Tuesday, March 26, 2024

How To Install Aux Input In Car Stereo

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How To Connect Phone To Car Radio Without Bluetooth Or Aux

How to Add AUX to an Old Car Stereo for $2

If your car radio does not have Bluetooth or an aux input, you can still connect your phone to play music through the radio. One option is to use an FM transmitter. This device plugs into your phones headphone jack and broadcasts an FM signal that can be picked up by your car radio. You tune the transmitter to an unused FM frequency and set your car radio to the same frequency. The audio from your phone will play through your car radio speakers.

Another option is to use a cassette adapter. This plugs into your phones headphone jack and inserts into your cars cassette player. The audio from your phone will play through your car radio speakers.

You can also connect your phone to your car radio using a wired connection. Some phones have a special port for connecting to a car stereo, such as a mini USB port or an auxiliary input. If your phone does not have one of these ports, you can use an adapter that will plug into your phones headphone jack and connect to the AUX input on your car stereo. Or, you can use a Bluetooth adapter that plugs into your cars AUX input and connects wirelessly to your phone.

Whichever method you choose, make sure you follow the instructions that come with the device for best results.

Solder The Aux Input Jack

A standard aux input jack has a 3.5mm male jack on one end and three different color wires on the other end. You have to solder those three wires to the three pins of the CD changer after identifying them in the earlier step. The black wire will be soldered to the ground signal ground pin, the red one will be soldered to the right channel, and the white or yellow wire will be soldered to the left channel.

If you are using the soldering iron for the first time, have some warm-up and a practice session beforehand. Take a simple plastic board, mark small dots on it with a pen/marker, and point those dots with the soldering wire through the solder. After making the accurate dots, proceed to solder the aux wires to the CD changer plug.

Check The Aux Input Port

This is a quick and easy way to check if your device is getting power. If there is no electricity coming from the port, then you may need to explore other options. The best way to do this is to grab an old phone charger and plug it into the port. If you dont get any sound, then youll know that you need to look into other solutions.

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Mount The Jack & Testify

You can choose where you want to mount the jack, but make sure its somewhere that is protected from any physical damage .

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Once everything is plugged in and mounted properly at each end of your new aux input cable, test out all equipment by playing music on your device. Then turn on your car and see if youve picked up a radio signal for the frequency broadcast from your stereo to that aux jack.

Functionality Of Auxiliary Inputs

How To Install Aux Input In Car Stereo

No matter what type of AUX input you are using, they can only transfer audio data from your media device to your car stereo. As such, you can only play music, podcasts, audiobooks or any other audio file through the speakers. Auxiliary inputs also let drivers transfer audio from other things like phone calls, Spotify and other applications such as Google Maps.

Additionally, the direct audio line from the AUX, provides exceptional sound quality. It is up to your media devices to convert the audio signal from digital to analog because the AUX input only accepts analog sound.

Since Aux inputs only work by transferring data bit by bit, media playback information isnt displayed on your dash screen. If youre connected to your stereo only through the aux you cant see maps navigation or the song title from your music playlist. Most recommend using a phone mount, particularly for push-button, non touchscreen users so they can use their device hands-free for safety reasons.

Furthermore, no charge is provided to your device while it is connected to the Aux. This input is only designed to relay analog audio signals to your car stereo. It is worthy to note that the AUX cables only connect to the headphone socket leaving the charging port available.

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How To Play Spotify In

If youre looking to play Spotify in your car without using an aux cord, there are a few options. One option is to use a Bluetooth adapter that plugs into your cars cigarette lighter port and connects to your phone wirelessly. Another option is to use a FM transmitter that broadcasts the signal from your phone to your car stereo. Whichever option you choose, make sure to consult your cars manual to see if its compatible before making a purchase.

How Much Does It Cost To Install An Auxiliary Port In A Car

Tired of hearing the same songs every day on your cars radio? Have a collection of CDs or cassette tapes that you have to carry around on every drive? Are you wishing you could plug the iPod or phone into the stereo?

If this sounds like you, your car must not have an AUX Port. These days, cars come with Bluetooth, CD players, and AUX ports, to let the driver take all the music in the world on the road with them. Unfortunately, older cars and base model vehicles dont come with all those bells and whistles.

But good news you can usually add an AUX port to your vehicle to enable streaming music directly from your phone to the car! Most AUX port solutions cost between $30 for a Do-It-Yourself install and low-end AUX adapters, while premium music listening is achieved for about $200 with a professional install and wired AUX options far cheaper than upgrading to a vehicle with all the bells and whistles!

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How To Install Bluetooth In Any Car

Whether it has a tape deck, aux input, CD changer, or none of that, there’s a way to make wireless music work.

When it comes to used cars, I’m pretty open-minded. In the past four years, I’ve owned a Lincoln Town Car, Toyota 4Runner, Mazda 3, Mazda Miata, Acura CL Type-S, Lexus LS400, Honda S2000, and Porsche Boxster. I’m currently considering Toyota Centuries, BMW M3s, and Chevy Corvettes. No make or model is a dealbreaker. The only thing any car absolutely has to have is a way to play music directly from my phone.

Considering my 2006 Lincoln is the newest car I’ve ever owned, I’ve never had a car with Bluetooth or even an aux port from the factory. But in almost every used car, there’s a way to make Bluetooth connectivity work. It just depends on what era your car comes from, how much you care about audio quality, and what your budget is. Regardless, these are the best ways to do it, listed in order of my own personal preference.

Install a Bluetooth Receiver Into Your Stock Radio’s Hidden Aux Port

This is the easiest way to get consistent, reliable, hassle-free Bluetooth with very little investment. Especially if you own a car that’s too new for a tape deck but too old for a factory 3.5-mm auxiliary input, this might be your key.

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Use the Old Tape Deck Trick A pain, but workable for many cars. Aluratekamazon.comBuy Here

The Last Resort: FM Transmitters

How Do I Put An Aux Input In My Car

Aux Input CD Stereo Hack

You can use an RCA-aux adapter to install aux input in the car stereo if it has RCA ports. Otherwise, you can mount the aux input jack to the CD changer of the stereo by soldering its wires to the changer plugs ground, left, and right pins.

Aux input has become a staple feature of modern car stereo systems. However, factory-fitted stereos in old vehicles dont have one, and hence, you cant play your cell phone or mp3 player playlist on those audio systems.

If you dont want to get rid of your classic stereo but also want to play hundreds of tracks from your portable device on your car speakers without burning CDs, you need to know how to install an aux cord in a car stereo.

Here, we will guide you on how to add an auxiliary input to your cars stereo without going to an audio shop.

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Connect Wiring To Stereo Wires

Feed the wires up through the rear of the dash until you can see them where the stereo is located. Pull the wires out so you can work on both of them at the same time. Strip back the insulation 3/4 inches on the wires from the jack. Cut the matching color wires on the stereo system harness and peel back the insulation on them also. Use the wire connectors and shrink the insulation around the new wires. Connect all the wire together through the terminal.

Is Bluetooth Better Than Aux

It really depends on what you mean by better. Bluetooth is newer technology and if you have a newer car, aux is probably a dying feature anyway. I think unless youre a real audiophile, a Bluetooth connection is evidentally just fine. However, Bluetooth is a battery hog.

How do I get the aux input in my car?

Just take any standard audio interconnect with a 3.5mm/1/8 plug on each end and a short cable, and hook it between the phone/mp3 players headphone jack and your car radios auxiliary audio input jack. Most interconnects use shielded cable, so it will reject interference of all types.

Is aux or USB better for car audio?

On newer cars, for instance, USB is used for the media the driver wants to play. It is also used to charge devices. Even so, AUX is far from extinct. Its still included on most new cars. As a result, if its a must-have for your car audio system, youll be closer to finding it if you ask for AUX capabilities.

How do I choose

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Test Your Connections & Reinstall The Radio

I’d suggest a test run before you completely reinstall the stereo to find it doesn’t work. Hook up the cables and give it a try. If everything sounds good, install the radio and put the dash back together. Once it’s all together, all you have to do is put the CD changer on your “silent” CD, put it on track repeat and use the MP3 player to pump the tunes.You can see here’s my setup with the jack installed. Sleek and WAY better than an FM transmitter.

Add Connections For The New Speakers

Pioneer FH

I went on and explored the connectors on the back of the radio. The car had speakers only at the front doors and it turned out that there are outputs for two more speakers that were free. The connections are marked with red – these are L and R Rear speakers. I was almost sure that these are powered, but just not used and so I decided to test that. As the radio is expensive and I did not want to see the majic smoke coming out of it I plugged into these free connectors a small 5W speaker which proved that there is sound coming out. The next step was to figure out how to make four new connections. For best quality use standard radio cables. I found a cable like the one on the third picture. It it easy to take out two cables with the metal crimps. You can see how I inserted the new crimped cables and now they look like the stock ones.

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Bluetooth Adapter For Car Stereo Without Aux Input

The cheapest option is to get an FM transmitter. First of all, its important that you understand what this device does. The goal here is to get your phone paired with the car speakers now, how exactly can they do that? The way it works is that it transmits signals to the car stereo using radio frequencies. You set the same frequency on both the transmitter and the car radio and once you connect the transmitter to your phone, you play music this way. Its simple and easy to use.

The transmitters themselves come in different variations. You can get cheaper transmitters that you hook up to the headphone jack, but since we no longer have headphone jacks on our phones, that is out of the question. Instead, we have to use wireless technology, Bluetooth.

The Best option would be:

Things To Look For On Your Head Unit

If your car or truck has an Aux-in port but it is in a dumb location, or if you just want to add one in a different part of the car, its a very simple operation. Remove the port from the dash, or wherever it is located, then cut and splice an Aux-in cord into place, safely routing it to where you want to add a port, and install the new port in a smart place.

Waterproof aux-in housings can be used to install a port on a boat or on the outside of a vehicle, like in the bed of a truck so you can blast your tunes at the next tailgate party before the big game without opening the doors.

If your stereo does not have RCA ports or CD changer controls, you can wire them into the existing stereo. This will require a little bit of knowledge and skill. You will have to remove the radio from your car and disassemble it to make the necessary changes.

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Install An Aux Input To Your Car Stereo

Here is a detailed tutorial I made describing how to install an AUX input to your car. For this to work your car must have XM radio capabilities. You DO NOT have to be subscribed to XM . This was done on a 2004 GMC Yukon, but as long as you can find the XM module you should be able to perform a similar operation. Let me know if you have any questions at all! Enjoy.

Things you will need:

Materials

3.5mm Audio Jack

Some speaker wire, or similar.

Tools that would help

Whats The Best Way To Get My Aux To Work

How To Add USB and Aux Inputs To Your Factory Car Radio

If you have a car with an aux jack, the best way to get your aux cord to work is by purchasing a Bluetooth adapter.

Bluetooth adapters are small, handy devices that can be plugged into any device with a headphone jack. This allows you to connect wirelessly to other devices, like your phone or tablet. You can also use Bluetooth adapters to connect your speakers or headphones to your device for playing music.

Another option is using your phone as an auxiliary source in cars that do not have Bluetooth capabilities. This requires having a USB port on your phone, which means it will need to be compatible with the cars stereo system in order for this option to work.

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Mount The External Jack In Dash

Now that you have the internal jack mounted & wired, find a nice location in the dash where you will mount the external jack to plug in your MP3 player. Carefully drill a hole in the dash just larger than the jack to mount the external jack. Use the old headphone cable and cut to the appropriate length to connect the internal and external jacks. Plug the cable into the internal jack, and solder the wire ends to the external jack. Take caution to match the pins This cable serves as the quick-disconnect patch cable, should you need to remove your stereo or take apart your dash in the future. Soldering directly without this patch cable could be a pain later if you ever need to remove the dash or stereo for repairs, etc.When drilling in the dash, be very careful and know exactly what’s behind your drill bit so you don’t accidentally drill into something important!On mine, I had a spacer/junk bin that was right below the radio. This made an excellent location to mount the external jack since it was inconspicuous and also I could wire it up at my workbench instead of in the car. Choose the location you like best to mount the jack. Push the jack through your hole you drilled and use the nut supplied with the jack to screw onto the jack and hold it in place.

How Can I Connect My Phone To My Old Car Without Aux

One way is to use a Bluetooth adapter. Bluetooth adapters plug into your cars cigarette lighter socket and enable you to stream audio from your phone to your cars speakers.

Another way to connect your phone to your car without aux is to use a FM transmitter. FM transmitters plug into your cars cigarette lighter socket and enable you to broadcast your phones audio through your cars radio.

You can also connect your phone to your cars stereo system via a USB cable.

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How To Solder The Aux Input

Youll require some basic soldering skills for this one. If youre uncomfortable with the idea of doing it yourself, then take it to a professional and see if they want to tackle what looks like an easy project. The results will be well worth their fee in terms of making sure that no one steals your music!

If you want to install an aux cable directly into your car, then youll need to do some soldering. You will also require basic tools, including a soldering iron, solder, wire stripper, and wiring clips. The first thing youll need to do is open up the input of your stereo by separating it from the bracket. After unscrewing one screw at the back, gently pull on both pieces of plastic, holding them together.

Taking your RCA cable, strip off about two inches of the insulation from the end that will be plugged into your aux jack. Now slice off about half a centimeter of insulation from the end where youre going to solder on the stereo adapter. Once exposed, carefully apply a bit of solder to each wire.

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