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anyone has figured out how to bluetooth their CB into a bluetooth intercom???


jyatesmp

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I was wondering if anyone has figured out how to bluetooth their CB into a bluetooth intercom (Scala, Chatterbox, or the like)? I have heard you can do it but it will be a listen only. I want the full CB and think I figured out a way to do it. Just wondering if anyone has beaten me to it.

 

I have good news and bad news. In theory this works, however I need to tweak it some.

The problem I have run into is with the volume all the way up you can barley hear the cb. When you key up others can barley hear you. I think the problem lies within the size wires we used. I will tweak this in the up coming weeks. So far this is what I have done.

Once again this is needs some tweaks.

I wanted to be able to use my stock CB unit in conjunction with my Cardo Scala Rider G4 Power Set. It took me some time but I finally completed the task. I made this product for my Dad’s motorcycle (2007 Yamaha Royal Star Venture), but it should work on any intercom system using a standard 5 pin plug as they are wired the same.

The Search:

I started searching the internet for a solution to this problem and stumbled across this forum and read many people want this same feature. I think as of now the only option is from J&M and the system cost around $1,000USD! I have also seen where some people used store bought adapters (5 pin to 3.5mm adapter) and in doing so discovered they could only hear the CB. The wiring in the store bought adapters will not allow for a microphone input.

The Idea:

I located wiring diagrams of the stock 5 pin plug and a product called a Blue Tooth Adapter. The Blue Tooth Adapter (BTA from this point forward) I used is the Cardo BTA II (see link below). You can use other brands but be careful in your choice. The BTA is designed to plug into a non-bluetooth phone and allow the phone to connect to another bluetooth device, like a bluetooth ear mic (or in our case motorcycle blue tooth headset). Make sure you DO NOT buy one that is to transmit only! You will need the device to be capable of both transmitting and receiving. You will also need a 5 pin connecter plug (see link below).

The Steps (Please if you are not good with wiring or soldering do not attempt this on your own)

Once I had the two items I pulled the top of the BTA. Inside the device you will see a battery, a circuit board, and the coiled wire that has the 2.5mm plug attached to the other end. Three wires connect to the circuit board, on mine they were colored white, red and black. The wires were labeled: white is +microphone, the black is the common ground and the red is +speaker. Be sure to take note what color the wires are and what they do (they may be different for your application). With that taken care of you can reseal the unit.

The next step was to cut the 2.5mm plug off the end of the wire. Take the bundled wire and strip off the insulating outer cover. This will reveal the 3 wires you noted in the previous step. Strip the insulation off the 3 wires so you have the bare wire exposed. Using the CB 5 pin wiring diagram (see link below) you may now solder the wires to the individual pins in the 5 pin connector plug. Make sure you solder the wires to their respective locations. In my case the white (microphone wire) will be soldered to the pin labeled 1 (see link below), the black (ground wire) is soldered to pins 4 and 2 (see link below) (this will ground the mic and speakers), and the red (speaker wire) is soldered to pins 5 and 3 (see link below) (this will allow you to hear the CB in both ears).

Please if you are not good with wiring or soldering do not attempt this on your own. It takes some knowledge, quite a bit of soldering skill and some specialized tools. You have very little room to work and if not wired correctly it will not work properly. Also, if you use other parts or products other than I have I do not know for sure if they will work. I have not tested any other brand BTA’s or other brand headsets at this time.

Thank you

J. Yates

CB 5 pin plug wiring diagram:

http://venturers.org/Tech_Library/attachments/cbwiring.pdf

5 pin plug adapter

http://www.frys.com/product/1570803?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Blue Tooth Adapter:

[ame][url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/191-4266561-3880738?a=B000LGUAU8]http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/191-4266561-3880738?a=B000LGUAU8[/ame]

I will update my next steps in days or weeks to come. Wish me luck.

J. Yates

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I have the same need/desires. Thought about acquiring an older Q2 and mating it to a cb (that I have yet to acquire) . Cutting off the microphone and connecting to the cb output (headphone) and cutting off the headphone(s) and connecting to the cb microphone input.

 

Could insert amplifiers or attenuator pads to match signal levels. Would take a bit of work but should come in significantly lower than $1G. Not an elegant solution...PPT button or VOX would need to be worked in somewhere but I don't see any show stoppers.....just money. My only heartburn with this concept is that Scala batteries won't last a whole day and they can't be easily replaced. There must be many riders out there that don't ride ventures/wings/or hogs and could use a solution.

 

Maybe someday bluetooth will be up to it but in a lengthy transition period right now !!! And cb is still the old universal solution.

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  • 4 years later...

To revive an old thread,,, yes this can be done today, using Sena unit, and paired to about any BT headset your helmet has. I have produced one cable adapter thus far, plugs into 5 pin headset cord, driver or passenger and will allow you to become fully BT enabled. If you have a Goldwing, then the one I do plugs inline and the headset cable can be deleted if you wish

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  • 2 years later...

Ok guys and girls. I hate to revive a dead thread however, I just did a test at my local cyclegear. The Sena FreeWire for the Goldwing will plug into the venture. I was able to hear my stereo and CB. I was not able to raise anyone on the CB due to a lack of traffic. I'm going to test again tomorrow night with a handheld CB and the venture. I will post my results. If this works I will be going semi wireless on my bike.

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Ok guys and girls. I hate to revive a dead thread however, I just did a test at my local cyclegear. The Sena FreeWire for the Goldwing will plug into the venture. I was able to hear my stereo and CB. I was not able to raise anyone on the CB due to a lack of traffic. I'm going to test again tomorrow night with a handheld CB and the venture. I will post my results. If this works I will be going semi wireless on my bike.

 

And?????

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And?????

Sorry due to the rain in the south east. I did not ride the bike over. I'm hoping to try it again this afternoon. My hope is that i can music share from headset to headset with the stream coming from the freewire. I really don't want to spend $1000 just to do bluetooth on the bike. I will say that J&M tech support told me that they have never made a dongle for the venture. However i do know of at least one member that has it and it works well.

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Just found this over on the harley forum.

 

the FreeWire does not have dual streaming capability so you can't have 2 headsets listening to the same audio through the FreeWire. The 20S does have the Music Sharing feature but you can only share the music from a device such as a smartphone and not from the FreeWire.

 

So that answers my question. I would need two of the freewires to share the audio from the bike. This is a bummer as i don't want to spend $1000 just to go wireless. If anyone has other ideas i'm open to them. I want to be able to go bluetooth in my helmet and still use the CB.

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I have the SENA SMH 10. They will music share. So my Victory has an add on Bluetooth cable. And they tell you to have music for both people from the bike you need 2 of these $130 ea donlges. I bought the necessary parts and 1 dongle. So I just music share from one headset to the other. I don't know anything about your headsets and if it will share like that.

So on the J&M rig, whats their return policy? The audio wiring on the previous gen Goldwings is the same as the RSV. I cant see any reason it wouldn't work.

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Received word back from J&M the dongle has been discontinued. :( But did some more testing at cyclegear.

 

The freewire will only send to one headset. The 20S headsets will only share the music connection from a phone (has something to do with the propriety bluetooth profile) The SM10 will share music to both 20S headsets but does not allow for CB transmission. So the connection needed for all to work is 20S headsets for rider and passenger, freewire for rider, and SM10 for passenger if they don't need to transmit on the CB. You will need the 3.5mm to 5pin cable for the SM10 as well.

 

Headsets (20S, 10U, 10C, 10R, 10S, or Cavalry)

FreeWire for Rider

SM10 for the Passenger

kenable 5 Pin Din Plug To 3.5mm Jack Stereo Plug Audio Cable 0.5m (~1.5 feet) 50cm" from Amazon

 

My reasoning for the SM10 over the SR10 is the SM keeps the stereo audio. The SR allows connections to two way FRS or handheld CB style radios with an adapter cord.

 

DJH3 the freewire will not dual stream. The SM10 will but will not allow me to transmit over the CB. I still use the CB on chapter rides. Mostly for ride captain to tail gunner.

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HMM what a mess. So I never used the CB but once or twice with little to no success. How often do you need the CB. Does the passenger need to talk on it? What about going wireless and just make an adapter to plug into the 5 pin with like a hand mike and a portable speaker. Hell just get the phone number for the Tail gunner and call him. Your phone does make calls right? Or connect his headset to yours, that's kind of the idea of them aint it?

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If I'm following all this...it seems like I should just stick with the cable. Being connected with a cable is no big problem but I get bi-directional audio in exchange. Since I use ear buds using the Edset adapter, I get clear audio and very little wind noise in my ears. I need that protection as my hearing loss from my younger DJ days on radio is significant and don't want any more hearing issues. BTW, The Costco Kirkland 7.0 hearing aids are a blessing for me. Have had them for 2 weeks now and can hear again!

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