3.5mm jack to display video?

[Ssilk]

Interesting...

X2 superclocked beast

 

[FoxKat]

FoxKat, you have me wondering if you know if it's possible to use this feature to solve a problem of mine.

My car has been wired so that I throw a switch and plug a iDevice cable (which they ran from somewhere behind my dash) in my iDevice and I can play through my sound system as well as charge my iDevice.

When I got my Razr I got the CableJive dockBoss adapter which translates the audio signal from a 1/8" audio plug to a iDevice docking system. This enables me to plug into my phone's headphone jack and hear it through my speakers. But there's no charging. Using a cigarette lighter charger while playing music often results in "dirty signal"noise.
Do you think if I could find an iDevice to microUSB adapter it would allow me to both listen to and charge through the same dash cable again?

Sorry if this is a dumb question. I just keep thinking it should be possible without rewiring the car.

EDIT: I found this version of a CableJive dock that seems to say it will do what I'm wondering about. If I'm understanding it correctly, this would enable anyone with an iDevice docking station to play and charge their phone though it.

The cable above would give you what you want but you'd have to plug both connectors into the phone as shown in the picture. If you want to reduce that to only the MicroUSB connector, you could either purchase the Vehicle Navigation Dock I referred to from Motorola (sold at Amazon.com Amazon.com: Motorola 89525N DROID RAZR Vehicle Navigation Dock with Rapid Vehicle Charger - Car Kit - Retail Packaging - Black: Cell Phones & Accessories), or purchase just the Power and Audio USB cable directly from Motorola, and then purchase the USB A Female to MicroUSB Female adapter here (USB 2.0 A female to Micro USB B female adapter cable FF | eBay).

With these two cable adapters you would reduce the number of plugs in the phone to just one - the MicroUSB connector (since it also supplies Audio through the Motorola Power and Audio USB cable).

There's a picture of the cable on the Amazon site showing the three connectors (the sixth picture). You would plug the MicroUSB plug from the dockBoss+ into the USB A Female to MicroUSB Female adapter on the MicroUSB Female end, and then plug the USB A connector from the Motorola cable into the other end. Then plug the 3.5mm (1/8") audio plug from the dockBoss+ into the pigtail female 3.5mm (1/8") audio plug on the Motorola cable. Then you're left with only one cable to either plug into the back of the Navigation Dock or into the top of your phone. dancedroid

For me, the Navigation Dock gives me the easiest and sleekest connection in my car. I don't have a plug into my car stereo, but I use an FM transmitter that ends in a 3.5mm audio plug, so I simply plug the Motorola Power and Audio USB cable's USB A connector (picture 6), into the dual-port USB Car Accessory Adapter (picture 4), and the FM transmitter into the pigtail right off of that USB A connector (picture 6), then the other end with the MicroUSB connector fits into the back of my Navigation Dock (also picture 6). Then I just put my phone into the dock, push down the plug (far left pictures 1, 2 & 3), to secure the phone and I'm done. To remove, I simply lift the plug and the phone comes out of the dock. This way, I don't even need to use the audio to audio cable (picture 5) at all. :biggrin:

To solve any "dirty" noise created through the car power adapter, you would need to place a Ground Loop Isolator in between the audio port on the dockBoss+ and the phone's audio jack (or in the case of the Motorola cable - between the dockBoss+ and the female audio pigtail on the Motorola cable). You can get these at the local radio shack 9http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062214), but as in the picture they're usually set up with RCA plugs on both ends, so you then need a dual-RCA to 3.5mm male audio converter on one end, and a dual-RCA to 3.5mm female audio converter for the other end. I had the same problem and I purchased the Radio Shack one, then I went the extra mile and cut off the RCA cable plugs and soldered on a 3.5mm female on one end and a 3.5mm male on the other, using heat-shrink tubing to clean it up. :happy3:

While researching choices for you tonight, I just found this one by Pyle (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=393185&creativeASIN=B004HJ35F2&redirect=true) or this generic one (http://www.amazon.com/GROUND-LOOP-ISOLATOR-3-5-APPLICATIONS/dp/B001EAQTRI) on Amazon.com, this one from Crutchfield (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-DDVRm43N0fB/p_127SNI135/PAC-SNI-1-3-5-Noise-Filter.html), and this one for real cheap, $5.99 including shipping on eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/MINI-3-5MM-NOISE-FILTER-GROUND-LOOP-ISOLATOR-CAR-AUDIO-/260741338139). Each comes with the right connectors on it already, so don't bother going the Radio Shack route. Unfortunately for me, I didn't see these before now, so I did it myself. :blink:

***EDIT*** Hey, why spend the extra money for the dockBoss+ when all you need is the dockBoss (http://www.cablejive.com/products/dockBoss.html). Then you won't need the converter cable either. All you'll need is the Motorola Audio and Power USB cable and the Ground Loop Isolator. :icon_ lala:

 

[SnoDrtRider]

The 3.5mm jack can be used for signal other than audio. I use Square to swipe credit cards on site for my business and the reader plugs into the 3.5mm headphone jack. It would mean writing code or having an app that sends or receives whatever signal you want through the jack.
IMO the quality would be sub par compared to either the USB or HDMI connection.

 

[SallyC]

The cable above would give you what you want but you'd have to plug both connectors into the phone as shown in the picture. If you want to reduce that to only the MicroUSB connector, you could either purchase the Vehicle Navigation Dock I referred to from Motorola (sold at Amazon.com Amazon.com: Motorola 89525N DROID RAZR Vehicle Navigation Dock with Rapid Vehicle Charger - Car Kit - Retail Packaging - Black: Cell Phones & Accessories), or purchase just the Power and Audio USB cable directly from Motorola, and then purchase the USB A Female to MicroUSB Female adapter here (USB 2.0 A female to Micro USB B female adapter cable FF | eBay).

With these two cable adapters you would reduce the number of plugs in the phone to just one - the MicroUSB connector (since it also supplies Audio through the Motorola Power and Audio USB cable).

There's a picture of the cable on the Amazon site showing the three connectors (the sixth picture). You would plug the MicroUSB plug from the dockBoss+ into the USB A Female to MicroUSB Female adapter on the MicroUSB Female end, and then plug the USB A connector from the Motorola cable into the other end. Then plug the 3.5mm (1/8") audio plug from the dockBoss+ into the pigtail female 3.5mm (1/8") audio plug on the Motorola cable. Then you're left with only one cable to either plug into the back of the Navigation Dock or into the top of your phone. dancedroid

For me, the Navigation Dock gives me the easiest and sleekest connection in my car. I don't have a plug into my car stereo, but I use an FM transmitter that ends in a 3.5mm audio plug, so I simply plug the Motorola Power and Audio USB cable's USB A connector (picture 6), into the dual-port USB Car Accessory Adapter (picture 4), and the FM transmitter into the pigtail right off of that USB A connector (picture 6), then the other end with the MicroUSB connector fits into the back of my Navigation Dock (also picture 6). Then I just put my phone into the dock, push down the plug (far left pictures 1, 2 & 3), to secure the phone and I'm done. To remove, I simply lift the plug and the phone comes out of the dock. This way, I don't even need to use the audio to audio cable (picture 5) at all. :biggrin:

To solve any "dirty" noise created through the car power adapter, you would need to place a Ground Loop Isolator in between the audio port on the dockBoss+ and the phone's audio jack (or in the case of the Motorola cable - between the dockBoss+ and the female audio pigtail on the Motorola cable). You can get these at the local radio shack 9http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062214), but as in the picture they're usually set up with RCA plugs on both ends, so you then need a dual-RCA to 3.5mm male audio converter on one end, and a dual-RCA to 3.5mm female audio converter for the other end. I had the same problem and I purchased the Radio Shack one, then I went the extra mile and cut off the RCA cable plugs and soldered on a 3.5mm female on one end and a 3.5mm male on the other, using heat-shrink tubing to clean it up. :happy3:

While researching choices for you tonight, I just found this one by Pyle (Amazon.com: Pyle PLGI35T 3.5 mm/1/8-Inch Stereo Audio Ground Loop Isolator: Car Electronics) or this generic one (Amazon.com: GROUND LOOP ISOLATOR FOR 3.5 MM APPLICATIONS: Car Electronics) on Amazon.com, this one from Crutchfield (PAC SNI-1/3.5 Noise Filter Helps eliminate ground loop noise from your portable music player! (3.5mm plugs) at Crutchfield.com), and this one for real cheap, $5.99 including shipping on eBay (MINI 3.5MM NOISE FILTER GROUND LOOP ISOLATOR CAR AUDIO | eBay). Each comes with the right connectors on it already, so don't bother going the Radio Shack route. Unfortunately for me, I didn't see these before now, so I did it myself. :blink:

***EDIT*** Hey, why spend the extra money for the dockBoss+ when all you need is the dockBoss (dockBoss Audio Input Adapter for iPod, iPhone, and iPad Docking Stations or Cables). Then you won't need the converter cable either. All you'll need is the Motorola Audio and Power USB cable and the Ground Loop Isolator. :icon_ lala:

Thank you so much for all the time and research you put into this! I'm wondering if the last option (in the Edit) is the way to go as I already have the dockBoss. I also don't think I'll need the ground loop isolator then as I don't have a problem with noise when I use it with my iDevice so I think the install folks must have taken care of that when they ran the cable. The dirty noise only came into play if I plugged into my cigarette lighter for power for the phone so if I can skip the lighter, I don't think i need the ground loop isolator.

I'm trying to find the audio/power cable as a standalone item and I think it's this ITEM NO. SKN6394A but there's no picture or tech info. If that's it, and I understand you correctly, I can plug the audio plug from my dockBoss into the Motorola cable and then the microUSB part of the Motorola cable into my Razr (and just leave the other part of the Motorola cable alone.)

Alternatively, as I was looking for the Motorola cable, I found this Samsung microUSB to 3.5mm female.
View attachment 45949
Couldn't I just plug my dockBoss (the one you linked to) into the 3.5mm end and the microUSB into my phone? That would be really easy assuming it would still conduct the power and sound.

EDIT: It appears Motorola also makes a microUSB to 3.5mm adapter. Little more clunky but in this application it wouldn't matter much. Maybe it would be less likely to have compatibility issues?

 

[FoxKat]

Thank you so much for all the time and research you put into this! I'm wondering if the last option (in the Edit) is the way to go as I already have the dockBoss. I also don't think I'll need the ground loop isolator then as I don't have a problem with noise when I use it with my iDevice so I think the install folks must have taken care of that when they ran the cable. The dirty noise only came into play if I plugged into my cigarette lighter for power for the phone so if I can skip the lighter, I don't think i need the ground loop isolator.

I'm trying to find the audio/power cable as a standalone item and I think it's this ITEM NO. SKN6394A but there's no picture or tech info. If that's it, and I understand you correctly, I can plug the audio plug from my dockBoss into the Motorola cable and then the microUSB part of the Motorola cable into my Razr (and just leave the other part of the Motorola cable alone.)

Alternatively, as I was looking for the Motorola cable, I found this Samsung microUSB to 3.5mm female.
View attachment 45949
Couldn't I just plug my dockBoss (the one you linked to) into the 3.5mm end and the microUSB into my phone? That would be really easy assuming it would still conduct the power and sound.

EDIT: It appears Motorola also makes a microUSB to 3.5mm adapter. Little more clunky but in this application it wouldn't matter much. Maybe it would be less likely to have compatibility issues?

I couldn't be sure if the Samsung adapter will actually mate up properly from a pinout configuration with the Motorola phone, since I had one for an HTC phone similar to the Samsung above that I used to use on the HTC XV-6800 but it doesn't work with the RAZR, however the Motorola adapter works for certain. As for the power, if you have power coming from the dockBoss+, you could use the cable I mentioned. The dockBoss (minus the +) doesn't supply power so you'll still need a power source, and if the power source is dirty, you'll need the Ground Loop Isolator.

The Motorola USB Dock Power Cable you found is NOT the cable I showed you which comes with the Navigation Dock (again visible in the photos on Amazon's page). The one with the Navigation Dock specifically mentions Power, USB and AUDIO as a part of its collective name, and you can see the separate audio Pigtail hanging opposed to the Micro and standard USB connectors in the photo. The audio pigtail comes off the back of the standard USB connector as one of two cables that come off the back of that plug. The one you referenced only mentions USB and Power and there is a USB Power only cable that doesn't have an audio pigtail.

I will see if I can get the part number and order information for the Power and Audio USB cable.

 

[FoxKat]

The 3.5mm jack can be used for signal other than audio. I use Square to swipe credit cards on site for my business and the reader plugs into the 3.5mm headphone jack. It would mean writing code or having an app that sends or receives whatever signal you want through the jack.
IMO the quality would be sub par compared to either the USB or HDMI connection.

Actually that's only partly right. The audio jack can supply signals to the phone - yes, but only AUDIO or better said, amplitude or frequency modulated voltage (the same thing a microphone produces when spoken into) which can then be converted to digital information via a A to D converter. The audio signal can be modulated by amplitude of voltage (volume) in a range between silent and maximum, such as -80DB attenuation to 0DB attenuation, and then the actual signal can be modulated via frequencies between perhaps 20Hz and 20,000Hz as an example of ranges. The input is only one of the connections inside that jack. The Microphone input as mentioned earlier as Ring2, coupled with the common Sleeve ground will allow a modulated signal as an input. It's really a very simple technology used to do a pretty high-tech thing.

I have the Square card reader and all it is, essentially is a tape head coupled to the microphone input on the headphone jack. It reads the binary encoded number on the magnetic strip that's on the back of a credit card and transcodes the blips into 1's and 0's, which are then decoded into the decimal equivalent. So the reader essentially "hears" the beeps or silences between beeps which represent the 0's and 1's and then based on the timing between them determines how many 0's and 1's there are. When you swipe the card through the gap and across the tape head, the signal is converted into a modulated voltage of 0's and 1's which is sent into the phone through the microphone connection. if you listened to the signal slowly, it would sound like a series of intermittent clicks, blips or beeps.

Once in the phone, the Square software converts the binary number into a decimal number with the A to D converter, which then represents the card's number, just like 11000000111001 is binary for 12345, along with any other pertinent info contained in the strip. It is ONLY the microphone connection that can accept data input in this form, whereas the Left and Right audio channels can only produce output of audio and can not accept any input of signal.

And yes, I did speak to the technicians at Square when this first came out to understand the technology and I got mine about a year ago.

 

[SallyC]

I couldn't be sure if the Samsung adapter will actually mate up properly from a pinout configuration with the Motorola phone, since I had one for an HTC phone similar to the Samsung above that I used to use on the HTC XV-6800 but it doesn't work with the RAZR, however the Motorola adapter works for certain. As for the power, if you have power coming from the dockBoss+, you could use the cable I mentioned. The dockBoss (minus the +) doesn't supply power so you'll still need a power source, and if the power source is dirty, you'll need the Ground Loop Isolator.

The Motorola USB Dock Power Cable you found is NOT the cable I showed you which comes with the Navigation Dock (again visible in the photos on Amazon's page). The one with the Navigation Dock specifically mentions Power, USB and AUDIO as a part of its collective name, and you can see the separate audio Pigtail hanging opposed to the Micro and standard USB connectors in the photo. The audio pigtail comes off the back of the standard USB connector as one of two cables that come off the back of that plug. The one you referenced only mentions USB and Power and there is a USB Power only cable that doesn't have an audio pigtail.

I will see if I can get the part number and order information for the Power and Audio USB cable.

I'm either missing something, or I don't need the Motorola USB Dock Power cable. I currently have wired into my car a cable (ending with 30 pin) that, when my iDevice is connected, both charges it and plays audio through my car system. I also have a dockBoss (minus the +) cable that, when I connect it to this 30 pin cable and plug the other end into the 3.5mm of my Razr, provides audio (but not power) support. Because the power support only comes from the microUSB, not the 3.5mm jack.

It seems then, since this dockBoss (minus the +) takes the 30 pin Apple connector and converts it to 3.5mm jack, would not the Motorola adapter (3.5mm to microUSB) connected to the dockBoss and plugged into the microUSB of the Razr then give me both power and audio? Since the Razr's microUSB supplies power and audio.

If not, I can just buy the dockBoss+ and connect it to my 30 pin cable. It's just that then I'd have to plug something into the microUSB and 3.5mm and this looked cleaner to me. But it's not a huge deal either way.

Thanks again, FoxKat.

 

[FoxKat]

I'm either missing something, or I don't need the Motorola USB Dock Power cable. I currently have wired into my car a cable (ending with 30 pin) that, when my iDevice is connected, both charges it and plays audio through my car system. I also have a dockBoss (minus the +) cable that, when I connect it to this 30 pin cable and plug the other end into the 3.5mm of my Razr, provides audio (but not power) support. Because the power support only comes from the microUSB, not the 3.5mm jack.

It seems then, since this dockBoss (minus the +) takes the 30 pin Apple connector and converts it to 3.5mm jack, would not the Motorola adapter (3.5mm to microUSB) connected to the dockBoss and plugged into the microUSB of the Razr then give me both power and audio? Since the Razr's microUSB supplies power and audio.

If not, I can just buy the dockBoss+ and connect it to my 30 pin cable. It's just that then I'd have to plug something into the microUSB and 3.5mm and this looked cleaner to me. But it's not a huge deal either way.

Thanks again, FoxKat.

Almost. The dockBoss (minus +) ONLY provides Audio, since it only has 3 terminals...Tip (Left channel), Ring (Right channel), and Sleeve (common Ground). The dockBoss+ not only provides the same audio cable as the dockBoss (minus), but ALSO provides power through the MicroUSB. So in your situation, if you used the dockBoss (minus) you would STILL have to use a USB power adapter of some sort, whether it is through the Motorola combination cable (USB, Audio & Power), or simply a Motorola Car Adapter. If you use the dockBoss+ (with both the 3.5mm audio and power MicroUSB connector), then you will also get POWER off your 30 pin Apple connector and the result is you would then either;

1. Plug that MicroUSB connector off the dockBoss+ onto the top of your phone AND plug the 3.5mm audio plug off of the dockBoss+ into the headphone jack of the phone...OR
2. You would get the Motorola combination cable and plug both ends of the dockBoss+ into the Motorola cable (using the MicroUSB female to USB A Female adapter), and then only have to plug ONE connector into the phone...the dual-purpose MicroUSB end of the Motorola combination cable.

Option 1 gives you the least cost and simplest configuration but requires TWO plugs being connected to the phone.
Option 2 gives you the most expensive and complicated configuration with two cables and an adapter (but only during setup, mind you). The benefit is that once you've configured it, then it only requires you to plug ONE plug into the phone for BOTH purposes. You can simply wrap up the cables and adapter into a bundle and tiewrap it or slip it into a cable snake (Cable Sleeving, Management and binding), or be even more creative with crude items from around the home like this one out of toilet paper rolls and duct tape...

View attachment 45966

Does that clear things up?

 

[SallyC]

Does that clear things up?

Yes! Thanks!