Thread: Nokia e51: Car Cradle with Antenna Coupler now Available

People, those of you who have bought a Nokia e51 from Telstra (3.5G / GSM dual mode phone) may be interested to know that Force Electronics have finally released a car cradle for it which incorporates an antenna coupler which has a cable terminated with an FME connector to enable the use of an external antenna. I believe the coupler is optimised for 850MHz operation.

There is a bit of variation in pricing but I got mine from eXpansys for just under $90 including P&P and delivered via Australian Air Express.

The cradle includes a substantial swivel mount (I've yet to figure out how I'll mount it in the SI Disco beside the tweeter in the driver's side door pillar trim where I had the cradle for my 6310i stuck to the windscreen (it kept falling off periodically with the heat of the sun on the adhesive!).

The cradle includes a battery charge plug and there is a socket for the standard (small pin) Nokia charger on the back of the cradle to fit your car charger to. It also includes a USB plug with a corresponding socket on the side of the cradle. The presence of these two plugs does make fitting the phone to the cradle a bit tricky and I don't think you would successfully 'home' the phone in a rush without damaging a connector - care will be needed.

(Edit) I have now found a button on the LHS which flips the base forward to make it easier to insert the phone, after which you push the phone back against the coupler. Push it again to remove the phone. I'll still be taking great care not to risk damaging the connectors though.

You still need a Bluetooth car kit such as the Nokia CK7W to make it work completely handsfree - I picked up one on fleaBay for $100.

I'll update the thread when I have it installed and working and post some photos.

By the way I was very pleased with the coverage I had with the Nokia e51 during our recent road trip from Adelaide to Hervey Bay and back (up through Bathhurst / Wisemans Ferry and the Pacific Highway and back inland via Ballina / Armidale etc. (We didn't enjoy the traffic and roadworks on the Pacific Hwy!)

I have now installed the Nokia CK7w car kit and convinced it to pair with my e51 via Bluetooth.

The CK7W install was relatively easy as I already had accessory and permanently live 12V feeds in the area under the steering wheel left over from the car kit I had installed for my 6310i & 6385. The CK7W appears to be effectively the same box of tricks with Bluetooth and the remote "Button" (with scroll wheel ring) added. Apart from these 2 feeds it only needs an earth, and I used my original speaker down on the console and original mic in the instrument binnacle for audio.

It supplies a radio mute as well - anyone know if it's possible to use this with the Eurovox radio? Hints? I haven't researched this bit yet.

I had to download the car kit manual from the Nokia website to make it all work and getting the phone to pair with the car kit took a number of attempts. I needed to know the security code for Bluetooth and found it in the PDF manual - it's 0000 (4 zeroes).

I was planning on marrying a cigar lighter (5V) charger with the lead from a mains charger to provide charge volts for the cradle and visited a Strathfield store to get the bits. It had occurred to me that the HF5 control box has the 5V available on the (16pin) connector which would normally feed the Nokia cradle carrying audio, control, etc but I wouldn't be able to use it. Good news! I spoke to the Strathfield installer and he happened to have a Nokia supplied cable which has the 16-pin connector on one end and just the small diameter charge plug for the e51 on the other (and the price was right, but I don't know if that's the normal price as it was kind of surplus to his requirements). So charging is all sorted.

Next step is to mount the cradle which I've decided to glue to the windscreen beside the A-Pillar tweeter where I had my 6310 cradle. It's proving to be a bit tricky but I'll post some photos when I get it done, if it will help others with similar intentions.