Connect cell phone to car stereo through usb port

December 13, 2014 12:54 PM

I have a car with a factory stereo which has both an aux jack and a usb input, but no bluetooth. Is there a commercially available device which would connect to an android cell phone via bluetooth and the car stereo via the usb port? My objective is to use the car stereo as the phone speaker. I do not need to stream music from the phone to the stereo. I know there are aux jack devices, but they require periodic recharging. A usb device should be able to operate indefinitely off usb 5V power
posted by grahahw to Technology (4 answers total)

I know there are aux jack devices, but they require periodic recharging.

I do not need to stream music from the phone to the stereo.

Do not need, or do not want?

If you don't mind the stereo's feed coming from the phone, you can simply use a male/male headphone to aux jack lead (no recharging) and switch your stereo input to 'line' or 'aux' whatever it's called on your unit. Your phone is now connected to the speakers in your stereo.

But if you want to listen to something, you'll have to feed it into the stereo from your phone and program your phone to pause programs when calls come in.
posted by Kerasia at 2:03 PM on December 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

I have one of These and love it. Does handsfree calling and music both.
posted by WillRun4Fun at 3:18 PM on December 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

USB can't be used as a general audio input in most circumstances, so you'll have to use the aux jack. I think your best option is to get a bluetooth receiver that gets its power via USB, so the USB jack on your car stereo is only used for power. This one or this one are probably good options. They have USB connectors for power, which you can try plugging into your car stereo, and if that doesn't work, you can use the included 12V adapter.
posted by zsazsa at 3:22 PM on December 13, 2014

I have the receiver that WillRun4Fun linked to. It works perfectly. Its only power option is the 12V cigarette lighter, so I'm not sure if that's a dealbreaker.
posted by zsazsa at 3:30 PM on December 13, 2014