Kinivo blue tooth adapter

[jano]

Several months ago, I purchased a Kinivo BTC450 Bluetooth adapter.
http://www.amazon.com/Kinivo-BTC450-Bluetooth-Hands-Free-Input/dp/B009NLTW60

Finally installed it, after a few months of dilly-dallying.

I really wanted a miccus receiver, it's quite small, sleek, sexy faux-rubber covering gets the ladies rubbing it all the time, but the miccus does not support the hands free profile yet, which I need given how much I drive and in the event my headset dies.

As far as the Kinivo, so far, I HATE the cigarette adapter:
- it's too big, so I cannot close the compartment
- there's a ton of ear bleeding blipity boops and noisy screeching whining noises (ugggghhhhh)

I'm pretty sure the latter can be fixed with a group-loop isolator, however, since I know enough to be dangerous, here's what I'm thinking:
1. break open the kinivo's cig adapter, and find out what's inside
2. then depending on what's inside:
a) move contents to my slim-profile cig power adapter and get a ground loop isolator
or
b) cut ground/power on the electronics, and plug into back of the radio (I have the molex pins), i.e. splice into its power/ground

I really like the idea of 2b) because it is fun and elegant, and I'm assuming, if the audio is on the same ground, no loop noises?

For the record, 94 e500, traffic pro head unit, aux-in with rca. I had to get a 3.5mm to rca adapter, which is part of why it took me months to install.

Any forseable problems? Of course, all precautions will be taken, such as disconnecting the battery, heat-shrinking any electronics, etc.

Jano

 

[Glen]

2b sounds like a good plan. Post pictures of the surgery, please.

 

[Glen]

Where did you mount the puck?

 

[Glen]

Also, an easy solution for power would be to use one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Roadpro-Batte...84910&sr=8-1&keywords=12v+cig+lighter+adapter

Not the most elegant solution, but it's easy and inexpensive.

 

[Maui]

I have mine plugged in using a Monster Cable cassette tape adaptor, but I wish I could charge it through the connection. The Monster Cable tape adaptor actually sounds damn good.

 

[jano]

Puck is just dangling around until I figure it out - the bleeps are too annoying. I had also considered taking it apart to see if I could tap a different mic into it, since my car has a mic at the upper part of the windshield pillar by my head. I'm guessing the mic there is better than the dinky one in the kinivo.

I will have time next week to play, so, stay tuned

 

[texas993]

Jano,

I installed the same unit recently in my G500. First I installed the OEM Aux port (3.5mm) to the Comand system. The Aux port (per MB instructions) is installed in the glove box. Then I plugged the Kinivo audio plug into that port. For power, I added another cigarette lighter receptacle in the glove box. So both plugs of the Kinivo are out of sight in the glove box. I mounted the puck on a vertical part of the dash.

This isn't 500E related, but I thought I would share. I don't have any feedback or noise issues. And we are happy with how it functions.

 

[jano]

Voided the warranty tonight, took apart both the cig adapter and the bt module of the kinivo.

First, the cig adapter's top just pops off, and then cracks open along the side seams. The sides can be snapped back together, but the top is glued in and has little tabs that, well, brake, so, what I did is not 100% reversible. The BT adapter part is held together by 4 tiny torx screws (I have a little security bit set that worked).

12V into the unit outputs 5V to the BT adapter. The BT module is a CSR 57e6 87cG.

After reviewing the components and some basic testing, bottom line is the kinivo needs 5V to power it, 12V would likely fry it. To keep things simple, I'm going to use the power filter found inside the cig adapter, just will remove the usb part of it since it's not needed. One could theoretically make their own 12v->5v with a couple capacitors and a diode, but, this adapter already does that.

Wires will go into my Traffic Pro's "A7" and "A8" pins; same on the becker 1492. I'll detail this when I get to it on the weekend; left my soldering iron at the parental units'. Stay tuned

Here are some pics:

00: pop the top off


00a: top, with broken tabs


01: top off, pulling cables


02: cracked along seems, guts of cig adapter


03: power/ground to bt adapter


04: testing power before bt adapter


05: bt adapter exposed


06: backside of bt adapter: mic at top left

 

[jano]

Hmmm - how do I order the pics? They posted out of order. linked to my smugmug.

 

[texas993]

Thanks for posting Jano. Keep it coming!

 

[jano]

I couldn't wait, so I used my battery-powered soldering iron, removed the usb attachment, and the cig adapter poles. Then, I soldered on two leads for power in and ground (sorry, I don't have brown wires for ground), and put it all back into the cig adapter housing because I don't have heatshrink large enough at the moment.

Finally, as a quick test, I shoved the positive and negative into A7 and A8 on the Traffic Pro, put a little hot glue to keep it secure. Turned it on... and.. DAG NABBIT. Still have strange sound effects going on all over the place

This leaves me with two remaining solutions:
1 - use the ground loop isolator
2 - use external power, such as from a battery

#1 seems like a fine, normal solution, but problematic because it just means that much more junk behind the radio, and space is already limited there.

#2 well, can't find any 5V batteries around, and I don't have any spare electronics to sacrifice. HOWEVER, I do have a few 3.7V 250mAh LiPo batteries from my toy quadcopter. Quick wiring to the kinivo.. and.. it powers up. Neat. When there's time and proper soldering iron on Sunday, I shall test to see if it eliminates those sounds. If so, I'll proceed with a nice little assembly.

Parts removed and leads added:

Assmebled for nothing:

 

[Hollybrook]

Hey jano, any more progress on this?

You are heading in the same direction I am planning on, though I still need to send my 1432 out to Becker before working on the BT receiver.

 

[Hollybrook]

I have mine plugged in using a Monster Cable cassette tape adaptor, but I wish I could charge it through the connection. The Monster Cable tape adaptor actually sounds damn good.

We have about 5 different cassette adapters, and none of them have worked in my radio. Nice to know that at least one model works, though I am going to have Becker put in the aux input mod.

 

[Glen]

I don't mean to thread jack...but, has anyone tried one of these: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_541ISFM21/iSimple-TranzItBlu-ISFM21.html
There's a version for iOS as well: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_541ISFM22/iSimple-TranzItBlu-ISFM22.html
Seems like it would work better than a basic FM modulator.

 

[Hollybrook]

Glen, that is an interesting device. I like that it allows adding a Bluetooth receiver without requiring a mod to the radio if you employ the FM cable option. From what I can see, the device interrupts the FM signal, so you don't have the interference problems with a FM modulator that transmits over the air to the FM receiver.

Not knowing the details of the Becker 1432, my concern would be that the bandwidth of the FM pre-amp might compromise the audio, since FM receivers have limited bandwidth. Though at my age, it may not matter that much!

 

[Glen]

Here's another model from the same company that adds hands-free calling: http://www.amazon.com/iSimple-ISFM2351-TranzIt-Music-Steaming/dp/B00FRU5UNA

 

[jano]

Glen - miccus was working on a similar product. I originally purchased their receiver:
http://www.amazon.com/Miccus-Mini-jack-RX-Bluetooth-Receiver/dp/B0038MA11U/
But learned all about the handsfree stuff when it wouldn't play phone audio through the speakers (I normally use a BT headset, but sometimes either the battery in it dies or I don't want something in my ear).

I had contacted Miccus about this, and they said they were working on one with handsfree profile. The iSimple ISFM2351 item on amazon looks exactly like the kinivo, except that it can also broadcast over fm like those modulator thingies, and based on the description there, can't tell how it is supposed to be powered. If it plugs into the cig adapter, then you're going to get ground loop issues unless you get the isolator. If it is battery powered like the miccus, then there won't be any issues unless you plug it into a usb cig adapter charger. The 21 and 22 iSimple products look like they may have the ground-loop isolator built in.

Sorry, I haven't had time to work on mine - it's pretty much done, just need to connect a battery to it, or, get a ground loop isolator. Both should work.

Hollybrook: if you send out your head unit to becker before I do, please do take some pics when you get it back. I've got mine out, just keep forgetting to pack it up and ship out. What they do is ridiculously simple, I just can't figure out with the tools I have where the solder points are.

Jano

 

[portiadog1]

For these powered bluetooth units, where would you connect the 12v power source wire and the ground?

 

[portiadog1]

I guess I could just splice into the ground and ignition wires on this plug?