CM5908/5907 Plug-n-Play Bluetooth upgrade board

[jaysterling]

I'm not sure if this is correct, but the lcd read out was hindering the removal of the tape deck, so the front face plate was removed, 3 screws and two plastic tabs need to be pressed. The screen can then be pulled out.

Yeah it seems near impossible to get it out without removing the LCD. I just remove the top and right side faceplate screws though rather than pulling the whole thing off. It can be kinda a pain to get all the plastic bits aligned if you fully remove it, plus you only need to pull the right side out maybe a quarter inch.

The one snag I came across was the ribbon cable. I didn't realize that the connector had a sleeve that had to be disconnect to release the ribbon. I struggled for 20 mins trying to figure out how I could pull on the ribbon without tearing it. I ended up using an allen key that ran the width of the cable and pulled slowly. It was only then the connect sleeve opened, and I realized that there was more to removing the cable that just pulling it. I even gave the inside out board a hard look, and never realized there was a sleeve.

Sounds like your allen key method is basically what I do. The sleeve on that connector doesn't actually need to be fully disconnected though, once you pull it up a little, it should be kind of loose, at which point it's fully released and you can use your allen key to pull up on it.

Jay includes 3 screws, but I'm not sure what they are for. I ended up just reusing all the screws that came of the head unit.

Those 3 are to hold the mounting brackets to the new board. The screws that held them to the cassette assembly are M2.5 I believe. The screw terminals on the new board are 4-40. The 4-40 screws are snug in the bracket holes but go through with the turn of a screwdriver.

[Boggie1688]

Ahhh! You mean to hold the little brackets that came off the tape deck that need to be transplanted? Derp. I'll fix that when I install the mic.

[tuckerware]

Board arrived yesterday but I did not have time to install until tonight. It is very easy and works great upon initial impression. I need to order a microphone as well but this is awesome and sounds worlds better than the tape adapter.

Jay, you are a genius.

[Boggie1688]

Jay, I confirmed the track switching issue was just me. There is a little bit of a delay, and I was being too impatient. :D

Otherwise, I drove the car during my commute and thoroughly enjoy music via bluetooth in much higher quality! I haven't test the mic while driving, but I did a quick test last night and had no complaints from the other end. :D

[tuckerware]

random observation - Bluetooth connection is super fast upon startup. Phone connects within a couple seconds after radio power. Way faster than my other cars with factory BT.

Jay, a little feedback and would be curious as to experience of others:

Volume when on a phone call is much quieter than with other audio. For instance, if listening to Pandora and I receive a call it is barely audible until I raise the volume. Then, I must quickly lower as the call ends so it isn't crazy loud.

Caller on the other side will get an echo when speaking. As in when my wife calls me it sounds just fine in the car but she is getting an echo on her side.

Let me know if you need clarification on either issue.

[earthwormjim]

On my iPhone, music and call volume are separate attributes. Try turning up the volume on your phone during a call, or lowering music volume to the same level as call volume.

Noise cancellation to prevent echo'ing is usually handled by the bluetooth device. Jay might need to check if there is a setting for this in the bluetooth module's firmware.

You might try a more directional mic too, and aim it at your mouth better, it's pretty hard to cancel audio with Bluetooth, there's so many delays in the system.

[tuckerware]

On my iPhone, music and call volume are separate attributes. Try turning up the volume on your phone during a call, or lowering music volume to the same level as call volume.

My counterpoint here is that my other 3 cars with factory BT don't need any adjustment from calls to music. I'm guessing there is some type of default value which could be adjusted to compensate. As mentioned, curious if others have experienced this.

Overall I'm still blown away by the quality and integration of this system but I'm guessing Jay wants this detailed feedback from this early beta group.

[Boggie1688]

I think we need to temper our expectations.

Headunits today have a might tighter integration to phones. They are capable of accessing your phones contacts, and voice activated assistants.

In this case Jay created a board that hijacks an input. He didn't create a board that provides this level of integration. The board only has the ability to take the audio single input and provide an output back to the phone. It also can send universal commands like skip or fast forward. Could it possibly do more? Maybe but I think it would require a lot more work, and potentially processing power. On top of that as standards on the phones change the board may require updates, which for now can seem to be only done via a jtaq pinout on the board.

I for one am particular impressed with the mics ability to pick up my voice even with the window down. While on calls people can hear me very clearly and it even seems to be able to filter out a lot of road noise. Although I chaulk that up to the mics foam wind filter.

[tuckerware]

My only car that actually has better BT is in my GT350 with Sync 3. That is very highly integrated. And Jay's radio does integrate with Siri just like the Ford.

My 335i had a lot of connection issues as does my Ghibli and the Ram. For as ubiquitous as BT is I actually find it still to be inconsistently executed by the major OEMs.

Jay's hacked together solution works more quickly and consistently than most cars I own. Frankly, it is his place to tell us what we should or shouldn't expect. The engineering is far beyond my comprehension so I'm just not in a position to assume what is or isn't possible.

[Boggie1688]

Of course I'm making an assumption. Well let Jay chime in.

[george graves]

Amazing how a "little board" can take so long to solder! BTW - nice copper pull back below the antenna - that's something a lot of people forget to do. Great work - keep it up for sure!

[earthwormjim]

I think we need to temper our expectations.

Headunits today have a might tighter integration to phones. They are capable of accessing your phones contacts, and voice activated assistants.

In this case Jay created a board that hijacks an input. He didn't create a board that provides this level of integration. The board only has the ability to take the audio single input and provide an output back to the phone. It also can send universal commands like skip or fast forward. Could it possibly do more? Maybe but I think it would require a lot more work, and potentially processing power. On top of that as standards on the phones change the board may require updates, which for now can seem to be only done via a jtaq pinout on the board.

I for one am particular impressed with the mics ability to pick up my voice even with the window down. While on calls people can hear me very clearly and it even seems to be able to filter out a lot of road noise. Although I chaulk that up to the mics foam wind filter.

Jay chose a pretty powerful bluetooth SoC: https://www.qualcomm.com/products/csr8645

You'd be surprised at what it can do.

[Boggie1688]

Jay chose a pretty powerful bluetooth SoC: https://www.qualcomm.com/products/csr8645

You'd be surprised at what it can do.

Wow I never bothered to look. I just assumed is was a basic offering.

I wonder what else is in store for us.

[earthwormjim]

My counterpoint here is that my other 3 cars with factory BT don't need any adjustment from calls to music. I'm guessing there is some type of default value which could be adjusted to compensate. As mentioned, curious if others have experienced this.

Overall I'm still blown away by the quality and integration of this system but I'm guessing Jay wants this detailed feedback from this early beta group.

Looks like default volume is something that can be configured, CSR lists it as a feature of aptX wireless audio.

Probably out of the box, the module is configured to use the device's current volume, but can be changed in the firmware, to set a volume level based on function.

http://www.czwtech.com/uploadfile/cfile/20121224103629171.pdf

Stuff like this is a real pain in the ass to get right. For example, IOS devices will not accept A2DP commands to raise or lower the volume, but Android will.

[Boggie1688]

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? An app on our phones to control the headunit?