bluetooth-equipped stock MJ radio

[Pete M]

Using the AUX input that our resident radio guru Minuit installed, I added a bluetooth dongle, USB chargers to power it and my phone, anti-noise loop, and now I have a modern radio (that's 15 years older than the 12 year old jeep it's in).    
 

this will be a bit more complicated for an MJ, since dash space is more at a premium, but I've got no doubt it's possible with some creativity.    

 

 

 

the bluetooth dongle I used:

 

 

the 5v converter and interference noise reducer i used.

 

 

normally I use the equalizer built in to spotify and then tweak individual songs with the radio's bass/treble slides.  the sound is very good.  good enough I'm looking into replacing the speakers next.  

 

rumor has it Minuit is working on some preamp outputs.  does this mean some subwoofers are in my future?   

[fiatslug87]

NICE!!! How about a write up, or is it simple plug and play?

[Pete M]

getting the AUX installed was all Jeremy (Minuit).   He taps into the AM inputs or some such thing inside the radio.  after that it was plug-n-play using the audio jacks and using the radio's pos/neg for the converter.   I'd take a picture of the mess of wires, but I doubt it'd be helpful. (to get the radio to work in the Liberty I had to manually splice things together so it's quite the rat's nest back there)

 

the good news is that these devices don't need to be right next to the radio.  longer audio/power cables can be used and they can be stashed elsewhere in the dash.  originally I was going to mount one of the USB ports exposed, but changed my mind since my phone is the only thing that's ever going to be there.    So that cord is what pops out of the dash. 

 

Just realized that the bluetooth photo doesn't show that there's an AUX port on it for connecting to the radio.  

[Minuit]

3 hours ago, fiatslug87 said:

NICE!!! How about a write up, or is it simple plug and play?

 

Just like Pete says, the radio part is done by me. I take a radio from my stock or one a customer sends to me and work it over - new bulbs, aux input, the works.  In most cases you reversibly lose AM reception in the process. The auxiliary connection is at the rear of the radio to keep the original look. It works like any other aux jack, and so you can plug in any of those Bluetooth car adapters and have Bluetooth music (and some of them even support phone calls too). There are some battery powered ones out there that don't need any other connections too. Pete wanted to hardwire his though.

 

As to mounting a setup like this in the MJ, the way I would do it would be under the center console. There's not really any room in the MJ's radio cavity, and my lower dash area is cramped with stuff already. That's how I have the aux cord set up in my own truck - in the pic you can just barely see the aux cable under the cupholder.

I'm fairly sure there's enough room under the console bezel to fit the Bluetooth receiver, 5v-12v adapter, and ground loop isolator (if necessary). That's probably the way I'd do it, the only problem is you'd have to run switched 12V out to under the console. You could even get creative and use a splitter to have both an aux cord and Bluetooth!