I figured I'd go ahead and mention that I'm new here. I've been googling for hours and I can't seem to find anyone who wants to do what I'm wanting to do. You guys are smart people, so I figured I'd ask you. I'm not that big of an electronics noob, but let's just assume that I am for the most part. Right. Well. Okay. Here's my problem. I'm going to be building an iPod dock connector with lineout + power (using the FireWire connections) so that I can plug into the aux in on a new head unit I'm getting. I want to do it this way because I don't want the head unit to lock my iPod so I can't use it. I could spend $30-40 on the iPod cable for the head unit and cut off the Tx/Rx lines, but I don't know if the head unit would play the iPod like it should. Anyways. Since my car provides +15V or so in the cigarette lighter, what's the best way to steal that power for my iPod? I'd like the cigarette lighter to still function. I'm thinking that I should be able to take the positive lead, splice it, run one lead to the cigarette lighter and the other to the iPod power connection, and take the negative/ground lead and run it to the ground lead from the iPod dock. From my googling, I can tell that I need an inline fuse of some kind on the positive lead before it hits the iPod. So, here are my questions: 1) Is my idea sane and logical? Will things catch fire or otherwise cease to work if I make the positive lead to the cigarette lighter go to the cigarette lighter and the FireWire power input on my iPod and the negative lead go to my cigarette lighter and the FireWire negative input on my iPod (ground, or whatever it's called)? Or am I right? 2) What kind of fuse do I need? 5 amp, 2 amp, 10 amp, or what? Thanks in advance for your help. When I do this mod, I'll take plenty of pictures and document it and stuff. Because, surely more people than just me want to be able to do this cheaply, right?
well you got the right idea on getting the power. i can almost garantee that that the wire is +12V not +15V becouse the car batttery is a 12V. fuse is a good idea if only for protection. Fuse size would probably be < 1 amp since it is made to be charged via firewire. I'm not sure on the Voltages/amps in a firewirre line someone else will post it eventually but i know USB is +5V in the cable firewire is probably close to that so you'll have to drop your +12 to +5 or you most likely WILL kill the ipod (or the charger at least)
Oh, okay. Then yes the wire is +12V . I for some reason thought it was +15V. Anyways. FireWire accepts between 8V and 30V, and my Belkin car charger goes directly from the lighter to my iPod (and I doubt there's a fuse in between). I know I should be able to directly connect +12V to the FireWire line and be good (I have been googling for hours). My main question is whether or not I have a good idea on how that should be wired up (apparently I do). The other question is if I even need a fuse if the size fuse I need is so small. I'd hate for a short to happen and fry my iPod though.
I'm unsure of the voltage required by your iPod, but the main thing to note is that an automotive environment is very electrically noisy, so I'd immediately forget the idea of powering your iPod directly from your cigarette lighter supply. Ideally you should try to find yourself a DC-DC converter that'll accept the wide range of input voltages (maybe 7V while starting and usually 14.5V while running) to avoid damage to your iPod.
Couldn't I wire up my existing iPod charger to a second hidden cigarette lighter adapter (I'd have to make one) and run the firewire leads coming from it to the dongle I'll be making? The Belkin circuitry seems to work fine for all of the iPods I've plugged into it. Also, I'd mention that the iPod should be able to run off of 8V-30V via FireWire.
yes if you happy to canabolise it you sure can.. infact i'd just cut off the part that goes into the lighter socket and slice the wires directly into the wires going to the lighter socket. though to be saf i'd also break apart the cut off part and make sure there was no hidden voltage regulation or fuses in there.. or like you said. go to the auto parts store or radio shack etc... buy a lighter socket. and slice it in hidden somewhere.
Well, I'll crack it open and figure out how it works. If there's no fuse or anything like that (i.e. it's a direct car-to-iPod connection), I'll go with my original plan to just wire up the cigarette lighter adapter power to my iPod's firewire power pins in the dock connector. Otherwise, I'll install another cigaratte port, hide it behind the dash, and run the power leads from my iPod power adapter to the power leads on my custom built dock connector. That said, the iPod should be able to handle anything the car throws at it voltage-wise. FireWire operates 8V-30V, and I don't think cars get that low or high
yeah firewire runs at that range but do you want ur ipod to be toasted. if i remember right should ipod have maded an car adapter so try look after that if ur an electrician n00b
My cheapo iPod car charger from Belkin has a fuse in it. Going by how light it is, I don't think it contains any major electronics (nothing beyond a very cheap power stablizing thing, meaning a capacitor), but I've never cracked it open either. I think your safest bet would be to open up the lighter plug end, and just solder on leads to where the plug bit would be. Or just buy a $5 lighter socket from your local electronics place and put your leads on that instaed - basically what you just said. However a straight car battery to firewire is a bad idea.
If it's light it usually means it has a very efficient DC-DC buck-boost type converter which will accept voltage below and above the desired output voltage - quite a bit more sophisticated than a capacitor
BTW, am I correct in assuming that the tip is positive and the side springs are negative? In reference to the cigarette lighter connector. I think that I'll just solder some leads to the adaptor I have, cut off its dock connector after identifying the wires, and wire it to my dock connector. If anyone thinks this is a dumb idea or has another suggestion or something, feel free to suggest away ^_^. For everyone else, thanks .
cant you use a splitter?? found some @ ebay, buti guess you can get them from any car shop http://www.yagoda.nl/yagoda-advertenties/images/CarCharger Splitter/1.jpg
In theory yes, but it would require that I can use one of them to replace the existing cigarette lighter. You see, it'd look dumb to have a cord come out of one of them, then go back behind the stereo, and have another cord come out the bottom of the stereo and into my iPod. I'd like to just have the one cord.
i think this would be the simplist way buy a car conector for an ipod. strip it down take the cig input wires wire in a line fuse use teh same fuse that came with the unit spilce that into the cig socket have that behind the dash with teh ouput comeing out frm behind the stero.
Freedom: That's exactly what I had in mind, but shopping around at Wal-Mart, I couldn't find one cheap enough. Also, I kind of want to also have composite video output in case I ever get a video screen in my car. The current plan is: Splice the cigarette lighter connection into one visible (i.e. the current) adaptor, and one hidden adaptor, plug in the existing iPod cable I have to the hidden one, but with the positive and negative wires turned into quickconnects, and wire up my cable to those quickconnects and the back of my new stereo (which I'll be ordering next week). BTW -- if anyone wants to play with a dock connector, pick one up from Spark Fun Electronics.
