HOW TO: ipod into hotrod without a radio

As long as your device has an audio out of some sort it will work. You would obviously still need the antenna and some sort of power to the device.

 

I'm a PC guy, so I know it works for PC. I'm pretty sure it comes with Mac drivers.

Mine looks something like this, but it's blue and holds about 1GB. They now have more iPod looking models and have 20+ GB. I paid about $70 for mine on ebay. It was new, but remanufactured and licensed by iRiver. They are quite a bit less now. It's only slightly bigger than an AA battery.



Personally, I think the real advantages of it over the iPod are a) cost, b) no chargers/docking stations/etc required, c) it has an FM tuner built in, so no costly accessories, and d) size.

You can get them directly from iRiver, Best Buy, ebay, etc. iRiver actually ranks higher than iPod in consumer surveys, too

 

This is a great post! And just what I've been looking for! One question though...The other day my friend and I were discussing the idea of hooking up an iPod to my original radio (which runs on the original 6V battery) and I wondered if having that set up would drain the battery too much? I could check it by hearing if the motor cranks over slower once the unit is installed but would it would altogether? Thanks!

=Adrian=

 

This will work:
http://www.rediscoveradio.com/

Doesn't charge it, but it'll play it through the factory radio.

~Jason

 

My Ipod broke and even when it worked I had an FM transmitter thing in my GTO and the sound quality was horrible. Would have been fine hardwired, but it wasn't.

This is what happens when you work for a place that makes MP3 player displays... things get out of hand.

We started off with the idea to modify an existing player that uses CF cards for memory to be used in a car.. and well later on down the road it became a whole new design.

Still in the development, but when it is done it should be pretty powerful and flexible. It has a 58x4 RMS watt AMP built in, plenty of aux inputs, USB flash stick type socket for storing music, and more.

We also decide to write software for it that will help organize the music (without all the Song store crap and "do you have a license for this?" crap) and it will allow me to set up complex playlists, almost like stations that will throw in old time commercials, radio show and stuff in random or preset times between songs.

 

Thanks so much!! This is what I was talking about

 

Add a hard-wired iPod car charger, and an iPod dock in the ashtray (with the charger and headphone jack from that converter I posted hooked to it), and you're set.

~Jason

 

I'm a fan of the headphone/rca cord straight into the amp simply because I can input anything. My phone has some music on it, girls non i-pod player and such.

 

Now I'm even more confused...

In my '53 I have an AM radio. The guy I bought it from says it worked but it doesn't anymore. He's not sure why and I haven't looked into it much. I want to hook up my XM Inno which is this

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8397781&st=xm&lp=11&type=product&cp=1&id=1179877039890

A few weeks ago I was in Bestbuy for something else and checked into it a little. The Geek told me I need to wire in an FM converter
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8362808&st=xm&lp=9&type=product&cp=1&id=1177717628634

and hardwire it directly into my AM radio. Then I would need to get an antenna wired in (since the inno antenna isn't good at highway speeds).

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6684938&st=xm&lp=19&type=product&cp=1&id=1083711797612

So what I'm wondering is, #1- Is the Geek right? Is this all it would take to make it work and #2- if I determine my AM really isn't working is there a way I could wire the Inno into my car without utilizing the stock AM radio at all?

 

the geek is wrong on some things at least..

an FM converter won't work on an AM radio..

you need an AM modulator like the RediRad thing listed above

But this only works if the AM radio actually works. Most of the times the tubes go bad or the tuner and even with the modulator it will still not work.

If you want to hook up the Inno without the AM radio, you will need an amp and speakers and do it like these Ipods.

Actually I read more about he Inno, it doesn't need an FM modulator it comes with one built in. but it still won't work with an AM radio.

and the Car accessory kit for the inno does come with a "car antenna" so maybe the geek is right about the need for another antenna.

 

I know what you mean, baseball on the radio is the best, but to bridge the gap, I just put .wav bumpers from CKLW

Click me

http://www.thebig8.net/sounds.html

in between my old songs on the playlist and I'm good.

 

Easiest thing for you to do would leave your non working AM radio alone so you maintain your original look. Get you an amplifier (which I might be able to help out with), wire into your existing speakers and run a cable from the amp to your headphone jack in your device. Easy peasy. Only thing left out would be charging of your portable satellite player. That's just one hidden cigarette lighter plug away though.

 

Thanks man, going after one for Carla today!

 

i'm ditching the suck-ass custom audiosound unit in my '55... i have a radio delete plate to cover the hole... i have an ipod and i'm going to get the adapters and amp and everything NegativeMatt said to get. I've been doing some online browsing for a FM transmitter... as in something i can plug my antenna into and that i can either select stations through this transmitter or through the ipod screen. is there such a device? my girlfriend and i like doing the whole drive-in movies things.. thats why i want the radio capability.
a product name or even better a link would be great. the RediRad is not it i don't beleive.
any help would be appreciated.
thanks
Tim

 

Exactly. I purchased an output adapter and got a volume control knob from radio shack. Same exact setup as the one in the first post. It's great! But I have 4 cars that needed tunes. I went to radio shack and got the $3 RCA to 1/4" cable as bloodyjack mentioned and went straight into my amps. Did that for my other 3 cars. You can't tell the difference. And the $10 I spent sure as hell beats the $180 it would've cost me to go the the adapter/knob route for all my cars. I charge my ipod at home and have never ran out of juice on the road, so that's a non-issue for me.

Both options are really good. One's just way cheaper.

 

I have built an AM modulator (Transmitter) that works with 12V or 6V positive or negative ground.

You use an antenna "Y" cable and set an unused AM frequency in the box via dip switches.

It uses an RCA connector for the line-in. Whatever you feed into it plays out of your stock radio. The stock radio still works just like normal.

I use it in my '47 Desoto with an iPod, a CD player, and XM Sat. Radio. My friends use it in a '37 Cad and a '58 Cad.

With a nice rebuilt tube AM radio and the digital source, the combination sounds great.

James

 

I've had the iPod with the cable from the headphones to the amp directly in the '36 for 2 years. It's GREAT.

EVery stereo in the house has an input cable so I just carry the ipod wherever I need it... living room, garage, basement, hot rod. Awesome.

 

Kinda what I was thinkin, must be the youngins listnin to that evil "rock and roll". Hell, I'm still listnin to the sound of my motor, the wind and my pipes!!!

 

Or maybe its Waylon and Pardes geardrives drowning EVERYTHING out? Damn old farts

 

My music is a 348 side pipes and about 2500 rpm cruise. Love the sound. It would be very hard to hear a radio I gotta tell ya. Spring sure is slow coming this year. John

 

Don't forget the "Dictator's" noisy old quickchange, it drowns out his hemi. I've listened to that for a few thousand miles to California and back a couple of times.

 

was that with the two speed working or broken?

As for the Iriver, thanks guys......this thread does wonders even though we covered this before.........tanks!

 

I've been doing this kind of set up for ages in all my old cars way back when Sony Walkman was a just a portable cassette player. I now use these marine zone amps. My car leaks like sieve, waterproof is an added bonus.

http://www.polyplanar.com/productSingle.aspx?prt=MP3-KIT_A

http://www.polyplanar.com/productSingle.aspx?prt=MZ-100

The cool thing is that these amps have their own remote volume control.

 

What wattage amp should I be looking at to hook up a setup like this?

 

This isn't 1950

 

All depends on what speakers you're pushing. I have a JL 300/4 powering 2 JL 6x9's with this setup and it's loud. The JL's have more "bottom end" than other speakers, which works cuz I don't run subs in that car. I dig em. Rule of thumb, spend no less than half your system's budget on amplification. Everything will sound better.

 

I'll never use a cd changer ever again. My i pod can hold 7500 songs. It takes awhile to load them but worth it.

 

I was in the same boat without any sound in the dash. I bought a 12 dollar radio that plugs into the cigarette lighter (or in that car, alligatored to the frame and a random wire under the dash)

I'm sure there's a system out there, but either with batteries or a cigarette-lighter a small radio sounds a lot better than you would imagine in a car.I just couldn't see going to all the trouble on a stereo for a once-month trip to the drive-in.

 

good call Johnny-O, i actually thought about that after posting the question. thanks for the reply though.
-Tim

 

I assume this will also work with one of the cell phone/mp3/radios as the music source. Has anybody done it? Specific phone recommendations?