'97 ES300 cassette tape / bluetooth mod
#1
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
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Hi guys. My wife has ES300 from 1997. I enjoy the car, I need to work on it a bit (thermostat, P107 error, etc.) but I need to make my wife bluetooth connection. I saw tutorials here to make it around CD changer but I think it would be simpler to just unplug tape connection (as tape these days is not used at all). Does anyone of you here have photos / schematic / wire colours for connections? I have bluetooth adapter that has 6 wires (L+, L-, R+, R-, 12V, ground) and wanted to wire it straight to tape connection, so you can't use tape anymore, but clicking TAPE button on ML audio system would pass signal from bluetooth receiver.
#2
Lexus Fanatic
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Tape player only has 2 channel output. To do this you'll have to splice into the amplifier itself, how to do that or if you can don't know.
#3
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
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My idea was to find 4 wires (L+, L-, R+, R- ---> so it's 2CH, right?) going from tape output, cut it and solder to bluetooth module.
12V and ground aren't hard to find and I could connect to existing stuff, but dont wanna cut blind, is there any electrical schematic/color coding out there?
#4
Pole Position
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Hello,
You can splice into a cassette deck, but it will take quite a bit more work and you will most certainly end up without cassettes. Below is the video on how to use a cassette deck as an AUX, although some details may be different, the general process should be the same. A couple of remarks regarding the video - do not scrape the varnish off the board, use a ring terminal and attach the R- and L- to a golden screw that holds the Main Board in place, at least in my opinion, that is more of a reversible process. As for 12V and Ground, any always powered source would do, just be sure not to solder them to the radio itself, since it may not handle the power demand of the adapter you are using.
Another way of adding AUX port is to splice into a CD changer like it is described here, which there is a way to make both CD and AUX work at the same time. You basically need to splice into channels for the CD changer, and then record a "silent" CD, instruction for which you can find here, leaving all the rest of the slots free to use. When you switch to CD, put the "silent" track on repeat, so that the changer will play the music of silence, while you will put your AUX signal on top of it; once you need to listed to a real CD, you can do so by putting it in one of the available slots. The only remark is, for the love of Lexus fans, try to avoid cutting wires as much as humanly possible, use harnesses like this one, making all the modifications completely reversible. I've already had my fair share of adventures dealing with radio installations where people just cut off the stock connector and splice directly into the wiring, and trust me, it is not fun.
P.S. What a night to spend digging through schematics in search of a signal input and dismantling a spare radio just to go on Google and realize that speedkar9 already made a video on a subject
... Live and learn, to die a fool
Hope this helps and best of luck!
You can splice into a cassette deck, but it will take quite a bit more work and you will most certainly end up without cassettes. Below is the video on how to use a cassette deck as an AUX, although some details may be different, the general process should be the same. A couple of remarks regarding the video - do not scrape the varnish off the board, use a ring terminal and attach the R- and L- to a golden screw that holds the Main Board in place, at least in my opinion, that is more of a reversible process. As for 12V and Ground, any always powered source would do, just be sure not to solder them to the radio itself, since it may not handle the power demand of the adapter you are using.
Another way of adding AUX port is to splice into a CD changer like it is described here, which there is a way to make both CD and AUX work at the same time. You basically need to splice into channels for the CD changer, and then record a "silent" CD, instruction for which you can find here, leaving all the rest of the slots free to use. When you switch to CD, put the "silent" track on repeat, so that the changer will play the music of silence, while you will put your AUX signal on top of it; once you need to listed to a real CD, you can do so by putting it in one of the available slots. The only remark is, for the love of Lexus fans, try to avoid cutting wires as much as humanly possible, use harnesses like this one, making all the modifications completely reversible. I've already had my fair share of adventures dealing with radio installations where people just cut off the stock connector and splice directly into the wiring, and trust me, it is not fun.
P.S. What a night to spend digging through schematics in search of a signal input and dismantling a spare radio just to go on Google and realize that speedkar9 already made a video on a subject
![Embarrassment](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/smilies/redface.gif)
Hope this helps and best of luck!
Last edited by Arsenii; 04-08-21 at 03:35 AM.
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