iPhone Integration

Thanks for the info Heavy, sounds like the USA Spec Adapter might solve the config issues I'm facing now.

I picked up an Apple A/V cable and am using it to get audio into the unit. I soldered wires to the NAV harness and installed female RCA connectors in the side of the glovebox. I also permanently installed a USB connection in the back of the glovebox and hooked it to the 12v power of the cig lighter. Then I ran the Apple cable between the center stack and into the glovebox to plug in to these connections. (I would post pics right now, but my Wife left our camera in Houston )

This is working well, except for 2 annoyances:

• When I play a video on the iPhone, it does not display. I assume this is because it expects the video out to be plugged into something.
• All audio comes out of my speakers except phone calls?!

The 2nd one is the most annoying. Even the touch tone sounds come from the car speakers, but as soon as a connection is made, the audio switches over to the iPhone speakers.

Not sure how to fix these issues yet without spending an additional $200 on an integration kit. I'm wondering if I jailbreak the phone if there's some software I can use to change how the video and telephone audio function?

Thomas.

I did get the dock installation finished up, but still haven't found a way to get video into the NAV unit. The only "gotchya" on this was I had to grind down the apple cable connector's sides a bit to get it to fit into the ProClip dock. This is because the dock is made for a cable which has squeezable sides to release the cable from the phone, and the apple A/V cable doesn't have those. It took about 2.5 seconds to do it with a bench grinder ....

Here are a few pics of the completed setup. I used a sharpie to color the visible portion of the cable, and it doesn't look too bad; although the camera flash really makes it look strange?

In the glovebox is an iPhone 3g USB auto adapter permenantly installed to constant 12v, so I can charge even when the car is not running. On the left side I drilled 3 small holes and mounted female RCA connectors for audio/video, although the video is not hooked up due to reason stated above.

All in all, I am pleased with the setup. The 2 things still bugging me are the video input, and more importantly, call audio not routing through the dock connector. For now, I wear my bluetooth earpiece when driving, but I would really like an integrated solution. One idea I am considering is installing a bluetooth adapter in the glovebox and taping it into the RCA audio. This way, the call audio would route through the speakers and all other iPhone audio would be muted.

Oh, and Heavy, the apple cable does a great job of breaking out the video. The cable has a USB for charging, 2 RCA for r/l audio, and a 3rd RCA for video. I tested it on my entertainment center, and it works perfectly. If you're just looking for a cable to give you RCA video, this one does it very well.








Thomas.

Stoopalini said:

I did get the dock installation finished up, but still haven't found a way to get video into the NAV unit. The only "gotchya" on this was I had to grind down the apple cable connector's sides a bit to get it to fit into the ProClip dock. This is because the dock is made for a cable which has squeezable sides to release the cable from the phone, and the apple A/V cable doesn't have those. It took about 2.5 seconds to do it with a bench grinder ....

Here are a few pics of the completed setup. I used a sharpie to color the visible portion of the cable, and it doesn't look too bad; although the camera flash really makes it look strange?

In the glovebox is an iPhone 3g USB auto adapter permenantly installed to constant 12v, so I can charge even when the car is not running. On the left side I drilled 3 small holes and mounted female RCA connectors for audio/video, although the video is not hooked up due to reason stated above.

All in all, I am pleased with the setup. The 2 things still bugging me are the video input, and more importantly, call audio not routing through the dock connector. For now, I wear my bluetooth earpiece when driving, but I would really like an integrated solution. One idea I am considering is installing a bluetooth adapter in the glovebox and taping it into the RCA audio. This way, the call audio would route through the speakers and all other iPhone audio would be muted.

Oh, and Heavy, the apple cable does a great job of breaking out the video. The cable has a USB for charging, 2 RCA for r/l audio, and a 3rd RCA for video. I tested it on my entertainment center, and it works perfectly. If you're just looking for a cable to give you RCA video, this one does it very well.

Thomas.

Click to expand...

There are two ProClip options for the cradle. The one you purchased with the cable mount option (built on the standard Kensington cable) and one with a pass-through so that you plug your cable into the bottom of the cradle instead of the iPod itself. Then, no adjustments to any cable are necessary.

I do have the AV cable with the standard output, but, I want to still keep the standard dock cable and have the video broken out. The Dice dock has a video output break out as described but without the decoder chip. It worked great with my Video Ipod in the Mazda.

The iPhone speakerphone thing is interesting. If you had a blue tooth module with FM, you would get music over the speakers AND you would get inbound phone calls over the speaker, as well. Supposedly, if you plug in the AV cable at the top of the phone, the speakerphone output is sent out that way since you could be using earphones. I think I will pick up a bluetooth speakerphone with mic that mounts on the visor. The BlueAnt Supertooth 3 looks interesting and well reviewed. It would allow you to listen to music and then when a call comes in, turn down the music and announces who is calling. All you say is "OK" to answer the phone. Pretty slick.

I have two items that I have on the way and will evaluate.

1) The Blueant Supertooth 3 module. This is a bluetooth speakerphone extension for the iPhone with voice activation and call announcement. It clips onto your visor or can mount elsewhere.

2) The Blackberry bluetooth stereo gateway. This is a small device that connects to your stereo or adapter and allows you to stream audio from a A2DP compliant source (iPhone). It is also USB powered so you can easily find a power adapter for the car. With this, you can listen to music AND use your car speakers to listen to calls. The trick will be to position the iPhone built in microphone in a position that picks up your voice properly in the car.

So, I will report back on the working of both. I like Option 2 since it is basically invisible within the car. In Stoopalini's case, it could mount in or behind the glove box and all the iPhone would now neeed is in car charging. Additionally, those with iPod Touches could update to the new firmware that turns on the bluetooth capability. Could be very slick .

Dave

I got home tonight and the DVD I ordered had arrived so I decided to install it. Pretty straightforward. The CTS lends itself well to the install due to the armrest hinge. I simply mounted the DVD bracket to this source. I could have got the touchscreen version, but, the DVD buttons were silver and the design looked very cheap. This one matched a little better with the V interior decor and had a more solid feel. My kids love it. First picture is the DVD in viewing mode and the second is folded down in storage mode. The screen can flip up and down as well, so that you can position it any convenient way. It is pretty slick and the screen is nice and sharp.

It is a standard fare with the FM and IR output.I have a couple of IR headphones for the kids so I can drive in peace or I can play it over the radio. I like that I can pull it forward get the DVD loaded and running and then push it back to view position. Kind of handy but not as handy as using the iPhone to push the video. That is the next step. The video input cable is already run to the front by the iPhone ready to accept the video out signal. That is the next step.

Trouble81 said:

damn man thats sick can i get some more info on what u used to do this thanks

Click to expand...

I found some wholesale places to order overseas, but, I found someone with good eBay feedback selling them from China. This is the one I used:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-7-LCD-Car-C...trkparms=65:12|66:2|39:1|72:1234|293:1|294:50

To my front door for $190. And, now that I have had it in place for a bit, the DVD mechanism is solid, does not skip and has no problems ready dual layers at all (Disney ones are usually the best test).

There are two endcaps on the armrest that pop off. Use these to mount the DVD arms. You can use mounting tape, but, it may or may not hold solidly enough. I drilled two small holes in each and mounted the bracket. Easily fixed if I decided not to use the DVD player. Second, since the seats are so close to armrest, even the few extra millimeters of thickness on the end caps may cause some rubbing with the seats. Heck, even the armrests run a bit when the seat is back. Just use a little bit of velcro stripping, softside, to shield any rubbing by mounting it on the leading edge that may come in contact with the seat. The cable just routes through the center console to the front where I tapped in to the cigarette ligher power. Very simple install. It took just under an hour.

sickspd said:

anyone ever heard anything about a gn lockpick? Someone told me about this but haven't had time to research it...

Click to expand...

I looked into that, as well. The DVD Nav we have is not one of the two models supported.

HeavyH20 said:

2) The Blackberry bluetooth stereo gateway. This is a small device that connects to your stereo or adapter and allows you to stream audio from a A2DP compliant source (iPhone). It is also USB powered so you can easily find a power adapter for the car. With this, you can listen to music AND use your car speakers to listen to calls. The trick will be to position the iPhone built in microphone in a position that picks up your voice properly in the car.

Click to expand...

Well, the stereo gateway did not work as expected. It can stream audio nicely and the rings are now over the speaker but as soon as I pick up the call, it uses the iPhone speaker. Yuck. It needs to register as a headset, as far as I can tell, to send the speaker output to an external source. Sony has one that is a handsfree kit and has the mini-stereo output. Might have to try that one.