DIY usb cable

[acensor]

My car came with the USB option and I didn't think too much about it one way or the other . . . . until my son visited last week and helped me 'rip' my CD collection to the computer and store it on USB flash drives. I took about a hundred of my favorite songs and put them on a 4 Gb drive .....
Don

Don, and all audio geeks...
Here's my hesitation... On MAYBE misunderstanding:


Your description sounds good but this USB port isnot my first choice. That is because you wouldn't access music on the iPad but control payment of them through the radio's clunky interface.

If I have it right, from my experiments with MP3 music on a CD, the radio displays in the LCD a primitive tree indicating where folders are but no information about what songs are where or folder names. This would, if it is the case, make is difficult for me, almost impossible for my wife, and probably dangerous while driving to select music.
My my understanding is that the USB connection has the radio acess the music this clunky way whether the music is on a USB stick , iPod, or iPhone, etc.

In contrast, if I could get a plain old audio aux input jack to connect her iPad too she would control music played through the iPads into it and control it with the iPad's intuitive and familiar to her interface. Is this whole impression of mine correct.Or am I misunderstanding?

Alex

 

[Don]

You're probably right, Alex - If you like tinkering with things as you drive, the USB interface with the stock radio probably isn't the best way to go

I'm probably more of an 'un-audio geek' because I use mine completely different from what you describe - Much, much simpler and no buttons to fiddle with. Since I never use the phone or piddle with song selections while I drive, I just make up a collection of my favorite songs, load them on a thumb drive, plug that into the car and . . . . drive! In both of my older, un-techy cars, I have 6 CD changers with my favorite tunes loaded there and I never touch any controls in those cars either . . . . been doing it this way for the past 10 or 12 years, which is why I fell instantly in love with the USB/Thumb Drive set-up in the iMiEV

My current drive has about 250 songs on it and we just listen to those same ones over and over - It usually takes a week or so of driving to get through the whole file and then it starts over. We never touch the controls, ever, unless it would be to skip a song we don't want to hear . . . . and then when we get home, we just stick the drive in the computer and DELETE that song

Don

 

[acensor]

I did some quick investigation on the USB connector on the radio. As expected, it is NOT a standard USB connector. In fact, it looks very much like the Firewire 800 connector from a Mac. I'm going to see if I can source this connector or even repurpose a Firewire 800 cable (if it fits). I am not looking forward to spending $130 on a simple cable, but I may have to. :|

Edit: Looking at it with fresh eyes this morning makes me wonder if I can get a female-to-female USB connector to fit... along with a simple USB extension cable (male-to-female). Stay tuned...
.

Did you ever try the simple USB extension cable ? They're dared cheap and readily available.

Alex

 

[acensor]

Judging by that picture, it is simply a 3.5mm plug with a six foot wire. Seems like one could just take any 3.5 plug with a six foot wire and pin connectors....?

Certainly looks like it. The $1M question: Which pins?

I believe I may have found the answer to your $1M question.
Take a look at
http://www.mitsupartsworld.com/Installation/MZ360136EX_LANCER_PG1.pdf
This is for the misubhi lancer but I'm sure the printouts on all those 22 pin connectors are standardized. Not so?
Scroll down to page 3.
It's pins 6,14,15.
Red 6
Black 14
White 15
Diagram there shows it.

What to you braver and more audio-savvy-than-me folks think?
Can we hook on cheap 3.5mm audio input jacks this way?

Alex

 

[fresnomiev]

A friend in town just got a Miev with the USB plug. When I have a chance I thought I'd take a look at his connection to the stereo and see if it is something I can replicate a bit cheaper. I'm out of the country at the moment so it will be two or three weeks before I can get to it...
Ken

 

[acensor]

A friend in town just got a Miev with the USB plug. When I have a chance I thought I'd take a look at his connection to the stereo and see if it is something I can replicate a bit cheaper. I'm out of the country at the moment so it will be two or three weeks before I can get to it...
Ken

Thanks Ken,
But, as annoying as Mitsu's price is for their USB cable/dash-plug, my bigger issue is as I wrote earlier:
If I have it right, from my experiments with MP3 music on a CD, the MiEV radio displays in the LCD a primitive tree indicating where folders are, has a clunky way of navigating them, AND no information about what songs are where or folder names. This would make ii difficult for me, almost impossible for my wife, and probably dangerous while driving to select music.
My my understanding is that the USB connection has the radio acess the music this clunky way whether the music is on a USB stick , iPod, or iPhone, etc.

In contrast, if I could get a plain old audio aux input jack to connect her iPad into the radio she would control music played through the iPads into it and control it with the iPad's intuitive and familiar to her interface.

It's beyond comprehension to me than any modern audio system -- especially one with no bluetooth connectivity -- has no standard AUX input jack on the front.

So if you can figure out how to get an AUX 3.5mm jack connected that would be awesome.

Alex

Alex

 

[acensor]

After all this two months ago I finally broke down and ordered the official Mitsubishi USB connector kit.

Then procrastinated installing it.

Meantime my daughter in law came over and demoed to my wife a good FM Bluetooth transmitter, flexsmartX2, which my wife insisted we order one.

Ordered the newer version flexsmartX3.

http://www.amazon.com/FlexSMART-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Technology-Handsfree/dp/B00BMYQTYE

Works very well. Big advantage over the USB input kit is she can use her iPod's or iPad's own native intuitive controls to select music, etc.
It also allows ourbbluetooth phones to work hands free through the EV's sound system.
Has a 3.5mm input plug in you have a device than doesn't do Bluetooth .
And has a USB port for charging devices that accept charge via USB.

We're in an area where the FM band isn't too crowded, so it's a very viable solution .

So I've got a new in box MiEV USB kit for sale. Paid about $125 for it.
Make me any half decent offer plus shipping (I'd suggest USPS first class.. Probably less than $4) and it's yours.. First come.

Note that I'm also plating a note about this in the for sale section.

 

[melloyello]

http://mitsubishiforum.com/forum/mitsubishi-outlander-10/usb-no-connect-works-39594/
Here are instructions for hacking a usb extension cable to plug into the mitsubishi radio by stripping off the metal shield, prying out the pins, and also splicing the wiring in the cable to reverse the pin assignments. In the photos it also looks like he had to attach a ground since the shield was removed. It's great that such info is available on the net, but it looks like a daunting amount of work...

Edit: after spending a couple hours on this, i can confirm this does work but it is a considerable amount of work. Hacking away at the usb plug, splicing wires and pulling out the pins are all quite tedious, but necessary. For the grounding, I left one side of the shield and only removed the other three sides. Overall, I'm pretty happy it works and I didn't pay $100+ for a non-standard usb cable.