CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

If you follow my line of thinking, you'd think that dashes cut to fit a CD player look wrong.

Noticed you guys seem open minded to mods yet look factory kind of deal so...

I've never had a factory radio, i guess you can fill the space they went with an original looking radio face? Or just a thing the colour of the dash? Factory blanking plate?

Anyhow.
I thought i'd show you this great thing i bought recently, and don't really use because i can't go out anywhere lately....
It's called the MH-M28 bluetooth module.
You can hide it anywhere in the car, it's so tiny. Even has a headphone plug so you can use it and not wake the other people in the car?

The genuine one seems to have lossless audio, and all the functions are taken over by the phone or whatever is streaming to it.
Installed it in my car & the only thing you can see, is the tiny switch under the seat to turn it and the amplifier on. Your switch methods may vary.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...2&d=1586504755
This is how i wired it with my crude amp. You might have ready access to better amplifiers, mine works on 6 volts, but you should have nothing more than 5 volts input, at the 5 volt input pin.
If you use a single battery for it like i do (3.7 volt lithium) use the "VBAT" pin.

Here's my crude voltage regulator, it works ok on 12 volts, but on 6, i needed to jumper the "1117" zener diodes' center pin to the '+' side of the capacitor, i used a second 422 transistor for that with a 100K resistor to operate it, but it doesn't make any sense on paper?

Here's how i made it. It doesn't make any sense to me but it works.
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...4&d=1586505231


If you do have a CD player in your dashboard, and some kind of new fangled phone you can do this at home with few bought parts (mostly salvaged from junk).

If you expect voltage spikes that would make the LM358 forget what it's doing (which requires turning it off & on again to fix) put a light bulb (only a small one, a few watts, like a dash light?) across the capacitor, worked for me.

Have fun?

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

Since you´re on 12v feeding the mosfets from 12v would increase output by 5 times.
Does that board have the usual annoying chinese voice saying "device is ready to pair"

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

No it doesn't have that voice.
Currently using 4.2-3.7 volts, not sure how more than 6 would affect things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnddD_RPrhI

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

I’ve been thinking about this. A portable blue tooth speaker and a phone seem to solve this, no? The sound from these units surpasses any single car speaker used in old cars.

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

Here the one I have, paid about $10-$12. on fleabay. It is rechargeable, has Bluetooth and a micro-sd card slot. I load the memory card up with 1941 music and news.

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

Corvette, what's the make and where is it available ? Sounds (no pun intend) like a good option.

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

^^^^Interesting. Can it play music from the Micro SD in random order?

I prefer not to fill my phone with music, so the SD card option is appealing.

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

You have the most high tech model T in the world now I think

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

A cell phone charges at 2.5v or less. Most electronics that support these functions do as well. 6v is enough. Lot of posts on it. You can put a 1000 cd's on your phone.


https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...-radio.243821/


.

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

The portable Bluetooth speakers really open up a lot of options. You can go cheap or expensive. Even the cheap ones sound awesome.

Easy to disguise in an antique trunk, box, bag, suitcase, tool box, whatever so it doesn't look out of place in an antique vehicle. You can stream off your phone if you don't want to load music. Or off a card or stick.

No alteration to the vehicle. Take it with you anywhere. My old boat needs a new system and looking at the portable Bluetooth speakers available has me rethinking putting in a new head unit, speakers and wiring.

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

I built one like that once.

Haven't added a random button yet.
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...2&d=1586722645
I think you add the line

myDFPlayer.randomAll();




under where the code says "//set volume"
to get it to play random tracks. But i'm not entirely sure how that would affect the "play next" buttons.

For someone who hates modern technology it's surprising just how much stuff i derived from these kit set things...
Anyhow, the libraries for the player are say enough to find online. They teach kids to build robots with this stuff.

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F283423235820

From ebay

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

I've used the portable bluetooth speakers, it's an easy option for tunes and the more money you spend, the bigger and badder sounds you can get out of them. There's also more and more hardwire options, I'm putting together a radio for my '40 I picked up on the bay. It's the size of a pack of cigarettes, it has FM and bluetooth and can power two regular car speakers for about $75. I bench tested it and it works good, haven't gotten around to installing it yet though.

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

Ford music from under the hood is all I need.

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

Can you post the link of what you bought? That sounds like a great option

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

I tried this, and was also impressed with the sound when I bench tested it. However, when I temporarily installed it in my car and started it up, the static was so bad I could not hear anything from the radio. We tried a bunch of stuff to clean it up, but nothing helped. I believe that a set of suppression wires might have helped, but I just wasn't going to go that far. My installation had hard-wired speakers; I can imagine that "BlueTooth" would just make things worse.

Let us know how it turns out when you get it in the car.

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

I ditched the speakers it came with and bought one of those retrosounds speakers that gives stereo sound from one speaker. https://www.ebay.com/itm/362964474846

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

I'm probably not really going to use the FM, I did it more for the bluetooth, so I imagine it will be okay. We'll see!

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

I have a JBL charge 4 Bluetooth speaker, cost 139$, keeps a 20 hour charge and I play millions of songs off YouTube through my phone for free. I just put it in the glove box or under the seat. Sounds very good and it’s also nice to have around the house. It’s about 12 inches x 4 inches.

Re: CD players look yuck so.... bluetooth!
 

I picked this up on Amazon. Different versions around $30 and up. With the burl wood finish it looks right at home in my 1936 Ford Sedan and it is only 3.5” tall by 6.5” long and 2.5” deep, so I’m sure I could even rig up an under dash bracket if I wanted to.

https://www.amazon.com/Easyinsmile-B...7587490&sr=8-3