mp3 to car radio.

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plain
 
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Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 11:41 pm

mp3 to car radio.

Post by plain »

Hi All:

I would like to build an input circuit on my car stereo which would accept my Sansa MP3 player. I have a Ford Ranger with single CD/FM radio. I took the radio apart in an attempt to hack into the circuit between the CD player and the preamp but they are connected with a small ribbon cable with 5 or 6 wires on it. The kind with the stiff ends that you just plug in to the recepticle on the circuit board. There is a company which makes an adapter that gives you two RCA jacks which you can then use with another adapter you buy from them to go to the Sansa. I think I can do better. I know this stereo will play song titles because some of my CD`s do that. That would be neat but my main goal is to be able to hook the MP3 to the stereo and while listening to music, also charge the player. Is this possible for a novice like me? If so, how would I start?


Thanks, Plain

eil
 
Posts: 440
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:09 pm

Re: mp3 to car radio.

Post by eil »

If you can hack the stereo to give you a Line In, that's great but it's definitely the hard way of going about it. Some people have had success connecting their MP3 players to connectors meant for an external CD changer, but that can be just as frustrating because then you have to emulate the control signals that the changer uses as well.

Your best bets are:

- An el-cheapo FM transmitter (poor audio quality)
- An FM "transmitter" which connects to the FM antenna input (decent but not great audio quality, expensive)
- An aftermarket stereo with Line In or MP3 capabilities

Don't bet on being able to display song titles etc on the radio's display unless it has an iPod input or similar (which I assume it doesn't have since you're trying to hack your own :P)

plain
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 11:41 pm

Re: mp3 to car radio.

Post by plain »

Thanks eil:

This is kind of what I was looking for as to information. I can`t remember which CD I have or had that caused the radio/player to give title and author. That was several years ago but it is curious I haven`t used another since that would do the same thing. Oh well..........Thanks for your reply.

Plain

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richms
 
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Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:05 am

Re: mp3 to car radio.

Post by richms »

Not many pressed CD's have CD text on them, which is a shame because it was quite useful.

Some transmitters for the iPod will send RDS and abuse the station name to send titles 8 characters at a time, Real stations are not supposed to do that because it is a driver distraction, but over here many of them do it, which results in my presets getting named to useful things like "Playing" and "Call Now"

Transmitters suck because you need to be 0.6MHz away from another station to be completely free of any interferance with most tuners. Since stations are packed in 0.4 MHz apart, that makes a problem with the legal low power transmitters, and the not very legal higher power ones from ebay sellers in HK tend to have lousy audio quality.

Best to see if there is a changer socket on the head deck. If there is, find what it is compatible with, there are not that many makers of changers. once you find that you can get an aux input adapter. I wouldnt go trying to tackle making it control the player etc at this stage, it is possible as the headdeck controls the changer. Most of the iPod ones just give you 6 playlists you can kick off from the 6 disc buttons, which is pretty useless IMO and its better to just use the iPod controls. Next and prevous track gets tiring with 1000s of them.

Isdino
 
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Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 4:13 am

Re: mp3 to car radio.

Post by Isdino »

DIY mp3 to car radio will be discover the joy.
But i am lazy, Buying a car mp3 fm transmitter may be a good idea for who is lazy as me.
:roll:

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