digitatc

Bgw70

Locate the power or ground wire at the antenna motor.
run one of those two wires through a switch.
when the switch is open or off, the antenna will not move when the radio is turned on.

if the switch is on or closed and the radio is turned on or off, the antenna will move.

my approach is a very simple idea.
does it make sense?

digitatc

All the 02-04 use the same head unit P6813. Mine is 02.

Raven01750

Thanks. Mine too. I just realized that the mode switch doesn't toggle to "Tape." But you got your head unit to display "AUX." Interesting. I haven't really dug into this aspect of our audio system yet. I'm just trying to figure out how to incorporate Bluetooth and Cell. Then you came up with Google assistant which I thought was actually Bixby but its obviously not after reading your response. I geek out on this stuff. Love thinking outside the box to make things happen.

Paul

VVTiBob

According to the owners manual mode switch should reach TAPE. But you’re correct I could not find it in my electrical schematic.

Bgw70

Paul, have seen the thread where a guy named Retroplay showed us how to wire an audio input directly onto the radio circuit board? You could then connect your phone or a Bluetooth device directly to the radio.
I can look for it if you like...let me know.

VVTiBob

Here’s the manufacturer service manual https://www.manualslib.com/manual/89...eer-Sc430.html

digitatc

That's "poor's man aux" thread and it was the first thing I tried. It does work but sound is bad. I also tried the circuit he drawn up and that didn't help. Bought a few other parts try to make it work as well but none help. I gave up and then tried the USA-SPEC device because I see a few members here did use the older (usaspec pa15-toy) unit back in the iPod day so I figured what the heck just try the newest one to get Bluetooth.

Bgw70

Thanks for the update and glad you were here to keep us from running down that rabbit hole!

so how did the pa15-toy workout?

i used Beatsonic in my 2002 and 2007.
its expensive but worth it!

i was also happy with their support!

digitatc

It works great for me. The new one is BT45-Toy and I wrote a thread about it as well to help out just in case anyone wants to know.
I was on the verge of doing the BeatSonic & Android AutoPlay/AppleCarPlay headunit if the BT45-Toy didn't work out.

Raven01750

So, we have either the FM Bluetooth option which is very cheap and super easy to setup for less than $20.00 or we have the labor intensive, tear your whole center console, expensive scary way that gives us some voice additional (?) control which is desirable. LOL. Guys, I still think most people will go the cheap, super easy way. With the new 5.0 Bluetooth standard being four times faster at data transfer than the 4.0 standard, some of the old problems may no longer be problems.

Paul

digitatc

These are options, just go with the one that works for you.

BTW, BT5.0 has nothing to do with FM modulation and it won't help the sound between your BT5.0 receiver/FM Transmitter to the car audio system. It sure help between your phone & Bluetooth receiver.

maarp

It certainly does. I'm going to bookmark this. I'm not at all familiar with modern car electronics (or even old stuff like what we have ). Last time I did anything with car stereos was in the late '70's, where if you screwed up, all you damaged was a $0.25 fuse. These days, you mess up with the electronics, it could cost you thousands to fix.

daddiojigg

I'm no where near as educated in electronics as most of you so forgive me if i misspeak but isn't going through the FM way less desirable as the FM doesn't have the headroom that you would get from CD, Sat or BT?.To me , if you cared about sound quality, wouldn't it be advisable to avoid going through the FM transmitter. I think if phone is your main concern then FM is the easiest route. I have an '02 and would love to play waze and music from my phone and because of my ignorance I will sit by the sidelines and observe but please don't give up on this topic and I hope you guys find a solution. Great topic. Thank you.

Raven01750

FM is not the most desirable by far. Its just a cheap and yes effective means to an end that virtually anyone can do.

I have yet to see a real, effective method to hard wire a bluetooth transceiver to the ML head unit so you have direct bluetooth capability while keeping all of our original functionality. Simple as that. $20.00 versus $200.00. Plug and play versus having to have fairly extensive electronic capability.

The original post started with "lets talk about the FM Bluetooth." We have and I know the pro's and cons. To me, the restrictions of FM are not a killer. Find a clean unused station and forget about it. Would I like CD quality of bluetooth? Sure I would. But I have torn into my ML head unit. And destroyed it because the previous owner used aftermarket cheap CD's which got stuck and there was no place to get it fixed. So I gave it a shot. I got a great deal and replaced it for $150.00.

With that said, and what I know about the head unit, I for one have no desire to go back in that thing again. Even with 40 years experience in electronics.

Paul