Hands free for noisy van and multiple drivers?

cormie

I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out the best solution for hands free calls in the vans as well as playing music from a phone for example. I've 5 different vehicles which are used by a few different guys, each with their own phones. I used to have a bluetooth earpiece for each van but they could only pair to so many phones and each one was recognised as the same connection so if you got into another van with a different ear piece, the phone thought it was trying to connect to another one. This didn't work anyway, so then I went with using a wired mic/headphones, just the typical pair you'd get with any new phone. This works the best in terms of connectivity, you just slot it into the 3.5mm jack and you're done, but the sound quality on calls isn't great and I'm not sure if this is down to cheap headphones/mic or what, plus, I now have a multitude of wires to untangle every time a call comes through and I'm not set up before the call as I have a 3.5 lead from the head unit to the phone too, and then a splitter so I only need to plug the one jack into the phone for both the head unit and handsfree connection :oops:

Now I'm thinking to make the whole thing wireless again, but to still have the connectivity of just being able to plug into a 3.5 jack.

This is what I'm thinking, but I'm not sure it will work:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00RKZNS9S/ref=s9_simh_gw_p23_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=09ZH434VW5HXCHEFQSJ7&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=455344027&pf_rd_i=468294
wireless bluetooth headphones and mic that rest around the back of the neck so no trailing wires around the steering wheel

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Receiver-Doosl-Portable-Wireless/dp/B00UL2SDX8/ref=sr_1_19?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1430034443&sr=1-19&keywords=bluetooth+receiver+3.5mm
bluetooth receiver that can plug into the PHONE 3.5 jack

The idea is that when a driver gets into the van, they sit their phone in the holder, stick the bluetooth receiver into the 3.5 jack, the wireless earphones around their neck and that's it. I'd need both the earphones and the head unit to connect with the receiver and this is the part I'm not sure will be possible as I don't know if it's possible to pair two items like the receiver and the earphones since neither have a screen to select a pair device.

These receivers are generally connected via bluetooth to the phone, but I want to use it to have the audio from the phone transmitted to both the head unit and the earphones via bluetooth, and taking the audio from the phone with its 3.5 jack. The receiver is generally used to plug into the head unit, not the phone.

Does anyone know if this would be possible or any other possible solutions to achieve the same results of a wire free, plug and play for each driver set up?

Luke92

Easiest solution Is go to aliexpress or some other website that sells cheap and generic, and buy a headset for each guy.

If they break or misplace they buy a new one.

Would that work for you?

cormie

Hehe, had this posted on another site and the exact same option was suggested, this is my reply:

Yeah that's an option too, but I'd much rather have everything in the vans ready to go, especially for myself as I hop between driving each van on a very regular basis and don't want to be remembering to bring my headset with me each time, I'd also prefer not to have to turn bluetooth on the phone on every time too, if my idea above works, it'll just be a case of stick the receiver in and go, no enabling, no pairing, everything set up for every driver already. The receiver says it can pair with 2 devices, I'm just not sure it's possible to pair it to a wireless headphone set and then the head unit too, if it is, I think it could be a sweet solution!

Sleeper12

Install a Parrot Bluetooth hands free car kit in each one. You can programme several different phones. So basically you hop in the van & it picks up your Bluetooth automatically.
The only issue I have had with them is if you have one of the other Van drivers in the passenger seat. Then it will use whatever phone was used last. This may not be the driver

cormie

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Install a Parrot Bluetooth hands free car kit in each one. You can programme several different phones. So basically you hop in the van & it picks up your Bluetooth automatically.
The only issue I have had with them is if you have one of the other Van drivers in the passenger seat. Then it will use whatever phone was used last. This may not be the driver

The vans are too noisy for this and sorry, another thing I forgot to mention is that I want privacy on the calls so not to have the calls over the speakers so in ear is essential too.

If my above idea works I think it would be perfect, but I can't imagine any way to pair two devices, each having no screen to select one another?

slimjimmc

Jaysus, the thought of sharing earphones/earbuds. Here's what the HSE say about sharing earplugs (similar)

Earplugs may cause ear infections. To avoid these problem disposable plugs should not be re-used often or shared and non-disposable plugs should be properly cleaned at regular and frequent intervals in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

Perhaps a single headphone headset similar to this would be be better:
http://www.slashgear.com/blueparrot-b250-xt-bluetooth-headset-promises-16-hours-talk-time-3067130/