How to make an audio adapter

[adamz]

Hi, I've been using an audio adapter from PocketPCTechs (http://www.pocketpctechs.com/detail.asp?Product_ID=PPCPADPT01) with my XDA 2... However, the microphone doesn't work with this. Even if I plug in a regular mono-headset with microphone, that part doesn't work.

So I thought I'd cut the stereo headphones off of the headset that's included and wire that up to a cassette player adapter. My problem is that the wires going to the headset speakers are coated with some kind of paint along with a fiber which makes it very difficult to make a connection with the wires in the cassette player adapter. I took it to an electronics repair shop to see if they could solder a 3.5mm female audio plug to that end, but they said they couldn't because of those types of wires.

Has anyone had success in modifying the included stereo headset to play through a car stereo while also retaining microphone functionality (for Voice Command or Phone calls)??

[Mosser]

You will need to crimp some metal contacts onto the wires to make a good electrical conection, but you MUST do your soldering onto the crimps first otherwise you will just melt the wires off of the crimp,

The wires are special lightweight metal coated plastic filament designed to reduce weight and enhance audio since HF signals only travel in the outer edge or a wire

[gazzaman2k]

i used a stanley knife blade to carefully scrape the plastic off but the metal is so thin it just crumbles away and the solder connection doesnt stick that well to it either :( the stuff is just like factory made and this kinda stops you modding it :( what i done was use a 3310 h/f kit and cut that up and solder a 3.5mm end to it worked great :)

gaz

[Jargon]

Does anybody know the assignments of the 4 conductors of the XDA II headset plug? I'm guessing that the tip of the plug is for the left speaker, the next conductor is for the right speaker, the next is for the microphone, and the last is the ground connection. Is this correct?

[jpiek]

Does anybody know the assignments of the 4 conductors of the XDA II headset plug? I'm guessing that the tip of the plug is for the left speaker, the next conductor is for the right speaker, the next is for the microphone, and the last is the ground connection. Is this correct?

No it isn't, the connector at the bottem is the same as the XDA 1 : http://www.xda-developers.com/connectors
On the XDA 1 audio out worked simultaneously with the internal speaker and mic. On the MDA/XDA 2 audio is rerouted to the bottemconnector if you ground Pin_19... The internal speaker and mic wil be disabled.

btw. i sucesfully managed to solder the previously mentioned wires... I went as far as opening a Nokia 8110 headset, rewire it internally and close the mic again :D You should carefully tin the wires before soldering them...

[2GMario]

i recently did this also

when i bought my phone from t-mobile, i had my friend who works there huck me up with a extra usb sync cable

the connection that connects to the phone has 2 philips screws on it. if ur careful enough u can take it all apart to the point of getting to the pins / wires

the usb cable with the power inlet on the back of it up by the xda connector, has enough wires in it to cover you for audio left and right and mic + if u use a common ground (1 ground across all 3 connections)

this is important to know when your alpine cva-1004 uses a common ground and wont engage the video unless all 3 wires are grounded

anyways... i was able to use a ginsu kitchen steak knife (sharpest knife i had) to cut away the rubber shielding on the actual wires holding the wires to the pins. otherwise u could use ur soldering iron and just burn threw it, just try not to breath it in.

then u just un solder the wires, reroute them to the right pins. if u want, use some hot glue to seal them back up, but if u solder them strait enough, the casing will protect it enough

then clip off the usb end, i took a spare component PS2 video cable, the wires were thin enough to integrate nicly into the usb cable, clip that, strip it, solder those in. clean everything up with some black electrical tape and ur done

mine ? my alpine cva-1004 has a remote mute wire. plug the phone into the aux in on the radio in the car, run a mic cable and audio cables (or use speaker phone) and u have the closest thing to a in car cell phone.

also works nicly for listening to mp3s in the car, but my xm satelite radio has that pretty nicly covered :)

just my 2 cents, but its not hard. i didnt wanna screw up the cables, so it took me about 2 hours in total to do a nice job.

-Mario

[2GMario]

oh yeah, FLUX is key. it may also be called tin, but iv allways known it as flux.

dip the tip of the soldering iron in the flux, then get some solder onto it

purpose of flux ? it makes the iron slippery to the point where it will hold solder (in liquid form) but once the solder touches the wires, release it from the iron

its like non stick spray for soldering irons

you may also be able to put the flux on the wire / connection itself, but iv never done that. little flux on the tip of the iron should help alot

non leaded flux id suggest, but if u dont know what flux is or hot of a iron u should use, u probably shouldnt be doing this project

-Mario

[jpiek]

oh yeah, FLUX is key. it may also be called tin, but iv allways known it as flux.

dip the tip of the soldering iron in the flux, then get some solder onto it


Tin = solder, sorry i'm Dutch ;) Didn't use anything else, no flux.

A lot of ppl just stick two wires together and try to fill the gaps with solder
:( This might 'work' with relatifly thick copperwires, but not with these...

Put some solder on the wires before soldering them together.