Cruise control buttons: repurposed

[Cbarr300]

So I got kinda bored and with newborn twins along with a 3 year old there's not much extra money laying around. While I was rebuilding my trans I was driving my wife's 2013 dodge journey, and got used to the radio control buttons on the steering wheel. Now that I'm in the 99, I'm kind of missing them (yeah I'm lazy). I also like having the large music selection from my phone playing through the tape deck, but don't like fumbling around trying to change tracks. It also just so happens that I hate using cruise control.

So the solution is to make the left side of the cruise tie into the cars stereo for volume control, which has a write up on the net. But I'm also planning on doing all the wiring necessary to have the 3 buttons on the right control: next track, previous track, and pause/play/voice control (these three would be on the middle cruise button). I also plan on this being a clean install.

Basically my phone (s3) can be used with the Samsung headphones to control volume and pause/play (with one click). I couldn't find an app to change the volume control into track control, so I ended up changing the button mapping on the phone itself. Now its just a matter of plug conversion and proper resistors. I also plan on hooking an external hard drive to my s3 via USB for more music, go-pro file transfer, or whatever. The voice command, along with the app Tasker, can be used to control music, switch playlists, answer calls, arm/disarm my house on voice command, etc...

Obviously there are other alternatives that are much easier, like a blue tooth head unit, but this will cost be basically nothing, and I enjoy projects.

If there's any interest I can compile a how-to, for those that have nothing better to do with their time, after I'm finished. The remapping method is diff on every android, but relatively similar. You might not even need to remap.

Cliffs:
-got bored
- don't ever use cruise control
- making an android based media center type thing
- controlling volume, track selection, play/pause/voice command
- voice command can make calls, texts, bring up playlists easier, and arm/disarm my house

 

[RX1Cobra]

I'd be interested. My dd has steering wheel controls and its much more convenient!

 

[olgreydog7]

Sounds cool. My cruise control has only worked once. My cams are the only music I listen to now though. :coolman:

 

[MickeyD]

I've often thought about this because like you I don't use the cruise control and having the radio controls on the steering wheel would be great. If you do a write up it would be of great help!

 

[Cbarr300]

OK, it might take a week or two, I have about 3 essays I have to write, but I will throw a how-to up on here along with a wiring diagram of my circuit.

Honestly the only parts you would need to buy are; the cassette to aux adapter, 2 resistors, maybe a little bit of wire, and a camcorder aux cable (you could use a pair of android headphones instead)

If your phone can't control track selection by using forward and backward buttons on the headphones, and apps can't change it (they didn't work on my phone) you will need to root your phone and change simple key mapping for the phone, its not too involved. If you don't want to root your phone, you can wire it to where the middle cruise button on the right can control it. One click pause, 2 clicks are next track, long click is previous track.

Heads up: the cruise buttons have resistors behind them. One for each one. You will need to remove and replace them with diff ones.

This project is kind of involved, but if you're bored and have an interest in electronics, I think its a neat one. Not too many 94-04 mustangs have media control switches on the wheel.

 

[zPipes]

Lol tape deck, love it. I was a kid of tapes as well, actually had them for quite some time after cd's coming out thinking they were a fad and not gonna make it.

Interesting arcticle. I love cruise control, but I do alot of highway driving. Looking forward to the writeup tho. Good job man.

 

[ElscottHavoc]

Have you thought about having this set up on a switch under the dash. Not necessarily sure how it all wires up, or if this would work, but then you could toggle between using the system for cruise control orthe radio controls.

I'm assuming on the most basic level you'd have 2 wires merge into one for each button, but a switch would control which wire is used.

Posted via Topify using Android

 

[zPipes]

Oooo, that sounds good.

 

[Cbarr300]

Have you thought about having this set up on a switch under the dash. Not necessarily sure how it all wires up, or if this would work, but then you could toggle between using the system for cruise control orthe radio controls.

I'm assuming on the most basic level you'd have 2 wires merge into one for each button, but a switch would control which wire is used.

Sorry, I've been busy writing essays and doing tests. I just finished up with those, so I should be back on this project this weekend.

I've considered that; it would work for the two left buttons, but not the right three. The right side has one wire in, and one wire out. The resistors are inside the switch on a circuit board, so in order for my project to work I would need to change those to the necessary resistance. The resistance values are what tells the computer what button was pressed. I've tried finding a happy medium so I can use one resistor with a switch to toggle, but no dice.

 

[Cbarr300]

Well I got this thing mostly done. So far its working like a charm. Its a lot more convenient, and safe as well. There's no more aux cord dangling behind the shifter I can control track selection, volume, give voice commands, answer calls, etc... With the three cruise buttons on the right of the wheel. I'm going to give a really quick rundown for now. I will post more detailed info asap

Quick notes of possible issues:
You will need to desolder and replace 3 resistors on a simple circuit board (not hard).

Cruise control wont work after this





I'll post up some pics, diagrams, and a how-to once I get more time. This should work for all newer Samsung phones and possibly other models, but you would need to get a set of headphones that have an inline controller that works with your phone, then get the resistance values the controller is sending your phone. Then go buy some resistors that equal what the controller was sending the phone. In my case it was 220 ohm, 470 ohm, and 0 ohm. Then go get the headset controller app and it'll let u reconfigure what each button press is.

Remove the cruise control switch cover on the right side by prying up on it carefully with a screwdriver. Behind that you will see a rubber strip; remove and keep it. Then pop the circuit board out and disconnect it from the 2 wire connector. You will see 3 blue resistors. Rove these, and place the new resistors in their spot (solder of course).

Then you need a tape deck converter, and also a trrs aux cord (I will go into detail later...camera aux cables work great). After that its just a matter of connecting wires.