Jahhaas

I just purchased a 2004 Carrera. There is a 32 pin iPod cable already attached to the radio. I attached a Bluetooth adapter to the cable and there is power. I was able to pair the Bluetooth adapter to my phone. I did a similar installation on a 2001 Audi TT and could access the iPod cable using the cd changer controls. I can’t seem to figure out how to listen to music from my phone in the Carerra. Can anyone advise me? Thanks

jayzbird

CDR-23 unit? Most of these tap into the cd changer. If so, it should switch to CDC on the display. I assume you mean an iPhone 30-pin connector? You might try a lightning to 30-pin adapter to take the Bluetooth out of the equation. If it’s a Dension at least, there is another box with a on-off switch. Make sure your phone volume is up. Of course, it could just be a power cable.

pdxmotorhead

Have you followed the cable to the end?
IIn the early 2000's there was a company that
serviced this need for a lot of the euro cars.
My BMW had that connector, it went to a small box that
Had a cable that plugged in to the cd changer socket,
The box has the smarts, to make the ipod-ish device look
like the changer to the car. Mine only worked with a IPOD classic or
a Iphone 3.. YMMV

jayzbird

Sounds like Dension, but there were others. Dension works with all iPhones thru Xs at least.

RSBro

The prior owner to my 03 C4S installed taps on the CDC (CD changer) input for USB, iPod and RCA left/right. iPod works fine, but I use that in our Audi so I had/have a USB Bluetooth adapter I found by accident that works, mostly. I probably have tried at least (not exaggerating) a 10-12 of these things from Amazon, and only one model works, where you can control the tracks from the PCM II unit. I will try and find it and post it here. It is THE only one I've found that works.
However, after skipping a few tracks, it builds up some sort of buffer and sort of clicks/pops a little which is annoying but it doesn't do it EVERY time. We just moved closer to my office (10 mins, 7 miles) so I gave up and just got an RCA to 3.5 adapter cable and have been using that. I don't even listen to music every morning anyway, but this has no latency or lag or buffering issues, so works fine.
I had considered upgrading the head unit but I talked to CAI and they said the converter kit doesn't work 100% of the time, so if I buy it and it doesn't work, then I have to buy the whole new amplifier unit also, although they credit the cost of the converter towards such costs. But for what this car is worth, and how short my drive is 5-6 days a week, not really worth it. Rather save up for more track time and another set of Pilot Sport 2s lol. Or a 991.1 Carrera...

As others have said, make sure 1.) you've pressed the "CDC" button, and 2.) phone volume is at 100%. Then press the "Next track" button on your phone or head unit a few times and see if the BT dongle 'catches up'. I have to do that on mine too when using the USB BT adapter. Good luck!

wyovino

You likely have to enable AUX on the radio. Which radio do you have? If you can't get the bluetooth to work, you can get a Lightning to 32 pin adapter and just plug in your phone.

Jahhaas

I appreciate all of the thoughts. The radio is the cdr23; the single cd option not with the changer. After trying the Bluetooth adapter I decided to follow the advice of trying to just use the 30 pin to lightning cable adapter. I tried to connect both an ipod touch and my iphone 8. In both instances the phone/ipod starts to charge so power is coming through the cable. I tried having the phone playing music through the phone speaker just to make sure that I had the sound turned up. When I plugged the cable into the phone the sound stopped coming through the phone speaker. Looking at the phone I can see that that the song is still playing. I have pushed all of the buttons more than once but have focused on the cd button the most because this is what worked in a 2001 Audi TT that I used to own that had the same kind of cable setup. When I push the cd button I get two messages; one just reads cd and the other tells me that my cd player is empty. I have already spent more money on the Bluetooth adapter and the cable than a new car radio unit would cost. I have always hesitated doing the unthinkable which is to take out the OEM radio and replace it with a more modern unit. Tomorrow I plan to hit a car electronics store to see if they have an answer or maybe a more modern solution. I don't really care about making phone calls through my car system, I just want to be able to play some modern music without having to buy new cd's. Thanks again for all of the advice. Joe

wyovino

Are you putting the radio in AUX mode?

Jahhaas

I don’t know how to get my radio in Aux mode. Can you explain the steps? Thanks

SoCal911t

Enabling the AUX function within the radio menu

wyovino

Maybe someone will chime in about the CDR-23. I have the CDR-220.

Anders Flodin

I have a 220 with a chinese lighting and 3.5mm DIN. The lighting connector only works on IOS lower than some old number like 8. I use the adapter to the 3.5mm DIN when connecting to my iphone x

Jahhaas

I followed the Becker instructions that call for me to depress the "TP" button and hold it. I should get a reading of "Becker 1" but don't. I just get a "Mute" message that stays as long as I depress the button. Any thoughts? Joe

jayzbird

I would get the CDC > “No cd” error when my Dension was acting up. When it worked it did advance tracks from the cdr-23 either with the phone plugged in or with a Bovee Bluetooth dongle. When it wasn’t working it was like yours, though the charging power also cut off. Ultimately got fed up with it and replaced with a CarPlay unit. You can find my post and another recent one, both quite detailed, on the 996tt forum. 2004 is fiber-optic, which adds some complexity. Bose adds more due to their nonstandard speaker impedance. The good news is the car fits standard din dash units.

Jahhaas

Thanks. I contacted discountcarstereo because they sell a lot of after market cables. I had followed their instructions to try to get the Aux mode to work. According to them the cdr23 does not have an aux mode capability. I then asked them if I could use one of their cables to connect to the cd player and they told me that this doesn't work on the cdr23. I don't think that they are correct on that one because someone put a cable in this car at some point. Their recommendation was that I get a bluetooth capable fm transmitter which seems a bit old school. I then went to a local car electronics store and talked to them about replacing my radio with a more current one. The good news was that a radio would cost about $100 without car play or about $250 with car play plus $150 in labor. I was about to go that way until they told me that the components that they would need to connect to Bose would run another $700. I will check out your other posts. I appreciate the time you took to respond. Joe