Hi, apologies if this has been answered elsewhere ... I searched, and the similar threads were all much too involved for me. And some essentially outdated.
On my twice-yearly drives between NY and AZ, often on backroads, listening to music via cloud is not an option. And I want greater variety of music than storage on my GSM Galaxy Nexus -- rooted and running Slim Bean 4.3 build 2 [soon to be Slim Kat or whatever it'll be called] -- can handle without messing up performance and other functions.
So I think what I want is
to hook my thumb drive up to the phone
have a player app pull music from it on the fly, while on the road. Not just something I'll manually move files on and off of when I'm not driving.
I need to power the phone from the car's power. And thumb drives need power, too, right?
The selection of cables on ebay, etc., is daunting, and I don't understand the "host" aspect, so not sure whether just any offered Y cable with male USB (for thumb drive), male micro USB (to plug into phone) and female micro USB (to plug power cable into) will get that done. Also don't understand "A" vs. "B" variants of USB, except by appearance.
Plus I don't have the time before I start my drive for anything that ships directly from Asia, which can take up to a month.
Is what I want possible, and if so can anyone recommend a particular solution and particular vendor for delivery from North America to New York?
Am not an expert, but I haven't read any threads on attaching a USB drive to a GN. I also drive long distance and listen to music on my GN. Fortunately I have a 32GB GN, holds all my music. Also, my auto radio has an aux port, so hooking up the GN to the radio is a no brainer. I just use the normal auto charger to keep the GN juiced up.. If you have an aux port on your radio, another option is to simply buy a MP3 player that has the storage you need (they a pretty cheap these days)..
Nope!
Phone is 16GB, doesn't hold all of my music ... and I'm not replacing it. Car is 11 years old, doesn't have aux ... and I'm not replacing it. I use a bluetooth hands-free to bounce my music to FM radio. I want one device -- my phone -- to handle music, navs, and phone, in a coordinated manner, for the least distraction while driving. Even if no distraction while driving is even smarter!
Anybody else -- off-the-shelf correct cable that will charge the phone while playing my music from a thumb drive? Or similar SD card solution?
Related
Hi all,
I am a newbie to this forum and have not yet bought my Universal. I am waiting for my next visit to the UK. Long story.
Anyway, the main point of this topic is that for me, one of the main things missing from the Universal is large mass storage capability (videos, photos, etc.).
I therefore intend to develop an interface to connect a hard drive to the Universal. I am a professional hardware and software developer BTW.
As far as I understand from this site, the current position is this;
The USB interface does not support host mode. (whether due to software or hardware...).
There is no expansion port as fitted to the XDAII etc. (if only, then this would be a no brainer).
The SDIO/MMC card socket is probably the most likely interface to use.
Can anyone confirm these assumptions?
I would like to develop this either as a docking station or a replacement back for the universal. However initially I suspect it will be connected by a cable.
If anyone has any more information, please let me know. I suspect that I will end up developing an MMC/SDIO to ATA/IDE or USB host interface. Alternatively I could just wait for CE-ATA drives and hopefully someone else will have written the drivers...
lkingscott said:
The USB interface does not support host mode. (whether due to software or hardware...).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just off the top of my head.
One USB host channel is used for the GSM/UMTS/GPS data transfer. The second one is
not used. The third is configured, but its purpose is unclear.
There is no expansion port as fitted to the XDAII etc. (if only, then this would be a no brainer).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They didn't wire even the serial port, so what
expansion port are you taking about
The SDIO/MMC card socket is probably the most likely interface to use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have no other choice. USB and SDIO.
I will end up developing an MMC/SDIO to ATA/IDE or USB host interface.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MMC/SDIO<->USB is the best, if you will solve the power problem.
If you read my post more carefully, you will see that is exactly what I say - I.e. the Exec/universal has NO expansion port as far as I am aware (unlike the XDAII which has one which can even support ATA style interface (Compactflash...))
USB2 host via SDIO/MMC will be unlikely as the MMC/SDIO interface is so slow and would probably require 2 separate interfaces plus micro although Atmel have some promising looking devices with integrated USB... However SDIO - ATA/IDE could be done relatively easily with a decent microcontroller.
Power is no big deal, as an external device it would have its own power - internal battery... but if I get as far as making it part of a docking station or replacenment back, then a bigger battery or even 2 batteries would be the way to go.
To bad this is all hot air. Time wise you don't have the time. What is the lifespan of the universal? 18 months to two years. No way in that window will you have time to develop a "Docking" station. Well not as commercial product anyway.
Pesimistic or what...
32G MMC & SD cards are supposed to be available next year.... Maybe that's why they didn't bother with expansion options...
I could confirm all of your assumptions. I have a Universal for a while now and one biggest thing I really wanted is, a Mass Storage, like an external HDD. I posted a while ago, my dream addition is a backpack/docking station that has extended battery, and a mass storage, or at least a USB host port or a CF slot.
Besides all interfaces you mentioned, don't forget the Universal also has wireless interface: BT and IrDA.
I read there is BT HDD outhere (4GB) but kind of expensive and not sure if its in production already.
If there is a way to hook up an external HDD, I will be among the first customers.
Btw, where did you hear about the 32GB SD Card?
Other thing I can think of, there is a device such as Cowon A2 that has a USB host function. It certainly can read from Universal SD Card if they are hooked up together, but Universal will not be able to access the Cowon A2 big harddrive. They mention that Cowon A2 can only read and copy from, and not copy to.
Since internal mass storage isn't an option, then external storage via wireless has to be a reasonable alternative. I don't know if bluetooth HDs exist, but there is certainly a wi-fi option from ASUS - see http://uk.asus.com/products2.aspx?l1=12&l2=44
This takes a standard laptop 2.5" HD and can connect wirelessly to an existing network or it can act as an access point for direct connection with another device. It's not the fastest device in the world, but it works fine on a home network as a basic back up file server as well as a store for mp3s which can then be played by any other device on the network. I hope to get my XDA next month and see if it also can wirelessly play mp3s in this way.
sjdigital said:
Since internal mass storage isn't an option, then external storage via wireless has to be a reasonable alternative. I don't know if bluetooth HDs exist, but there is certainly a wi-fi option from ASUS - see http://uk.asus.com/products2.aspx?l1=12&l2=44
This takes a standard laptop 2.5" HD and can connect wirelessly to an existing network or it can act as an access point for direct connection with another device. It's not the fastest device in the world, but it works fine on a home network as a basic back up file server as well as a store for mp3s which can then be played by any other device on the network. I hope to get my XDA next month and see if it also can wirelessly play mp3s in this way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2kg!!!!! :shock:
Who wants to carry that "portable" device? :lol:
I don't know where you get "2 kg" from? The thing weighs 200g according to the specification in the instructions (although whether that includes the HD itself I can't say!). It's certainly portable, if not pocketable, but the original post was about mass storage for music, videos, etc. and this device provides that very conveniently.
I found the weight there:
http://www.techfever.co.uk/products.asp?partno=4721&source=tempriser
but you're right, on the other website it says 200g:
http://www.techbuy.com.au/products/....5_Hard_Drive_Case_-_802.11g_Ethernet_USB.asp
but anyway, you need to use an external power source so for me it's not portable...
Yes, I have one and for sure it's nowhere near 2kg! It's a bit smaller than a video cassette (remember them?) and really is very handy. But as I said, portable rather than pocketable. But given the wireless capability of the XDA, the ASUS device is a realistic option for a semi-fixed file server that is accessible wirelessly. And it even has a built in ftp server so you can hook it up to your home network and acess it via the internet using your XDA or whatever. As I write this I'm listening to my mp3s which are stored on my ASUS and played back via a wireless media player. Neat, huh? And it's that capabilty that I want from an XDA but I want to wait until it has A2DP so that I can stream the audio to my hi-fi via bluetooth!!!
ASUS HDD
I have just bought an Asus WL-HDD hard drive case. I was hoping that it would be smaller than it is, the case is the most inefficient I have ever seen. However, it should do what I am looking for.
With a 60G Maxtor hard drive it weighs 315 grammes. Note that you also need a 5 volt supply - more wires, not exactly portable, however it's a good start.
After loads of pain getting to work properly, I have been playing with video streaming and it seems OK, even from an external hard drive plugged into its USB 1.1 port. Not bad, a 40 quid device that has all that and a host USB port and they couldn't get the USB port right on an Exec costing 10 times that...!!!
Now I have got the Asus going, there's other things it can do, like being an Access point and there's loads of tweaks out there from the open source community. Have a look at http://wl500g.info , you can even write your own software for it if you want.
BT would be useless as the max data rate is crap. There is no way that you could reliably stream video without lots of compression...
So, while the Asus product is not perfect, it does mean that I will not be bothering with the XDA add on. I will certainly now be buying an Exec and I now have the bug to start playing with WiFi embedded servers... As a start I think I will recase the Asus, including some LiIon batteries and built in card reader (it just hangs off the USB port). Not really a major development, but it will save carrying a power brick and a load of cables.
80211B
I have just noticed that the WiFi interface is 802.11b.
When I tried video streaming with the Asus WL-HDD, 802.11g would work fine, but 802.11b was just too slow. However I was streaming relatively high quality video.
Ho Hum. I think I'll still get one and try it. I suppose lower quality video can be used, but then some of the advantages of the high quality display are lost. Anyway, for my particular requirement I am more interested in still image display.
Lisa
Without trying to hijack this thread, yes, the WL-HDD isn't the fastest device around! But 11b wireless isn't the problem, even hard wired to my router it doesn't manage anything like 11b speeds. But I can happily play mp3s, and video files that aren't too high quality, that are stored on it. It can, for example, happily cope with playing video files generated from a consumer video camera. But are you actually streaming, or simply playing files stored on the device?
You've already found the wl500g forum where lots of info is available, you could also try www.macsat.com.
802.11b/g
I don't know what goes on with 802.11b or g, but the sustained data rates don't seem to be anywhere near 11 or 54Mbps.
Assuming a reasonable quality 500M MP4 or Divx video 2 hours long. That's around 5Gbits in 15000 secs, i.e. 333kbits/sec.
I have tried dfferent combinations of adapters, routers and pc cards and the results are always similar. Yet file copying times would indicate data rates nearer to those quoted.
Ho hum...
I normally have my WL-HDD connected by ethernet cable but I've just tried it wirelessly and data transfer is just over 5 Mbps. A long way short of 11b never mind 11g speeds. I can play a 30 minute 300MB MPEG movie on my laptop from a file on the WL-HDD. That's a data rate of about 1.3 Mbps. But I tried a 57MB avi file which is only 16 seconds long and it simply wouldn't play properly - it just stuttered along. But the data rate required for that is about 28 Mbps, which is clearly well beyond what the WL-HDD can manage.
But it should be able to cope with anything up to 5 Mbps, i.e. a one hour video file of about 2.2 GB (I think I've got my bits and Bytes, and Mega and Giga, right!)
WiFi 802.11g on your HTC Universal & Wizard
Check this guys!
http://www.pocketpcaddict.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5880
Salam!
Just tryed it, but my network is in the list as "Available" and I dont have a connection
Linksys WRT54GS in G-only mode...
Hi,
Engadget says Universal supports external HDD (read comments at http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/02/...l-questions-weve-got-htc-universal/1#comments )
Is there a way to get in touch with them?
I do not fully understand what everybody is trying to achieve here. I use Resco explorer and connect over Wifi to my home network. I get a shared drive and can use all the harddisk space in the world. Grant it will only work at home, but that is where I need the external space the most.
I'm somewhat surprised more has not been made over the issue of having the mic turn off when I connect a cable from aux to my car stereo. My car doesn't have bluetooth connection for the radio (only has phone connectivity -- 3 year old Camry). So when I want to have Pandora playing in the car over the car speakers, it will appropriately turn on bluetooth when a call comes in, but I can't get voice search to function using Google Maps.
This wasn't an issue with my Samsung Captivate although I don't know if this is an issue with the hardware or the fact that I was running Gingerbread previously.
Additionally, when I connect headphones to the phone I don't have an issue (it appears the headphones have a rather poor mic connected to it which is picking up the voice search command).
Solutions in order of preference:
(a) Some configuration in ICS that I haven't found yet that works like my Samsung Captivate.
(b) A y cable with male microusb on one side / male usb [power] and a male aux [audio] on the other. this would combine with a female usb to car charger. Don't even know if this exists.
(c) An aux cable with a built-in, decent, mic. Don't know if this exists.
Am I missing something? Does anyone know of accessories that satisfy (b) or (c) above?
I've been through similar issues before and had to cobble together the solution through multiple accessories. I'm rather disappointed, given how happy I am with this phone, that I have to go backwards given that this wasn't a problem with the Captivate. Either that or with all my searches I've not found the easy solution here to being able to connect to the stereo AND use voice search on my phone without jumping through hoops.
EDIT: ok. Found this thread after using alternative search terms
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1787592
I found the iBolt for the Samsung Galaxy S3 does exactly what I need. It has a y cable that splits from microusb to both power [aux] and charging [usb]. I'm glad that I don't have to consider creating one as folks have in other threads using resistors and soldering irons.
Nicer yet is that the dock handles the 4200mah extended battery from Qcell which I didn't think would be the case (no protective case).
I got mine at a Verizon store for $40, which is less than I'm finding it on Amazon so it seems like a win all around.
I need to find a way to output video to AV input so i can connect my note 2, to my stereo in my car any clue how i can do this?
Just use a Left Right channel to 3.5mm wire...
EDIT: Oh... For video I think we only support HDMI but there might be a dongle you could buy..
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
You'll need to output hdmi via mhl, then use a hdmi > AV adapter to connect to the radio.
☆SoA: Son's of Android™☆
I like to break stuff!
What Evil said ^^^^
Sent from my SPH-L900
Thanks for the help all the hdmi > AV adapters i cant find have to be powered anyone know of any that dont need power or i can power from a usb maybe? thanks.
vwgti18 said:
Thanks for the help all the hdmi > AV adapters i cant find have to be powered anyone know of any that dont need power or i can power from a usb maybe? thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best thing to do is buy an AC> DC power inverter for your vehicle. I use one to charge my note 2. They turn the 12v cigg lighter into a 120v wall outlet.
☆SoA: Son's of Android™☆
I like to break stuff!
This is one thing that sucks on newer devices. I remember on my HTC Touch Pro and TP2 you could just plug into your deck using the rca inputs. It was nice to be able to play stuff off your phone directly to the monitor.
Plus because I kept the cables in my car, it was easy to take in a house and plug in and play videos and pictures. I did this all the time for my Grams, to show her my little ones. She was never into newer HD tv's lol. Oh well, I'm sure HDMI connections will be really available on decks before you know it.
Sent from my Mackafied Sprint Galaxy Note II using XDA Premium.
KB112 said:
This is one thing that sucks on newer devices. I remember on my HTC Touch Pro and TP2 you could just plug into your deck using the rca inputs. It was nice to be able to play stuff off your phone directly to the monitor.
Plus because I kept the cables in my car, it was easy to take in a house and plug in and play videos and pictures. I did this all the time for my Grams, to show her my little ones. She was never into newer HD tv's lol. Oh well, I'm sure HDMI connections will be really available on decks before you know it.
Sent from my Mackafied Sprint Galaxy Note II using XDA Premium.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lot of the new decks already have hdmi pigtails in the back or hdmi ports in the front.
☆SoA: Son's of Android™☆
I like to break stuff!
-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
A lot of the new decks already have hdmi pigtails in the back or hdmi ports in the front.
☆SoA: Son's of Android™☆
I like to break stuff!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I have seen some, but I mean it's not quite mainstream yet. At least not enough for me to switch out decks! Lol
Sent from my Mackafied Sprint Galaxy Note II using XDA Premium.
vwgti18 said:
I need to find a way to output video to AV input so i can connect my note 2, to my stereo in my car any clue how i can do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can find plenty of HDMI to RCA adapters on the internet. The problem is that HDMI is a digital signal, and RCA is analog. And from your picture, your device is looking for an analog signal. Hence, you need to get something to convert the HDMI signal into an Analog one. They exist, but are not cheap. The cheap ones, not used, are $200. Require a power source. And we haven't even touched is the phone's video output going to be accepted by the stereo's video input. If the video output doesn't match--resolution and refresh rate--you're not going to have a picture. On PCs, you can these settings in the video control center or use special applications. For Android, I don't think they exists because the TVs with HDMI are new enough that a designed to accept the video phones are putting out; the phone are also designed to output video HDTV will accept.
Never mind you'll still need some kind of car charger to power the HML adapter. In my experience, using your phone and HML, will drain your battery, although slower because it doesn't need all the 2.0mha the charger puts out, but doesn't give the phone enough power to maintain it's current charge status.
The other issue, it's hard to find converters for HDMI to composite RCA. Not many people are in demand for them since a lot of the old TVs that only had those inputs are gone. They exists though.
That all said, my question would be exactly what applicaitons or tasks are you trying to don on your GN2 though your car deck? If it's just play music or audio into it, If so, then just get a 3.5mm to RCA cable. They can be purchased for a couple dollars. Here's a link for Monoprice.com: http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218. Just make sure you get a male to male version. There are options as well, depending your car deck. If it has a casette deck, you can get 3.5mm caasette adapter. If you want more robust, you can get a 3.5mm FM car cigarette transmitter such as Coby CA 745; the problem is you need to have a clear FM station, which can change depending on your geographical location. I like that model because you can change FM to be used, and has cigarette charge port. The benefit, you're not dependent on the car having any kind of audio output ports, or cassette player.
If you're wanting to play video, ie use the mirroring function of the phone, I'm thinking you be much better served with a newer car deck that can support HDMI video in. Heck, depending on the screensize of you deck, it may be better just to get a car dock for the GN2 and just send the audio through your car stereo. Another alternative, use the Wifi hotspot function of the GN2 and use a tablet. I'm not saying I've ever used the GN2 to use Google Navigation and my 10" tablet to have NHL Center Ice going while driving to a meeting an hour away, but you can see how it can be done:
I've seen some pretty creative mounting methods use with the Nexus 7.
Hopefully this was helpful
lovekeiiy said:
You can find plenty of HDMI to RCA adapters on the internet. The problem is that HDMI is a digital signal, and RCA is analog. And from your picture, your device is looking for an analog signal. Hence, you need to get something to convert the HDMI signal into an Analog one. They exist, but are not cheap. The cheap ones, not used, are $200. Require a power source. And we haven't even touched is the phone's video output going to be accepted by the stereo's video input. If the video output doesn't match--resolution and refresh rate--you're not going to have a picture. On PCs, you can these settings in the video control center or use special applications. For Android, I don't think they exists because the TVs with HDMI are new enough that a designed to accept the video phones are putting out; the phone are also designed to output video HDTV will accept.
Never mind you'll still need some kind of car charger to power the HML adapter. In my experience, using your phone and HML, will drain your battery, although slower because it doesn't need all the 2.0mha the charger puts out, but doesn't give the phone enough power to maintain it's current charge status.
The other issue, it's hard to find converters for HDMI to composite RCA. Not many people are in demand for them since a lot of the old TVs that only had those inputs are gone. They exists though.
That all said, my question would be exactly what applicaitons or tasks are you trying to don on your GN2 though your car deck? If it's just play music or audio into it, If so, then just get a 3.5mm to RCA cable. They can be purchased for a couple dollars. Here's a link for Monoprice.com: http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218. Just make sure you get a male to male version. There are options as well, depending your car deck. If it has a casette deck, you can get 3.5mm caasette adapter. If you want more robust, you can get a 3.5mm FM car cigarette transmitter such as Coby CA 745; the problem is you need to have a clear FM station, which can change depending on your geographical location. I like that model because you can change FM to be used, and has cigarette charge port. The benefit, you're not dependent on the car having any kind of audio output ports, or cassette player.
If you're wanting to play video, ie use the mirroring function of the phone, I'm thinking you be much better served with a newer car deck that can support HDMI video in. Heck, depending on the screensize of you deck, it may be better just to get a car dock for the GN2 and just send the audio through your car stereo. Another alternative, use the Wifi hotspot function of the GN2 and use a tablet. I'm not saying I've ever used the GN2 to use Google Navigation and my 10" tablet to have NHL Center Ice going while driving to a meeting an hour away, but you can see how it can be done:
I've seen some pretty creative mounting methods use with the Nexus 7.
Hopefully this was helpful
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea thanks for your input. I was just about to order this http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...l?ie=UTF8&colid=&coliid=&me=&qid=&seller=&sr=
and this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A9H30LU/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and see if i can get it to work but after u said all that idk if i really want to risk spending the $50 what do u think?
As for buying a new deck thats out of the question i just got the new late 2012 model JVC.
I already do music. I wanted video so i can play movies and play youtube but mostly wanted my google maps to show on the big screen so i could just tuck my phone away.
The HML cable is a decent price. You may it to be useful for showing off pictures or videos at home or at friends' on the TV rather than the phone. I see the cable still being useful if what your propose doesn't work out.
I can't so for certain if it's going work. It looks promising. I like the Eleckcity has 60 positive reviews (4 or 5 stars) out of 78. Fifty dollars isn't a bad cost. I would just check the return the policy. I would write Eleckcity and ask about returns if they product doesn't work or as expected. Also, there is a review who used it in a similar manner that you're trying to do. I would definity write that person to find out more details on the headunit and so forth.
The only thing I would be weary about is powering the Eleckcity. Since it doesn't have it's own powersouce, it's going to draw it's power from the USB. I don't know for certain, but I don't believe the USB power on the GN2 sends out power. If it does, I don't think it's much. It's only used the OTG USB cable with items that had their power. And the MHL has as power supply. If it doesn't power it, I think a simple USB powerhub could do the trick. I'm sure there is probably some kind of cigarette car adapter usb hub that could found or the like.
I understand the goal. I don't know how much effect and cost is worth it for you to how often you would use the maps and video features on your deck's screen. In looking at some of the JVC multimedia head units, screen size isn't very larger since they range 6.1" to 7". So I put eh screen size as negligible factor, by my standards. Obviously, use the headunit's screen would be more elegant look, espically compared to having three windowshield/dashboard car docks, a 150W USB cigarette car power inverter, and cables hanging in from of the dash; one is the for the satellite radio. Then again, I only need that stuff about once every six months. So, maybe a simple dock such as iOttie or Clingo may work well with a car charger for phone if you only plan to use it say, once a month or less. T
The last paragraph is just proposed plan B and C, and so forth.
I have a motorcycle with a car stereo amplifier and I want to use a Windows 8 tablet (lenovo miix2 8) as my head unit/navigation.
◘My goal for this thread is to come up with a solution that uses the fewest amount of wires connected to the tablet.
◘I need to be able to charge the tablet and stream audio to my amp at the same time.
◘Ideas of products that might work:
1. Is having one USB cord going to the tablet, which it would send audio to like a sound card or something similar, and also charge it at the same time.
2. USB used just for charging, and use a bluetooth audio receiver for the amp.
3. I doubt there are compact products that could do this, but a wireless charge pad + a bluetooth audio reciveier to the amp(no wires at all).
(optional product, some kind of remote with a few basic buttons that would let change tracks or volume)
I honestly don't know anything about how usb ports work on tablets in general, but I think my tablet does allow for a device to be attached to it and charged at the same time, but I dont know for sure.
Any suggestions for products I may be able to make one of my three options work?
I have had awful experience with Bluetooth for this situation. I can get it to connect to one BT device after a reboot, but if I want to swap to another BT device I have to reboot again. Sometimes I can get it to reconnect to a different device without a reboot but it requires so much fiddling and just waiting for the bloody thing to stop trying to connect to a device that isn't there, that a reboot is always the fastest and most assured option.
I love the concept of Bluetooth, but its usability renders it almost useless IMHO.
usb seem best
I think usb is gonna give you better sound. Not much, but will do the job
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
OK. So 2 years ago I saw a thread on the Nexus 7 tablet forums where someone essentially turn it into a car deck. At the time it was complicated, convoluted and buggy to say the least. Since then its been a thought exercise to make this work. How I wanted it to work. This is what I wanted:
Simple plug&play. One USB connection to carry high quality audio out from the device while still allowing it to charge. This is the most difficult. On the Nexus 7 it required a special kernel and plus the accessories had to be connected in the right sequence. Not exactly the one action set up I was going for.
The easy way to accomplish this was to use a standard USB charger and then use the headphone jack to send audio to the Aux input of the stereo. Great in theory! However the phones/tablets I have used always allowed alternator whine into the sound. Not ideal either.
Third common way is to use bluetooth audio. My Pioneer deck does support this. But we all know the quality of the sound from this is OK at best. Play some ripping guitar or something melodic and you can really hear the compression (watery, slurred "S"s sound). Not good enough for me.
Now when I had first read about this concept I started accumulating various adapters and parts to play with. First was a Behringer 202 External DAC. Its low cost but had decent reviews. Perfect for my installation. Plus the added benefit of several output format options, so a deck with an optical input could also be used if yours has one. With this I got a simple USB OTG with the Micro USB charger Y-cable. The one that has a standard female USB, the charger connection and the one to the device. Now this whole thing never worked properly. I ended up using the OTG cable with the DAC, but on my home stereo where I could place a Qi Pad under the Nexus (and my S4 before) to charge and the DAC for audio. At least I was using what I spent money on. Just not the way I wanted.
Fast forward to yesterday morning. I have had my Nexus 5 for a few months but had not tried this set up. The fussing with kernels on other devices and units over the years had me giving up. But I figured why not try with the DAC and standard charger connected (they were just sitting there after all). Low and behold it worked! And I mean perfectly! It was a big light had been turned on and the world was beautiful! Then I tried my M8 and it failed......but the Nexus 5 for the win! Oh, and even when connected to the power the DAC turned off when I disconnected the phone. So it shouldn't drain my truck's battery (though I parked on a hill tonight just in case!).
So! Here is my car installation that I was finally able to complete. I have included photos of the installation and the parts I used. It's in a list format that I hope follows the pictures. it will take me a post or three to get it all in! So bear with me.
Ingredients:
Nexus 5 (I am running Liquid Smooth for my ROM, I have not tested it on other ROMs at the time of this post).
External DAC. Like the Behringer 202 I used, but I would assume most would work.
USB OTG and Charging Cable
RCA to 3.5mm headset adapter.
Standard car charger. I have a Belkin 1A one that works like a charm. In theory you could use the USB on the stereo if included, but you may not charge reliably.
Standard USB to Micro USB cable
iBolt xDockPro for the HTC. This is optional, but i like the iBolt and their right angled USB is the right way for the Nexus. Which made the set up cleaner.
Car Home Ultra from the Play Store
So. The first photo shows all the stuff I used (minus the car deck and truck).
Second you will see I am in fact using the HTC Dock
Next is the DAC I used
Followed by the adapter cable
The the RCA adapter
The before picture. The sticky pad for the mount was there cause I was already using my iBolt with just a charger tucked in.
This one you will see I have taken the y-cable and connected it to the iBolt adapter. My dash had the room for this, you may need an extension as the y-cable is really short!
Dash is coming apart!
To be continued (I can only post so many pics at once!
Part Deux!
So the next photo shows my deck's AUX input. Now I bought this unit because it had a rear jack. So connected the headphone plug into the AUX jack.
These next four pictures are just to show which power supply I used and how the USB cable is run up to the y-adapter. Now it would be possible to use your stereos USB for power if equiped. I didn't for two reasons. First, the phone/stereo may think your connecting a flash drive (both unit could be trying to be the "host"). Second the stereo may not put out enough amperage to run both the phone and the connected DAC. So I just went with the separate supply. Plus its easy to disconnect it should I need too.
This is me connecting the DAC. Now I wanted to show this particular step as you can see the power light is NOT lit even when connected to vehicle power.
RCA cable is now connected to the DAC.
The set up all buttoned up!
To be continued.....
Trio!
This post is more about the proof of concept and the Car home Setup. Here it is!
Basically once the hardware was all set (1 & 2) I fired it up, and used Play Music (and others) making sure Bluetooth was NOT paired yet. Sounds AWESOME! Makes a night and day difference! Then I paired it for hands free while making sure the media wasn't connecting. Now went into Car Home Ultra and just set it to launch with the my stereo's bluetooth connection. My only next goal I need to finish is to get an NFC tag to control Bluetooth on the iBolt. Car Home is set to turn WiFi off automatically when its running, but my set up is reliant on BT running all the time (or have me remember to turn it on/off, but defeats my plug'n'play concept).
That's the gist of it. If you would like more details or suggestions please let me know!
So it's not just my Ford Fiesta that sends lots of noise to the charger? I am a little relieved, but it sucks to find out that this is somehow a "standard"...
Nice setup there!
daniel_loft said:
So it's not just my Ford Fiesta that sends lots of noise to the charger? I am a little relieved, but it sucks to find out that this is somehow a "standard"...
Nice setup there!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a fix. They make something called a "ground loop isolator" that can usually fix the noise generated from you alternator. Here is an example, quick google search brought it up. http://www.amazon.com/PAC-SNI-1-3-5..._sim_pc_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1FEVW0RPFQ5W3V742E6G
You could put a more temporary/portable set up like mine, wouldn't be hard if your still having issues. Put all the parts together, stuff it all in an old cassette or floppy disk case with a few holes for the cables to stick out of.
Yeah, now the challenge is to find ways to make it work on more devices. It's really unfortunate that the M8 doesn't on Sense based ROMs (I plan on trying a GPE ROM in a few days to see if that makes a difference).
And I may now invest in a proper proclip mount so it's not up on the dash like that. But it works like a hot damn as is for now. Even with LTE on, display always on and streaming audio it charges, though pretty slow. Still. Better than not at all. And I can always turn the screen off if I wanted to give it more juice.
I have my Nexus 5 w/o the case using an iBolt mount I already had and a cheap qi charger and works great.
Nice Setup... I was actually looking for something like this. Thanks for posting
There are a lot of microUSB to USB + aux splitters on amazon for the Samsung Galaxy phones. Would these have worked all the same? Or does the Nexus 5 not have a docking capability that would sense the plug?
For those that don't know BlackBerry sells a blutooth adapter that uses power from the usb charging port on your after market stereo. I use it on mine. This thing is crazy small I hide it in the gap behind my stereo and the reception is good you have around a 10ft radius depending on where you hid your dongle.
http://shop.crackberry.com/blackberry-music-gateway/9A172A11438.htm
Nice I see you have a Colorado. I have a Nexus 7 in mine. I can say that after hours and days of troubleshooting ground noise I could not get rid of it. I had to use a ground loop isolator
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