Integration of Zumo 550 with Starcom1 Advance

[Fred W]

So now that I have the VOX and PTT-03 / Bike to Bike radio issue more or less resolved, the next and final issue that I want to work out with this communication system is the following one:

The "standard" cable configuration for hooking up a Zumo 550 GPS to a Starcom1 Advance (and also the "Digital") has you use the MIC-01 cable run from the Zumo 2.5mm microphone jack to the 3.5mm "Phone" jack on the Starcom, and you use a MUS-04 cable between the stereo audio output jack on the Zumo to the "Audio" input jack on the Starcom. These 2 cables must be used because both the Starcom and Zumo will be powered from the bike and need the ground line isolation they provide. With these cables installed you can fully utilize all of the features of the Zumo through the Starcom: GPS prompts, MP3 or XM music audio and your BT cell phone paired to the GPS so you can manipulate calls via the GPS touchscreen, but you cannot use VOX.

Should you decide to enable the Starcom VOX so that the music from the GPS gets muted when speaking to your passenger ( by turning up the VOX sensitivity control on the Starcom) the VOX will mute, not only the music, but all audio from the GPS including any GPS prompts and (most importantly) the incoming audio from your cell phone.

What ends up happening when you try to have a phone call is you say something to the party on the other end of the phone and then all audio is muted for 5-6 seconds. No good.

Proposal:

I have a copy of the Zumo 550 owners manual and I see that you can configure which of the various functions' audio output goes to the outgoing bluetooth connection. This is not the same bluetooth connection that you pair your phone to. This is the one that would allow you to use a bluetooth headset in your helmet. Of course we all know that you can't send XM music over this profile at all, and any MP3 routed through this bluetooth profile will be monoaural. So we use the Starcom1 or Autocom wired connections.

My thought is that we could hook up a bluetooth dongle to the "Aux" connector of the Starcom, configure the Zumo to send just the GPS prompts and phone calls through that bluetooth profile, and leave the MUS-04 and MIC-01 cables hooked up as "normal" for just the MP3 and/or XM music audio. Since only the Audio port of the Starcom1 gets muted by VOX I think this should resolve this problem.

My questions are:

Has anyone already tried this?

Would this work?

Do you still need to run the MIC-01 cable or could you just hook the dongle up to the "Phone" port of the Starcom1?

Any suggestions for dongles that would be less expensive than the Starcom1 Bluetooth module and relatively convenient?

 

[Kieth]

I am a autocom dealer but I think we are all facing the same issues. If you use the bluetooth dongle to the cell input of the starcom, pair the bluetooth dongle with the Zumo, Pair the cell phone with the zumo. disconnect the speaker from the the zumo to the starcom, set the priorities within the Zumo so the cell phone only goes through the bluetooth, the music and audio instructions will now come through the starcom make sure you have the input from the zumo in a music port that way when you recieve a cell call the music and audio from the Zumo will be muted, so you can carry on a normal phone conversation.

So now that I have the VOX and PTT-03 / Bike to Bike radio issue more or less resolved, the next and final issue that I want to work out with this communication system is the following one:
The "standard" cable configuration for hooking up a Zumo 550 GPS to a Starcom1 Advance (and also the "Digital") has you use the MIC-01 cable run from the Zumo 2.5mm microphone jack to the 3.5mm "Phone" jack on the Starcom, and you use a MUS-04 cable between the stereo audio output jack on the Zumo to the "Audio" input jack on the Starcom. These 2 cables must be used because both the Starcom and Zumo will be powered from the bike and need the ground line isolation they provide. With these cables installed you can fully utilize all of the features of the Zumo through the Starcom: GPS prompts, MP3 or XM music audio and your BT cell phone paired to the GPS so you can manipulate calls via the GPS touchscreen, but you cannot use VOX.

Should you decide to enable the Starcom VOX so that the music from the GPS gets muted when speaking to your passenger ( by turning up the VOX sensitivity control on the Starcom) the VOX will mute, not only the music, but all audio from the GPS including any GPS prompts and (most importantly) the incoming audio from your cell phone.

What ends up happening when you try to have a phone call is you say something to the party on the other end of the phone and then all audio is muted for 5-6 seconds. No good.

Proposal:

I have a copy of the Zumo 550 owners manual and I see that you can configure which of the various functions' audio output goes to the outgoing bluetooth connection. This is not the same bluetooth connection that you pair your phone to. This is the one that would allow you to use a bluetooth headset in your helmet. Of course we all know that you can't send XM music over this profile at all, and any MP3 routed through this bluetooth profile will be monoaural. So we use the Starcom1 or Autocom wired connections.

My thought is that we could hook up a bluetooth dongle to the "Aux" connector of the Starcom, configure the Zumo to send just the GPS prompts and phone calls through that bluetooth profile, and leave the MUS-04 and MIC-01 cables hooked up as "normal" for just the MP3 and/or XM music audio. Since only the Audio port of the Starcom1 gets muted by VOX I think this should resolve this problem.

My questions are:

Has anyone already tried this?

Would this work?

Do you still need to run the MIC-01 cable or could you just hook the dongle up to the "Phone" port of the Starcom1?

Any suggestions for dongles that would be less expensive than the Starcom1 Bluetooth module and relatively convenient?

 

[Fred W]

I am a autocom dealer but I think we are all facing the same issues. If you use the bluetooth dongle to the cell input of the starcom, pair the bluetooth dongle with the Zumo, Pair the cell phone with the zumo. disconnect the speaker from the the zumo to the starcom, set the priorities within the Zumo so the cell phone only goes through the bluetooth, the music and audio instructions will now come through the starcom make sure you have the input from the zumo in a music port that way when you recieve a cell call the music and audio from the Zumo will be muted, so you can carry on a normal phone conversation.

Thanks for the reply Keith. Appreciate it.

Yes, I shamelessly stole the idea from some folks using the Autocom intercoms.

Just trying to adapt these same ideas to the Starcom1 now.

 

[KnuckleHead]

I am a autocom dealer but I think we are all facing the same issues. If you use the bluetooth dongle to the cell input of the starcom, pair the bluetooth dongle with the Zumo, Pair the cell phone with the zumo. disconnect the speaker from the the zumo to the starcom, set the priorities within the Zumo so the cell phone only goes through the bluetooth, the music and audio instructions will now come through the starcom make sure you have the input from the zumo in a music port that way when you recieve a cell call the music and audio from the Zumo will be muted, so you can carry on a normal phone conversation.

Thanks for the reply Keith. Appreciate it.

Yes, I shamelessly stole the idea from some folks using the Autocom intercoms.

Just trying to adapt these same ideas to the Starcom1 now.

Hey Fred,

Did you ever try this out? Did it work? I am having the same issue with mine and so looking for solutions. Not sure this one will work for me however, as I have my radar detector going into the Aux on the Starcom but I would be curious if this worked or if you came up with something else....

 

[Fred W]

I am a autocom dealer but I think we are all facing the same issues. If you use the bluetooth dongle to the cell input of the starcom, pair the bluetooth dongle with the Zumo, Pair the cell phone with the zumo. disconnect the speaker from the the zumo to the starcom, set the priorities within the Zumo so the cell phone only goes through the bluetooth, the music and audio instructions will now come through the starcom make sure you have the input from the zumo in a music port that way when you recieve a cell call the music and audio from the Zumo will be muted, so you can carry on a normal phone conversation.

Thanks for the reply Keith. Appreciate it.

Yes, I shamelessly stole the idea from some folks using the Autocom intercoms.

Just trying to adapt these same ideas to the Starcom1 now.

Hey Fred,

Did you ever try this out? Did it work? I am having the same issue with mine and so looking for solutions. Not sure this one will work for me however, as I have my radar detector going into the Aux on the Starcom but I would be curious if this worked or if you came up with something else....

I have not (yet). I have a Starcom1 BT accessory sitting on the shelf awaiting trial.

The alternative (what I do now) is to just leave the VOX defeated all the time, like just about everyone does that has the Starcom1. It means that intercom conversations won't mute the music, but if the volume of music is kept low you can hear each other OK. But when you ride sansd passenger there is no loss of functionality at all.

 

[KnuckleHead]

Great, thanks. Guess that is common sense but as they say, common sense isnt common. This is just fine for me since I ride with a passenger about 5% of the time, so no biggie.