electronic techies enter

[RnB180]

SO I purchased a belkin ipod fm transmitter, the reception was poor and one side of the numbers does not display properly, I open it up to hard wire a thicker ant., and I see this

the the freak is that, and could this poorly made device hurt my ipod?

looks like solidified glue or wax of some type. and its spilled all over the board.

 

[Voodoochile]

Sorry, but that's a nasty pic, so it's hard to tell. Looks like an RF coil, though.

I bought one of those, and it did not power up at all. So I exchanged it for another. This one lit up part of the display only, not enough to set it up to the point where I could try it out. I returned it and bought the plug-in Sony version. Worked, but sound quality was not good at all. Returned that and added a line-in to my car. Frustrating at best. I was surprised how crappy the Belkin unit was though... most of their stuff is at least average.

 

[skyskraper]

ive found belkin ipod gear to be really quite average in quality. i wish i could find the line in adaptor for my head unit, all the local dealers don't seem interested in ordering one in for me either

griffin gets my money for a wide range of ipod accessories.

agreed, a picture with better focus is needed

 

[Voodoochile]

The only line-in cable for my car was about $40, so I made one out of star-quad and some motherboard header plugs. (okay, I can be cheap) Works nice, and is silent. I have heard that the factory cable, at least in my application, often exhibits a low hum. Hooray for DIY once again!

RnB180: Is the FM modulator for use in your car, or in the house?

 

[skyskraper]

blaupunkt units have a weird header on them, i havent been bothered to go find the same one because i have problems with other parts of the wiring loom and want to get a whole new on

 

[skilpad]

Not that strange, RF coil with sponge soaked in wax
The cheapest way of restraining the coil once the circuit were aligned
in the factory
Very common in old radios

 

[RnB180]

so that sloppiness is intended?

 

[Budgie]

Yup. The coil is tuned by spreading the turns apart to change the inductance, then held in place with a bit of bee's wax. A technique still used in analog radios circuits by many maufacturers.

 

[RnB180]

oh well the tuner still sounds like crap

Ipod Freq is on its way via amazon.