CM5908/5907 Plug-n-Play Bluetooth upgrade board

[bradnic]

No worries dude. We all learn here.
Peace

[Boggie1688]

Head unit is back after sending it to Jay.

Boy I missed it! :D

You all are in for a real treat when the production board comes out.

[Chrisbike]

Head unit is back after sending it to Jay.

Boy I missed it! :D

You all are in for a real treat when the production board comes out.

Jay,
Do you think they will be in production by August?

[jaysterling]

Jay,
Do you think they will be in production by August?

If all goes to plan! I placed the order for 50 boards last week :) they said 4-5 weeks production time. There are other pieces I'm waiting on, but the boards will probably be the bottleneck.

About those other pieces - I found a manufacturer who is making the RF shields, they should be here in a week or two. I also decided to include a microphone in the kit so you'll really get everything you need. I've sourced the mic I've been recommending and I'm working on a bulk order from the supplier, hopefully finalize that this week.

Last on the parts sourcing - so you don't have to remove the lid on the radio to unplug the mic cable if you need to remove the radio from the car, I'm having an audio cable manufacturer make up some 6" mono extension cables that will be thin enough fit in the passage through the chassis and will give you a disconnection point outside the radio.

The last week or so I've also been working on a pogo bed programmer and testing board to automate the testing that needs to happen on every one of the BT boards. It makes a bunch of temporary electrical connections to the board under test via spring-loaded contact pins, checks voltages, checks the MCU is alive, the Bluetooth module outputs audio within spec, etc. I should get those boards this week, then assembly and firmware for that. The idea is to eventually have the assembly house operate the tests using my fixture for future production runs, but I'll have to get it polished first.

Exciting times, starting to come together!

[Boggie1688]

EDIT:

Didn't realize you were having someone make the extension cable.

Any chance I could buy one?

[jaysterling]

EDIT:

Didn't realize you were having someone make the extension cable.

Any chance I could buy one?

Yeah I'll send one to any of the beta testers that want one. When they come in I'll send one your way.

[Boggie1688]

Sweet Thxs!

[DetroitEE]

Yeah I'll send one to any of the beta testers that want one. When they come in I'll send one your way.

Are you still looking for beta testers, or are you past the beta testing phase? I have a CM5908 and am very interested. If you don't need any more beta testers, just keep us posted on when we can buy one! Thanks

[jaysterling]

The beta testing round is done now, I'm just waiting on the first production run to get done. Yesterday the factory making the circuit boards told me August 14th is the scheduled finish date.

Pretty much all the other bits are here already. The short mic extension cables came in a few days ago. They're 2 inches shorter than expected (6 inches long overall, I meant 6 inch cable length) but it looks like they'll be OK, just would prefer a little longer. But hey, this is why you start with just 50.

Anyway, I'll definitely be posting something here when they're ready.

[earthwormjim]

The beta testing round is done now, I'm just waiting on the first production run to get done. Yesterday the factory making the circuit boards told me August 14th is the scheduled finish date.

Pretty much all the other bits are here already. The short mic extension cables came in a few days ago. They're 2 inches shorter than expected (6 inches long overall, I meant 6 inch cable length) but it looks like they'll be OK, just would prefer a little longer. But hey, this is why you start with just 50.

Anyway, I'll definitely be posting something here when they're ready.

HA I've had the same exact issue with specifying cable length with the Chinese CMs I've used. Specifically antenna length for bluetooth, no matter if I specify cable + 1/4 wavelength or include 1/4 wavelength in the total length I give, they always give the exact opposite of what I want.

[jaysterling]

HA I've had the same exact issue with specifying cable length with the Chinese CMs I've used. Specifically antenna length for bluetooth, no matter if I specify cable + 1/4 wavelength or include 1/4 wavelength in the total length I give, they always give the exact opposite of what I want.

Good, so I'm not alone. I figured since I wasn't explicit they just aired on the side of saving money.

[Brian697]

Sub'd.

Great effort to get this going, looking forward to the production units and getting the OEM radio back in place!

[george graves]

Just a idea, but you might want to do an update to this post as a explanation of what's going on, and what you're up to. I feel that all the tech details are scaring people away from a cool product.

[SteveO]

Any updates? interested in buying!!!!

[jaysterling]

So the boards came in a few days ago :D



I've been testing them, I installed one in my car, everything is looking good. Oh yeah, and they are YELLOW.

At this point, I have all the pieces and I'm ready to go product-wise.

But I can't sell them yet. I can't go into it, but there is a non-technical delay that is keeping me from being able to sell these. It's killing me. As soon as I can though, I will be here opening them up for sale.

Sorry for the delay guys, I really appreciate the interest and I can't wait to get these out.