Trying to work Bosch smart radio in Campervan!

Brid Hegarty · 14-09-2022 6:24pm #1

I was told this should play whatever music is on a USB straight away once it's inserted, but it doesn't seem to. It just displays 'loading' for infinity, as below. It is mp3 tracks that I have on it. Could it be something to do with the USB key?

When I push the 'USB' button that's on the radio, it just displays as below, but I can't seem to move through the 'list' of files.

When I put my iPhone in, this is what came up. Because I was also wondering if I could play youtube music or internet radio off it. I haven't tried putting mp3 tracks on my iPhone (8), but I wonder would the smart radio be able to find (and play) them itself.

Thank you

Jim2007 · 15-09-2022 8:06am

As the person who knows, the person who told you.

Brid Hegarty · 15-09-2022 2:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119620556#Comment_119620556

Were you considering finishing that sentence when you typed it?

Can you help me or not?

Atlantic Dawn · 15-09-2022 2:37pm

Had similar problems myself, reason was that the USB stick needed to be formatted to FAT32 for the radio to play it. Another possible problem could be that the radio does not support a USB stick of that capacity, it may be limited to a smaller size. First thing I'd try is format it to FAT32, obvously backing up whatever you have on the drive first.

Brid Hegarty · 15-09-2022 3:00pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119622357#Comment_119622357

It's already as FAT32, so I don't know. The other options are exFAT, FAT (default) and NTFS. The capacity of my stick is 1.87GB.

Atlantic Dawn · 15-09-2022 3:49pm

Looking at it the design looks very old but Googling the model it appears to be around 2017/2018 so should have no issue with that stick you are trying, I've put 128GB sticks in 10 year old cars with the factory radios.

JamBur · 15-09-2022 3:52pm

possibly music needs to be in the root folder, as in not in nested folders. Put a song outside of all folders and test to see if that works

Jim2007 · 15-09-2022 8:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119622328#Comment_119622328

The best to ask is the person who told you it was possible! Why would you start with anyone?

Brid Hegarty · 16-09-2022 3:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119623651#Comment_119623651

I have, but he seemed to be acting very cold about it... wouldn't help me! Would that be because of something you said to him in the meantime???

Brid Hegarty · 16-09-2022 3:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119622642#Comment_119622642

Another strange thing about it, is that I can't play music from my phone when it's charging it.

L1011 · 16-09-2022 3:11pm

Charging will be using a power only mode and not enabling the data lines on the USB connector.

Brid Hegarty · 16-09-2022 3:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119627073#Comment_119627073

Oh right, but it ain't that way with any other charger!

Brid Hegarty · 21-10-2022 9:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119627073#Comment_119627073

I was able to trick it a few times somehow in my campervan. It played music while charging! I wonder why!

Brid Hegarty · 21-10-2022 9:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119623651#Comment_119623651

Well maybe I'm embarrassed to ask him! I'd have thought of it otherwise. Anyway, what did you mean by "as the person who knows the person"?

niallb · 22-10-2022 9:06am

What model number is it? This would be much easier with the manual!

When you say you can't play music while charging do you mean your phone makes no sound if you try to play or something else?

What's written on the stereo screen while you're charging the phone? That's really interesting.

It's possible your phone thinks it is playing music through the USB port. Android phones can be set to never do that, but have you cycled through the AUX and USB buttons while it's plugged in to see if you hear anything. You might try pressing each one twice to see if you get a choice like 3.5mm/USB, or USB data/USB audio. iPhones are more likely to work as an audio device through USB on older stereos.

Brid Hegarty · 22-10-2022 10:08am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119778339#Comment_119778339

I mean the phone (bluetooth speaker) makes no noise. I don't know what it says on the screen while it's charging. I must see yet.

The real issue is trying to get the USB music playing from the smart radio itself.

niallb · 22-10-2022 4:39pm

The Bluetooth connection might be phone only and no media. If that was the case I'd expect sound to come out of the phone itself though.

Good suggestions about trying an MP3 file in the root directory. You've said your USB stick is only 2GB, so it should be compatible with everything. If you're trying in this direction try formatting the USB as FAT33 as suggested and first copy just one song over and rename it testsong.mp3 . Some devices prefer to see only 8 characters before the extension.

Brid Hegarty · 29-01-2023 3:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119780014#Comment_119780014

I was talking to another guy with the same smart radio recently. He said you need a USB key with a speed of 3.0 to play music. I presume the ones I've tried are 2.0! That's all it is I'd say.