GROM USB adapter installation pics

Glad to hear you like it! Honestly if I had to it all over again instead of replacing my 09 radio with aftermarket radio I would have just bought a pre 2009 tacoma radio and kept the GROM adapter.

 

Trying to decide whether to get the Ipod or USB GROM.

I want the stereo to control the Ipod, but like the extra option of being able to connect a USB device.

If I get the USB GROM will my ipod have control through the car stereo? Could I use the standard ipod cable to plug into the USB port, just like I do on the computer?

Thanks for the help.

 

with the USB GROM you can use a flash drive

 

It didn't on my base model stereo.

Not sure what'll happen if you hook ipod to usb.

The stereo controls do control the flash drive and you don't have to worry about it being charged.

 

clean install!

 

also it's WAYYY cheaper to get more memory when you need it.

 

Do you or anyone else with this unit have an ipod you could plug into the USB port with the standard ipod cable you use on your computer and see how it works? Does it allow the radio to control it, does it charge it, etc.?

I would greatly appreciate that and I am sure others would as well. I can invision the ipod laying nicely in the little tray below the USB port, within arms reach, yet out of the way. I just need to make sure it works with the radio and charges.

This is especailly nice because it does not appear companies make nice automotive connections for the ipod cable the way they do the USB cable. Perhaps I just haven't found them yet. I'm not a fan of just having cables laying in the console, even though they are out of sight.

 

Heres the response I got from a GROM representative:

On a 2007 Toyota Tacoma.
Will the additiona ipod connectin of the GROM-USB2 device still allow control through with the factory radio?
Additional iPod cable (http://www.gromaudio.com/store/accessories/grom_audio_standard_v2_ipod_dock_cable_assembly_-_5v_charging.html) allows using iPod/iPhone with control from car radio/steering wheel buttons.


Can I plug my ipod into the USB port via the factory ipod cable (same as you use for your computer) and have control through the facotry radio?
You can but it will not be controlled.


Will the ipod charge through the USB port?
No.

Taco Prerunner, it sounds like your ipod should work from the ipod cable. Perhaps it is a setting. You might check with GROM as it would be great to have verification of what they said above.

 

It does work and charge thru the ipod cable. The wife's does, mine is nano so it only has 3.5mm. I don't think the base model stereo without steering wheel controls will control the iopd via stereo...at least it didn't for me when I had it plugged in. And I don't really care because I use the flash drive and my NV3 phone with 16gb of music on it. It plays thru the 3.5mm aux connection. Mostly I wanted usb for flash drive so I don't have to be aware of charge levels on any device.

 

Hmm, my wifes truck has the base stereo and the GROM says it should work for 05-10' Tacomas through the radio.

I was reading that you can only have one cable connected at a time. So if you had your ipod connected and wanted to switch to the USB that you would have to physically unplug the ipod cable from the GROM box and then plug in the USB cable. Is this correct?

The reason I ask is it looks like you guys are mounting the GROM box behind the radio, making this impossible.

The most important thing for my wife is being able to plug in her ipod and use it through the radio. It sounds like maybe I should just get the regular GROM Ipod and not the USB. I'm thinking about running the cable out near/through the small tray near your right knee (just below where the original poster put the USB connection). That way you can have your ipod at arms reach if you need to do something on it.

 

I received my Grom Ipod/USB/AUX unit a few days ago and am installing it tomorrow in a 2010 with 6 disk changer.

I will report back what it can and can't do with Ipod Touch, older click wheel 60 gig Ipod, and an 80 gig laptop drive in a portable case.

Grom does mention in some small print somewhere that the USB port is capable of 1 amp and will power portable HDD's with no issues.

 

2.5" hdd's?

 

I'm thinking it said only one device connected at a time. My ipod is the shuffle, the little square clippy one, wife has the touch. I only had one device plugged in at a time but never got the radio to control the ipod. I admit I didn't try much tho. It played music thru the stereo and beyond that I didn't care much because it isn't my primary source of music on the go in the truck. There is a sequence of buttons to hit on the radio that switches the input from usb to aux to ipod with a womans voice thru the speakers telling you which input you have selected. I have all 3 cables connected-usb on dash panel & aux/ipod cables routed to the glovebox with slack enough to close glovebox and have device in your lap or in the cupholders or cubby under climate controls. Another reason I primarily use the flash drive - no cables. But that's no big deal either, I just keep them in the glovebox when not in use. I would say save the coin and the hassle of drilling the dash panel for the usb by just getting the regular grom if the ipod is going to be the main source of input. I like having all possible inputs tho, even if I have no control of mp3 player, phone or ipod thru the stereo.

 

Yes, 2.5" drives can be run off of 5 volts, they do not need the 12V power that a full size 3.5" drive needs. so they work like a thumb drive if the USB port supplies enough power.

After a day of testing out the different functions, this is what I have working, what doesn't work and what needs more work.

USB - flash drives work great as long as the file structure is as GROM describes it in the manual. 2.5" HDD so far is not working. Took me a long time to find a method to format it in FAT32 (NTFS doesn't work with GROM). The problem may be in my file structure or maybe just not enough power. I am going to temp power the portable drive and see if that makes it work.

IPOD - My old brick of a 60Gig Ipod Color works great, I get control from the deck and the wheel controls, but I do not see text. Ipod touch works even better, I get text (IF THE METADATA IS GOOD!!!) If the mp3 is not tagged right, it can make the deck shutdown and lose its memory (raido stations etc...) This also happens with the USB thumbdrive, if the text information isnt good, BORK goes the deck. IT all comes back just by turning the power on, but still sucks.

AUX - A blind, one armed monkey with bad hearing and erectile dysfunction could make this input work, so I didn't even try it.

More updates as time goes on.

 

This is great information. Thank you. My wife has an ipod touch, so that is exactly what I was looking for.

As for the "metadata" and not being tagged right, can you please explain for someone who doesn't know what you are talking about. haha. How do they need to be tagged?

 

If you right click an MP3 and hit properties, then the details tab, or view details when they are listed, you can see the "metadata". This will include, artist, album, track, date, and a bunch of other data about the tune.

I have not figured out what exactly is required to have it shown properly yet, but thats where the information is kept.

Also, the older Ipod does not seem to charge while hooked to the GROM. I can't seem to get the Video Ipod away from the wife to check if it charges.

 

A bit of an update:

Fried the case that the hard drive was in from reverse powering it...ordered another and put a 120 Gb laptop drive in it, formatted it with Acronis trial edition (free) as FAT 32 (very important) and loaded a few gig on. Works GREAT. 120 GIG of MP3's and WMA's all stashed up under the dash out of sight.

Still working on the tagging issue. Some songs can show song text, some cause the deck to reset. All songs can and do show the artist, its only the song name that causes the reset.

Still kind of worried that the hard drive itself will not be able to handle the cold in the winter (possibly as low as -35F), but I have a few months before I test that.

 

Thanks to the this thread I bought the ipod kit and the usb port replacement!

Instead of cutting a hole in the plate to mount the usb port, I want to just replace the cig lighter with the usb port. Anyone tried this? I'm not sure if I have to remove the cig lighter face plate to get it out or not. And if I unplug the cig lighter, do I have to do anything with the wires after I unplug them?

 

Yes it can be done, that was were I originally planned to place it, but after seeing how many things I had to remove to do it, I decided against it.

 

How did you cut out the hole on that plate? I popped mine off and there's a big platic chunk that sticks out. Not sure if that will make cutting harder if I go this route.