Hidden Music Via Bluetooth

[Stewart]

For some reason my mg is heck on stereo's and they don't seem to last. My last one a parrot asteroid which is an android based radio that was a great idea but poorly executed, hard bricked.

I know people have wired to ipods to amps with good results but I don't want to deal with plugging in my phone and the wire that's associated with it. So I searched for a bluetooth receiver that would run off a switched source and did not have a built in battery.

I found the Belkin F8Z492TTP Bluetooth Music Receiver fit the bill. While it comes with a ac power supply it voltage wise it's standard usb and uses somewhat common connector. I did get lucky and already have a usb cable that fit the bill. Obviously to power this I needed a usb power supply and found a 12-24v usb charger from amazon.

Installation

Quite simple if you already have an amp. Made 2 wires with bullet connectors on one end and spade connectors on the other for the usb power supply. + to the white/green wire switched power and black to the ground. Usb cord is installed and run to the bluetooth receiver. The blue (or color of your choice) wire to turn on the amp is also bulleted and installed on the w/g wire. Use caution and check the sensing voltage of your amp as some amps may use a different voltage. The bluetooth module comes with an rca to 3.5mm cable and with a female to female connector it's hooked up to the rca cable running to the amp. Pair up your phone/ipod whatever to the receiver and your done.

Sound quality is quite good and it's loud enough to be heard on the freeway with 4" speakers. Volume control is via the volume buttons on my Samsung galaxy s3. The volume buttons always work when a music source is selected even with the screen off. I did try using the headset jack directly to the amp and while it sounded good maximum volume was quite a bit lower than the bluetooth module. Also for those who use smaller speakers installing a set of bass blockers allows you to keep great overall sound without the excess bass distorting the sound.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_127BB600A2/Bass-Blockers-600-Hz-cut-off.html


Parts List

Blue Sea Dual USB Charger Socket
Belkin F8Z492TTP Bluetooth Music Receiver
RCA Jacks Dual Inline Coupler (AH210N)
Blanking plate to cover the hole left from stereo removal
Choice of 2 channel amp and associated wiring

 

[aerog]

Great idea. FYI though, for everyone, there's a very common 12-24v USB adapter being sold through Amazon and in tons of stores that look just like this one. They sell for $1-$10. I've got a couple of them and they're generally very reliable but I had one burn up on me - literally. We smelled something burning one day and I saw smoke coming out of the adapter. The inside was charred pretty badly.

That was on a 24v system so maybe that contributed to it.

I use an identical one in the Miata every day and it's been fine, but I still feel it from time to time to make sure it isn't getting blistering hot.

 

[drooartz]

Very nice. Every now and then I think about adding some sort of iPod connection and hidden amp to my MGB. Just too far down the list for me. Got to save my pennies for that supercharger...

 

[Stewart]

Made an addition to the whole shebang, a pair of 1" dia stickers hidden on the underside of the center consul. Each sticker contains an programable nfc chip which my phone can read/write. Swipe the first one the phone connects to the bluetooth, mutes the phone ringer, sets the music volume, launches the music player and resumes playing where it left off. Second one closes the music player and returns the phone volume to its normal level.

If you use a cell phone with a setup like this make sure you turn down the ringer volume unless you want the whole world to know you just got a phone call.