Retroplay

As an early Christmas present for myself, I bought a Grom Audio BT3 unit for the SC430. I can confirm that it is working, with one caveat: I have a 2005 radio installed. I can also confirm that song info is not displayed on the radio despite having the TEXT button.

I do have the original radio from the car and I will give that a try sometime next week. I expect that it will work as well.

While goofing around, I did find a feature I didn't see mentioned in the manual and this might only work with my Samsung S7 phone. If I double tap the SCAN button, it brings up Samsung Voice command. Not google voice, oddly. If I could figure out how to do that from the steering controls and call up google instead, that would be bad***. I usually operate the radio behind the wooden door from the steering remote only (which I guess makes the text display pointless, anyway).

Getting the pairing to work was a pain in the butt, but it finally picked it up and connected. The BT3 allows bluetooth audio with handsfree calling as well as an auxillary input jack and an ipod jack. The auxillary cable (a separate cable you need to buy) has a USB charging cable.

Anyway, I thought this might be useful to someone trying to figure out if it will work. On Grom's website, they only list 2005-2009.

Again, I do have a 2005 radio installed. I don't really think this makes a difference, though.

Retroplay

I should mention that I was playing music off google music, not from an MP3 on the phone. That *might* make a difference whether or not song info is displayed or not.

Jabberwock

Great info. I have a 2004 with OEM 2004 radio and would love to get the Grom 3. The most disappointing thing about my car is the lack of interface options for Iphone and music.

Retroplay

I am hoping to try out the original 2003 radio today. If that works, then you are good with your 2004 radio.

The GROM took a couple of tries to get it to register with the radio which also makes me want to try the cheap $23 aux adapter I bought a while back (WT-USB) again. I couldn't seem to get that to work, but maybe it needed the same tactic to get that working.

The radio looks for connected devices after power has been restored after a number of minutes. Once it seems the aux device, it memorizes it. But you have to fidget with turning the key on and off and radio power on and off to get it to catch. Getting the bluetooth to pair after that also took some fidgeting. Some of the reviews that I read for the GROM BT3 said the bluetooth was a PITA sometimes. I'll monkey with it some more today and give my review.

Retroplay

Alright, so here is my analysis.

GROM BT3

When I first hooked up the original 2003 Radio (after having been on my bench for a year), when I turned the ignition to ACC, it displayed AUX (as opposed to CD1 like it does on the 2005 radio) on the screen and I was able to play audio with the GROM BT3 both through the 3.5MM jack and through bluetooth. However... once I pressed the MODE button on the steering wheel remote to test switching between modes, it would not go into AUX mode again. Despite many attempts at connecting, reconnecting, power on and off, ignition on and off, I could not get the radio to display AUX again. Clearly there are some differences in the firmware within the radio. Unfortunately, when it did say AUX, I didn't try the steering remote buttons other than the MODE button, so I don't know if that would have worked.

I can't explain how the radio recognized the GROM the very first time and then would not again. I can't recall exactly what I did with the radio the last time I powered it up on the bench. I know I was trying different combinations of buttons at power up, but I have no idea which combination might have affected it. However, the radio clearly does have an AUX mode.

I even tried to leave the radio removed for 20 minutes and then tried again and still no AUX mode. I can only think that it must have been something I was messing around with on the bench before. Another odd observation is that the radio came right on when I turned on the ignition instead of needing me to press the power button. That's unusual after having it removed from power.

With the 2005 radio, all functions of the GROM BT3 worked (audio through the 3.5MM jack, through bluetooth, and calling worked.

WT-USB

I could not get the WT-USB to work with either the 2003 or the 2005 radio at all. But, I could play audio through the 3.5mm jack if I put it on an AM station that was completely silent. The WT-USB allows you to plug in a USB stick and play MP3s from it and control it from the radio buttons. That didn't work. The LED on the WT-USB wouldn't even come on.

jzdulexus

If you want bluetooth, aux and playing from USB stick why not just get Grom USB3 which includes everything. It launches bluetooth automatically, plays gazillion songs from any USB stick and it gives 3.5mm jack too. When you connect bluetooth I assume you pair your phone's calling with car and its media with Grom at the same time. That way all factory functionalities will retain (including SC's mic) and you gain many additional ones with Grom connections.

Retroplay

I didn't want the USB feature actually. It just plays a folder full of MP3s or playlists without any direct selection. So I would be selecting music blindly. I decided it was better to simply play music from my phone which is always on me and with T-Mobile, I can stream internet music for free as well as search music by voice. The end goal is a carPC, so I will be selecting the music from the touchscreen eventually. So, really I just needed an aux adapter and handsfree.

BTW, the USB3 only does bluetooth with the additional $50 accessory.

http://gromaudio.com/store/usb_adapt...interface.html

So, really, for $200 instead of $140, you get the addition of the USB stick. The steering wheel remote and radio buttons already control my android phone (next, previous, call, etc..) with the BT3.


Note also that the 2003 doesn't have an OEM mic or bluetooth. You could get the OEM mic installed as part of a telephone kit. I did buy a 2006 dome light on eBay though which included the microphone. So that could be wired into the BT3.


UPDATE: I have confirmed that there is no text on the radio. Not when playing internet radio and not when playing MP3s from the phone. All you get is a play timer.

jzdulexus

I have T-mobile as well so streaming free music would also be my goal too. But I have been so busy listening to webradio that I have not had a chance to explore music steaming options. Its too bad the small window on SC radio doesn't display anything other than the timer.

ShawnOk

iTrader: (1)

Retro, thanks for testing out this theory. I've been wanting to know some specifics (and additional queries) so I will give you a call later this week. Thanks again for being the guinea pig.

Harold57

Is the T-Mobile free streaming music something that is part of certain packages with them or just comes with their service in general?

Retroplay

I have their Simple Choice Plan which includes it. It is limited to streaming from a phone using the appropriate apps. Not really an issue, but you have to dig in their FAQs to find that. This was only important to me because I also have a SyncUP Drive from them which is their vehicle smart router. If I use a tablet over the router's wifi to stream the music, it is not part of the deal and will use my data.

However, T-Mobile doesn't charge overages. It just drops to a slower speed once you reach your plan limit which is still fine for streaming music.

If you had an aftermarket android headunit with SIM capability, you should be able to install the apps on that and get free streaming audio.

Music Freedom by T-Mobile:
https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-10969

SyncUp Drive for those curious about it: https://explore.t-mobile.com/t-mobile-sync-up-drive

https://www.moj.io/connected-car-platform/

And if you are a programmer, it offers an API: https://docs.moj.io/#/api/home

I have it linked up to several automation routines such as turning on lights when I get home, etc... it links up well with IFTT ( https://ifttt.com/mojio ) to do pretty much anything you want.
IFTT doesn't require any programming knowledge.