Help connecting Note 3 to Car Stereo

nesty1760 · Dec 6, 2013

Hi

My car stereo just screwed up and thinking of buying a new model where I can pair my new Samsung Note 3 to play through the stereo.

What stereo would I need. One which supports Bluetooth, or can I connect via a headphone jack lead?

I have tune in radio app on my phone, as I like listening to non regional radio stations where I am.

I am in the UK.

BlueBiker · Dec 6, 2013

You can connect via the headphone jack if your car stereo has a similar input. That's worked fine for me, but some Note 3 users complain about low volume (voltage) from the jack -- might be marginal if your stereo is low wattage or can't compensate without distortion.

Bluetooth will be ideal if your stereo supports it. Some stereos also have a USB input, but I'm not sure if that works for streaming or only for resident audio/MP3 files.

nesty1760 · Dec 6, 2013

ok cheers. I haven't bought the stereo yet a case of pairing the stereo to the device!

I might see if I can get a USB/Aux and Bluetooth device

BlueBiker · Dec 6, 2013

If you're buying the stereo from a brick & mortar store, you might be able to show up with a cable and demo it there. Please let us know what you find!

daz_2000 · Dec 7, 2013

Bluetooth wprks great. I have it in my car. You can get some half decent stereos for under 100 which support bluetooth.

Just make sure the strereo supports media streaming as well as call audio streaming.

Oh and get yourself a spider podium too!

nesty1760 · Dec 7, 2013

ok thanks. I'll try and & source one.

big_z · Dec 7, 2013

I've played in Best Buy with a basic Alpine Bluetooth unit; it works fairly well. The on-unit controls work with the phone, and here in the States you can find one without a CD option for under $100. They make one with a CD player too, but I forgot what the going price is for that one.

Clayton1 · Dec 7, 2013

Ive got a seperate system from the stock one in my truck consisting of a Pioneer deh-80prs (audiophile) Head unit. I use the bluetooth for playback from the note.

Sonnydigs · Dec 8, 2013

I have a bluetooth Kenwood it's around $220..
You have to read the fine print when purchasing because even though it is bluetooth many will only do certain features by bluetooth.. The kenwood does every app I use for music and google maps with the BT.. It also has 2 USB ports.. Very pleased with the Kenwood, also comes with a remote and phone mic..
Hope this helps..
Sonny

drexappeal · Dec 9, 2013

There are a lot of different options, nowadays, that allow you to connect your device to a car's stereo, but which option a person chooses is purely up to their own needs and preferences.

Option #1 - For those with cars that don't have an AUX input on the car stereo
There are some cars (including my 2004 Mercedes) that have a stock tape player and do not have an AUX input. Once a 16gb microSD card was introduced years ago (when I was on Windows Mobile still), it was the first time I was really happy to have a tape player w/o aux, rather than a cd player w/o aux. That was mainly due to this:
Amazon.com: 3.5mm tape adapter: Electronics
With the tape adapter, that basically turns the tape player into a hardwired aux input. One can plug the 3.5mm adapter directly into the phone or for those that prefer bluetooth connectivity, all that would be needed is this:
Amazon.com: Jumbl

maf113 · Dec 11, 2013

You may want to try this one out:

Amazon.com: iBOLT Samsung Charge/Audio Cable- 9 ft microUSB to AUX/USB: Cell Phones & Accessories

The cable plugs into the Note 3 USB port and splits to a standard USB connection and an 3.5 Standard audio plug.
The company iBolt also sells a car mount that includes the cable and there is a car dock app that Ibolt developed inthe App Store.
Audio quality is good in my Honda Ridgeline.

drexappeal · Dec 11, 2013

maf113 said:
You may want to try this one out:

Amazon.com: iBOLT Samsung Charge/Audio Cable- 9 ft microUSB to AUX/USB: Cell Phones & Accessories

The cable plugs into the Note 3 USB port and splits to a standard USB connection and an 3.5 Standard audio plug.
The company iBolt also sells a car mount that includes the cable and there is a car dock app that Ibolt developed inthe App Store.
Audio quality is good in my Honda Ridgeline.

Again, just to be clear, this still requires a 3.5mm input on the car stereo, but it's definitely another alternative. The actual car mount isn't necessary for this to work, either.

big_z · Dec 12, 2013

maf113 said:
You may want to try this one out:

Amazon.com: iBOLT Samsung Charge/Audio Cable- 9 ft microUSB to AUX/USB: Cell Phones & Accessories

The cable plugs into the Note 3 USB port and splits to a standard USB connection and an 3.5 Standard audio plug.
The company iBolt also sells a car mount that includes the cable and there is a car dock app that Ibolt developed inthe App Store.
Audio quality is good in my Honda Ridgeline.

I wonder if that will work if you plug the USB end into a 2A charger.

My understanding is that the data pins are shorted on 2A chargers so that the phones know they're on a dedicated charger and thus will negotiate the higher charge current. I thought that 2A current caused too much interference on the data wires and that's why you have to choose fast charge or data connectivity. If the data pins are shorted on the charger, I don't think the phone will output audio over USB. I don't know for sure though.

maf113 · Dec 12, 2013

I had it connected to a USB Car Charger and the AUX jack. It charged the battery and the phone thought it was in a Car Dock. The Audio is played through the AUX Jack not the USB. There is a box on the cable that splits the cable to USB and 3.5 plug. So the box must be taking care of moving the audio off the USB to the audio plug.

What ever they are doing, I had no engine whine or other noise. No loss of audio volume. It just worked.

drexappeal · Dec 12, 2013

big_z said:
I wonder if that will work if you plug the USB end into a 2A charger.

My understanding is that the data pins are shorted on 2A chargers so that the phones know they're on a dedicated charger and thus will negotiate the higher charge current. I thought that 2A current caused too much interference on the data wires and that's why you have to choose fast charge or data connectivity. If the data pins are shorted on the charger, I don't think the phone will output audio over USB. I don't know for sure though.

isn't the charger that ibolt provides a 2.1a?

big_z · Dec 12, 2013

drexappeal said:
isn't the charger that ibolt provides a 2.1a?

I don't know, but I thought to get the phone to take 2.1 amps you had to short the data pins on the charger. If you short the data pins, how can you get audio from the USB port?

After I eat dinner I'll take a multimeter to my various chargers and see what I can find.

drexappeal · Dec 12, 2013

big_z said:
I don't know, but I thought to get the phone to take 2.1 amps you had to short the data pins on the charger. If you short the data pins, how can you get audio from the USB port?

After I eat dinner I'll take a multimeter to my various chargers and see what I can find.

Interesting. I have a 4.2 (2.1a per slot) Scosche charger in my car and when I was experimenting with the 3.5mm iBolt attachment, it worked just fine. They had sent out these adapter arms that normally connect directly to the dock, but since I didn't end up keeping the dock, I tried the arm plugged directly into one of my devices and it worked. Maybe that arm is doing what you were referring to?

big_z · Dec 12, 2013

I snipped the mini-B connector off a spare cable I had lying around, cut the cable open, and hooked my multimeter up to the white and green wires (the data lines). I then plugged the other end of the cable into the following things and measured the resistance:

no plug
1A Monoprice wall charger
1A Monoprice car charger, plugged in to the recepticle and powered
Data port on this hub
Charging port on that hub
Samsung OEM 2A charger
Both Apple and Android ports of this car charger(though mine is black), plugged in and powered. Note that Anker designed this charger with the Apple port as the high current port, for charging iPads

If the resistance comes back 0, that means the two lines have been shorted. It's as if the two wires were connected to each other, or you used a glob of solder to connect the two pins inside the charger. If the resistance measures off scale high (basically infinite resistance), it means the two lines are isolated. If the resistance comes back with a measureable number, it means they are connected via some kind of circuit but are not shorted.

The following situtations showed isolation (infinite resistance):

no plug
Anker USB hub charging port
Anker car charger, Apple port

No plug isn't a surprise; if the cable shorted the two lines then it would be worthless for data. The high current Anker ports were surprising though.

The following situation showed a complete circuit, but a finite, nonzero amount of resistance:

Anker USB hub data port (38.8 kilohms to be precise)

Again, this isn't surprising. If the lines were shorted or isolated, no data could transfer.

The following situations showed 0 resistance, or a short:

1A Monoprice wall charger
1A Monoprice car charger (technically, this showed 3 ohms, but that might as well be 0)
Samsung 2A OEM charger
Anker car charger, Android side

The Anker charging ports on both the car charger and hub that weren't shorted were the most surprising. I've been charging my phone with the Apple port of the Anker car charger; I wonder if I've been cheating myself.

So, back to the iBolt thing. If I understand how that works, you plug the micro-B end into your phone, the regular USB end into a charger, and the 3.5mm headphone plug into your car's aux port. No part of that goes into the 3.5mm headphone jack on your phone.

My belief is that if you were to charge using any of the chargers that indicated shorted data lines, you would not get audio.

BlueBiker · Dec 12, 2013

Very interesting big_z, thanks for checking all these cases.

drexappeal · Dec 12, 2013

big_z said:
I snipped the mini-B connector off a spare cable I had lying around, cut the cable open, and hooked my multimeter up to the white and green wires (the data lines). I then plugged the other end of the cable into the following things and measured the resistance:

no plug

1A Monoprice wall charger

1A Monoprice car charger, plugged in to the recepticle and powered

Data port on this hub

Charging port on that hub

Samsung OEM 2A charger

Both Apple and Android ports of this car charger(though mine is black), plugged in and powered. Note that Anker designed this charger with the Apple port as the high current port, for charging iPads

If the resistance comes back 0, that means the two lines have been shorted. It's as if the two wires were connected to each other, or you used a glob of solder to connect the two pins inside the charger. If the resistance measures off scale high (basically infinite resistance), it means the two lines are isolated. If the resistance comes back with a measureable number, it means they are connected via some kind of circuit but are not shorted.

The following situtations showed isolation (infinite resistance):

no plug

Anker USB hub charging port

Anker car charger, Apple port

No plug isn't a surprise; if the cable shorted the two lines then it would be worthless for data. The high current Anker ports were surprising though.

The following situation showed a complete circuit, but a finite, nonzero amount of resistance:

Anker USB hub data port (38.8 kilohms to be precise)

Again, this isn't surprising. If the lines were shorted or isolated, no data could transfer.

The following situations showed 0 resistance, or a short:

1A Monoprice wall charger

1A Monoprice car charger (technically, this showed 3 ohms, but that might as well be 0)

Samsung 2A OEM charger

Anker car charger, Android side

The Anker charging ports on both the car charger and hub that weren't shorted were the most surprising. I've been charging my phone with the Apple port of the Anker car charger; I wonder if I've been cheating myself.

So, back to the iBolt thing. If I understand how that works, you plug the micro-B end into your phone, the regular USB end into a charger, and the 3.5mm headphone plug into your car's aux port. No part of that goes into the 3.5mm headphone jack on your phone.

My belief is that if you were to charge using any of the chargers that indicated shorted data lines, you would not get audio.

I can't really describe the technical aspects of how it works, but the way that the iBolt adapter is setup is, there's a usb chord that splits off. 1 end is a 3.5mm (female) connector (3.5mm cable would connect from the aux port to this directly), the other end is a micro-USB. The micro-USB end would normally plug directly into the iBolt dock and there's a separate arm that connects from the dock to the device directly.

Now that I've described exactly how they set it up, I tried this without using the actual dock and connected the separate arm to microUSB that would normally plug directly into the dock. That is the only way their 3.5mm adapter worked for me (without having the actual dock).

Motorola's car docks are the only other company that I know that has a 3.5mm adapter with the same form factor. Had I not discovered a way to get extremely good audio using a bluetooth dongle, I'd likely be using iBolt's adapter.

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