amazemeid

I have iPod kit for my W203, and connected to my COMAND. I normally leave my iPod in glove compartment and it has been almost a year. Last week the iPod gave me an error message, I could not have the iPod working anymore. Opened the glove compartment and I discovered the iPod casing was slightly opened and the LCD cracked. I brought the iPod to Apple service center, and discovered that the battery was overheated and bloated which pushing the LCD and cracking it. Apparently, they said that the iPod has been "overcharged" and been put on "charging mode" for too long and was overheated. A very rare case for iPod to happen (at least from my Apple CS).

Question: anybody knows if the MB iPod kit suppose to be on "off from charging" if I am not using it or when the car is switched off? Mine seems "always-on" all the time.

If it is a true case that it is an "always-on" condition, I hope you guys who use iPod kit are aware on this potential problem for your iPod if you're leaving it connected all the time. Took me a year, and the iPod is completely broken.

Skylaw

I can't speak for the MB iPod kit - but the Dension Gateway 500 originally offered charging options of 1) no charging, 2) charge only when the head unit was on, and 3) charge for 2 hours after HU turned off. On some cars (BMWs in particular) the last option caused the fiber optic bus not to shut down, and the car's battery could be drained completely. As a result, Dension deleted the options, and makes the default charging while the HU is on. The problem wasn't the iPod itself, but conflicts between the Dension firmware and the BMW firmware.

You might want to check charging options, if such are available, for your MB ipod kit. It is definitely possible to overcharge a battery and damage electronics (including having the battery burst into flames or explode).

Alternatively, there could have been a problem with the iPod battery charging circuitry, or with the battery itself. I have one iPod that I leave on a charger base (which also feeds into my home audio system) - and have not experienced the problem. I may revisit leaving it on the base all the time, however, after your experience. However, if your iPod was less than a year old, it may still have been under warranty. Contact Apple.

Please let us know if the MB iPod kit will allow resetting charging options.

amazemeid

Thanks Skylaw. I replaced the iPod with new one today, works, and confirmed that I have an always on charging. I will visit my MB workshop to see if there's a feature to disable this.