New owner, question and 2nd try to post

[Newflover]

5 weeks ago today, we, I say we as my wife was the main financial oky doky adviser became the proud parents of a 2011 RT-Limited. I have spent the last 5 weeks when not riding, lurking on the board here watching the questions, answers, and observations.

Question. I am an old school PC person and have never bought the Apple line of products, thus no Ipod to attach to the dongle for when we are out of good music range. I have tried to look around for a cable, or work around for the Ipod dongle to a mp3 with no luck. Great idea came to mind today, why not purchase a simm card, install it into the gps, and listen to the music through the gps. Good ideas never happen to me without headaches.

Purchased a 64 gb simm card, copied mp3 files to it directly from the computer, installed the simm card (containing the mp3 files) into the gps, "touched tools>media player, source" and the gps says no mp3 files found. The browse button on the gps is grayed out. I can see the mp3 files on the card wither it is stand alone in the PC or installed in the gps and the gps is attached to the computer.

Can one of you kind souls point me in the right direction? Too large of a simm card, just not technology literate?

(This time I am going to copy this post so I don't have to write a 3rd time)

[Bob Denman]

I honestly have no clue what you are talking about...

But... on your new Pride & Joy, and

[SPYD3R]

ARE YOU SURE YOU ARE ON THE CORRECT FORUM....???????
THIS IS SPYD3RLOVERS.... MAYBE YOU'RE THINKING YOU'RE ON ELECTRONICLOVERS....

[samewok]

I have checked mine and my sims card is empty. See if the card does have the files.
also if you go to buy a cable make sure it is the one the has the black box in the middle.
because if you get the wrong cable for your year it will not charge the iPod.

[Pennyrick]

5 weeks ago today, we, I say we as my wife was the main financial oky doky adviser became the proud parents of a 2011 RT-Limited. I have spent the last 5 weeks when not riding, lurking on the board here watching the questions, answers, and observations.

Question. I am an old school PC person and have never bought the Apple line of products, thus no Ipod to attach to the dongle for when we are out of good music range. I have tried to look around for a cable, or work around for the Ipod dongle to a mp3 with no luck. Great idea came to mind today, why not purchase a simm card, install it into the gps, and listen to the music through the gps. Good ideas never happen to me without headaches.

Purchased a 64 gb simm card, copied mp3 files to it directly from the computer, installed the simm card (containing the mp3 files) into the gps, "touched tools>media player, source" and the gps says no mp3 files found. The browse button on the gps is grayed out. I can see the mp3 files on the card wither it is stand alone in the PC or installed in the gps and the gps is attached to the computer.

Can one of you kind souls point me in the right direction? Too large of a simm card, just not technology literate?


(This time I am going to copy this post so I don't have to write a 3rd time)

Not sure why you would need a dongle to connect. All you need is the cord that plugs into the right side of the back case on your Limited that should have come with your Spyder. It plugs into any Apple I pod device or you can get an adapter at most electronic houses for the end of that cord to plug into a regular MP3 player. If you do that you will not be able to interface with the playlists but it will play your music.

The Garmin 660 that is on your Spyder already has music playing capability. You just need to drag your selected MP3 files over to the Garmin once it is hooked up to your computer. It doesn't allow for a large file like your 64 gb SIM card but I am guessing that the Garmin doesn't have enough oomph to activate a card that large. I put a few tunes on my Garmin but the sound reproduction is awful.

[MEP]

I assume you mean a micro SD storage card. Try pushing the "source" button on your GPS more than once, to see if the music files appear. You may just need to get past the audio books selection. I'm not sure if this will be helpful or not, because I'm not sure I'm understanding your issue clearly.

[MEP]

Let me try another approach to your problem. Before I got my iPod, I loaded mp3 music files onto a 32gb micro sd storage card and inserted the card into my Zumo 660 GPS unit. I made sure that the "source" selected was the music files, not audio books or something else. I then turned the GPS media player volume to high. The tunes played through the RT's stereo system but the only feature controllable from the handlebar module was volume. Everything else had to be done through the GPS media player.

[Bob Denman]

That's a real cool thing to know 32 gb micro SD card... Thanks!

[samewok]

You might want to go to game stop to by a used ipod.

[MEP]

You might want to go to game stop to by a used ipod.

OP...that may be your best bet, but before you spring for an iPod consult the manual for device compatibility or read the following thread (a member posted the list of compatible devices)...

http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/s...d-Connectivity

[Netminder]

I use an iPod, but I was under the impression on my limited I could either use the iPod or any MP3 player?

[MEP]

I use an iPod, but I was under the impression on my limited I could either use the iPod or any MP3 player?

Not sure about an older model but on a 2014 you can use either. For an mp3 player you use the 3.5mm cable. The only thing that you can control from the handlebar module with that setup is the volume, however.

[Dragonrider]

You CAN use almost any MP3 player, with the right cable, although you can only control the volume. Most of the MP3 player merely require a double male stereo cable, and you are good to go.

Garmin makes one think it's easy to listen to music on one of their GPS units - not. It has to be in the right format, and the unit software has to locate it.. All you need is an old shuffle off flea bay to make life easier....

[billybovine]

Since you just bought a 2011 I assume it was used. The first owner would have got a ipod and mp3 player cable with the Spyder. It appears from your question you did not get them. BRP sells replacements but they are pricey.

Music from your GPS. Yes you can. I am not sure why you are not able to. I tried it on mine. What I found out and others confirmed is that the output from the radio sourced from the GPS is mono only. To make it even worse it does not combine the 2 channels together it throws one away. This makes it sound like crap. IMO just don't bother.

I recently broke down and got an iPod just for the Spyder. It does work reasonably well.

[ARtraveler]

Cannot help with the electronic stuff.

[vided]

Did you copy "wave" files to the card.
your best bet is an ipod

[Newflover]

OK, first, if anyone tells my wife, I will deny, deny, deny, but it appears she is right and I need to work on my communications skills

I have:
2011 Spyder RT-Limited
zumo gps
Ipod Dongle (or wire with the black box and wide connection) for the back container

When we ride, we sometimes get out of range for the FM station(s) we like to listen to, IE Oldies. What I would like to do, is to have a device other than the Ipod, to listen to our own music when we are out of the range of the local stations. Been to Radio shack more times than I would like to count, asking for a 'converter' cable to go from the wide Ipod cable to a typical mp3 player. Every time, the clerk says nope, we don't have one.

If there was a mp3 cable from the mfg., it didn't come with the bike when I bought it. It only has the Ipod cable. That is why I thought about the gps for storing/playing the files, but from what I am hearing, that isn't the best option.

I have looked at BRP, and they have a dongle for about $30 for the 'A/V' option that shows up on the computer screen on the dash. Can I assume that if I get that, it would connect into the headphone connector on the mp3 player and only give me control of volume on the mp3 player? If that is true, I can live with that as I only put the music I want on the player and would be happy with it in that format.

You asked for pictures, so here is the baby!!

CA Spyder (3).jpgCA Spyder (4).jpg

[billybovine]

You need one of these.
mp3 cable.JPG
If you have the skills or a skilled friend who will work for beer build your own. 7 pin DIN connector and a stereo cable from the dollar store. Someone posted the pinout for this.
Maybe you want to more creative and build a long cable from the trunk to the handlebars.

[greatrides]

You need one of these.
mp3 cable.JPG
If you have the skills or a skilled friend who will work for beer build your own. 7 pin DIN connector and a stereo cable from the dollar store. Someone posted the pinout for this.
Maybe you want to more creative and build a long cable from the trunk to the handlebars.

That's the one I use....Amazon has them

[MEP]

Yes, if you get the 3.5mm cable that plugs into the jack in your trunk, and into an mp3 player, it will play through your RT's stereo system. All you will be to control from the handlebar module is the volume.

Not to muddy the waters since we appear close to a resolution, but when I played tunes on my GPS through the RT's stereo system they sounded just fine to me. Although you can only control volume from the handlebar module, at least you can advance or back up to certain songs via the GPS unit in front of you.

Good luck.

[2ndChildhood]

What I did is I ran an 3.5mm male to female extension cable from the trunk to the front and velcro a $30.00 MP3 player to the glove box. I control the volume through the handle bar and if I don't want the song that playing I can hit the button on the Mp3 player to play the next song. The way that I ran the cable you need at least an 8 foot cable.


ToM

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[finless]

The audio connection from the GPS to the RT radio is MONO only! I have tested and proven this is the fact.
If you want stereo, you have to use either the MP3 connector or the iPod connector!

As people said if you use the MP3 connector you can only control volume.
If you get the iPod connector you can control the iPod from the handle bars and see it on the console.

Now also be aware. If you did not get the iPod connector with your Spyder, make sure if you buy one you get the correct cable!!!!!
This is important!

Up to about mid 2012 the iPod cable had a black box on it. This box converted voltages, etc to work with the iPod.
After about mid 2012 the radio changed and the new iPod cable no longer has the black box.

If you use the new cable on your 2011 you can possibly fry your iPod because of the missing black box.

Bob

[Netminder]

Not sure about an older model but on a 2014 you can use either. For an mp3 player you use the 3.5mm cable. The only thing that you can control from the handlebar module with that setup is the volume, however.

That what I thought, have the 3.5 cable as will as the iPod cable!

[Ben Burped]

The audio connection from the GPS to the RT radio is MONO only! I have tested and proven this is the fact.
If you want stereo, you have to use either the MP3 connector or the iPod connector!

As people said if you use the MP3 connector you can only control volume.
If you get the iPod connector you can control the iPod from the handle bars and see it on the console.

Now also be aware. If you did not get the iPod connector with your Spyder, make sure if you buy one you get the correct cable!!!!!
This is important!

Up to about mid 2012 the iPod cable had a black box on it. This box converted voltages, etc to work with the iPod.
After about mid 2012 the radio changed and the new iPod cable no longer has the black box.

If you use the new cable on your 2011 you can possibly fry your iPod because of the missing black box.

Bob

Thank you for your always excellent advice. You help make SL a real blessing.

[Utahrider]

I plug my Ipod into the right side rear compartment and it looks like it's seen, however I do not see it on my screen up front. Anyone had this problem or am I just mental?