The Ultimate Car Setup - Nexus 5 Accessories

The Ultimate Car Setup - Nexus 5 Accessories

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
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

Related

BTAXS motorMOUTH II - Handsfree & Streaming Audio Car Kit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgLxM2bOtyM&feature=player_embedded#!
- Plugs directly into your vehicle's MP3/AUX input to allow handsfree phone conversations to play through your speakers
- Auto-paring makes initial set up hassle free
- One touch voice dialing with most Bluetooth cellular phones
- DSP echo cancellation ensures a crystal clear conversation even in noisy vehicles
- Includes switching audio splitter, AUX relocation cable, USB charging cable and car charger
- Support profiles: HFP and A2DP
SHIPPING LATE SEPTEMBER, PRE-ORDER NOW

scosche.com/products/sfID1/217/sfID2/219/productID/1919
This is EXACTLY what I've been waiting for. One less cable to attach to my evo

$80 is WAY too much for this. You can accomplish the same thing with a $20 BT3030 adapter, or any headphone adapter.
Here's a tip:
Grab one of these and one of these, and you'll never know the difference.

i just bought one on these and i'm liking it. Maybe it can be done cheaper but I know this works well.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470939291&pf_rd_i=507846

scl23enn4m3 said:
$80 is WAY too much for this. You can accomplish the same thing with a $20 BT3030 adapter, or any headphone adapter.
Here's a tip:
Grab one of these and one of these, and you'll never know the difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the first one allow you to stream bluetooth music to your cd player?

backdown said:
Does the first one allow you to stream bluetooth music to your cd player?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will let you stream to anything with an audio input.
EDIT: I'll have a full blown write up on this method in a few weeks hopefully. I'm waiting on a bunch of parts to come in and I'm hooking mine and my father's car up.

That doesn't look like it charges and outputs at the same time. The scosche appears to do this.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

pinoyxpryde said:
That doesn't look like it charges and outputs at the same time. The scosche appears to do this.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just used that as an example as how cheap you can go. Personally, I'm making a cable that does both.
If you want one that charges and plays at the same time out of the box, try this for 20 bucks:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Jabra-BT303...uetooth_Wireless_Products&hash=item4aa3833d38
It's the Jabra BT3030. One end is the audio output (which plugs into your audio input) and the mini USB port is on the other for charging.

Looks awesome but quality of sound is probably ****...

How is bluetooth sound quality now adays. I listen to flac, which is lossless audio, so if it isn't really good - great sound quality wise I will just keep using a 3.5mm cable.

I'm not an audio expert (nor is my ear sensitive enough to pick up subtle differences), but I definitely wouldn't call bluetooth audio ****. I can't tell the difference between the bluetooth connection and wired connection. I've heard accounts saying flac sounds beautiful through bluetooth, but then again audio is something that has always been subjective.

Thanks for your opinion, i appreciate you taking the time to respond
I got a motorocker or something like that yesterday at walmart. It was like 90 bucks regularly on clearance for 60, but i got an extra good deal on it.
When i get my evo back I'll post my opinion on it. I have audiophilistic ears lol. It also fm modulates, so i know frequency is going to limited on the upper end to 16kish. But much over 16k doesn't contain much musical content depending on what you are listening to anyways.

Not that great over FM, glad i didn't pay much for it. I am sure the device you listed would sound very good though as it goes through a regular aux port instead of fm modulation. There didn't appear to be any bluetooth related noise, just fm garbage.

I bought a new Sony desk (BT2800) with Bluetooth built-in, and the quality is near flawless. It seems like I actually have less distortion than when it was physically plugged in. There was a ground short or something when I had it plugged in to charge and to the aux input ( but you only could notice if u turn the volume up with nothing playing). I don't know if that's with all cars or just my older car.

scl23enn4m3, you don't know what you are talking about. I hope people don't follow your ****ty advice.
First of all, that BT thing you linked to on ebay does not charge and stream at the same time. It has been covered in the comments section on dealextreme.
Second, I have yet to find any bluetooth reciever that I can add to my stock stereo system that will auto-pair. Auto pairing is a huge deal. If you have to screw around with the bluetooth settings on your phone every time you turn your car on, you might as well plug in the damn aux cable.
I am excited to check this product out.

so mine came in i couldnt get out of my car lol
i think im going to buy one for my home surround sound so i can stream music from laying in bed from my phone (my best tunes are always on my phone even though i have a 2tb and home server running boxee setup on my tv)
But seriously this motormouth btaxs is amazign (for you cheapskates out there stick to your long wires or jerryrigged stuff and leave this toy for those who want it all done right without soldeign and running wires all over)
Yes it charges while in use (I have mine plugged in all the time now and i have it setup so once i put my evo in my dock it auto ons my bluetooth and connects automatically to it)
call quality is good i just tested in loud car on speakerphone and no reverb and works flawless with one button touch then speak the name u want to call
love the damn thing i cant wait to go to work i use my phone all day while driving around and havign to plug in two wires everytime i get in and out was askign too much
now only need one wire and thats if my battery is dead ill add pics in a bit

spyngamerman said:
But seriously this motormouth btaxs is amazign (for you cheapskates out there stick to your long wires or jerryrigged stuff and leave this toy for those who want it all done right without soldeign and running wires all over)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too bad my '07 Porsche 911 doesn't have a Aux/MP3 input jack.

Woo-Hoo!
Ordered mine from Hawk Electronics on Wednesday night - showed up on the front doorstep today (it helps that their warehouse is here in DFW).
This thing is amazing. Sound quality for music over BT far surpasses what I was getting via 3.5mm jack, and there's no 25% sound reduction just because you docked. In combination with my Sprint car dock, this is just exactly what I've been waiting for. Cool thing about car dock mode: it turns on BT, GPS, and 4G when you dock. It paired without issue, and it fires up the second I dock it in the car.
I used the extension thingy for the microphone, because my AUX port is over on the passenger side in my Element.
Road trip tomorrow.

Here'sa pic comes with charging cable too with car adapter
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

This device looks nice but too bad my aux input is in the glove compartment...

Best car stereo with bluetooth enable to stream music from Evo

Hey does any one is using your evo to stream music using the bluetooth pair ?
I want to buy a car stereo that have usb and bluetooth ready to stream music from my evo.
I have seen a couple of videos on youtube they have blootooth but no usb I want to have both options
any suggestion it will be appreciate.

I have a Alpine w505 and I use bluetooth streaming but not sure if you can connect to a cable usb. The phone contacts and call logs even transfer.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/01/05/ces-2011-parrot-introduces-an-android-powered-asteroid-car-stereo-video/
this is the stereo i'm waiting for

I have the Kenwood DNX9960 and it works well. I use it for streaming and hands free calling. It has USB and I can play all media from my EVO as a USB drive (except for the videos shot from the camera, doh!).

JVC Arsenal KD-A815
$179.99 + free wiring harness to fit your vehicle. Works great, has USB and Bluetooth

Didnt read the whole thread..
But I use Belkin's bluetooth receiver.. http://www.google.com/products/cata...ult&ct=result&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CDAQ8wIwAw#
I just got a nokia car charger for it to hardwire it behind my dash and hooked it up to my aux input on my alpine. Works flawless

lookout4theyeti said:
Didnt read the whole thread..
But I use Belkin's bluetooth receiver.. http://www.google.com/products/cata...ult&ct=result&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CDAQ8wIwAw#
I just got a nokia car charger for it to hardwire it behind my dash and hooked it up to my aux input on my alpine. Works flawless
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to provide details on the charger used? Does it stay paired/charged long enough to hide it out of sight completely and have it automatically work when I turn the car on and hit play on PowerAmp?

norkoastal said:
Care to provide details on the charger used? Does it stay paired/charged long enough to hide it out of sight completely and have it automatically work when I turn the car on and hit play on PowerAmp?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just went to walmart and found an old nokia charger that has the same plug size as the belkin (had to pick it out with the belkin in hand, was kind of an "i hope this fits" purchase). Got it home, plugged it into the cig lighter, got power and everything worked fine so I hardwired it to the headunits remote power wire (the blue one for amplifiers) and have everything tucked nicely behind the dash. It turns on automatically with the radio, so all you have to do is turn on bluetooth on your phone to pair it and your good to go!

lookout4theyeti said:
I just went to walmart and found an old nokia charger that has the same plug size as the belkin (had to pick it out with the belkin in hand, was kind of an "i hope this fits" purchase). Got it home, plugged it into the cig lighter, got power and everything worked fine so I hardwired it to the headunits remote power wire (the blue one for amplifiers) and have everything tucked nicely behind the dash. It turns on automatically with the radio, so all you have to do is turn on bluetooth on your phone to pair it and your good to go!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice!! I'm still factory stock with a ghetto rigged aux in to my cd changer, so this might not work for my situation since I dont really have any amps hooked up to trigger power.

norkoastal said:
Nice!! I'm still factory stock with a ghetto rigged aux in to my cd changer, so this might not work for my situation since I dont really have any amps hooked up to trigger power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can tap the charger into any 12v power source in the car, the amp wire was just the easiest for my situation. There are ignition wires you can tap into, or even find the power wire for the stock radio. Just grab a volt meter and start testing around, you'll find something. You can even tap into the cigarette lighter wires if you need to.
EDIT: Just copied the how-to I typed up a while ago on my car forum to a new thread here in the evo forums so more people can see this.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=10393604#post10393604

Eclipse CD5030, if you can find one. Works like a charm.

Sony MEXBT
By far the best sound over BT.

Thanks guys i have a lot of homework to do then. what do u guys think of the DEH‑P610BT

I have this: http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665755310 . Bluetooth streaming works great, comes with an external mic you can mount on your visor for calls, can connect to like 10 devices and has an internal phonebook you can transfer contacts into so you can call from the deck. I just get in my car and it's connected, press play on either the deck or the phone and it starts playing(if I'm using bluetooth audio as the source on the deck of course.) It also works amazingly with my iPod, supports just about every function you can think of with good navigation and even has a mode where you can restore control of the music to the iPod itself in case you want to hand it to someone who doesn't want to figure out the deck's controls. You just plug it into the front with a standard usb port and it works.
I think there's also a cheaper version that has a smaller screen with less info, but otherwise nearly the same functionality. I know Sony has some other ones now too that can actually hold an iPod within the deck itself now too. I don't think they have a cd player though.

Unless you guys are running Cyanogen, doesn't the BT sound like crap with the low bitpool? I've played with a few A2DP devices with the Evo (headsets mostly), and the sound was un-listenable. Distorted, compressed, and very lo-fi. It was much better with CM, but I like Sense.

I order this model Clarion CZ500
I decided to give a shot to this model Clarion CZ500 after many days of searching and reading reviews of a lot of car stereos.
The Clarion CZ500 it seems very stable and have what I am looking for it.
I will let you guys know how everything goes.

Sony XAV-70BT
Just got it from sonicelectronix
for 400. Sweet system. No nav but everything the 1000$ model has.
Nice sounding streaming too!!
Depends on if you want double din or single as well. Jeep for me so double din.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I just installed the Clarion CX609 (double din) from SonicElectrolux. It sounds great, I couldn't be happier. Comes with a mic that you can put wherever you like.

I have a model EXTREMELY similar to this:
Sony Xplod MEX-BT3800U
and I LOVE it. The only one thing I don't like is that it's VERY bright, but I drive at night so that makes a bigger difference to me than others.

I just installed a DUAL XHD7714. $120 at best buy. It has every feature I would like. Bluetooth, HD, front USB and Aux inputs. I'm pretty happy with it.

Car dock

Well, I got the Samsung dock, and as much as I like the E4GT, the dock is terrible. Here's my experience:
1. There's a ton of line noise when the phone is docked but nothing is playing, just like with the Epic. I'm using the OEM charger, but that's not the problem--using the same charger, the Photon's car dock is absolutely silent. Samsung must be using some cheap electronics in this thing, and it's simply horrible. (Sorry for venting, but seriously...)
2. The software isn't nearly as seamless as the Photon's either. First, on the Photon, when you dock an app starts that essentially takes over the home button. That means you can move back and forth between the app and the home screens easily. On the Samsung, it seems like once you leave the Vlingo app to, say start a radio streaming app, you can't get back to the dock mode. At least, not without unplugging/replugging the dock connector, but that's extra wear and tear. If I'm wrong about this, please let me know.
Then, the Photon app allows for 4 custom apps to be assigned. That provides a great deal of flexibility, and again it's easy to go from one app to another and then back to dock mode.
Overall, the Samsung car dock experience is nowhere near the Photon's. Motorola really did a great job with this, and Samsung makes it look like they gave actually using the phone in the car zero thought.
What's everyone else doing to make this experience more usable? I'm still choosing between the Photon and the E4GT, and the car dock definitely is a mark in the Photon's favor.

1) Use bluetooth audio streaming for zero noise. Are you connected by the dock's audio out jack, or the GS2's headphone jack? I noticed better sound with the latter, but using BT is easier and sounds so much better.
2) Ditch Vlingo for CarHome Ultra. Extremely customizable and lots of great features, including up to 18 app shortcuts and auto-switching day/night themes. I love it.

You could make a profile in tasker that recognizes when the phone is plugged into a dock. Or you can make one for when it is rotated in landscape and plugged in. Then, you can enable an app to run, or have a list of apps that you can choose from. This is what I do with my phone and I don't even have a dock. It's awesome how much you can do with tasker!

fonseca898 said:
1) Use bluetooth audio streaming for zero noise. Are you connected by the dock's audio out jack, or the GS2's headphone jack? I noticed better sound with the latter, but using BT is easier and sounds so much better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd love to do that, unfortunately my car doesn't have Bluetooth audio. And I'm going from the dock's audio out to my car's AUX in. That's an idea, using the headphone jack, but I hate adding wear and tear.
2) Ditch Vlingo for CarHome Ultra. Extremely customizable and lots of great features, including up to 18 app shortcuts and auto-switching day/night themes. I love it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, I'll give that a try, thanks!

Sholland91 said:
You could make a profile in tasker that recognizes when the phone is plugged into a dock. Or you can make one for when it is rotated in landscape and plugged in. Then, you can enable an app to run, or have a list of apps that you can choose from. This is what I do with my phone and I don't even have a dock. It's awesome how much you can do with tasker!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's another idea. Thanks!

fonseca898 said:
2) Ditch Vlingo for CarHome Ultra. Extremely customizable and lots of great features, including up to 18 app shortcuts and auto-switching day/night themes. I love it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again for the tip, that app rocks. In fact, it's better than the Photon's car dock app.
Now all I need to do is find some way to clean up the line noise and I'll be a happy camper.

Go to radioshack. Ask them for a ferrite core. Should be a ring of "ferrite" or iron. Make sure it's big enough to put the plug on your audio cable through. Push it through and wrap it around a few times and see if that helps. Also, running a separate hot lead and ground from your car battery to the cigarette plug you use should help. But the ferrite core should be easier/cheaper
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

iamtheug said:
Go to radioshack. Ask them for a ferrite core. Should be a ring of "ferrite" or iron. Make sure it's big enough to put the plug on your audio cable through. Push it through and wrap it around a few times and see if that helps. Also, running a separate hot lead and ground from your car battery to the cigarette plug you use should help. But the ferrite core should be easier/cheaper
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll give it a shot, thanks! I might even have one sitting around somewhere...

call audio routing
Has anyone else been able to get call audio to route to the output on the dock? media audio comes out the port so I can hear that on my cars speakers but when I make a call it comes out of the phone speaker....

So, I've tried a variety of power adapters, USB cables, and audio cables, and the line noise remains. I'm going to try the ferrite core around the audio cable, but I don't think that's the issue--if you unplug the unit from power, the line noise disappears. So, I think it's just bad circuitry in the dock.
One would think that Samsung would have received complaints about this with the Epic dock (at least) and would have fixed it. Motorola managed to make a dock with excellent sound quality and zero noise, so it's certainly possible.
Otherwise, the E4GT is decent in the car with that Carhome Ultra app. Although, that doesn't really help with my decision between the E4GT and Photon, because with the Photon I could have the same dock app but also outstanding audio quality.

I can only assume the noise you are hearing is due to a Ground Loop/Hum.
It has to do with the fact that your power source is grounded to a different point than the stereo/speakers. the hum you hear is the difference in voltage's between the 2 grounds being represented as noise in the line.
for instance. I recently installed a new head unit in my truck, the unit has an AUX in and a USB port. If i plug my E4GT aux cable into the stereo and plug the USB charger into the port on the stereo - NO Noise. However, if i plug the phone to charge in another outlet (say, the cig lighter) then there is Line Noise everytime. The same principle applies when plugging your phone audio jack into any electronics.
Hope this helps shed a little light on the noize.

ReFiLL said:
I can only assume the noise you are hearing is due to a Ground Loop/Hum.
It has to do with the fact that your power source is grounded to a different point than the stereo/speakers. the hum you hear is the difference in voltage's between the 2 grounds being represented as noise in the line.
for instance. I recently installed a new head unit in my truck, the unit has an AUX in and a USB port. If i plug my E4GT aux cable into the stereo and plug the USB charger into the port on the stereo - NO Noise. However, if i plug the phone to charge in another outlet (say, the cig lighter) then there is Line Noise everytime. The same principle applies when plugging your phone audio jack into any electronics.
Hope this helps shed a little light on the noize.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear you, except that I have two different docks that display entirely different behavior. Actually, I have two docks from the same manufacturer (Samsung, for the Epic and the Epic Touch) that have significant line noise, and one (Motorola) that does not. Note that these are all plugged into exactly the same power adapter and outlet and using the same USB and audio cables.
So, you'd need to account for the fact that the Motorola signal is perfectly clean in precisely the same circumstances while the Samsung's signal isn't.

I believe every word of it.
From what I know about Ground Loop Hum there are many weak links in the chain, and certainly some products behave better than others. The problem is still most likely the Ground.
One possibility would be that the manufacturer of the Moto Dock has included an isolator in the power supply line (or even in the audio supply line), and the manufacturer for the Sammys didnt.
My experience in this subject is with my Laptop/DJ setup making noise when plugged into audio equipment. when the power supply was plugged into the lappy, 60hz hum. Unplug it and it goes away. More than likely the problem was inside the computer or the power supply was just poorly manufactured as other models may not have the Hum. In my case i purchased a small isolater solved the problem. It may be possible to find one for a 12v car electrical system.

ReFiLL said:
I believe every word of it.
From what I know about Ground Loop Hum there are many weak links in the chain, and certainly some products behave better than others. The problem is still most likely the Ground.
One possibility would be that the manufacturer of the Moto Dock has included an isolator in the power supply line (or even in the audio supply line), and the manufacturer for the Sammys didnt.
My experience in this subject is with my Laptop/DJ setup making noise when plugged into audio equipment. when the power supply was plugged into the lappy, 60hz hum. Unplug it and it goes away. More than likely the problem was inside the computer or the power supply was just poorly manufactured as other models may not have the Hum. In my case i purchased a small isolater solved the problem. It may be possible to find one for a 12v car electrical system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually hooked up an old RadioShack groundloop isolator to the AUX cable, and it got rid of the hum.
Something like this should work fine: http://www.amazon.com/GROUND-LOOP-I...QTRI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1322958491&sr=8-2

ReFiLL said:
I believe every word of it.
From what I know about Ground Loop Hum there are many weak links in the chain, and certainly some products behave better than others. The problem is still most likely the Ground.
One possibility would be that the manufacturer of the Moto Dock has included an isolator in the power supply line (or even in the audio supply line), and the manufacturer for the Sammys didnt.
My experience in this subject is with my Laptop/DJ setup making noise when plugged into audio equipment. when the power supply was plugged into the lappy, 60hz hum. Unplug it and it goes away. More than likely the problem was inside the computer or the power supply was just poorly manufactured as other models may not have the Hum. In my case i purchased a small isolater solved the problem. It may be possible to find one for a 12v car electrical system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the salient point is that Samsung uses inferior components. It's possible to make a device that doesn't suffer from the problem, as Motorola has shown.

DevalB said:
I actually hooked up an old RadioShack groundloop isolator to the AUX cable, and it got rid of the hum.
Something like this should work fine: http://www.amazon.com/GROUND-LOOP-I...QTRI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1322958491&sr=8-2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll give that a try.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

most times I've had line noise, be it from improper grounding or from cellular interference (namely from ground issues) the ferrite core fixed it. If it doesn't, the power isolation will. The reason the USB Ports on the head unit doesn't create line noiseis because it has isolation circuitry built in. The core is cheap. If that doesn't work, isolate power.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

Okay, in the latest saga with the Samsung car dock, I noticed this morning that when I received a Bluetooth phone call, the TuneIn Radio audio I was playing didn't stop. Or, rather, it did stop once the stream buffer ran out, because I was on 3G and of course 3G data isn't available during calls.
Is this really how the Samsung dock works, that audio doesn't give way to Bluetooth calls? Or is that perhaps the CarHome Ultra app?
Still a bit frustrated with this aspect of the Epic Touch. The Photon's car dock works perfectly, including muting audio while on a Bluetooth call.
Grrr. I know, I know, if I like the Photon's car dock so much, why I don't I just stick with that phone... But seriously, Samsung, how hard is it to get this right?

wynand32 said:
Okay, in the latest saga with the Samsung car dock, I noticed this morning that when I received a Bluetooth phone call, the TuneIn Radio audio I was playing didn't stop. Or, rather, it did stop once the stream buffer ran out, because I was on 3G and of course 3G data isn't available during calls.
Is this really how the Samsung dock works, that audio doesn't give way to Bluetooth calls? Or is that perhaps the CarHome Ultra app?
Still a bit frustrated with this aspect of the Epic Touch. The Photon's car dock works perfectly, including muting audio while on a Bluetooth call.
Grrr. I know, I know, if I like the Photon's car dock so much, why I don't I just stick with that phone... But seriously, Samsung, how hard is it to get this right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if it might be the phone or the application. When listening to Sirius/XM radio without a dock, and I get a phone call, the radio keeps blasting away.

You don't stick with that phone because this one is superior in every other way. Its a minor issue. Why would you even have the aux input selected when there is no music playing? I have the noise too so I get it but ...yeah I just change the input when I don't need it.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

Samsung SGH-T989 Vehicle Mount

Anyone bought and have any reviews for this guy ?
Samsung ECS-K1F4BEGSTA T-Mobile SGH-T989 Vehicle Mount - Car Kit - Retail Packaging - Black
Listed for $33ish bucks on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-ECS-K1F4BEGSTA-T-Mobile-SGH-T989-Vehicle/dp/B005LGUCRE
Looks like a good buy just wana know if anyone had bought this and liked it?

Looks like the one I bought from Best Buy. I like it, the only thing that I would warn about is that the phone can be a little difficult to take out. It doesn't want to just snap out like it should.

I have one. It holds the phone very well, but only without a case; absolutely no worries about the phone coming loose, and the phone doesn't bounce or vibrate, so the image is always quite readable. The only possible downside is that you might find the arm a bit short if you're driving a vehicle where the windshield is far forward, but then there's the adhesive disc, although I wouldn't want to go sticking some disk permanently to the dash of *my* car.
Leaving the charger and audio cables connected to the dock is very handy.
The phone recognizes that it's in a dock right away. There are a number of car dock launchers available (I like CarHome Ultra) as well as a car-specific voice mode.
The auto-plug charger that comes with the dock seems OK, but if you're using Navigator plus Pandora, your run-down battery won't get charged. I have yet to experiment with other high-amperage car chargers; seems like all the ones I have don't have USB conductors 2 and 3 shorted together, so they're pretty useless for this until I crack 'em open and solder.
I keep mine in a Toyota MR2 MK2 (little car) mounted at the bottom left of the windshield, and it's basically perfect there.
Oh -

Have it on my crv I can't live without it. Its easy to put in. Audio and charges are usable with one push. If you go caseless and are going to keep the phone for a while the price Is definetly worth it. Third party ones make you manually plug in charger and headphone Jack this makes it way more convienent.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App

It's pretty unfortunate that it doesn't work with any case though...too bad they didn't make a case combo that would fit that mount specifically.

for the price you can get other mounts that are so much better, look at Micro Center

For what it's worth, I have the Samsung OEM car dock as well and I absolutely love it. One thing I've found, though, is that the phone will occasionally go nuts thinking that I've pushed the button for voice recognition. It'll endless loop repeating "What would you like to do?" until I close out of the car launcher.
Not sure if this happens on the stock OS, I have Synergy+Bombardier loaded on it (rooted.)

I bought it. It's amazing, the dock mode syncs directly with my car stereo Bluetooth.
the only down side is you can not have a case on with it..
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

does it fit the phone with the Tmo D3O case on?

I'm definitely in the friction mount camp for car mounts. This one works great for me:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0060B38SY/ref=oh_o04_s00_i00_details
Bonus: works for your future phones and works with cases

AllGamer said:
does it fit the phone with the Tmo D3O case on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

Are you guys able to get call audio through the car speakers with your docks?
If so, please post how. I cannot seem to get call audio to route through the car speakers. Media plays fine, but no call audio. Almost a deal breaker for me. Thats what I bought it for. ;-)
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

$2 on ebay :
item 251116471659
Slap it on you dash and put the phone on top.
Super Sticky.

Try "car mode" in the market...

How to disable car mode for T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S2 / SII T989 Hercules car dock
This is mostly useful if you use Bluetooth audio for your car stereo. This method renders your car dock's USB audio-out jack useless, and you would have to use the phone's headphone jack for an audio cable (untested, since I use Bluetooth audio). The only thing I want a dock to do is hold my phone and charge it. I automate the rest myself. Proceed at your own risk...
Car Mode Ultra is great for overriding your stock car mode, but I wanted to disable it entirely. I didn't like adding another layer of car modes and letting them wrestle for control.
Anyway, since I couldn't find a way to 100% disable the stock car mode software, I did it in the hardware (in the car dock itself).
On the back of the sliding part of the dock, take off the two small stickers and remove the screws under them. Carefully pry the slide apart at the seam to reveal the circuit board inside. Remove the tiny resistor between pads D- and ID. No more car mode!
Apparently, no more charging, either. Or at least not enough current to keep up. Maybe the car mode resistor tells the phone to charge at a higher rate, I'm not sure. Either way, the next step gets the charging to work again, but first, there's a warning:
If you don't want to burn your car down, make sure you have at least a 1 amp (1000ma) rated charger for this next part, otherwise, don't do it. This step increases you charge rate from 500ma to about 800ma (some people with custom ROMs go even higher). If you do this, and your charger isn't powerful enough, it could fry your charger. I have no idea what your charger will do if it fries. Maybe nothing, maybe light your car on fire. If you're not sure about it, don't do it.
On the side of the printed circuit board opposite the audio jack, there are two pads labeled A/R and AL/D. Shorting them to each other will put your phone into "AC charge mode", which means higher charge rate, no USB data, and no USB audio out. Now reassemble the dock.
With Car Mode Ultra and NFC task launcher installed, you can do all kinds of cool stuff. I set Car Mode Ultra to activate upon connecting to the stereo's Bluetooth. This starts the program without activating stock car mode. I stuck an NFC tag on the back of my dock for even more automation. Bluetooth turns on Car Mode Ultra, which unlocks the screen, which enables NFC, which reads the tag, which toggles more settings, starts Pandora, etc. Pretty cool. Full automation.

Kinivo BTC450

Just got mine; ordered directly from their site on Saturday, received it today... $39.99, free shipping, no tax.
I was using a Logitech unit previously, and while it sounded fine, it had the disadvantage of not being very good at automatically reconnecting to the phone, and of course it had no hands free capabilities. As with pretty much all bluetooth units, there are a ton of reviews on the Kinivo; both good and terrible, so I thought I would offer this up strictly within the context of the Moto X.
Short story... I am thrilled with it!
Pros:
Amazing connectivity. It reconnects under every condition possible; moving out of range and then back in range, power off and then on, Bluetooth off and then on. My vehicle's power ports are always hot, except when cranking. This gave the Logitech fits, and I was concerned about the Kinivo as well. Bottom line... if bluetooth on the phone is on, it is always connected!
Reasonable audio quality, and contrary to a number of online reviews, both in call and media volume are good. See my cons below for more on audio.
Very positive buttons. While the thing looks a little cheap, it feels surprisingly good.
While not as good as a quality headset, I thought the in call quality was pretty good. Tried it in town on some bumpy roads, as well as on the freeway and intelligibility was good. I mounted it on the side of my center console so I can access it with my thumb when my arm is on the armrest.
Interoperability with voice commands works very well. Long press the main button and speak after the prompt. Bingo!
Cons:
In my Ford truck with Eclipse head unit, it requires a ground loop isolater, as has been the case with any 12v powered device in this vehicle. However this IS a 5v device. I suppose I could've cut the 12v adapter off and power it from my daqstuff isolated 5v supply to eliminate the need for the isolation transformer, but didn't want to mangle it before checking out how well it worked. Obviously, the audio will be much better without the transformer, but it is still bluetooth, and I primarily listen to podcasts while driving. Plus, all the music on my phone is from Google Play Music, which is notoriously poor quality anyway. I doubt I will be rewiring this to the 5v supply as I am happy enough with it as is. I can always pop in a CD when I really care about audio fidelity.
While in call quality seems completely acceptable to me (it sounds easily as good as my brother's fairly recent Sony unit), if you're doing business while driving, and expect it to sound like your not, this is not for you.
While voice commands work perfectly, the initial prompt to say a command is very low in volume; like 10db lower than anything else. The rest of the prompts / confirmations / responses are fine, so this is a mystery I have yet to figure out.
Wires are thin. While I suppose this makes it easy to route them, they will not stand up to a lot of stress. The interior of my truck is dark gray, and I felt it prudent to use some black gaffer's tap to secure all dangling wires to surfaces.
Bottom line... How well this works, and being able to locate this little button practically anywhere, makes this thing insanely convenient.

I have been using mine for over a year and am still loving it. Coming from the Belkin one, this one is much better since it auto-connects/disconnects with vehicle power. This can also be a con for some vehicles though, since some vehicles give the outlet constant power even when powered off, the unit won't know to disconnect and will keep your phone paired. This was a problem for me since my vehicle is close enough to my desk in my office that it would stay paired until I manually disconnected. What I ended up doing was hard wiring an outlet into my fuse panel that was switched on and off with vehicle power.

I've been using one in my work vehicle and my personal vehicle for a month or so and love it. I thought the audio quality of music was really good, as is hands free phone calls.
My phone does not auto connect on either device, but its not a big deal. I just push the main button on the BT and it connects immediately. This may be because I have my phone paired with more than one BT audio device, not sure.
Either way, I'm very happy with the Kinivio.

Mr. Orange 645 said:
My phone does not auto connect on either device, but its not a big deal. I just push the main button on the BT and it connects immediately. This may be because I have my phone paired with more than one BT audio device, not sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Moto X is paired with no less than five devices with three of them both HF and A2DP protocols, so I doubt that is the issue.
The Kinivo however will only automatically reconnect to the last device that connected with it.

Solutions Etcetera said:
My Moto X is paired with no less than five devices with three of them both HF and A2DP protocols, so I doubt that is the issue.
The Kinivo however will only automatically reconnect to the last device that connected with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Moto X is the only device that's ever been connected to the Kinivio. How long does it usually take to auto connect? Maybe I'm just impatient? And are you on stock 4.4.2?

Mr. Orange 645 said:
My Moto X is the only device that's ever been connected to the Kinivio. How long does it usually take to auto connect? Maybe I'm just impatient? And are you on stock 4.4.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It connects as soon as I get in range or almost immediately after it powers up, unless the Kinivo has dropped into standby mode (then I have to push the button). I am stock 4.4.2, unrooted xt1053.
My truck's power outlets are always hot, but cranking the starter shuts them down momentarily. The only time I have to press the button is if I don't start the truck and it's been a while with BT off or out of range.

Solutions Etcetera said:
It connects as soon as I get in range or almost immediately after it powers up, unless the Kinivo has dropped into standby mode (then I have to push the button). I am stock 4.4.2, unrooted xt1053.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bet my Kinivio is going into stand by mode then.

I have had this for a while and mostly happy with it, but recently people have been telling me that its way too hard to understand what I am saying when I am on the phone with them using the kinivo, and every time I have had to switch to speakerphone for them to hear me right. Other than that I have been happy with it. I also am able to connect my moto x and nexus 7 2013 with it at the same time, using the nexus 7 on media and the moto x on phone. The key is I must connect the nexus 7 first and the moto x 2nd. If the moto x is connected first the nexus will not connect.

Just an update regarding how I was able to eliminate the need for a ground isolation transformer, and hence significantly increase the audio quality.
Last year I installed one of these in my center console to charge my mobile devices...
http://daqstuff.com/400116_5volt_switching_power_supply.htm
Since the Kinivo runs on 5v, I was planning on ripping apart the 12v power plug and wiring 5v from the DaqStuff supply to it. But the power plug HAS a 5v USB port on it. Surely that was in parallel to the 5v being supplied to the Kinivo.
I asked Kinivo whether I could just plug a 5v supply into it via the USB port rather than plugging it into a 12v power port. Their answer was that the USB port was an output. I understood that, but it is only an output when the thing is plugged into 12v. Rather than belabor the point with a CSR who most likely has no knowledge of electricity, I just decided to try it.
Success! After verifying the Kinivo operated normally with 5v plugged into its USB port, I removed the isolation transformer from the audio line. No noise, much better audio quality (sans transformer), and all without having to hack the power plug!

I too just picked one of these up from Amazon and am pretty happy with it. It so happens that this thing also supports apt-x codec in addition to standard SBC audio codec, so music should sound a little better too.

Question here: If a pare the device to a galaxy s4 and I push the middle button, what application opens to receive the voice command? google voice or s voice?

mnunez2 said:
Question here: If a pare the device to a galaxy s4 and I push the middle button, what application opens to receive the voice command? google voice or s voice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it will pop up a window asking you which one you want to use and the option to set as default. When I press it with my Moto X connected it gives the option to select touchless control or google now as the voice command application, so I think any app that offers that functionality would show up.

alk195 said:
I believe it will pop up a window asking you which one you want to use and the option to set as default. When I press it with my Moto X connected it gives the option to select touchless control or google now as the voice command application, so I think any app that offers that functionality would show up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good.. Thanks...!

Solutions Etcetera said:
Just an update regarding how I was able to eliminate the need for a ground isolation transformer, and hence significantly increase the audio quality.
Last year I installed one of these in my center console to charge my mobile devices...
http://daqstuff.com/400116_5volt_switching_power_supply.htm
Since the Kinivo runs on 5v, I was planning on ripping apart the 12v power plug and wiring 5v from the DaqStuff supply to it. But the power plug HAS a 5v USB port on it. Surely that was in parallel to the 5v being supplied to the Kinivo.
I asked Kinivo whether I could just plug a 5v supply into it via the USB port rather than plugging it into a 12v power port. Their answer was that the USB port was an output. I understood that, but it is only an output when the thing is plugged into 12v. Rather than belabor the point with a CSR who most likely has no knowledge of electricity, I just decided to try it.
Success! After verifying the Kinivo operated normally with 5v plugged into its USB port, I removed the isolation transformer from the audio line. No noise, much better audio quality (sans transformer), and all without having to hack the power plug!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you just use a cable like https://www.computercableinc.com/ccinc/images/USB-A-A-Black-BestLink.jpg or something else to do this?

Yup, standard usb A, male to male.

Solutions Etcetera said:
Just an update regarding how I was able to eliminate the need for a ground isolation transformer, and hence significantly increase the audio quality.
Last year I installed one of these in my center console to charge my mobile devices...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the very solution I've been searching for. The ground loop isolator I have connected introduces way too much noise for my liking. I checked out the site... I understand what the IN +12V and IN GND are for, but what's the OUT DGND connected to? The vehicle chassis?

waybeyond said:
This is the very solution I've been searching for. The ground loop isolator I have connected introduces way too much noise for my liking. I checked out the site... I understand what the IN +12V and IN GND are for, but what's the OUT DGND connected to? The vehicle chassis?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the negative(gnd) terminal for the wired 5V output. If you're using only the USB connected outputs, the wired OUTputs will not be used.

Solutions Etcetera said:
It's the negative(gnd) terminal for the wired 5V output. If you're using only the USB connected outputs, the wired OUTputs will not be used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhh. That makes a lot more sense. Okay, got it. Thank you!

Solutions Etcetera said:
Yup, standard usb A, male to male.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just bought one of these but didn't realise the 12V adapter was hard wired. I want to use it in a centre console cubby hole on my car which has Aux-in and USB power - no 12v adapter.
So what you're saying is that with a simple USB A-A cable, I can take the USB power socket in my car, plug it into the USB output socket on the 12v adapter of the kinivo, and it'll power it? That'd be fantastic if true - save me returning it or hacking the cable. Especially as this sounds like a pretty great receiver too.

rplumb said:
So what you're saying is that with a simple USB A-A cable, I can take the USB power socket in my car, plug it into the USB output socket on the 12v adapter of the kinivo, and it'll power it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. You may run into ground loop issues if your 5v supply is not isolated, but can't say for certain as mine is.

Develop Bugs

welcome