bjay51d

I like to hold my ipod so the cable works for me.

Im pretty siked I down loaded dave chappelles block party last night.Now im down loading every episode of the the family guy already converted to mp4.

Saijin_Naib

BECKER! OE for the win. Sorry guys, but the Apline HU look just ugly in our cars, or in any car for that matter. They never look right... Fugly design

bjay51d

cant co-sighn on that one

shahedC

I have been overwhelmed with 7 CDs , local radio and Sirius radio... and I don't even own an iPod. I had the first Diamond Rio MP3 player, and haven't purchased an MP3 player since...

Maybe I should get the iPod integration kit?

I do have an Aux cable, so I am thinking of getting an iPod and connecting it to the Aux input... but will the SLK's glove compartment be able to hold an iPod and the short Aux cable.

(sorry, I'm in the E forum... but some of you may know the SLK glovebox size...)

MediumKahuna

iPods connect for sync and charge in two ways USB and Firewire. USB is 4 wires: 2 for data and 2 for power. Firewire is 6 wires: 4 for data and 2 for power. In either case, the iPod draws its power from the thing its connected to (like USB or Firewire port on a PC).

Look at the dock connector. It has a zillion pins: 4 for USB, 6 for Firewire, 4 for audio out, and a bunch more for audio in, video out, data for a remote and god knows what else.

That's a lot of pins and a lot of wires if the cable has a wire for each pin which they don't. The cables only have wires (and usually only have pins) for the signals they are using. Example: a USB sync/charge cable only has 4 wires in it (and probably only 4 pins in the iPod dock connector). So you can't get Audio Out from that cable, the wires just aren't there. However if you put power on the two USB power wires, the ipod will run off it.

USB power is regulated (exactly) 5 Volts DC so you can't just connect it to your car's 12V. The device that the USB end of the cable is plugged into is supposed to provide the regulated 5 Volts. Usually this is a computer and the computer's power supply makes the 5 Volts from the 110V AC it gets from being plugged into a household wall socket. If you want to use one these USB setups (like this one) then you have to add a 12V to 5V converter (not a big deal).

The iPod can also be powered off a Firewire (also called 1394) connection. Firewire power is less restictive than USB but I'm not sure if you can just connect it to a car's 12V system. In any case, your cable would have to connect to the Firewire power pins on the iPod dock connector which it most likely won't unless it can plug into a firewire port on a PC.

If you get a cable/dock with a cigarette lighter plug on it then you know it has what's needed to power the iPod from 12V. You crack it apart, extract the guts, and hardwire it to radio power.

If you get a cable/dock with a USB connection you need to add a 12V to 5V converter which I will look for right now but will probably be less than $20

In either it has to have audio out (like a place to plug in earphones) so that you know it has wires and dock pins for audio out. Only a stupid noob would have his iPod slip into a cradle and then have to plug in another cable for the audio.

Bigpete123

Wow, i'd say once every few months or so I come accross a post that truly teaches me something. Don't get me wrong, I like talking about opinions and preferences. But the information in this post is fantastic. Thanks for posting that.

So then my question becomes this. From a USB cable with only audio and power cabling, how do you identify which is which (R/L, +/- for audio out, and +/- for power)? What I would like to do is take something like the usb cable that comes with the ipod and covert it so that it will connect to my HU's auxiliary inputs and connect to a 12v to 5v power converter (which would run on a relay connected to the power on/remote signal from my head unit).

The advantage simply being that it will charge my ipod on long road trips without having to use a bulky cigarette lighter attachment. Even then, it may not be worth the effort. But definitely interesting.

Thanks again for the information.

mgw_300e

Yeah, thanks for the info. I'm still tryin to figure out what direction to go in.

MediumKahuna

Ok I've been scowering the web till my boss is about to fire me and I this is what I got concerning W124 owners and iPods:

There's 2 ways to go: head unit control and mounted iPod.
Head unit control is where the iPod is hidden away somewhere, connected to and controlled by your car stereo. There's no adaptor available to gracefully do this with the stock radios in 124s. You will have to get a modern, high dollar radio to make this work. It's possible to make such an adaptor (I could make one but big job) but I can't find it and I doubt it will ever happen.

The mounted iPod has a cradle mounted somewhere convenient for the driver to control the iPod directly. The cradle has an iPod docking connector in the bottom so when you drop the iPod in the cradle, all the necessary connections to the iPod are made. A cable runs from the cradle to the back of the head unit where it connects to 12V power (probably with power converter) and the Aux input of the head unit. If the head unit does not have Aux (or CD player) input then a Wired FM Transmitter stuffed behind the head unit is used to get the audio into the head unit.

I'm still looking, but I have not found a cradle with docking connector and cable that does exactly what you want for a mounted iPod but one can be made by combining/moding available pieces and is sure to cost less than $100 maybe less than $50

So what are the best pieces to start with and how do you mod them?
I can and will answer this question over my next few posts.

MediumKahuna

OK I think I found it, Its called an Active Cradle. Requires no modding
Active Cradle for Nano iPod


They don't show the connections but I bet they're the same as this


Which is 2 RCA plugs for your Aux inputs and two wires (red and black) for power (which I assume is 12Volts).

The thing I don't know is how to mount the cradle in my Benz. I'm hoping somebody else will figure that out.

I've seen several Active Cradles that are meant to plug into Heads Unit Adaptors (this one is for an Ice Link unit I believe) but this is the first one I've seen sold seperately.

myfirstbenz

That's really cool, but 50Brittish Pounds Sterling?!!! that's like $800 USD

MediumKahuna

no its $84.17

here's another
Active cradle 39Pounds ($70)


These iPod active cradles are meant to be used with car stereo adaptors but any can be modded to work for a mounted iPod some have "Aux adaptors" so don't need mods

None sold seperately in us that I can find - is all UK

You could also start with just about any of the "home" iPod docks but I don't think the home units hold the iPod securely enough for car use.

MediumKahuna

mgw, I figured out how your non-stock head still uses the fader on the center console:
The stock stereo is a two piece: head and amps. The fader is connected to the amps. Somebody swapped out the head but kept the amp (that's still hooked up to the fader).

So, you can do the same thing, just swap out the head. You don't need an amp(s) which will save you a few bucks on a new system. Get a head unit that can completely run your ipod from the head unit's display/controls and stuff the iPod in the glovebox. Probably $500 minumum.

If you don't have the cash and don't like the (pricy) active cradles I found (above), I can still show you how to mod a "home" dock (like the one you found) for drop-in connectivity in a car.
But I'm not sure your nano won't flee on the first bump you hit.