Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Info & Discussion Forum

We have a 2001 24' RB that is on a 1999 Ford E-450 chassis. I would like to play my iPod through the coach speakers but I'm not crazy about wrestling with removing the radio to see if there are available RCA jacks for the iPod to plug in. Does anyone know if the CDplayer/Stereo that was standard on BF's at that time has RCA jacks on the rear. Failing that, anyone make a suggestion on a reasonbly pain-free method of playing the iPod through the coach system. Thanks

Here is a solution that will work to send your Apple iPod audio thru your Born Free coach's FM radio. We purchased an Apple iPod nano last fall and needed to do exactly what you want to do.

Go to Best Buy (or other electronics store) and purchase a Griffin iTrip AutoPilot Model 4046-TRPAUTOC. I believe they cost around $70.00. It is designed specifically for all models of the Apple iPod. This device will send the audio from your iPod to a FM channel that you select that is free of an interfering broadcast station on any of the FM frequencies between 88.1 thru 107.9 MHz. The iTrip is basically a low power FM transmitter that you can select on which FM channel you want to send the signal to you FM radio. It plugs into a 12 vdc cigarette lighter receptacle and a cable connector on it plugs into the bottom of the iPod. It also keeps your iPod battery charged at the same time.

We use ours mainly to play audio books loaded into our iPod nano while driving our Born Free on long trips. Just finished a 6400 mile round trip out west and back this winter and it worked great.

I use the thru the FM radio on all my vehicles including the Bornfree. It works fine and is automatic. It will scan for a free channel and then you set your radio to that channel and you have it. The only issue I have is that it is shut off if I am not running. I am thinking of switching it to the house batteries and putting a switch in. Has anyone done that yet?

A salesman told me there may be slight degradation to music played through the transmitter (it will not be as clear) as opposed to that which is direct wired - what is your opinion?

Also I've wanted to switch to the coach batteries for some time, but haven't done it yet so would also appreciate the benefit of someone's experience in doing this successfully.

Thank you,

Brent

Your best bet might be to replace the radio with one with an auxillary audio input. Best Buys has relatively inexpensive units including install.

Brent wrote:A salesman told me there may be slight degradation to music played through the transmitter (it will not be as clear) as opposed to that which is direct wired - what is your opinion?

Also I've wanted to switch to the coach batteries for some time, but haven't done it yet so would also appreciate the benefit of someone's experience in doing this successfully.

Thank you,

Brent

Brent, thanks for your input. I too heard reports of reduced audio quality on a "through the radio" transmitter. My wife swears that I'm about 3/4 deaf so I don't know if my hearing is acute enough to detect any difference. My family car, Honda CRV, has an input jack inside the console and the sound quality is good enough for me. I'd be interested in hearing any discussion of reduced quality from the guys that have gone this route.

I toyed for some time with hooking cab radio up to house batteries with a switch so as to be able to use either battery source. The more I thought about it the more I questioned the need for the ability to use the truck batteries as well as the house batteries. So, last week I ran a wire from the house batteries (with an in-line fuse holder) and cut the wire feeding the radio and clock from the cab batteries and wired them to the house batteries. The only draw back is the clock, which is a low drain, is always on, and the radio will not be shut off with the ignition key. I must remember to shut off the radio manually. Also, while I was doing this I wired the "cigarette lighter" to the same house battery feed. This enables me to use my portable satilite radio and or my IPOD to be fed from this power source. This way when I dry camp at my favorite fishing hole in Wyoming for a week or so, I don't have to worry about running down the truck starting batteries ( I have a diesel with two starting batteries) and can use my house batteries that are charged with solar panels.

Jim

Jim;

I had the stereo shop do something similiar. My dash radio works off the couch batteries only. But they added a switch inline so the batteries do not wear down when not in use. The main cutoff switch does not shut the radio off. I also had a Sirius radio docking station added, so we can take the satellite radio from the house. And added a separate power outlet, also off the house batteries.

Works well for us.

John

I really question whether any Born Free owners of our typical age would be able to notice any degradation of audio quality as a result of sending iPod audio thru one of these FM transmitters to the cab radio system. Even if your hearing was really top notch, the Ford radio and its speakers are not really up to the hi-fidelity standards such as you would expect from a Bose or similar system.

Besides, my wife doesn't really accuse me so much of being hard of hearing but she says that I do suffer from hard of listening!

My only problem with the fm transmitter does not concern any audio quality differences, it is having to constantly change the fm station to have one without interference especially when traveling near cities with a lot of fm station activity.

I live in the DC area and have only 2 stations that I use all the time in a large range. I will bet that you will not have to change that often. Also, I do not really notice any degradation. I am sure it is there but I can not hear it.

Allen,

I certainly agree with you about the FM station interference you mention as I also use a Roady II XM radio adapter that also uses an FM transmitter and when you travel long distances as I do, you are bound to run into strong FM stations that will overpower your selection of any particular FM frequency that was station free when you started out.

However, I have learned a trick to help avoid this problem with the Griffin iTrip transmitter. At least on the Ford FM radio in my 2002 E450, it will tune to two extra channels (87.7 and 87.9 MHz) that are below the FM frequency band used in the US. The trick is that you can program the iTrip to transmit on either of these two frequencies by putting the iTrip into its Japan mode rather than the US mode it is setup for when sold in the US. The iTrip also has a third Europe mode - each of these 3 modes built into the iTrip are necessary since these different areas use a slightly different range of FM frequencies. Using one of those two channels will eliminate most of those kinds of interference problems.

However, even though all of the high powered commercial analog TV stations on channels 2 thru 13 are now off the air, some low powered analog TV stations are still legal and on the air and are generally located in some of the larger cities just for local short range coverage. Analog TV channel 6 uses the frequency 87.75 MHz for transmission of its audio signal and if you happen to get close enough to one of those stations, it may interfere with a modified iTrip set to 87.7 or 87.9 Mhz. Ask me how I know this to be true!

If you want a clean wired install, then you need one of these 1998-2005 Ford to iPOD Interface Adapters made by Precision Interface Electronics (P.I.E.):

You can read about it and pick it up online here:

http://www.logjamelectronics.com/piefrdnpcpod2.html

You OEM Ford radio comes with an external CD changer jack and this plugs into it.

I've also included the application listing for all vehicles.

Bill

Below is a somewhat out of focus photo of our Griffin iTrip Autopilot (FM transmitter) hooked up to our Apple iPod nano. Both the iTrip and the iPod are attached to the dash with 1" wide velcro. As you can see, the iTrip is set to a frequency of 87.7 MHz which minimizes possible interference from commercial FM broadcast stations. Also note that the cigarette light power plug in the upper left corner of the photo shows a red ring when charging the nano and will show a green ring when it has finished charging it. Also note that the flat end of the plug repeats some of the control functions of the nano using push button switches that are actually much easier to use then the controls on the nano itself.

Thanks Bill, the adapter that plugs into the cd changer looks like a very viable alternative that is better then the transmitter, at least for my needs. I need to make a decision if $99 for the adapter makes more sense than just upgrading the radio. I guess since I've been pondering this for three years I had better get off the couch and make a decision!

It is tempting to just upgrade the radio and speakers for an over all sound upgrade at the same time and when installed have it set so it is in the coach battery as well.

thanks again
Brent