requesting ideas - rj45 jack found

[jano]

Hey,

I've pulled out the seats for a deap cleaning and super de-squeek-athon in my '94 e500, and in doing so, discovered that there's an rj45 jack/cable under the driver's seat. I'm assuming this is part of the phone system. This is very exciting. It all appears to be standard wiring that one can find in network cables, and if that's going into the arm rest, then I bet the wiring could easily be pulled and crimped into the cable (this brings back horrible memories from my network engineering days *shudder*)

So..................... I'm open to ideas what to do with this!

One thought was to attach a cheap laptop under the seat, and put a controlling gizmo into the arm rest for one purpose or another.

Or, perhaps, find a way to do audio over network?

Next question - this jack it connects to on the car part, where does it then lead? Into the back of the radio, or across over to the passenger side where the phone used to be, or some hub somewhere in the middle that splits out the connection from the passenger side to the radio? The PO left the jack entry on that side, so if it's a direct connection though a hub, I bet something could be mounted there.

- insert dave's little sherlock smiley, too lazy to look for it!

[jano]

I've seen plenty of questions asking about that microphone built into the system, as well as the whole audio thing - dude, a hands free system could potentially be a reality here. Hmmm.

[Glen]

Sounds like the cable for the phone handset. The other end should terminate in the well behind the left rear wheel. As far as I know, it's just a straight cable, not twisted pair so it won't work as a network patch cord for anything faster than 10 Mbit, probably unreliable at that.

[jano]

Hmmm, well, I'm not giving up that easy :)

I'm a little confused now. Why is there a phone cable going into the armrest, and a spot where a phone used to sit on the front passenger's side? Were there two phones in these cars, or perhaps a third part phone added later? I have read here that the phones had been mounted on the passenger side for 94 models, but why then is there a place for the phone in the armrest?

[gerryvz]

The factory phone (as installed by dealers) resided in the armrest. Aftermarket phones installed by phone installers often were placed on the passenger or driver's side of the console. My car is a 1994 model and had a factory phone installed in the armrest. I removed it and everything from the trunk. The only thing still in the car is the mic/handsfree buttons above the rear view mirror.