with 2.5mm audio jacks, which may have different pin configurations from different manufacturers, phones/pda with 3.5mm audio jacks are likely to use the same configuration.
It is because the jack is to be used for ALL headphones with 3.5mm plug so they must be the same.
The only variable is the ground/mic configuration.
All current PDAs with a 3.5mm audio jack with mic (Ipaq/Loox/Axim) use the same PTAMS/PQTAA ok.
I will be getting the PQTAA from PC-Mobile and will report the compatibility with the Universal once I have and test it out.
lie_ui said:
I will be getting the PQTAA from PC-Mobile and will report the compatibility with the Universal once I have and test it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Lie_ui. I also have ordered this, hope it works out...
PQTAA works with Universal!
Good news. I received the PQTAA from PC-Mobile and it works with the Universal! I have tested all functions with my Universal:
- Stereo audio output is carried perfectly to the car stereo, no noise whatsoever.
- Microphone is working great, my voice can be heard clearly.
- The call receive button on the unit is working ok too to receive/pick up incoming call.
This is a great audio adapter (in addition to the fact its a handsfree unit). I find its a lot better way to connect the Universal to the car audio system rather than using other method like BT.
As most car mounting solutions do not include audio adapter to connect the Universal to the car audio system, the PQTAA is a perfect solution.
If you have a cassete player, you can combine it with the casette adapter. If you have an AUX input in your car stereo, thats the best.
Thanks for the info Lei. I also received mine today, haven't been able to really test it out, but it seems nice and it does function as required. Finally!
I finally got a chance to try mine out. The PQTAA works FANTASTICALLY with the Universal!
I tried it in my car, with air conditioning running full blast - the call came in, I was able to answer and hang up using the button on the adaptor. The call was perfectly clear over the car speakers, even with the volume turned up very high the caller reported zero echo from their own voice. They were able to hear me very well even with the mic unit dangling from the rear view mirror (not clipped to my shirt).
Excellent work by PC-Mobile! http://www.pc-mobile.net/pqtaa.htm
can someone tell me step by step ob how to connect universal to car audio ( cd player) what stuff do i need ?
cheers for any info
cudo
cudo said:
can someone tell me step by step ob how to connect universal to car audio ( cd player) what stuff do i need ?
cheers for any info
cudo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If youve got a cassette player then buy one of those audio cassettes (Sony does a great one) that includes a cable to plug into the headphone socket on the universal.
Then just start your audio player on the universal and the sound is routed through to your car player.
Hope thats what you meant
Matt
thanks for the idea but I have got only cd player..and it has no aux input.is there any chance to onnect my uni to car audio?
cheers, cudo
Here are some options to connect Uni to a car stereo:
1. If the car stereo has AUX input, this is the best.
Get the adapter we discussed above (PQTAA) and connect it from your Uni then link it to your car AUX input. If you connect it directly from the Uni to your AUX input without that adapter, you only get audio routed to the car audio system, but you will not be able to accept phone calls as a normal audio plug will disable the Uni internal microphone.
2. No AUX input, but has casette player, get the casette adapter. I used this in the past and it worked well, too, until I decided to get an MP3 car stereo and then I made sure I got the one with AUX input.
You will also need to the PQTAA adapter.
3. No AUX input, no cassette, only CD....
You better have FM radio, as this is your last option.
Get a FM transmitter, plus the PQTAA adapter. You will feed the audio through the FM to your car audio system. I used this method before and I did not really like it as its kind of troublesome, you have to turn on the FM transmitter, then select the macthing frequency in your car radio, etc. And in my city, its very hard to find unoccupied frequency, thus I always got bad interference with other radio stations.
4. If you do not like connected/cabled mode, then go with Bluetooth.
You car audio must have an AUX input, though. Get a Bluetooth adapter like this one:
http://www.usglobalsat.com/item.asp?itemid=98
Then connect it to the car AUX input. This way, you do not need to plug something to your Uni and can keep it inside your case/purse.
5. Finally, none works for you, and you would like to upgrade your car audio system, then get the new one that has the Bluetooth. This is the cleanest and best solution I guess.
I was looking at this one:
http://www.parrot.biz/products/index.php?id=rhythmnblue
This one even can sync your Contacts and it has a dial pad in the car audio system. Very nice.
Hope this shines you up.
hi Guys,
Yeah been installing plenty of Parrot kits (LS3200, CK3100 and LS3400 with GPS) for the Exec and Mini s etc.
The parrot kits also have a microphone and audio mute, you may need an SOT audio lead depending on your cars configuration, but these kits are simply superb, call quality is fantastic, syncs all your contacts, and the LS range have colour screens with Voice recognition on all.
I can supply these and install them in the UK if your interested, other than that google or ask a local installer nearer to your location,
Ill be Fitting an Exec with a LS3200 soon, ill try and take some images and upload if anyone interested.....basically with the parrot kit, you get the best of both worlds, a nokia style car kit at last for phone based PDAs like the Xda Exec,
Hope that helps,
Bryson
Is there no way to control the mic from being turned off when you plug in normal headphones? This is what I posted in another thread I created:
Hello everyone.
I have a great pair of wired headphones that I love to use for watching movies and listening to mp3's... noise canceling, enhanced bass, extended range, the works... =)
The only problem though is that when I get an incoming call on gsm, there is no way to listen to the call from the headphones and still use the built-in mic of the universal. I'm forced to unplug the headphones and just use the jasjar's built-in speakers like a regular phone. This is especially horrible on the bus, train, etc.
Funny thing is if I use skype on the jasjar, I can hear out of my great headphones and still talk through the built-in mic... i recorded a few voice notes using the built-in mic while having the headphones plugged in the universal...
clearly, from this... the function is available?
but how do I do this using the gsm phone?
I suppose you may want os details and such... I'm using the newest official i-mate jasjar rom
Thanks in advance!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=278604
I can confirm that your findings are indeed true. Other than the phone, other applications that use the microphone (such as Voice Recorder) works regardless there is a normal headphone plugged in or not.
I guess you are right, there should be a way to tweak the OS to enable the microphone all times.
In a meanwhile, the adapter we discussed above would solve your problem too. (It has a microphone and a normal 3.5mm headphone socket).

Car kt/stereo for music and calls - How?

Does anyone know of a solution where I can plug my phone in, play music on the car stereo and then make/take calls?
Would be nice if it was all integrated - i.e. that the stereo would pause or so when I'm on the phone, and the phone goes through the stereo speakers etc.
Need to get a new stereo anyway, so need the whole lot!
Cheers,
Ferg.
This is not a new stereo but works perfect for me. look up the Motorola t505. It is bluetooth handsfree and transmits wirelessly to your car stereo with built in fm transmitter. very strong fm transmitter. Music streamed to car stereo will paus when you make or get a call and the call even comes through the car stereo. Battery is very good too. Google it
That looks quite a decent solution, thanks hotrod.
I'm a little suspicious of BT though generally, not least because of my succession of HTC devices. I wonder if there's anything that just plugs in using old fashioned wires.
Well I am using the t505 with my HTC Touch Elf and it is the best thing that I have used in my car for transmitting music, since my factory stereo doesn't have aux in jack. I have tried using a regular fm transmitter directly from the phone but you get way too much distortion and feedback and radio interferance that way. I aslo do not have a tape deck in my car so that option wasn't available. For me I had to decide - Get a new car stereo with Aux Jack in or Built in Bluetooth, get the Parrot Bluetooth ( has to be professionally installed) or the T505. The cheapest was the T505 for me and it works better for me than I had ever hoped.

Internal speaker/mic with headphones?

Does anyone know of a way to use the internal speaker/mic on the TP2 with headphones attached?
I want to use the Brodit 3-in-1 car adapter, but this connects to the TP2 as if it's a set of headphones, so the internal speaker is muted (no sat nav directions). Is there some registry switch which can get the audio to come via the internal speaker as normal?
elyl said:
Does anyone know of a way to use the internal speaker/mic on the TP2 with headphones attached?
I want to use the Brodit 3-in-1 car adapter, but this connects to the TP2 as if it's a set of headphones, so the internal speaker is muted (no sat nav directions). Is there some registry switch which can get the audio to come via the internal speaker as normal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
elyl, did you get anywhere with this I've just bought one of these and holders and have got exactly the same issue, I want to either fix this or to return it and get a standard active holder.
Cheers
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4250590&highlight=Brodit#post4250590
Ah, looks like I'm guilty of double-posting, but I too have the same headache with the three-in-one Brodit holder.
I don't have an answer but I'll add my query to this thread in the hope that somebody who knows more about these things than me will note our plight
Paulplex said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4250590&highlight=Brodit#post4250590
Ah, looks like I'm guilty of double-posting, but I too have the same headache with the three-in-one Brodit holder.
I don't have an answer but I'll add my query to this thread in the hope that somebody who knows more about these things than me will note our plight
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Paulplex:- I was going to buy an adapter to output sound from the phone to my Aux input on my car stereo head unit, but that still doesn't give me the flexibility of being able to listen to the radio/CD as wouldn't then be able to here driving instructions from TomTom, so I've decided to send my Brodit holder back and get a passive one.
Sorry haven't got any answers for you though, am sure someone far wiser than I, will work out something to fix it.
I've done a little testing and I may have found myself a kind-of solution: although I've not figured out how to disable the automatic 'headphone' profile, you can still output sound if you connect a bluetooth headset to the phone after you've connected the ExtUSB connector from the Brodit car mount.
This means that although you can't use the Brodit car mount and the phones own speakers and microphone, you can still use it with a bluetooth headset - or car stereo that supports bluetooth.
Thats my solution - I'd like to know how to ensure sound goes through the speakers on the phone too, if you've got it connected via an ExtUSB three-in-one adapter, but this now works for me
Paulplex said:
I've done a little testing and I may have found myself a kind-of solution: although I've not figured out how to disable the automatic 'headphone' profile, you can still output sound if you connect a bluetooth headset to the phone after you've connected the ExtUSB connector from the Brodit car mount.
This means that although you can't use the Brodit car mount and the phones own speakers and microphone, you can still use it with a bluetooth headset - or car stereo that supports bluetooth.
Thats my solution - I'd like to know how to ensure sound goes through the speakers on the phone too, if you've got it connected via an ExtUSB three-in-one adapter, but this now works for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Paulplex, this is a good solution but not sure I wan't my TomTom bleating in my ear all the time, I've returned the 3in1 holder I bought, am probably going to go back to a passive one, I might try and pick up a 3in1 adapter, which some apparently don't switch off the internal speaker until a headset is plugged into them, that way I can output to my radio AUX from the 3.5mm headphone jack that these adapters have but will have to think about and do some more research. Good luck!
Cheers
Hi huys,
I too have this 3-in-1 holder. awesome! But indeed when not using the aux of my car and listening to the normal radio I want to have my TP2 docked and be able to listen to tomtom instructions directly from the phone...
Technically this should be possible, the ultimate proof is that when docked all sounds go through the aux out (line out) but the normal ring tone of the phone doesn't. So there is not something like a physical switch that doesn't allow you to plat any sounds directly from the TP2 when docked...
smart guys with solutions?

Need a Car adapter that will take Bluetooth Stereo audio from my Droid then go to FM?

I want to use my Droid Charge to beam audio through Bluetooth to a car adapter receiver that plugs into my cigarette lighter.. then this same adapter will send the audio via FM or whatever wireless into my car stereo's built in head unit...
is there such a device made?
how does the sound quality sound?
I can't rip out my stock head unit in the car... and I do NOT have an AUX input jack on the stock headunit.. so I want to do this all wirelessly if possible..
Great idea! Never heard of such a device but if one exists I'd buy it, if not someone should make it!
Soldering an AUX input with minijack that you plug to your phone sounds like HELL LOT easier and HELL LOT cheaper than any such device you want.
The best solution for what you want is the Motorola t505.
If not you could install a auxiliary input from these guys.
www.pie.net/
I bought one for my car for $45 and it works great.
You can also checkout dealextreme for some cheap deals bit it takes a few weeks to get here from china.
I've got a Jabra SP700 that is great for the job.
It recieves audio/calls from the phone over bluetooth and has a built in FM transmitter for the radio.
Sound quality on both ends of the conversation is excellent (even when using it's built in speaker), as is audio streaming.
It just clips to your sun visor but is small enough to slip into the glove box/door tray out of sight, and has the same micro usb charing port that my phone uses so no need for a second charger in the car, and battery life is great.
It automatically turns the FM transmitter off if it recieves no audio for 10 minutes, and turns itself off completely if not connected via bluetooth for 10 minutes.
Changing FM frequency to find a clear spot is dead easy, as is pairing/answering a call.
It reads out the phone number when someone calls you.
I think this may be what you are looking for. Its called a venturi mini. I though about bying one last year but bought a headunit with bluetooth instead.
http://www.amazon.com/Venturi-FNVMS4001-Mini-Bluetooth-Transmitter/dp/B00133BOAI

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