Fitting an aux in Jack to your old radio for less than £2

Picked up a 1979 Philips Radio the other day to install into the mk1, seen that people convert these to allow running an aux input so you can play mp3s through it. So this is a guide on how I converted it to allow the playing of mp3s.

You will need:

Normally Closed mechanically switched 3.5mm Jack (available from ebay for £1.79)

80-200 ohm resistor

Wiring (I used about 2m of 22awg wiring)

Multimeter

Soldering iron and solder


So this is the 3.5mm aux connector


5 pins out the back


So these are the connectors and pin outs, wire colours will obviously be different to yours. I just used whatever I had at hand



All soldered up


To make wiring in the radio simpler, I soldered a 100 ohm to the end of the yellow source wire and then soldered that to the green wire running to the source wire on the potentiometer.


The potentiometer controls the on/off, volume and tone on this radio there are 3 pins, one is the source, the middle is for the volume control and the third is the ground.


The three vertical pins on the top left are for the potentiometer. Using the multimeter I found the lowest pin to be the ground wire. The middle is always for the volume control so by elimination the top pin was the source.


What needs to be done is the wire running to the source needs to be disconnected (use a sharp knife or screwdriver to break the copper wire on the motherboard). PIN 3 (white/black wire) needs to be soldered on the tuner side of this broken connection, and pins 2 and 5 need to be soldered onto the potentiometer side of the broken connection. The earth should be soldered to the earth (durr)


Test both aux and the radio. With the lead plugged in it should automatically play from the aux, when removed it will switch to the radio. 


Put the kettle on, have a brew and then refit your radio!

Nice guide mat. You seem to know what your up to with electrical boards

I did the guide for the din lead for old blaupukts 

Cheers mate, I wish I knew a bit more though 

i really fancy tring to DAB one somehow

Just what I need, thanks

Well that's bloody good

Sooner or later someone will start producing retro looking DAB car radios. Has anyone found one yet?

Tall bloke said

Sooner or later someone will start producing retro looking DAB car radios. Has anyone found one yet?

Over here, they make a wide variety of replacements including a "Chevy" "WonderBar"… but they are pricey.

Classic Car Radio - Classic Car Stereo | ClassicCarStereos.com

Vintage Radios for Classic Cars

Just two that come to mind.