This instructable will show you how to add an auxiliary input, like a headphone jack, to your car so you can listen to an iPod/mp3 player/GPS or anything that has a line-out through your cars stereo.
While I will be adding it on my '99 Chevy Suburban, it can very easily be done on almost all cars, SUVs, and trucks.
Many of you will notice that I have a cassette player as well as a working radio in the car so an FM transmitter or cassette tape with a headphone jack might be the more logical answer. I have actually tried both, and while they both work OK the inconsistency and lower quality of the FM transmitter and the reliability and constant cleaning required of cassette player if you listen to your ipod more than a few times a month just don't cut it when you can have a high quality maintenance free direct line-in for a little bit more.
I found the auxiliary input I wanted at
Peripheral Electronics
then bought it off ebay.
The basic tools required are:
regular crescent wrench
Flat head screwdriver
Drill and bits (I used a 1/4" and a 5/8" bit)
You'll also need a stereo mini (1/8") jack-to-RCA cord about 3 to 6ft long (depending on whether the folks in the back seat want to play with the iPod/mp3 player while your listening). This cord will be what connects to your music player.
While I will be adding it on my '99 Chevy Suburban, it can very easily be done on almost all cars, SUVs, and trucks.
Many of you will notice that I have a cassette player as well as a working radio in the car so an FM transmitter or cassette tape with a headphone jack might be the more logical answer. I have actually tried both, and while they both work OK the inconsistency and lower quality of the FM transmitter and the reliability and constant cleaning required of cassette player if you listen to your ipod more than a few times a month just don't cut it when you can have a high quality maintenance free direct line-in for a little bit more.
I found the auxiliary input I wanted at
Peripheral Electronics
then bought it off ebay.
The basic tools required are:
regular crescent wrench
Flat head screwdriver
Drill and bits (I used a 1/4" and a 5/8" bit)
You'll also need a stereo mini (1/8") jack-to-RCA cord about 3 to 6ft long (depending on whether the folks in the back seat want to play with the iPod/mp3 player while your listening). This cord will be what connects to your music player.
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Signing UpStep 1: Preparing the car
You will most likely have to remove the front cover of your dashboard to reach the back of the radio so its a good idea to remove one of you battery cables first so you don't accidentally set off the air bags or anything. There's very little chance of that happening, but if it did you would have much bigger problems than trying to connect your ipod to your car.
If you have two batteries like me (it's a diesel :-)) you should disconnect both of them. Later on I also had to move my shift lever since it's attached to the steering column so I set the emergency brake too.
If you have two batteries like me (it's a diesel :-)) you should disconnect both of them. Later on I also had to move my shift lever since it's attached to the steering column so I set the emergency brake too.
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Can you please be specific about what electronics I need to buy? This will be my first electronics project, so I am unfamiliar with what I'll need.
Do you think there's any way to avoid putting in an extra toggle by having the audio in hook into the "Cassette" controller? It's not like I'm ever going to use the cassette player.