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Dension IceLink Won't Charge 3G iPhone

conshok26

conshok26

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 10, 2006
486
59
North Tonawanda, NY
I just put my 3G iPhone into my Dension IceLink and I got a message that it cannot charge my 3G iPhone. It worked fine with my previous iPhone and this makes me sad. While listening to MacBreak Weekly today I heard Leo mention that this was a known issue that some 3rd party accessories would not charge the iPhone and they would be selling an adapter. Has anyone heard the same thing?
 
I just got off the phone with a enthusiastic and helpful rep at Apple about this, unfortunately the engineering team doesn't actually talk to the support reps. He was sure that there had been changes to the battery and subsequently the power function of the 30 pin dock connector on the 3g iPhone, but had yet to be informed of any specifics. He did mention an adaptor but couldn't find reference to any, which I will need for my car iPod dock connector hook-up. It worked fine with a gen 1 iPhone but will sadly not power my iPhone 3g (data still works, weirdly). Anyone else have any info on this?
 
PS, in my humble opinion this should be stickied NOW. This is a HUGE issue that no one seems to really talk about. They completely changed how power gets to the phone and failed to mention it to ANYONE... this is almost as bad as the recessed headphone jack.
 
I am glad I am not the only person having issues with this!

I attempted to use my DICE iPod Adaptor in my BMW and the music comes through fine but the iPhone 3G says that the accessory is not compatible and cannot charge.

Frustrating! :mad:
 
I'm having the exact same problem with my Grundig GCR001IP. It won't charge the iPhone, despite the sound coming through. I sincerely hope there can be an adapter.
 
My Icelink Plus v2 with the 2b5 update from early 2008 connected to a BMW factory unit won't charge my iPhone either. However it does fade my music on an incomming call, and even plays the ringtone through the car speakers. But after answering the call the speakers are silent. DAMN!

So 2 problems:
1. charging
2. voice through car speakers

When both are fixed I'm one happy MF! :)
 
Amazing that they would change the way the power is ran to the new phone. A whole new racket for new accessories. It is not almost as bad as the recessed phone jack, it's worse! Tons of people paid a great deal of money to get their iPhone integrated in their cars and now some of them may be useless.
Sucks for people.
 
I don't have the balls to hook mine up to try it.

I do remember reading something about there are two pins on the connector that can charge the iPod. One was used for FW charging and the other for USB. Most 3rd party vendors used the FW pin with their products, but the iPhone 3G doesn't support this pin. Any truth to my failing memory? I guess I could try my old ipod FW cable to confirm.
 
This is the issue:

The first generation phone charged thru a firewire connection, the new 3g phone charges thru a usb2.0 connection. That essentially means that any device that charges the old phone, will no longer charge the new 3g phone.

A necessary change? Who knows.
 
GOOD NEWS! :D

I talked to a DICE Tech Support Representative on the phone today and they recognize the problem and are planning to release an updated cable to fix the problem! He said it should come out in 1-2 months.

It is kind of annoying I am going to have to re-install the new cable but at least our problem is fixed! Also means we should have compatibility with future iPods that are USB only.
 
james2538 said:
GOOD NEWS! :D

I talked to a DICE Tech Support Representative on the phone today and they recognize the problem and are planning to release an updated cable to fix the problem! He said it should come out in 1-2 months.

It is kind of annoying I am going to have to re-install the new cable but at least our problem is fixed! Also means we should have compatibility with future iPods that are USB only.
Click to expand...

That's great.

DICE = Dension?
 
Hack a cable yourself?!

I think I will make my own ;)
Here's the pinout of the iPod connector btw:

http://pinouts.ru/PortableDevices/ipod_pinout.shtml

So I will need a USB iPod cable (since it's got the correct wires connected) and a regulator to bring down the voltage from 12V to 5V. Like this http://www.iguanalabs.com/7805kit.htm

I'm no EE, but will try to create such a cable, because I'm not waiting for any 3rd party vendors to fix this in the next couple of weeks. Especially not Dice or Dension :mad:
 
I man'd up and tried it. Same error here with iceLinkPlus with Cradle mount. Guess I am SOL :mad:

Might try that carputer project a little ahead of schedule, or stick to using my 40Gb iPod Photo :)
 
BamBAM42 said:
I think I will make my own ;)
Here's the pinout of the iPod connector btw:

http://pinouts.ru/PortableDevices/ipod_pinout.shtml

So I will need a USB iPod cable (since it's got the correct wires connected) and a regulator to bring down the voltage from 12V to 5V. Like this http://www.iguanalabs.com/7805kit.htm

I'm no EE, but will try to create such a cable, because I'm not waiting for any 3rd party vendors to fix this in the next couple of weeks. Especially not Dice or Dension :mad:
Click to expand...

Please let us know if you're successful. I'm also considering building my own IceLink cable, as it's very annoying that it doesn't charge the iPhone 3G.

There are iPod-style connectors available to purchase here: http://home.swipnet.se/ridax/connector.htm. The problem for me is the actual cable. I need a thin, flexible cable with enough conductors for the USB power, USB ground, ID, Tx, Rx, serial ground, audio ground, line out left and line out right signals. I imagine most commercial USB iPod cables only carry the USB power/ground/data signals.

The IceLink circuit board might even have a 5V supply on it somewhere already. When I have some time I'll poke around with the multimeter.
 
delroy666 said:
Please let us know if you're successful. I'm also considering building my own IceLink cable, as it's very annoying that it doesn't charge the iPhone 3G.

There are iPod-style connectors available to purchase here: http://home.swipnet.se/ridax/connector.htm. The problem for me is the actual cable. I need a thin, flexible cable with enough conductors for the USB power, USB ground, ID, Tx, Rx, serial ground, audio ground, line out left and line out right signals. I imagine most commercial USB iPod cables only carry the USB power/ground/data signals.

The IceLink circuit board might even have a 5V supply on it somewhere already. When I have some time I'll poke around with the multimeter.
Click to expand...

OK, on the first try I wasn't succesful. The stuff I got:
- LM7805 (or something...)
- Mini DIN connector (9 pins)
- UTP cable (with hard copper wire)

I ordered the connector (http://home.swipnet.se/ridax/connector.htm) from Ridax (already found them ;) and can tell you that they are great. Within a week I got them in the mail. No need to sign papers with the postman.

My iPod did not charge and did not play on the dension. It went in and out of dension mode continuously. Also the iPhone did not charge. So I figure I made a mistake somewhere. Things that are difficult:

1. The circuit for bringing down the voltage had to be outside the dension device since I don't want to modify it.
2. You also need a circuit to signal the iPhone and iPod that charging using USB is possible.
3. The UTP cable does fit, but is far to thick in my oppinion. For testing it's ok though.
4. Soldering the UTP cable threads on the iPod connector won't work, so I used isolated wire.
 
mpuck972 said:
This is the issue:

The first generation phone charged thru a firewire connection, the new 3g phone charges thru a usb2.0 connection. That essentially means that any device that charges the old phone, will no longer charge the new 3g phone.

A necessary change? Who knows.
Click to expand...
Nearly true. The original done both (because you plugged the original into the USB port in your PC), I think they moved away from firewire, which is a shame. I have 2 chargers, one that charges via firewire, one via usb, both worked with the original iPhone, now one doesn't. Sadly, it was the one that double up as an FM transmitter that doesn't work.
 
Jaguar XF Won't Charge 3G iPhone

I have owned the first gen. iphone for about 9 months. I just upgraded to the 3G. I was so disappointed to get the charging error message when I plugged the new phone into my 2009 Jaguar XF's integrated iPod dock. My old iphone worked great with the system. I could access music straight from the vehicle’s display while charging the phone. Now the battery runs down quickly while listening to music and talk. On a long trip the G3 is useless. A converter adapter that would make the 3G charge while allowing all other connections to stay the same would be great!
 
BamBAM42 said:
My iPod did not charge and did not play on the dension. It went in and out of dension mode continuously. Also the iPhone did not charge. So I figure I made a mistake somewhere. Things that are difficult:
...
2. You also need a circuit to signal the iPhone and iPod that charging using USB is possible.
Click to expand...

That's excellent progress. Did you try putting a resistor on pin 21? (across pin 21 and 5V or GND, I'm not sure) According to this iPod pinout page, a 500KOhm on this pin will enable IceLink Plus serial comm. You may also have to put a resistor on pins 25 and 27 to 'tell' it to charge using the USB power pins.

Does the LM8705 get very hot?
 
delroy666 said:
That's excellent progress. Did you try putting a resistor on pin 21? (across pin 21 and 5V or GND, I'm not sure) According to this iPod pinout page, a 500KOhm on this pin will enable IceLink Plus serial comm. You may also have to put a resistor on pins 25 and 27 to 'tell' it to charge using the USB power pins.

Does the LM8705 get very hot?
Click to expand...

I know about the serial signal, and figured the dension would do this, but I think Dension has put this resistor in the iPod connector end of their cable. I dare not take that one apart. That might explain it going in and out of dension mode. But my main focus whas on getting USB charging going first. That did not work yet, so I have to try again.

The LM8705 does not get very hot at all, I can still touch it. The dension has got one inside it as well, which gets hot, but is also still touchable. I don't know what will happen if the iPhone is pulling some 500mA current to charge.

It will take at least one more weak I think before I have time to try again.
 
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