I just bought a 2016 Gold Wing and I have a question about the USB cable in the trunk that does not seem to be covered in the owners manual. I have music loaded onto my cell phone can I connect it to the USB cable in the trunk and play my music from my phone thru the bikes speakers? I have a cable that came with my phone that adapts USB output to my Cell phone (Motorola v3) Thanks in advance
Audio Question
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Or use an iPod on the USB cable and control the music from your audio controls for track skip etc.
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It works with an iPod why not an older iPhone maybe?
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Uh...
Because the OP mentioned a Motorola (e.g. Android) phone - and the users manual mentions NOTHING about having that capability (control as music player) for anything *other* than an iPod.
Unless there's some iOS magic that can take a phone and neuter it to simulate an iPod that I don't know about - Android user here.
I mean you *could* try it, but if something (bike side or phone side) gets toasted, you'll wonder why it's just not easier to get a $5 16 Gb USB 2.0 stick, fill it with ~2500 songs and call it a day.
Luck to ya!
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Not that I'm aware of (charging via that USB port in the trunk)
Yes, there is a way, it involves the Aux input, located in the left pocket of the fairing.
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Did you miss post #7 above?
Existing USB in trunk does not charge a phone - it is a data port only.
ok
Ok sorry for the multiple questions but had ask the locals prior to asking on this forum and got multiple different answers even though they are Gold Wing owners so just needed a confirmation. Most said phone would charge from the USB port in the back glad i did not try it... same goes for the music and the owners manual is not very clear for anything outside ipod or flash drive. Thanks all
Ok sorry for the multiple questions but had ask the locals prior to asking on this forum and got multiple different answers even though they are Gold Wing owners so just needed a confirmation. Most said phone would charge from the USB port in the back glad i did not try it... same goes for the music and the owners manual is not very clear for anything outside ipod or flash drive. Thanks all
I'll bet it WILL play music from your phone as long as you leave it set up so the bike thinks it is an MP3 player.
The bike considers the USB to be AUX2. If you have the bike showing AUX on the screen, you should be able to toggle once more to get it connected to AUX2.
(You can toggle between AUX and AUX to with the bike controls.)
If I'm wrong about playing the MP3's from your phone thru the USB, an alternate method is to connect the headphone jack on the phone to the AUX input (3.5mm plug) in the LN front pocket.
If the pocket doesn't have the cable/plug in it someone has not installed it. If so, and you don't have one they are available from Honda. Requires popping out the pocket, plugging in connector and running cable thru the hole in the corner of the pocket. An idevice can also be played thru the 3.5 mm input - was the standard method prior to the 2012 model.
IMHO, life will be simplest if you acquire a usb stick (flash drive) and copy you library onto it. You can plug it into the USB and leave it there for whenever you want to use it.
1GB will be 10 or 12 hours of mp3 audio.
It's in your OM, but iirc the bike will read usb's between 256 mb and 64GB.
When we ran our '14's I ran about 4GB of data on a 'freebee/promotional' usb from some vendor. Still happily doing it's thing today on the new rides.
Edit to add: Like all forms or digital memory, usb memory sticks are no where near as expensive as they used to be.
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I have an IPhone 6 and 8 and I can play music from both with the USB in the saddle bag but neither phone will charge. I also have an older IPod that I currently use for my music connected in the saddle bag using the USB and it will charge. F6B
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I have an IPhone 6 and 8 and I can play music from both with the USB in the saddle bag but neither phone will charge. I also have an older IPod that I currently use for my music connected in the saddle bag using the USB and it will charge. F6B
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I have a Galaxy Note 8 (Android operating system) that I connected via its 3.5 mm speaker jack to the AUX input cable in the left pocket. I got an extended cable to replace the short factory cable from Electrical Connection. (Red and white wires were reversed compared to factory - so I fixed that in case it would have made a difference. The braided copper ground which likely acted as a noise shield in the factory cable was replaced with an insulated wire like the other two leads in the EC longer replacement cable.) It has the stereo 3.5 mm Male pin on one end and a male 3 pin Hitachi? connector (red, white, black) to plug into the harness under the left pocket. I also have a 12 v dual USB charging port in that same pocket that has the appropriate USB ("C" I think) phone power connector. This setup will play music files loaded on the phone and stream internet music. Haven't experimented with whether bike controls work with this setup yet. I store the power and audio cable in the left pocket for now, with plenty of extra to reach the Ciro phone cradle on the left handlebar supporting full lock to lock handlebar turn radius. If I use it enough, I may run the cables to the cradle more permanently. I use Fobo bike sensors to provide instant tire pressure values on the phone, plus a free app to display GPS speed on the phone simultaneously to compensate for Honda's unfortunate poor engineering or desire to represent speed accurately on the 2001-2017 models. I ran another 12 vdc power port into the trunk (where I can plug a dual port USB charging port into if needed). There is a red female two pin plug (Hitachi? connector) with 12 vdc battery power (sorry, not off the accessory fuse) in the top of the trunk you can use. Might solve your phone charging issue. Good luck!
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It's low power maybe that's it. It will charge my iPod that I have attached all the time.
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:banghead:
An iPod is not the same as an Android device -- we have agreement there.
It's obvious that an iPod can be and is controllable via the electronics built into the audio unit. Manual says so...
That same set of electronics built into the audio unit has no 'official' means of interfacing with that device mentioned by the OP in his first post.
That interface can also be detected by a USB stick in order to provide music that way. Obviously, enough power available to allow the audio unit to access the memory on the USB stick.
The two unknowns that I'm (trying...) to point out is that an iPhone (y'know, that *other* device) may or may not interface in the same way as an iPod - via that interface. I don't know many that own a device or cable that I could try on my bike. That's not relevant in my use case.
The other unknown...yeah, you *might* be able to plug in an Android to charge from that port, but I have zero idea how the audio unit interface is going to handle that device being plugged into it.
:shrug:
An iPod is not the same as an Android device -- we have agreement there.
It's obvious that an iPod can be and is controllable via the electronics built into the audio unit. Manual says so...
That same set of electronics built into the audio unit has no 'official' means of interfacing with that device mentioned by the OP in his first post.
That interface can also be detected by a USB stick in order to provide music that way. Obviously, enough power available to allow the audio unit to access the memory on the USB stick.
The two unknowns that I'm (trying...) to point out is that an iPhone (y'know, that *other* device) may or may not interface in the same way as an iPod - via that interface. I don't know many that own a device or cable that I could try on my bike. That's not relevant in my use case.
The other unknown...yeah, you *might* be able to plug in an Android to charge from that port, but I have zero idea how the audio unit interface is going to handle that device being plugged into it.
:shrug:
This is such an extremely simple problem to solve. I wouldn't bother plugging my phone in even if the port was capable of recognizing it. A flash drive costs $10. You put your music on it, plug it in, and it can stay there forever. No need to unplug it every time you leave the bike because it is a single purpose device that you don't need anywhere except on the bike. it is truly a set it and forget it device. If you have multiple vehicles that can each handle a flash drive, buy one for each.
Charging is a different story. Most ports dedicated for data are limited to 500mA. That is not enough to charge a phone. It isn't even enough to power a USB hard drive. On old style and poorly designed ports, plug a phone it and it blows a fuse that isn't user replaceable. On well designed ports, they are current limited and just clamp down when a device tries to pull more current than the port was designed for. You can't tell whether you have a well designed port or not, so don't take chances. Go by what the owners manual says. if it says it won't charge a phone, don't plug it in.
Charging is a different story. Most ports dedicated for data are limited to 500mA. That is not enough to charge a phone. It isn't even enough to power a USB hard drive. On old style and poorly designed ports, plug a phone it and it blows a fuse that isn't user replaceable. On well designed ports, they are current limited and just clamp down when a device tries to pull more current than the port was designed for. You can't tell whether you have a well designed port or not, so don't take chances. Go by what the owners manual says. if it says it won't charge a phone, don't plug it in.
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