Sutitan

I recently bought an Isimple kit for my TL, but I havent put it in due to the fact that I want to wirelessly stream my music via bluetooth. Also, I have an Android phone, and the only wire I have to hook up to the Isimple is the 30pin apple conenctor. I looked into add-on packages for bluetooth for the Isimple, but the costs were insane. Ive seen people recommend just buying the blackberry thing, but I feel as if its still clumsy unless you hard wire it behind the dash.

Then I had an epiphany.

If the Isimple charges iDevices, then that means power is sent through the 30pin connector. That means, that it should be able to power a bluetooth device. Then I remembered, that these neat little dongles exist for plugging into ipod docks. The link for the one I bought is just below

http://dx.com/p/ultra-thin-bluetooth...r-black-140011

These units work over A2DP, so you should be able to stream music from any bluetooth device (the comments confirm that it works with android as well as a multitude of devices. So simply just plug in the dongle into the 30pin iDevice connector, Tuck the wires somewhere hidden, and stream music!

Just as a note, I havent actually done this yet, but I ordered the part and Ill report back as soon as everything is installed. I really dont see why it wouldn't.

00g

I have a similar device, and it didn't work.

I was under the impression all iSimples had an aux input. Mine sure does. In fact, it can take RCA and 3.5mm.

Just get a Blackberry stereo gateway. Has been working for me for ~5 or 6 years now.

Sutitan

What was the model of your cable for your isimple to iDevice?

I did a couple of searches on amazon for similar devices (probably identical internally) and i had a few positive reviews come up for isimple

http://www.amazon.com/review/RNA2W7V..._res_rtr_alt_1
http://www.amazon.com/review/RC8HJ2I..._res_rtr_alt_1

And then there was this negative review/thread that gave me an idea that it might be a cable issue

http://www.amazon.com/review/R69YQTQ..._res_rtr_alt_1

I did a little more search and found this

Im still staying positive with hopes that it will work.

Sutitan

I hate to keep spamming my own thread, but here was an AZ member who actually figured it out. I guess searching is always the best thing to do!

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-audio-bluetooth-electronics-navigation-94/30-pin-blutooth-connector-875003/

Sutitan

Can you try the above post for me

I think I have it figured out

Alot of the reviews im reading for these bluetooth units basically boils down to that it will work with stereo systems that accept analog audio from the iDevices. These bluetooth devices output analog signals ONLY. When the Isimple is set to "ipod" it is looking for an incoming digital signal. that way, you can control your iDevice with your steering wheel or dash controls. When you have it set to "aux" it is expecting an analog signal. The plugs on the gateway device i believe are identical for the aux cable and the idevice cable (same amount of pins). Im assuming that changing the mode just simply changes that pins it is looking for signals on.

Its very strange, because the internet seems very polarized whether it works or not, but there are confirmed cases of it working, so im assuming that people who failed to get it to work just didnt try all the possibilities. my outlook is still positive.

thoiboi

I've been searching forever and always see recommendations for the Blackberry Stereo Gateway. Has anyone ever tried this bad boy? It has amazing reviews and granted, you'll have to hack/buy a cigarette power adapter, but it should work, no?

00g

You know, when I posted earlier that I had tried, and failed, I was actually thinking to myself, "I wonder if I tried to AUX1 position rather than the IPOD input". Because, that makes complete sense.

I go out there now and try mine again. I saw it in my center console yesterday when I had it all apart. I'll be pretty happy if it works, considering my tablet is using my AUX2 input.

00g

And, you were right. It worked when I was in the AUX1 input. But, sounded terrible. I doubt I'll use it.

But, that may just be because of the age of the device. This bluetooth adapter is ollllllld. Could just be old technology.

Sutitan

Thanks for taking out the time and giving it a shot. its odd that it sounded bad. I cant really imagine why. its easy to just say "its old", but thats kind of a poor conclusion. I hope you're right about the age being the issue though. Id love to get my bluetooth adapter in and have it just work. I wish I had just used my prime and gotten a cheap one of amazon for about 2$ more and have it by saturday.

I dont really have much more to add to this thread. Hopefully in another week or two ill have the system in, and hopefully working

Just out of curiosity, did the volume seem low? I feel like I saw someone using a similar set up saying the volume was too low. Also, were to sure to not set the volume to max on your phone/bluetooth device? Setting the volume on phones to the max can cause distortion. Its a better to have the volume set to medium-high on your phone, and have the volume up higher on the car.

I hope I can come up with some developments. its seems really cumbersome to use the blackberry unit which is pretty pricey. a 10$ adapter which plays nicely with the iSimple would be great.

Sutitan

what benefit does it offer over the blackberry unit? both units require a bit of additional wiring. the benifit of my solution is that those bluetooth adapters pull power from the isimple (which im assuming whoever wants bluetooth audio in there car already has intalled). It should technically be plug and play. 00g had a bit of success with the advice from the thread I found. I think its definitely doable, and it should definitely be cheap. Im hoping someone with a similar adapter and an isimple can chime in so we can get multiple references

00g

Yeah, that's the first thing I checked. I had the volume about 2 clicks down, and it still sounded bad. So, I bumped it down another click, and it was still bad. But, the distorted sound you're used to hearing when the source device is all the way up, is exactly the type of poor sound quality that I experienced.

Yes, the volume was lower than other sources (FM/AUX, etc). But, that was probably because I had the volume on my phone set lower than I would normally set it.

It did however pair right up with the anycom when I got in the car. But, the iSimple iPod cable is always "hot" in my car. I don't know if that's just the way the Best Buy installers chose to install it, or if it's always that way. In other words, the phone probably paired up before I even sat down (which is kind of nice). My stock Galaxy S3 would never auto-pair with the BlackBerry gateway. Whereas all my previous devices did (Galaxy s2, Moto Photon, Nexus S, HTC Evo, Galaxy S, BB Tour, BB Bold, etc) But, once I rooted it and installed a custom ROM, it did (no longer needed it to due to the in-dash tablet).

jdgolf

what isimple device did you install??

Sutitan

Great Success!

I got in my bluetooth reciever yesterday. I ordered it the day I started this thread. I guess thats pretty typical for shipping from China. Anyways, I was anxious to get this thing in, so after running a few errands, I began tearing down my car to install the isimple.

Long story extremely short, it works great! Its way better than aux for highs and lows. they come out much cleaner. Audio quality is great. My only gripe is that the volume seems about halfed. where I would typically listen to music around 10-11, im now listening to music in the mid twenties. My concern with that is that it is making the amp work extra hard without making the volume considerably louder. Im not sure if this strains the amp at all, but in my head it seems as it might. Ive already replace my 04 amp with an 08 amp since the first one began hissing and the individual channels were dying (I had to listen to music on 30 to hear much of anything on only the driver side). My other gripe is potentially with the isimple. Does it shut down when the car is off. When i was testing the system before i put everything back together, I noticed the bluetooth dongle stayed lit. Ill have to go back to my car later to see if I can still connect to it even though the car is off. If it does, then there might be a little concern about it draining the battery.

So, day 1, im really happy with the outcome. It sounds and works great, I just have to crank it up a little. im hoping so more people will consider this. you can tuck and hide all your wires away, and just wireless stream from any bluetooth audio device. the device is dirt cheap compared to other bluetooth solutions.

Edit: I did a little searching. Im not alone when it comes to this half volume isimple bug. a few people reported reduced audio volumes. No worries on my side. I dont ride around blasting music all the time.

Slpr04UA6

^Cool! Do u have a model # for the device you purchased? Also, does adjusting the volume on the phone/device have any result on volume level?

Sutitan

The bluetooth dongle is this one
http://dx.com/p/ultra-thin-bluetooth...r-black-140011

Im sure it can be found for slightly cheaper somewhere else online, and probably with a bit faster shipping.

Yes changing my phone volume does change the the output volume. One thing I thought was weird that when I had my volume maxed, I noticed no distortion. On all previous aux cables, whenever my volume was maxed, I would notice distortion. Im planning on downloading a volume booster and seeing if that doesnt help a little without distorting the sound.

Sutitan

Well, the first major issue cropped up.

When the unit sits idle (roughly 5 min), the bluetooth device shuts off. The only way ive figured out to turn it back on is to unplug it and plug it back in. Luckily, my wires are somewhat easily accessable, so its not terrible to unplug and plug back in, but is definitely not what I want to do everytime I want to play music. Im not quite sure what to do at this point. Im not sure if this autoshut off is a feature of this device or the isimple