Cradle-style holder with headphone jack for car - Touch Pro, Fuze Accessories

Bought one of these:
eBay - search for "FUZE Car Kit" - The one I bought was "C529"
Fits the Fuze like a glove... But best of all: I took the thing apart because I had no interest in FM-modulated sound and found the 3 wires that went from the quasi-USB connector to the modulator circuit board. Those three were (you guessed it) red, white, and black - the 3 wires needed for audio signal...
1. Took it apart totally removing both the switch and the modulator part
2. made a new back out of a piece of plastic
3. went to radio shack, bought a "stereo mini" (1/8) female receiver and wired it to the red/white/black wires that were going to the modulator
4. drilled a 1/4 inch hole in the side of the rest of the housing for the headphone plug
5. rewired red-to-red, black-to-black (since I removed the switch)
VOILA! What i WANTED! A cradle-style holder for the FUZE with a stereo (headphone) jack so that I can just plug in a wire to my aux-input and get my tunes through the radio without the crummy sounding modulation
Yay. Ok you guys may or may not find this useful - but just wanted you to know it was very easy and do-able.

bought exactly the same thing! the fm transmitter switches of randomly, plus I can't listen to my cd's from my car stereo.
Thinking of modding it so that I can attach a speaker.
Can you post a pic of your mod?
thanks

wanwarlock - what kind of car do you have? I ask only because you could do what I did to a "T". If you have a newer car with either a stock head-stereo that has an AUX or CD Changer input or an aftermarket stereo with one of those - then you're set! You can buy adapters on eBay that make your CD Changer/AUX input a regular RCA style input (Red/White). Then go to RadioShack and buy an adapter to go from a Stereo-Mini Female to RCA-style Male and you're done - just plug that wire into the stereo input on your cradle and you're listening to the phone... Unplug and you're listening to whatever else Let me know if you have questions

any pics...?

Yes step by step picutres please if possible i would like to do soemthing like this for my phone as well. And is there any way to get the microphone connection as well? So we can use something like this thanks
nvm: just realized the mic input thing was a usb connection. I was thinking it was the other type of connections like regular iphone headset connections.

(as requested).
The first picture is the cradle attached to a bracket I made... The Honda Pilot has a bizarre little pocket beneath the radio above the "not an ash tray" that is totally useless. I cut a piece of wood, attached a bent strip of aluminum to the wood and a piece of foam to the top of the wood (to allow for a snug fit in the pocket), drilled a few holes in the aluminum, and attached the cradle to the aluminum.
The second picture shows the cradle from the outside - the power jack and the headphone jack.
The last picture shows the wiring detail. Let me know if you have any questions -

mybikegoes200 said:
(as requested).
The first picture is the cradle attached to a bracket I made... The Honda Pilot has a bizarre little pocket beneath the radio above the "not an ash tray" that is totally useless. I cut a piece of wood, attached a bent strip of aluminum to the wood and a piece of foam to the top of the wood (to allow for a snug fit in the pocket), drilled a few holes in the aluminum, and attached the cradle to the aluminum.
The second picture shows the cradle from the outside - the power jack and the headphone jack.
The last picture shows the wiring detail. Let me know if you have any questions -
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm interesting thanks so much for the pictures.

thanks for the pics... i imagine this wont work with the seidio case

extensive said:
thanks for the pics... i imagine this wont work with the seidio case
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not even a little chance - the cradle fits the fuze *very* snug. So snug that I might actually sand it down a bit. With a case of any sort it definitely wouldn't fit.

This is pretty sick I must admint. However, I find myself wanting a cradle that has NO electronic connections, that way I can take the phone out of the cradle and mess with it in my hand and it still be connected to the audio cable and/or power cable.
Anyone know of a good cradle like this?

seanvree said:
This is pretty sick I must admint. However, I find myself wanting a cradle that has NO electronic connections, that way I can take the phone out of the cradle and mess with it in my hand and it still be connected to the audio cable and/or power cable.
Anyone know of a good cradle like this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why not just get the generic holder and a car charger?

USB Head Unit
Another solution that I am going to try shortly is hooking up the Fuze via usb cable and set it to drive mode. I might need to put the music in a root folder but I will report back.
I'm trying it on a Pioneer head unit with USB functionality input.
Has anyone tried this yet?

i think it can work. not too familiar with usb headunits i.e. file structure etc. what does your manual say? theoretically should work in drive mode.
my head unit only has aux in...

Related

Active Car Holder for Kaiser HowTo - WITH AUDIO OUT

I am writing this article as I have an HTC Kaiser and want the ultimate active holder for my car.
Brodit do an active holder, but it is regular USB, not extUSB, and it is hard wired to a cigarette lighter connector, so you cannot access audio via the extUSB whilst your Kaiser is in the holder. Also, Brodit seem to have abandoned screwing on the block that holds the USB plug in favour of melting it on, so you can't easily replace the plug with an extUSB splitter as you could with the Hermes holder.
This method should work for pretty much any extUSB phone (or even ones with other connectors) but in my examples I will obviously show a Kaiser and a brodit holder.
You will need:
Your phone.
A very thin plastic bag.
A passive holder (Brodit item 848752 for a Kaiser) or a suitably butchered active one that had the wrong plug.
Some plastic granules (Such as these - not the exact ones I used, anything similar should do)
A hob, pan and water.
An audio splitter (Such as this ORA 3-in-1 splitter)
About 10 minutes spare.
Step 1 - Preparation
Start boiling the pan of water, remove battery from phone (Put cover back on), put the phone in the plastic bag with plastic covering the USB socket.
Put the plug of the audio splitter into the phone whilst the plastic bag is still on the phone. The plastic bag should go inside the usb socket between the plug and the socket (That's why it needs to be a thin plastic bag). This is to make sure you get no melted plastic on your phone or in the USB socket.
Put the phone in the passive holder (Still inside plastic bag - again, why it needs to be so thin) - for the mentioned Brodit holder and a kaiser, do not slide it all the way to the stop at the end, leave about 1cm gap.
Step 2 - Holding the plug in place
So now you have your phone in the holder, with the plug in the place it needs to be to meet the phone as it is slid in, you need to hold the plug in that place permanently. This is acheived with the plastic granules I mentioned - they can be melted and moulded into any shape.
Once the water has boiled, place some plastic granules in the boiling water. You want maybe the size of a matchbox. Melting too much is fine as you can always re-melt and re-use it later.
Once the plastic is melted, remove from boiling water. You should be able to handle it right away - start kneading it to get rid of air pockets etc.
Roll it into a sausage and wrap it around the holder and the USB plug of the audio splitter - push it up against the phone to make sure it moulds nicely to it's contours - squidge it around as much of the passive holder as you can to make sure it has plenty of grip. Work fast as it hardens as it cools. Do not worry about getting the surface too smooth or perfect at this stage as the plastic can be worked once dry with sandpaper, knives etc.
If you have melted too much plastic, you can always pull it off at this stage - too little would be much more problematic to sort out.
Once you are happy, wait for it to start hardening as it cools.
Step 3 - Touching up
The inside will harden before the outside. Once it is structurally sound, but the outside is still a bit soft, remove the phone from the holder.
The plastic bag will probably stick to the melted plastic a bit, but you should be able to pull it away, or just leve the plastic bag on there. While the melted plastic is still a bit soft on the outside, you will need to work it a bit (use your finger or a cocktail stick) - neatening it up around the usb socket and moulding it against the holder where you could not before because the phone was in the way.
It sounds complicated, but it isn't. I did it first try and in 5 minutes flat. If you fail, you can always use a hair dryer to soften up the plastic and try again.
Step 4 (Optional) - Aesthetics
As it stands, it doesn't look very good, but the plastic is workable with tools (Or the stuff I have is) - sand it, carve it into nice smooth lines with no creases, then paint it black.
Once you have that done, you have the ultimate Kaiser holder - It rotates, it lets the keyboard open, and as soon as you slide the phone in the holder, it connects USB, audio and power.
Problems:
I am not sure how the plastic would fare in a very hot car or if mounted in front of a vent and there was hot air blasting at it. I think melting temp starts at 60 degrees celcius though, so you would probably be OK and what's the worst that could happen?
If I use my audio splitter (The ORA 3-in-1 adapter) with my cigarette lighter to USB cable (I have an official HTC one) for power, I get "Alternator whine" coming out of the Kaiser audio - there is a high pitched noise which gets higher pitched as you accelerate. Only really noticable on quiet bits of music. This may be any one of the parts' fault, but for me, the solution was to get power from my Blaupunkt Hamburg car stereo, which has a USB port.
Excellent post.
This is just what I was planning to do, since discovering the active mount had a "moulded" connector.
I have a question regarding the 3in1 splitter, does the Kaisers inbuilt mic work if you connect audio out via the center connection or do you need to piggyback an 11pin to 3.5mm adapter such as this to use for calls, voice control etc?
Nice job.
My active holder shipped today, so I'll be posting a tutorial for replacing the usb charger on that with the audio adapter. Hopefully I'll get it done by this weekend.
URPREY said:
Nice job.
My active holder shipped today, so I'll be posting a tutorial for replacing the usb charger on that with the audio adapter. Hopefully I'll get it done by this weekend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent Post!
Both Brodits once modificated would solve my problems.
Possibly in combination with
http://www.expansys.nl/p.aspx?i=157536
Professionals also could look at: http://www.bikertech.de/html/pda-selbstbau.html
wizzzard said:
I have a question regarding the 3in1 splitter, does the Kaisers inbuilt mic work if you connect audio out via the center connection or do you need to piggyback an 11pin to 3.5mm adapter such as this to use for calls, voice control etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good question. I would guess that the ORA adapter 3.5mm jack is stereo only and no mic, but it does pass the extUSB through though, so you could just use the adapter you pictured.
URPREY said:
My active holder shipped today, so I'll be posting a tutorial for replacing the usb charger on that with the audio adapter. Hopefully I'll get it done by this weekend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck with that bro, I have an active holder already, but because of the way the block is now melted on, I did not see a way of easily removing it whilst being able to reattach it and keep the spacing exactly right.
evilc said:
If I use my audio splitter (The ORA 3-in-1 adapter) with my cigarette lighter to USB cable (I have an official HTC one) for power, I get "Alternator whine" coming out of the Kaiser audio - there is a high pitched noise which gets higher pitched as you accelerate. Only really noticable on quiet bits of music. This may be any one of the parts' fault, but for me, the solution was to get power from my Blaupunkt Hamburg car stereo, which has a USB port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like a bad earth. Excellent guide
URPREY said:
Nice job.
My active holder shipped today, so I'll be posting a tutorial for replacing the usb charger on that with the audio adapter. Hopefully I'll get it done by this weekend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear yours is on its way, as you know Im waiting for you to chop your Brodit first!
Got all the bits ready, 3-1 adapter, 3.5 inch jack plug and Nokia car speaker for the IGo audio. I didnt get a reply from Brodit when I asked about a replacement mounting block, I'll chase them tomorrow.
How should I wire the stereo audio out to the mono speaker? Just use one channel, I assume the output is mono from Igo anyway. Will it be a problem just loading one side of the stereo output?
Cheers
Rob
Forgive me for my ignorance ...
what is so special about "Brodit" that compell you all to buy the holder and then performed surgery to it and make it less than new 2nd rate item ?? with chances of someone screw up and trash the whole thing ??
why not just shop around for a fitting or one that provide the right setup ??
ok ... flame suit is on !!
Frans. said:
Excellent Post!
Both Brodits once modificated would solve my problems.
Possibly in combination with
http://www.expansys.nl/p.aspx?i=157536
Another idea is to use the Semsons 2-in-1 adapter and attach it to the bottom of the Brodit passive holder. The only problem I see is that the adapter might interfere with the plastic stop at the bottom of the Brodit holder.
Semson 2-in-1 adapter
http://www.semsons.com/2miusband3st.html
Brodit passive holder
http://www.proclipusa.com/site/fram.../848752.jpg&width=480&height=480&pageid=13242
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UnicornKaz said:
Forgive me for my ignorance ...
what is so special about "Brodit" that compell you all to buy the holder and then performed surgery to it and make it less than new 2nd rate item ?? with chances of someone screw up and trash the whole thing ??
why not just shop around for a fitting or one that provide the right setup ??
ok ... flame suit is on !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know of any other holders that allow the Kaiser keyboard to slide out while it is in the holder and also allow the holder to rotate between landscape and portrait? Cause i don't. Besides, Brodit products are well made and they offer mounting kits for most makes and models of cars.
Also, we are doing no wiring here, the chances of "trashing" anything are slim to none, and it is reversable (ie reheat the plastic and remove), so I felt it was worth sharing.
If you read around the forums, you will see many people trying to acheive an active kaiser holder with all the features of mine - no-one yet seems to have found one as good that you can buy off the shelf.
Also, I went out of my way to point out that this method (ie using polymorph) should be able to mod many passive holders to active ones, not just Brodit.
Enough reasons for you?
skins07 said:
Another idea is to use the Semsons 2-in-1 adapter and attach it to the bottom of the Brodit passive holder. The only problem I see is that the adapter might interfere with the plastic stop at the bottom of the Brodit holder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My thinking on the matter was that if I used one with a dongle on a wire, when I spin from portrait to landscape and back, I am not putting pressure on the connectors, the cable of the audio splitter just bends.
I wouldn't mind one of those semsons one for my pocket, but I think wired ones are better in this case.
evilc said:
Do you know of any other holders that allow the Kaiser keyboard to slide out while it is in the holder and also allow the holder to rotate between landscape and portrait? Cause i don't. Besides, Brodit products are well made and they offer mounting kits for most makes and models of cars.
Also, we are doing no wiring here, the chances of "trashing" anything are slim to none, and it is reversable (ie reheat the plastic and remove), so I felt it was worth sharing.
If you read around the forums, you will see many people trying to acheive an active kaiser holder with all the features of mine - no-one yet seems to have found one as good that you can buy off the shelf.
Also, I went out of my way to point out that this method (ie using polymorph) should be able to mod many passive holders to active ones, not just Brodit.
Enough reasons for you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This one does the job for me perfectly !! ( 360 degrees rotatation with keyboard out ..etc
http://cgi.ebay.com/Car-PDA-Phone-H...yZ130797QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
the only downside to it is the spring jaw ..etc .. but I haven't have any problem with it yet !!
I'll wait for this...
http://www.kidigi.com/Car HTC 4350.asp
Doesn't rotate though. Seidio did offer one for the 8125/8525 that rotated and allowed the keyboard to be slid open.
http://www.seidioonline.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=386
They may do the same for the Tilt, but it is bulkier (what you don't see it that it is 3+ inches deep) and more expensive.
the guys at OnCourse Navigator are creating a new one for the Kaiser - Active windshield mount - with some sort of an FM Transmitter option. Not sure how that would really help, but the one for the 8525 worked well for me.
jgermuga said:
I'll wait for this...
http://www.kidigi.com/Car HTC 4350.asp
Doesn't rotate though. Seidio did offer one for the 8125/8525 that rotated and allowed the keyboard to be slid open.
http://www.seidioonline.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=386
They may do the same for the Tilt, but it is bulkier (what you don't see it that it is 3+ inches deep) and more expensive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
something similar ..
http://www.4ustuff.com/info.php?itno=2050
http://www.4ustuff.com/info.php?itno=2047
I have no idea why this company have stuffs that isn't available out there .. and it's wholesale only !!
http://www.4ustuff.com/product.php?...S&mode=11&lag=&name=TyTN II Kaiser&search=HTC
even a much sought after metal case that is NOT a TyTN clone ... see the front with precised camera opening ... I want one really bad !!
http://www.4ustuff.com/info.php?itno=2046
I've been able to find the metal case and the cradles on ebay, but I agree with you. It's hard to find their products in a store that I can actually buy from.
UnicornKaz said:
something similar ..
http://www.4ustuff.com/info.php?itno=2050
http://www.4ustuff.com/info.php?itno=2047
I have no idea why this company have stuffs that isn't available out there .. and it's wholesale only !!
http://www.4ustuff.com/product.php?...S&mode=11&lag=&name=TyTN II Kaiser&search=HTC
even a much sought after metal case that is NOT a TyTN clone ... see the front with precised camera opening ... I want one really bad !!
http://www.4ustuff.com/info.php?itno=2046
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is my solution with the old Hermes.... and works fine also with the Kaiser
Ps: The "arm" to mount the PDA Holder has been constructed & mounted by myself
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wizzzard said:
Excellent post.
I have a question regarding the 3in1 splitter, does the Kaisers inbuilt mic work if you connect audio out via the center connection or do you need to piggyback an 11pin to 3.5mm adapter such as this to use for calls, voice control etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wizzzard,
My experiance of the 3 in 1 is that the 3.5" jack is audio out only (although i have not tested the converter you mentioned with the 3 in 1), Once you connect the 3 in 1 it disables the internal mic. My solution was to butcher the earpeices from the original HTC headset and route the MIC part to the preffered position. Read my solution here
Nogs
nogs said:
Wizzzard,
My experiance of the 3 in 1 is that the 3.5" jack is audio out only (although i have not tested the converter you mentioned with the 3 in 1), Once you connect the 3 in 1 it disables the internal mic. My solution was to butcher the earpeices from the original HTC headset and route the MIC part to the preffered position. Read my solution here
Nogs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually went for this adaptor with my old USB car charger. Everything works as expected but with altenator whine. (Note to self: Fix the earth from the lighter socket)
Earlier today I spotted this which appears to have an audio out socket at the back of the charger unit. This is also easily transferred between vehicles.

About 3.5mm adapter - Are they stereo? Can a broken one be fixed?

Hi. I broke my 3.5mm adapter, two of the connections are now broken. I soldered both wires back but I don't know if they should be soldered with a specific contact. I chose the each wire with a contact, randomly. I put the little plastic case together and, of course, it doesn't work. The sound still comes out of the speakers.
So, is it ruined? The adapter is very simple so I thought I could do it myself.
My second question is that if I buy another adapter, would I have to buy one that's stereo? I saw some descriptions on ebay and some are listed as stereo and some as mono, but they look the same.
Thanks.
My experience
octavia said:
So, is it ruined? The adapter is very simple so I thought I could do it myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did some surgery on my 3-in-1 USB Adapter and repaired it. I'd left my headset plugged into it when I put it in my bag and something must have pressed against it, pushing the socket at an angle and causing the case halves to split apart. I fully dissasembled it and when I realised the studs which the screws go into had broken clean off, it was out with the superglue with a thin bead around the edges and squashing the halves together in a rubber jawed hobby vice while it dried. It's all fixed now but as the halves are now inseperable, I cant tell you which of those thin wires goes where. The obvious choice would be to carefully inspect the blobs of solder to see which have a 'stump' of wire still embedded in them and try those but be careful because Russian roulette with the wires cannot be good for the circuitry in the phone if you get it wrong. There is a picture of the HTC extUSB pinout accessible through the Kaiser wiki and if you have a multimeter, some thin copper wire for probes and lots of patience, you should be able to work it out.
My second question is that if I buy another adapter, would I have to buy one that's stereo? I saw some descriptions on ebay and some are listed as stereo and some as mono, but they look the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've not seen a mono one but as the device I have was very cheap (under £10) and plays stereo fine, you may as well splash out on a stereo one

[DIY] Convert CTIA headset to earphone with 1cm wire [Xperia 2011/OMTP connectors]

Note: TRY THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK, I won't be responsible for your damage or lost of the phone because you just short-circuited your phone or what so ever, I didn't point a gun on your head and demand you to do it I'd just explored this method randomly and pure randomness, nothing else, and a brave heart maybe btw, i can't imagine how to make the phone short-circuit with just bridged the gnd and mic plate of the headset.
Since our phone are stuck in OMTP connectors forever and where newer phones/tablets/phablets are now having CTIA connectors and producing more and more CTIA standard headset everywhere. It is hard to find a OMTP standard headset nowadays (except if you want to buy Nokia phones, i mean asha series, not lumia, asha series usually implement OMTP standard connectors and headset while Lumia-s having CTIA, but who would want to buy a phone just for a working OMTP headsets, seriously... ). When you connected a wrong standard headset to your phone, you will know whats went wrong, like the sound lose the bass and vocal, mic doesn't work, handfree button doesn't work and so on...
And if good quality earphone (additional condition that's you are an audiopile, sounds quality means everything to you) out there just cost too much for you but you have a good quality CTIA headsets (eg: Samsung, Sony OEM headsets) plus you don't want to do the soldering work to change CTIA to OMTP by exchange mic and gnd cable.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you a way to convert your CTIA headset to a working earphone with only 1 piece of 1cm wire (when i say earphone, of course it mean the mic will not be able to function. Why? good question, continue reading)
HOW to DIY:
1. try to grab any wire in your house, or just cut out a cable from any of the malfunctioned wire keyboard or mouse, then cut out 1cm of copper wire from the cable, you may make extra 1cm or 2 to do the hanging work.
2. use a pliers to "apply pressure" on 1 side of the tip to make it thin just like a paper, make sure the thin wire length must not exceed about 0.5cm, the sole idea of this DIY is make a bridge to connect gnd and mic wire to cheat the phone that you just connected a earphone, and this is why the mic function will be gone.
3. then bend the thin wire tip to 90 degree, or any degree to suit you on how to hang that wire on the phone's headset connector. Again, make sure your thin wire length must not exceed 0.5cm!!!
4. insert the thin wire tip into the headset connector, not middle of course, i mean "stick to the wall"
5. the remaining wire is up to you on how to hang the wire but the thin wire must be "stick to the wall" of the headset connector. Use paper tape or glue or whatever you can get to stick the wire with your phone, don't let loose. Use your imagination.
6. then try connect your CTIA headset to your phone and play some music, check for sound quality, Is it the same sound quality that you get with other newer phone. If you found it hard to insert the headset jack, "apply more pressure" on the thin wire tip, make it thinner then test again.
7. if it works, congrats, you just made it there!!!
** if you are unsure how it does, check the picture or leave your comment(not pm), share what is not being clear in this post, allow me to refine the details of the procedure, XDA forum is all about sharing ideas....
this same procedure could convert OMTP headset to normal earphone in CTIA standards connectors too (theoretically). OR should I name it universal CTIA/OMTP to earphone converter trick?
ps: if you have a better vocabulary to replace "apply pressure" please suggest me or you found this will cause catastrophic damage on our phone, please do notice me about it!
info: i made this work on my Xperia Neo and China made tablet (RK29xx tabs) which also using OMTP connectors and i'm using Lenovo and Samsung OEM headset to test on both of them.
what is CTIA/OMTP? what are the difference between them? read: Phone_connector
This works for my Xperia NEO! Thenks Man :good:

FM Radio Headphone -Not- Required

I found a substitute for the 'headphone antenna' in the Moto G 2nd, but suspect that this will work for any phone as well. I live in a city with about 20 FM stations and do not want to suck data, nor wear those fragile buds. I always use bluetooth. What I did was just plug in a headphone plug from an old set of stereo headphones, (cord removed) and voila!
I found I scanned just as many stations with a corded headset as I received with just a plug. Depending on your area, YMMV.
Take an old stereo plug and just remove all the wiring, then file it down so it is not obtrusive. Mine protrudes 1/8"
WantToJAVA said:
I found a substitute for the 'headphone antenna' in the Moto G 2nd, but suspect that this will work for any phone as well. I live in a city with about 20 FM stations and do not want to suck data, nor wear those fragile buds. I always use bluetooth. What I did was just plug in a headphone plug from an old set of stereo headphones, (cord removed) and voila!
I found I scanned just as many stations with a corded headset as I received with just a plug. Depending on your area, YMMV.
Take an old stereo plug and just remove all the wiring, then file it down so it is not obtrusive. Mine protrudes 1/8"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming there are no shorts inside the jack, how does the phone know it's plugged in?
rouyal said:
Assuming there are no shorts inside the jack, how does the phone know it's plugged in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was doing this a couple of years ago on an old Huawei phone. I think that it just looks for something contacting the contacts inside the phone. I had a plug cut down like this and another with a foot of cord still on it that I coiled up and tied that got a little better reception than just the plug.
rouyal said:
Assuming there are no shorts inside the jack, how does the phone know it's plugged in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I doubt if a short matters, but filing it down you can see two concentric rings not conntected to anything. If you are then worried, you can put a teeny dab of black caulking compound on the two rings and let it dry. The antenna is capacitively and inductively coupling to the circuitry/wiring inside the phone. If you take an alligator clip to an external metal antenna and ground it, it will still work. Generally speaking they put a series capacitor of a few pFarads in series with the driven element, so again, no shorts matter.
WantToJAVA said:
I doubt if a short matters, but filing it down you can see two concentric rings not conntected to anything. If you are then worried, you can put a teeny dab of black caulking compound on the two rings and let it dry. The antenna is capacitively and inductively coupling to the circuitry/wiring inside the phone. If you take an alligator clip to an external metal antenna and ground it, it will still work. Generally speaking they put a series capacitor of a few pFarads in series with the driven element, so again, no shorts matter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not worried about shorts, because I know that the headphone jack (the part that plugs in) should be an open circuit. I am wondering since the jack is supposed to have no resistance between the connection points (open) I don't see how the phone can even tell that one is plugged in. I'm guessing maybe the phone hole has two points of contact inside that contact, say, the common on the jack, to know somethings been inserted
rouyal said:
I'm not worried about shorts, because I know that the headphone jack (the part that plugs in) should be an open circuit. I am wondering since the jack is supposed to have no resistance between the connection points (open) I don't see how the phone can even tell that one is plugged in. I'm guessing maybe the phone hole has two points of contact inside that contact, say, the common on the jack, to know somethings been inserted
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Something like that, the connection from ring or tip going open flips a nand gate somewhere, enabling the fm radio... Main thing is that it works for those on limited data plans, or those like myself who have ripped scores of earphone cords!

Soldering the headphone jack

Hello people,
I've finally had enough with the headphone problems many have reported, the distorted sound and triggering voice commands. I've previously swapped the jack with a new one(had to buy a whole mid frame) and now it's started doing it again, about a month later(the original one lasted just as long).
The issue is that this phone is huge and when using it in my pocket with the headphones on, it moves that jack with every step. This wouldn't be a problem if the jack was soldered on or at least wired to the board, but instead it's just placed on top.
So I've decided I want to solder it on. I'm a bit scared as I've never soldered to a pcb board... And I might desolder other items. I'm going to hone my skills first on some other broken devices, but at this point I'm pretty sure I'll do it in the end.
Has anyone else here done this? Want to watch me possibly destroy this otherwise great phone? Heh.
Ty
Dude you're nuts. Just go get some Bluetooth headphones, it's 2016!! I literally haven't used my headphone jack more than 3-4 times in the 4 months I've owned this phone.
Also, I'm pretty sure the headphone jack isn't soldered in specifically so that if the jack moves around a little it won't cause damage to the board. This is common on most/all phones. Soldering it down would be a TERRIBLE idea. You will likely damage your phone.
Why didn't you just send it in for warranty repair?
Sean89us said:
Dude you're nuts. Just go get some Bluetooth headphones, it's 2016!! I literally haven't used my headphone jack more than 3-4 times in the 4 months I've owned this phone.
Also, I'm pretty sure the headphone jack isn't soldered in specifically so that if the jack moves around a little it won't cause damage to the board. This is common on most/all phones. Soldering it down would be a TERRIBLE idea. You will likely damage your phone.
Why didn't you just send it in for warranty repair?
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Hi, I couldn't send it in because I unlocked it, which voided the manufacturer warranty. If I remember correctly on my old galaxy s4 it was plugged in with a cable, which was a much better solution. The reason my sound interrupts is because when it moves, it moves the pins on the board causing slight interruptions.
However the pins in the jack are long enough and soft enough that they would bend first instead of breaking the board.
And about Bluetooth headphones? I've bought 3 different sets, they either have huge controllers hanging and pulling on one side, or they are too big, or they're poor quality, I've spent more than I want to admit on different sets (see attachment).
So today I'm going to try and solder the jack, and throw this phone away if I break it and buy a small one, that doesn't put that much pressure on the jack in my pocket.
Stay tuned. I should take pictures.
No go
Well, it didn't work. I knew it would be hard to solder the little legs that where under the actual jack. Getting them all melted and touching before they cool down, without melting the plastic or the rubber around the jack was not possible in the end.
Only 2 of the 5 pads actually stuck together, and there was only a buzz coming from the headphones. I decided to open it again and remove the solder just in case something was shorted, I didn't want the sound chip to get toasted. My biggest mistake was leaving the glue on the jack, which stuck to the mid-frame. When I pulled that apart, the jack, with the two pads came with it.
I'm putting the pictures up if anyone wants to have a look at the mess, you can see in the first and second picture why my sound is interrupting: the pad is damaged from continuous friction.
The phone still works so I've lost nothing other than my time.
BTW, at the moment I'm using wired headphones to a Bluetooth adapter. Until they make smaller/lighter wireless headphones I'm stuck with this.
They got Bluetooth without the wire hanging thing that bugs ya (bugs me too) don't have a name or link right now but a quick Google search should pull them up
Ken C said:
They got Bluetooth without the wire hanging thing that bugs ya (bugs me too) don't have a name or link right now but a quick Google search should pull them up
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Yea, I saw Jordan Keyes review these ones. They are too much like having screws screwed in your ears. If they can get them smaller, and still have 2-3 hours battery, I'll be interested.
I am not sure how the LG Tone type of Bluetooth ear buds are any more intrusive than regular earbuds with a cord hanging down the side of your body! They definitely last a long time for me.
bv90andy said:
Yea, I saw Jordan Keyes review these ones. They are too much like having screws screwed in your ears. If they can get them smaller, and still have 2-3 hours battery, I'll be interested.
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How about these
Use this instead, it's a taotronics tt-br05 Bluetooth wireless receiver, you can plug your wired headphones in it and use Bluetooth instead of the 3.5mm plug.
Has play/pause and volume/track change buttons. Also has a mic for calls.
Search in Amazon.
Ken C said:
How about these View attachment 3865297
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They only have 1 hour battery before you have to plug them in the little tube to charge again. The battery technology isn't there yet.
kadopt said:
Use this instead, it's a taotronics tt-br05 Bluetooth wireless receiver, you can plug your wired headphones in it and use Bluetooth instead of the 3.5mm plug.
Has play/pause and volume/track change buttons. Also has a mic for calls.
Search in Amazon.
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Click to collapse
I have actually been using this
Good option, but it wasn't great sound quality.
Anyway, I've bought a second hand Xperia z5 compact and use that now. The moto x style has become a in house tablet.

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