Car stereo/bluetooth questions

[bgadow]

I'm always a step or two behind when it comes to consumer electronics, and that's on a good day! Best that I reach out to the experts on this question, because everything I've found online so far seems to assume I know more than I do.

My wife had a Toyota with an OEM radio that was Bluetooth capable. She could work it using voice commands. We've traded her car for a Dakota that did not come with the Chrysler uconnect setup (not Bluetooth capable). She very much wants things to be just as they were on her Toyota. Options:

1)Buy a used Mopar uconnect compatible radio from ebay or local vendor (easy to find) plus a uconnect module (plenty on ebay), install it all (pretty easy) and take to the dealer so they can add the correct option code to make uconnect work. I could spend $400+ cobbling this together including dealer charges.

2) Install an aftermarket radio that does the same thing, except I can't tell which models offer the same voice capability as the OEM systems. Maybe most of them do? She has an Android phone, if that matters. Just not sure what I should be looking for. I talked to Crutchfield, and spent a lot of time browsing their site, but didn't really find out what I wanted to know. The stereo we buy doesn't have to be heavily optioned, and we'd prefer something with conservative styling. I really like the Blaupunkt New Jersey but it doesn't seem to do the voice thing.

After that, I have to try to rig up adding steering wheel controls...that might be the bigger project!

[MadMan]

Idk what year your Dakota is, but...

You could buy a mopar radio that has an aux input, I'm pretty sure there is one available for that type of radio (in the Dakota), which would be plug and play. And just... you know... plug in the phone?

Ok, ok, the missus wants voice commands and wireless. Got it. Still, there should be a way to bluetooth the phone to some other type of standalone bluetooth device that'll output to a 3mm jack, right? Then you could just use the voice commands on the phone itself, and it'll sync up to the bluetooth thingy, and output sound to the radio.

Kind of like a bluetooth speaker. Hell, failing finding such a device as I've described, surely you could take a bluetooth stereo speaker apart and wire the speakers to a 3mm output jack. Hide that in the dash somewhere, and hook it up to vehicle 12v power.

Make sense?

Also... I hate aftermarket radios, but one of my customers uses a radio called Parrot, which is very conservatively styled (it doesn't look like something out of a teenage gangbanger's car), and I believe has the options you want. Might be a bit pricey though.

Oh, also, the steering wheel controls should've been optional. If I'm not mistaken, that system should be just like the older Mopar systems, the buttons are on the backside of the steering wheel, and output only 2 wires to the radio. You'd need the appropriate steering wheel, clockspring, and relevant plug for the radio. And to make sure your radio has the plug, which should be (again, if it uses the older system) a 2 pin individual plug on the back of the radio.

[bgadow]

The Dakota is an '09. Steering wheel switches were an option; most of the electrical options have to be turned on at the dealer (computer controlled), down to things like heated mirrors & automatic headlamps. Apparently pretty simple if you find a decent dealer. I'd like to only have to do the dealer thing once, hoping that they'll charge me just one flat fee to reset several things at once. Anyway, there's some pretty good information online about rigging them up but it can involve adding wires to some plugs & that sort of thing. Finding a complete used wheel would make it a whole lot easier, but it wasn't an extremely common option on these from what I've seen. I put together a compilation of interchange information last night so I might be able to pull the guts out of, say, an Aspen or Ram wheel. We'll see. I did see that Pioneer has a strap-on remote that I didn't think looked too, too bad but I bet it wouldn't fly with the dear Mrs.

The stock radio does have the aux jack. Maybe I'll explore that a bit...she got pretty spoiled by the system in her Corolla. I know she doesn't want a lot of wires running all over, or a tacky looking radio. I'd heard about the Parrot elsewhere but haven't looked it up; will have to do so. We would have looked a little harder for a more heavily optioned truck but this one has only 45k miles & is cleaner than most 1 y.o. trucks, and I'm not exaggerating. I keep having to remind myself that it's HER truck & not mine!

[MadMan]

Originally Posted by bgadow

Apparently pretty simple if you find a decent dealer.

Or a mechanic with a decent scanner.

An 09 is a little later model than I'd be familiar with. But removing the radio should still be a fairly simply affair. Might be worth the time inspecting to see if it has the 2 pin plug on the back I was talking about. It's about 5/8" x 1/4" and has only 2 pins. But again, it might've been phased out by 09. The entire steering wheel should still be interchangeable with several models... a quick search on google images suggests that slightly older model Dodge Rams and Durangos should use the same wheel. Finding an optioned-out one of those in a boneyard should be a might easier than finding a loaded Dakota.

Also, if they still used the 2 pin plug I keep yammering on about, it's plug and play. No dealer needed. Though I assume you're talking about going all the way with uConnect.

Also, checking rockauto.com, seems like there was only one clockspring part number for that car, and for an 05 Durango with the same wheel, so you won't need to replace that. But... you may need a plug to go on the back of it. Or who knows? Maybe you'll be really lucky and the truck is already wired for the wheel control buttons.

Still, think about my crazy bluetooth idea. You'd only need one wire exposed, just a 3mm jack cable poking out of the dash near the radio, so it could be unplugged to listen to actual radio or another aux device. (Hell, I've seen professional satellite radio installations with more visible wiring.) Rig up the bluetooth speaker contraption I suggested, and stuff it in the dash somewhere unseen. Use voice commands on Android phone.

[bgadow]

Thanks, MadMan! Plenty to chew on there.