When I bought the new iPhone I FULLY expected to be able to plug it into my existing iPhone cradle and have it magically work. Silly Clay…that would be too easy. I detailed out my original iPhone car integration here.
The new iPhone is about an 1/8 of an inch wider that the first one which means the cradle from ProClip is useless. I was able to get in touch with someone at ProClip who told me they would have a new cradle, but not for a couple of months. If you know me, you know that I don’t have that kind of patience. Enter the Dremel tool! I was able to carve out some plastic and spead it out with some plastic spacers. Worked excellent, but I will still buy the right one when it comes out. This works for now.
So, I plugged her into my existing USASpec iPod to Car interface kit. The iPhone tells me that the device I have plugged it into not only doesn’t support charging, but it also may interfere with my radio and space alien communication (ok, that last part isn’t exactly true). After a little research on the Apple discussion forums, someone pointed me to a recent MacWorld article that states:
“We learned a while back that iPhone 3G doesnt support charging via FireWire. The thing is, there are lots of devices out there that dont actually have a FireWire port, but are technically FireWire chargers because theyre sending power on the dock-connector pins that were used for power by the FireWire interface. There are a lot of reasons for this, chief among them the fact that the FireWire spec allows as much a 18 volts, while USB is a 5-volt connection. Since cars provide 12 volts of power, many if not most car-chargers used the FireWire method to send power.
However, in the interests of space and simplicity (i.e., not having to engineer for two separate power paths), Apple has dropped support for FireWire charging with the iPhone 3G. This means that many accessories wont charge an iPhone 3G. Borchers said that Apple gave accessory developers a strong hint that this was going to happen a while ago, but he said that some companies have continued to implement FireWire-based chargers despite the warning.”
So basically, my old car adapter was using the “old” charging method. Lucky for me, my USASpec iPod car interface has 2 RCA plugs for auxillary in. I decided to look for a car adapter that would not only charge my new iPhone, but have an auxillary out. There is one that I found. The Kensington LiquidAUX for iPhone. I ordered it from the online Apple store (local store didn’t have it). I plugged it in, ran the aux out to the aux in on the USASpec and the angels sang. Works perfectly…almost.
Ever since I’ve had this USASpec iPod to car interface I get a really annoying whine when I accelerate my car. I know this is a grounding issue, but I never put much time into investigating it. Well, it seems to be louder with this new solution, so I did my research. Apparently I need something called a Ground Loop Isolator. This basically fixes any humming when there is a ground loop…whatever that is. I went to my local Radio Shack and picked one up for under $20. Hooked her up and NO MORE FREAKING BUZZ! I love it!
Thanks strangers on the Internet!
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