We often fill the space of our car with our favorite musical compositions. It's a pity that factory audio systems sometimes don't allow us to do this fully. Car enthusiasts have alternatives in the form of car radios with USB output, MP3 adapters or MP3 modulators.
If the radio has a USB output, then connecting a flash drive will not be difficult. You need to insert the flash card into the slot, and the radio will automatically start reading the contents of the media.
Car enthusiasts still give preference to MP3 adapters. The price of such an adapter is slightly higher compared to an MP3 modulator. But the first one has additional features, such as the ability to recharge a mobile phone via a USB connector.
The standard radio of the second Focus is deprived of such benefits of civilization as support for playing music from external devices (not counting the AUX jack), preparation for a telephone and other necessary features that even the cheapest Chinese public sector phones are crammed with today. The standard 6000cd radio can only play CDs., but this, you see, is not the most convenient option on the road. Although the sound quality on CD is head and shoulders above the highest MP3 bitrate. How to connect a flash drive to a 6000cd Ford Focus 2 radio, let's try to figure it out together.
Chinese radio with a USB socket on the front panel.
Not everyone will agree to pay about three hundred euros for a new radio, and even one adapted in size to the second-generation Focus panel.
Although there are quite tempting offers from the Chinese brothers. Of course, the quality of the radio will be, to put it mildly, mediocre, but many models offered to replace the 6000cd offer a USB connector into which you can plug in a flash drive, an LCD display to which a rear view camera is connected, phone support, and navigator, and many other delights.
One of the options!
If the new radio is adapted specifically to the second generation Focus, then the control buttons on the steering wheel will also work. By the way, on Asian versions of the second Focus, a USB connector and AUX are provided.
Analogues
Analog 6000cd from China called CD-1053 comes with a USB cable; moreover, the kit includes a replacement plug for the climate control panel, which contains a signal LED and the USB socket itself. The radio can read flash drives up to 32 GB.
Option two. Transmitter for 6000CD
Not the best option, since the quality of the music may suffer.
The transmitter works as a signal transmitter via a radio channel, to which the receiver of the standard radio will be tuned. Several models are available for sale for about $50 - AFT-100 and Sony DCC-FMT3 .
FM modulators have one significant disadvantage- they often pick up extraneous signals and add interference to the poor sound quality. In a word, transmitters are a thing of the past, although they are inexpensive.
Option three. USB adapter for car
The controls are also no different from the standard ones: by changing virtual disks, we change folders on the flash drive, and using the change track button we change the file in the folder, in a word, everything is simple.
All adapters are similar like twins, they differ, as a rule, in the firmware. For example, for the second generation Focus, the English company Connect2 offers a model CTA FOUSB 005. The device is connected very simply, you just need to remove the standard radio and insert the device connector into the CD changer socket. All that remains is to install everything in place and attach the adapter in the cabin.
Installing the adapter
As a rule, it is installed in the glove compartment.
The adapter not only reads flash drives, but also SDHC memory cards, and can also support a wireless phone headset using the Bluetooth protocol. There are no unsolvable problems, and to listen to music from a flash drive it is not necessary to change the car or the standard radio. Listen to good music and good luck to everyone on the roads!
Video about installing an external USB adapter
When purchasing a vehicle, motorists pay attention not only to its technical condition, but also to the level of comfort that accompanies this car. Of course, over time, even the most modern equipment of a technical device becomes outdated, alternative options appear that are even more actively welcomed by motorists. The modernization process is developing rapidly, affecting, among other things, the equipment of the interior with playing devices.
You can connect a flash drive to the car radio to listen to music recordings.
Just a few years ago you could find car radios on sale that were designed to use optical discs. Currently, devices that play music files from a flash drive are extremely popular. Of course, relying only on the playback source, it is difficult for most motorists to abandon their favorite car radio. In addition, most digital devices sold in retail chains are of dubious origin.
If you want to keep your radio, but equip it with additional devices that will make it possible to connect flash drives to it, then it will be quite useful for you to study the recommendations on how to quickly connect a flash drive to a car radio.
Connection options
There are several options for solving the problem associated with connecting a removable storage device to a playing device. Among these options, there are some that are welcomed only by a limited number of motorists. An excellent alternative to them are quite popular actions that allow even those who do not have a technical education to figure out how to connect a flash drive to the radio.
You can, of course, not subject yourself to any tests, but simply visit a retail establishment and purchase a high-quality reproducing device from a famous brand. However, although such a solution to the problem will be desirable for many, it is not at all affordable. For this reason, it is still useful to consider the recommendations of motorists who have gone through this modernization path on how to connect a flash drive to a car radio without a USB connector.
Perhaps someone already has experience connecting a flash drive to a radio using a Bluetooth adapter. Of course, this option can be considered as one of the likely ways to solve the problem. However, those who have already gone through this technical solution path, in most cases, were dissatisfied with the result.
First of all, it needs to be connected to the cigarette lighter; accordingly, you have to consider the need to purchase a splitter. And this is not only additional financial waste, but also the occurrence of some discomfort when the protruding parts do not allow quick movements. In addition, such a specific clutter provokes a decrease in the aesthetics of the car interior. However, the main disadvantage is that you can't expect high-quality sound reproduction.
Some skilled technical craftsmen can not only successfully implement a USB adapter into any car radio, but also pre-construct it themselves. However, this option is unacceptable for absolutely everyone, since you have to work with microcircuits and boards, which are important to understand. Even one incorrect soldering can cause the car radio to fail.
A burnt-out board can, of course, be replaced, but this will again require certain knowledge and skills, and you will also have to fork out money, since the cost of such “parts” can be quite high. If you wish, you can find a special USB adapter in the retail network that can be easily connected to your existing car radio.
This method of solving the problem is good because it eliminates the need to disassemble the device and also connect to the cigarette lighter. You just need to first remove the radio and remove the cable.
The next step will ensure that your desire is achieved. Between the connectors of the radio and the wires, you will need to install a purchased special adapter, which has a hole for subsequent connection of a USB adapter to it.
After you have connected all the specified devices, all that remains is to return the car radio to its usual place, place the adapter where you consider acceptable for you. Most motorists prefer to place the USB adapter in the glove compartment, in this way, providing convenient access to it, but at the same time hiding the device from prying eyes, which helps maintain aesthetics.
However, your actions do not end there. Only their technical side is being completed, and some of the manipulations related to the necessary settings remain to be done.
IMPORTANT. The radio is designed to work with optical discs, so the USB adapter acts as an emulator that “deceives” your radio.
Without special “preparation” of the removable drive, you will not be able to cleverly “deceive” your radio, so you should subject the flash drive to some settings. Connect the removable drive to your computer, then create seven folders on it. Each should be signed as a “CD” with a number added. All the first six folders should remain empty, and the seventh folder “CD 7” will be the storage for music files.
IMPORTANT. If you ignore these tips, playing music will be impossible.
Using these recommendations, you can bring back to life those radios that no longer read optical discs well, due to the fact that the laser head has worn out. In addition, updating music albums will become much easier, because a flash drive allows you to record music files quickly and efficiently. The quality of the reproduced sound will be high, so it will satisfy any music lover.
So, connecting a flash drive to a car radio is a process that anyone can carry out if they carefully familiarize themselves with the algorithm for carrying out recommended actions aimed at upgrading an existing sound device.
Music technology for cars is constantly being improved, becoming more and more functional every day. Today it is not necessary to purchase many disks and constantly monitor their condition. Now it’s enough to carry a compact flash drive with music with you. However, some car owners are faced with the problem of using a flash drive, and therefore they are interested in how to make a USB input in a car radio? We will talk about some of the subtleties in our article.
Preparing for work
Before you take action, you should consider how much it might cost you. If you are an amateur in this matter, you don’t even need to start, so as not to completely ruin the radio. The easiest way is to use an FM modulator. This device allows you to quickly upgrade your radio.
Nowadays it is possible to purchase any convenient model, since most of them are equipped with a connector for a flash drive. In addition to the USB connector, there are SD and microSD slots. So, through another device you can listen to music from your flash drive. Of course, this option is considered the most primitive and not very aesthetic, so we will consider another method. It involves the use of a soldering iron.
How to properly make a USB input in your car radio?
First, they disassemble the modulator and look for a microcircuit under the housing. The main thing is to consider the firmware that determines the functioning of the device. The model must be written on the microcircuit. To convert the radio to a flash drive, you will need to have an audio signal output connector. Find an audio out connector in the diagram and solder the wires to it. You can check the operation by connecting the speakers, and if there is a signal, everything is done correctly.
To install USB in a regular radio, you need to be able to think spatially.
For the soldering process, shielded type wires must be used. They eliminate unnecessary interference. In the existing modulator, which is charged from a car cigarette lighter, a stabilizer chip is hidden in the power connector. This “tail” will have to be disassembled and the board removed.
The player's wire is unsoldered, and a bar is attached in its place, and shielded wires are thrown from it to where the microcircuit with 12V spots is in the radio.
Then you should seal the window under the cassette receiver so as not to break the structure by inserting a cassette there. This completes the key work. All that remains is to install the device in a standard slot and listen to your favorite music from a USB flash drive. A video to document the result is attached.
Even today, there are some modern cars that are equipped with radios without a USB connector, not to mention older cars. This state of affairs does not suit many car owners, which prompts them to search for possible solutions. One of the available options for equipping a standard USB radio is to connect the input yourself; this is not difficult to do, but not all car radios accept this solution.
What is a USB input on a car radio?
Many car owners are faced with a situation where the standard radio in the car does not read music from a flash drive. And the whole problem is that the device simply does not have a USB input, i.e. it was not originally provided. Moreover, this situation is relevant not only for old cars, but also on modern foreign cars you can often find such a distinctive feature. Almost everyone will agree that you want to listen to music in the car without any restrictions, but you can’t burn a lot on a CD. Yes, and disks in a car today are somehow inconvenient and outdated. What to do, is there a solution to the problem? After all, replacing a radio is not the cheapest pleasure and not everyone can afford it. Below we will try to understand the situation in detail and find the optimal solution.
How to make and connect a USB input to a radio
Today, all kinds of electronic devices and devices do not exist and, of course, the problem outlined above has not remained aside. It is not necessary to change the standard radio; it is enough to simply improve the device. There are different options, which we will consider.
USB adapter from mp3 player for standard tape recorder
For this method, we need the simplest mp3 player that is capable of reading music files of the appropriate format from both a memory card and a flash drive. Important feature: the player must have an audio output (jack) for headphones. It is from this that the signal will be taken and sent to the radio. It is worth noting that to perform the procedure you need at least minimal skills in working with a soldering iron in order to avoid short circuits with solder during the soldering process and damage to the insulation of wires, elements, etc. We implement the player as follows:
- We disassemble the radio and remove the CD drive or tape drive from it (if the radio is a cassette).
- We take power from the standard device to power the player, the board of which is first removed from the case.
- Depending on the player's supply voltage, you will have to implement a voltage converter circuit. For example, the car's on-board network has 12 V, and the player is powered by a 3.6 V Li-ion battery.
- We take the sound signal from the output of the player and feed it to the AUX input of the radio. The connection requires a shielded wire, i.e. the wires must be braided. On the radio board you need to find the audio input contacts. We solder the wire from the player to them.
- We install the player board inside the radio, since after removing the CD drive, space will be freed up. For convenience, the USB connector itself is located in a hole intended for cassettes or disks.
- The wires must be connected carefully to avoid a possible short circuit.
- To control the player, the buttons are connected to unused buttons from the CD drive.
- All that remains is to assemble the radio, install it in place and you can enjoy the music, for which you just need to activate the AUX mode.
Thus, we assembled the USB adapter ourselves. With this connection method, the volume level on the radio should be lower, which will eliminate the loud signal at a high input signal level.
DIY adapter
Let's consider another option for connecting a flash drive. In this case, you will need a plug from standard headphones, tulip-type connectors and a 4-core copper braided wire. The adapter will be made from these elements. For the procedure to be successful, the radio must have an AUX input. Before starting work, make sure that the headphone wire is not broken. For this reason it is called a multimeter. The whole process is as follows:
- We remove the insulation from the headphone wire and see red and green conductors that correspond to the right and left channels (we cut off the headphones themselves). These conductors must be stripped and soldered to the middle contacts on the tulip connector.
- The braid of the main wire is connected to the steel base of the “tulip”.
- The finished adapter should have the following wiring: a signal from the right and left channels is supplied to the middle contacts of the “tulips”, and the steel base is the common contact.
- We connect an adapter to the external sound signal connector of the radio, with which you can connect any device: tablet, smartphone, player, etc.
- All that remains is to activate the AUX mode and you can listen to music.
How to make an AUX jack
From the above, you can understand that the radio must have an AUX input. But what if there is no such connector, how to connect an external signal source in this case? There is a way out of this situation, and you can do everything with your own hands. For this we need:
- audio jack (standard 3-pin stereo jack);
- wire for connections (2 in the screen);
- soldering iron and everything necessary for it (solder and flux);
- multimeter
Once everything is prepared, you can begin dismantling the device. Let's look at the whole process using the standard Toyota Avensis radio as an example. To remove it you need to:
- Pry the decorative strip from the end on the right, pull it along its entire length and remove it.
- Remove the connector from the button responsible for heating the rear window.
- The radio is secured with two bolts. To unscrew them you need to use a screwdriver with a magnet. Otherwise the bolts will fall behind the panel.
- To ensure free access, the handbrake must be raised.
- Move the selector to the central position and press the Shift Lock button, while the ignition should be turned off. In the corner we pry up the selector panel by snapping the pistons.
- Disconnect the connector going to the ashtray and remove the panel.
- More fastening bolts will be visible from below, which we carefully unscrew.
- We take out the radio so that access to the connectors on the rear panel is provided.
- Disconnect all connectors.
- Remove the brackets (left and right).
- Using a flat-head screwdriver, pry up the plastic locks on the front panel, and then remove the panel itself.
- There is a seal under the panel, which we also remove.
- We unscrew the bolts that connect the front panel to the side walls and the player. After which the walls can be removed to the side.
- Remove the back cover of the radio and the top of the player.
- You need to carefully lift the player, after which two cables will be visible and accessible. We take them out of the connectors and remove the player.
This completes the disassembly process of the device. But before you connect the AUX connector, you need to understand the board and find two points (RCH and LCH). These points correspond to two channels (outputs) of the player to the head unit. After the points are found, perform the following actions:
- We take 3 wires of different colors (the best option is a shielded pair of cores) with a small cross-section and a length of about 0.5 m.
- We connect one of the wires by soldering to ground.
- We solder the remaining two wires to the right and left channels. For soldering, use a low-power soldering iron of 25–30 W.
- After the wires are soldered, you should write down which color wire corresponds to which channel.
- The wires are wrapped in a heat-shrinkable tube.
If the question is about introducing an AUX connector into a cassette recorder, then the process is not complicated. On the front panel of the device there is a volume control with 3 pins arranged in a row. We solder wires 25 cm long to the outer terminals. It is advisable that the wire be shielded, which will avoid interference. The wires from the device are routed outside. Alternatively, you can make a small hole in the side wall for them. All that remains is to connect the audio connector and our marking will come in handy so as not to get confused with the channels. When the wires are soldered to the connector, select a convenient place to attach it.
Upon completion of installation, check the functionality of the speakers in radio mode. To supply an external signal (from an mp3 player, smartphone or tablet), use an appropriate audio adapter that connects the audio output of one of the listed devices to the AUX input of the radio. In this case, you need to turn on the CD on the radio to activate the channels.
Video: How to install AUX using a Kenwood radio as an example
Connecting a flash drive to AUX - is it possible?
Many people ask the question: is it possible to connect a flash drive directly to the AUX input of the radio? The answer is simple - you can't. And all because the flash drive needs power, plus there is simply no sound signal output from this type of media. To play music from a flash drive, you must have a reader. Those who buy an adapter of this type: an audio jack on one side, a USB jack on the other, connected by a piece of wire, will be disappointed. Such an adapter will not work for the same reasons as listed above. In this case, it is necessary to purchase a special adapter, which is not just a piece of wire, but a device assembled in a separate housing.
Thus, we looked at possible ways to obtain a USB connector for connecting a flash drive to a CD or cassette player. In fact, there is nothing complicated about this procedure. The main thing is not to rush during the soldering process, perform the actions carefully and connect the wires to the appropriate points. At the same time, the costs, compared to purchasing a new radio, are minimal.
In order to be able to connect a flash drive to the standard radio, it is not necessary to buy a new expensive device. It is enough to make simple modifications and you can listen to music both from a flash drive and from other signal sources. This will require minimal skills in working with a soldering iron and a step-by-step procedure.
