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Cheap Hands free?

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I have a 3.5mm Jack in my phone and a AUX port in my car stereo - could I use a lead between the two to make the phone hands free and play through my car speakers?

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  • poppy10_2
    poppy10_2 Posts: 6,588 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    The lead idea is only useful if you want to play music from your phone over the car speakers, it won't be any use for making calls hands-free.
    You would get the audio from the phone through the car speakers, but with no mic you wouldn't be able to speak; plus you would still need to use your hands to press the buttons on the phone to dial, answer calls, hang up...
    poppy10
  • stphnstevey
    stphnstevey Posts: 3,227 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Thanks, I guess I was hoping that the mike on the phone would still work. Also, the phone is in a cradle, so pressing the call receive shouldn't be an issue.

    Wonder if I could remove the earphones from a simple plug in handsfree and then then connect the wires to a cut off AUX lead?
  • JasX
    JasX Posts: 3,996 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Cheap hands free?

    handsfree2.jpg

    :T
  • poppy10_2
    poppy10_2 Posts: 6,588 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Wonder if I could remove the earphones from a simple plug in handsfree and then then connect the wires to a cut off AUX lead?
    What, to connect the earphone jack on the phone to the aux socket on the car stereo? There's no need to hack a wire up, they're both 3.5mm sockets. A simple 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable will do - you can buy one for around 80p, delivered:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/3-5mm-Stereo-Jack-Plug-1-2M/dp/B00077DC3S

    I use one myself to play my music from my phone over the car stereo. As I said before, though, can't use it to make calls, at least on my iPhone - the ordinary mic on the phone doesn't pick up my voice unless I am holding it near my mouth. You need to put the iPhone into the hands-free loudspeaker mode for it to ramp up the amplification on the mic, so that it will pick up voices from a distance. But putting the phone into loudspeaker mode defeats the purpose of running it through your car stereo.
    poppy10
  • stphnstevey
    stphnstevey Posts: 3,227 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Yes thought about cutting that lead in two and joining it to the mic and 3.5mm jack of a simple handsfree. Then have AUX-mic-3.5mm jack lead!
  • poppy10_2
    poppy10_2 Posts: 6,588 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Yes thought about cutting that lead in two and joining it to the mic and 3.5mm jack of a simple handsfree. Then have AUX-mic-3.5mm jack lead!
    Oh, right, I understand now.
    That wouldn't work with a normal 3-pole TRS 3.5mm aux cable, you'd need a cable with a 4-pole TRRS plug (the extra ring carries the microphone signal).
    plugs.jpg
    Then it would be techincally possible to cut that lead and connect it up to the mic and audio out of the handsfree kit, although to be honest, that's getting well out of my comfort zone, don't think I can advise you on how to do that or even if it would work.
    poppy10
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