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Aux input into Model 3 (or: FM modulation questions)

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I have the Taptes center console tray Upgraded Center Console Tray for Tesla Model 3, Collects Charger Adapter (they have two, I have the one linked). I bought it before I decided to put in the sxm radio, but if you put it in with the charge adapter holder to the rear (which is really backwards) the radio can sit in there basically perfectly. I also found a USB power cable so I can power it from up there under the phone pad.

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that's similar to how I had mine but I got sick of having to move it if I wanted to close the lid. as I have it now I can just close the lid whenever I want...I lose the tray, but it's a worthwhile trade-off for me.
 

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I do not have to move my radio to close the tray. The door closed in my second picture is with the radio still in the position in the first picture

interesting...that tray must be slightly deeper than the one i have. mine would not allow me to close it with the radio sitting there. either that or the dimensions on your ezr are slightly different from my plus in that it will allow the tray to close.

either way though, keep me updated once you get the FEA and get it installed.
 
the problem with that is that if you're in a congested FM area, you're screwed (since there's no antenna adapter yet available that can cut the FM signal and replace it with the sirius feed, which is basically what the FM direct adapter does).

You unplug the FM antenna and replace it with the modulator. I paralleled mine and when in LA, it have it set to 107.3, which is pretty clear-isa, it sometimes get hissy a little, and only once dod it switch over tot he actual channel. But short of that, it works well and the antenna is inside, right against the glass, and I can get reception on an underground parking garage...
 
You unplug the FM antenna and replace it with the modulator. I paralleled mine and when in LA, it have it set to 107.3, which is pretty clear-isa, it sometimes get hissy a little, and only once dod it switch over tot he actual channel. But short of that, it works well and the antenna is inside, right against the glass, and I can get reception on an underground parking garage...

i'm not worried about the xm antenna, i have it on the rear deck behind the passenger seats and it works just fine there. i'm still not clear on what exactly you used or what you mean by "unplug the FM antenna and replace it with the modulator" though...
 
I've since gotten my radio in and installed it, and this is a definite problem for me in Atlanta. There are basically no free frequencies, it's basically find the weakest one on the dial and use it

Unfortunately, the built in modulator in the SXM radio is at the front of the car and the FM antenna and tuner are in the back, so I do have noticeable static. I'm on the hunt for an FM Modulator now that I can get back near the antenna (or that has an external antenna) to get a stronger signal into the Tesla

buy the FM direct adapter. i found a way to install it and adapters that work, will be doing a write-up w/ pictures later tonight. i tested it this afternoon on several stations that came in clear, and it does exactly what it's supposed to do (completely cut the FM antenna signal and inject the XM signal onto whatever frequency your radio tells it to use)...when my onyx is turned on, the FM signal is cut and the XM signal plays static-free. turn the onyx off, FM comes back.
 
like i said, i'll do a full write-up with pictures over the next week or so...but right now i had to put the car back together and tuck the fm direct adapter away because the cable on it just isn't long enough. i have it tucked into the passenger C-pillar right now until the 2.5mm extension cable i ordered from amazon comes in on wednesday.

a while back, someone opined that the connector on both the antenna amplifier and the radio unit itself (not the one that comes directly off the glass, the other one) looked like a FAKRA connector. i spent a while doing research and eventually found that it seems to be a FAKRA-B (white) connection, as the different FAKRA types are both color coded and lettered. the kicker, though, is that there's a light blue FAKRA-Z connector which is universal and fits all of the other FAKRA connectors.

the other day, i finally found these on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PJX5611

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PHW5J6C

these are your antenna adapters that fit the connections in the model 3 perfectly and will allow you to connect the FM direct adapter. the catch is that it will only cut the signal completely if you disconnect the other connection to the actual radio unit (the ribbon cable and black connector)...i don't know how those two work together, so i'm not sure if there is anything hurt by disconnecting this. i can say though that even with the FM direct adapter in-line using those two adapters above, and the black connector disconnected, it seems to work just the same as it always has when the XM unit is turned off (which is what is supposed to happen with the FM direct adapter in the first place). i'm still able to use the FM radio if i turn the XM unit off, just as intended. to be honest, it does work if you leave the ribbon cable connected...just not as well. there were certain strong stations that the XM unit would not override with the ribbon cable connected, but once i disconnected that it was able to override everything (even the strongest stations).

i haven't noticed anything different, but i haven't really tested it fully yet other than a real quick drive around the neighborhood...i guess it's possible though that there might be a loss of range or something similar by disconnecting that ribbon cable. i won't be able to fully test it until the 2.5mm extension cable comes in, because like i said the one that is attached to the FM direct adapter isn't nearly long enough. for testing i had it stretched across the middle of the car and that wasn't even long enough to reach where i have the onyx plus mounted...i had to pull it out and put it in the cup holder.
 
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like i said, i'll do a full write-up with pictures over the next week or so...but right now i had to put the car back together and tuck the fm direct adapter away because the cable on it just isn't long enough. i have it tucked into the passenger C-pillar right now until the 2.5mm extension cable i ordered from amazon comes in on wednesday.

a while back, someone opined that the connector on both the antenna amplifier and the radio unit itself (not the one that comes directly off the glass, the other one) looked like a FAKRA connector. i spent a while doing research and eventually found that it seems to be a FAKRA-B (white) connection, as the different FAKRA types are both color coded and lettered. the kicker, though, is that there's a light blue FAKRA-Z connector which is universal and fits all of the other FAKRA connectors.

the other day, i finally found these on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PJX5611

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PHW5J6C

these are your antenna adapters that fit the connections in the model 3 perfectly and will allow you to connect the FM direct adapter. the catch is that it will only cut the signal completely if you disconnect the other connection to the actual radio unit (the ribbon cable and black connector)...i don't know how those two work together, so i'm not sure if there is anything hurt by disconnecting this. i can say though that even with the FM direct adapter in-line using those two adapters above, and the black connector disconnected, it seems to work just the same as it always has when the XM unit is turned off (which is what is supposed to happen with the FM direct adapter in the first place). i'm still able to use the FM radio if i turn the XM unit off, just as intended. to be honest, it does work if you leave the ribbon cable connected...just not as well. there were certain strong stations that the XM unit would not override with the ribbon cable connected, but once i disconnected that it was able to override everything (even the strongest stations).

i haven't noticed anything different, but i haven't really tested it fully yet other than a real quick drive around the neighborhood...i guess it's possible though that there might be a loss of range or something similar by disconnecting that ribbon cable. i won't be able to fully test it until the 2.5mm extension cable comes in, because like i said the one that is attached to the FM direct adapter isn't nearly long enough. for testing i had it stretched across the middle of the car and that wasn't even long enough to reach where i have the onyx plus mounted...i had to pull it out and put it in the cup holder.

Thanks for these. I will give this a shot in the next month or so
 
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Thanks for these. I will give this a shot in the next month or so

i'll be able to tell you tonight hopefully how well it works with the extension cable...my extension cable will hopefully be here before we leave for LA so i can test it on the way.

one thing i did notice last night is that the HD radio reception seems to be reduced a bit without the ribbon cable connected...but i can't say that for sure. that's just me trying to remember how well certain stations came in last night vs the last time i was up that way, which was a few months ago...
 
Thanks for these. I will give this a shot in the next month or so

can confirm that this 100% works w/ a 2.5mm extension such as this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00291DM9O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

drove the whole way to LA and back tonight with the radio on 88.1, which had plenty of drops and tons of static tuesday night when i did the same drive and without the FM direct adapter hooked up (i had to keep switching frequencies and eventually just gave up and put the streaming radio on). it stayed solid tonight the entire time with the FM direct hooked up, not a single bit of static or drop out.

the only thing i noticed is that when i tried to switch to KNX (which is on 101.1-2 HD), it wouldn't tune or stuttered a bit unless i turned the modulator off. my guess is that the ribbon cable helps with HD reception, but doesn't seem to affect regular FM...at least not that i've noticed. hopefully as more people attempt this we can get more data, but i am happy with the results...it's unlikely i'll ever use FM anyway if XM is as solid as it was for me tonight with the FM direct adapter connected.

now that we know it works, i'll work on hiding the wire this weekend and will post pictures and a write-up of my entire setup.
 
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this is the model 3 forum, the radio unit is completely different. plus, with that one you're not putting the fm adapter in the middle so you're not allowing it the ability to cut the fm signal when your modulated device is active...you're basically putting it in parallel. that's probably why you're hearing the "thump" you talked about in your other thread.
 
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Just wanted to mention that you can get some REALLY good headphone to Bluetooth adapters. I'm quite fond of the ones below because they can be both Bluetooth transmitters and receivers. And if you use them in pairs they have really low latency between them.

For your scenario, just get one of these, put it in TX (transmit) mode, then pair it with your car as if it's a phone. From there you can plug in anything you want. This will sound FAR better than any FM transmitter, BTW.


TaoTronics Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter and Receiver, 2-in-1 Wireless 3.5mm Adapter (aptX Low Latency, 2 Devices Simultaneously, For TV/Home Sound System)

by Sunvalley Brands

Learn more:


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EHSX28M

i did this and car kept on asking for pin then just disconnect. I can't enter a pin with the adapter
 
So I just went out to the car and tested the Bluetooth module I linked above. I think this is actually a bug that Tesla could and should fix.

@Mixedup is correct that I couldn't pair the Bluetooth module in TX (transmit) mode. The car simply would not show the device even though it was in paring mode. What's interesting, though, is that the car will show the device in RX (receive) mode. It will even successfully pair with it!

View attachment 400245

Obviously this isn't right. The car is not going to transmit audio to the receiver. The car UI lights up shows the media interface. It even shows the phone / contact portions grayed out. But obviously it doesn't work in this mode because the module can't transmit.

So, I'm going to assert that this is a bug. Maybe they just got RX and TX swapped in their pairing code. I think this is something that could be submitted for a fix in a future update.

did it ask you for a pin when you tried to pair ? Mine kept on asking for pin then just close the pairing windows and says "not connected"
 
That post was almost a year ago. I haven't tried since but I could try again. Did you use that exact same adapter I showed in my post?

I have a similar one to the one you have with both tx and rx modes but neither works. It kept on asking for pin and just disconnect. I already ordered the same one you have from amazon to test but it'll be a while before I get it since amazon shippings are all delayed. Once you were able to connect, did it disconnect randomly on you or disconnect the moment you start the car ?
 
It would never pair when the module was in TX mode. That was the odd thing. The car would only pair when the module was in RX mode, which made no sense to me.

I still have my modules but they're not charged. I'd be surprised if the behavior changed. But if you want me to play around with it tomorrow or later this week I could charge one up.
 
I stopped trying to get a bluetooth transmitter device to work with the model 3 a long time ago. I bought 4 or 5 of them on amazon - most didn't work at all. A few would connect, only in RX mode as above, and having to switch to TX, but it was so tedious to do that before every drive that i gave up.