iPhone 3G not charging in BMW with BMW factory kit

Folks, it appears an adapter may soon be on the way.

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/ridax-offering-iphone-3g-charge-c onverter/

Ridax offering iPhone 3G Charge Converter

By Charles Starrett
Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Wednesday, July 30, 2008
News Category: iPhone Accessories



Ridax, a company that sells various iPod Dock Connector accessories, has begun taking pre-orders for its iPhone 3G Charge Converter. The small accessory, the design of which is still being finished, will allow iPhone 3G owners to use older iPod and iPhone charging accessories that are currently incompatible with the 3G to charge the device by converting the power stream to suit the iPhone 3G. It will feature both male and female connectors, as well as a mini USB connector on the side to provide a way to charge the device when connected to a non-charging, Dock Connector-equipped accessory, and will also function as a short Dock extender. Ridax’s iPhone 3G Charge Converter will be available in September for $40; those who want the device sooner can pre-order a $45 “bare” version which will ship in August, followed by the plastic cover which will arrive in September. There is no guarantee that the converter will be safe to use with all accessories, so use caution in ordering.

This is bad. Hopefully this can be solved with a firmware upgrade for iPhone 3G later on.

For your information I have bought the iPhone snap-in adapter for the Bluetooth kit for my old iPhone and I borrowed an iPhone 3G yesterday and the snap-in adapter charges 3G model too. Thats good! But no contact list in iDrive through bluetooth - no good! Maybe this will be fixed too.

Here is a link: Note that you only get charge and aerial improvement - nothing more:
http://blog.scoopz.com/2008/02/15/official-bmw-iphone-snap-in-adapter-cradle-pic s-2/

Sledge

I have an iPhone 3G and a 2007 BMW 530xi. I also have the BMW factory snap-in-adapter for the iPhone, but unfortunately it's for the original iPhone. The iPhone 3G will fit in the snap-in-adapter, but you have to jam it in, I'm concerned that I may crack the iPhone screen if I'm not careful. When you press the eject button, it won't eject unless you pull the phone out. The old iPhone worked perfectly with the BMW snap-in-adapter, easy insertion and easy eject. The new iPhone 3G is slightly thicker in the middle compared to the original iPhone, which is why it does not fit well in the BMW snap-in-adapter. The iPhone 3G does seem to be charging when inserted into my snap-in-adapter.

The other problem I'm having is terrible echo in a 2007 BMW X5 when connected via Bluetooth. I have a lot less echo in my 2007 BMW 530xi. Yesterday I visited a local BMW dealer and they said they've received a number of complaints about echo with the iPhone 3G using Bluetooth, but the old iPhone did not have the same echo problem.

I just came back from my BMW dealer. They replaced my old Y cable with a new one and now my iPhone 3G charges fine. He said BMW brought this new cable to address the charging issues.

My dealer knew nothing about the issue. Do you have a contact number for your dealer or part number so i can inform my dealer. Thanks

If anyone is adventurous I wrote some basic instructions for a DIY mod in this post:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=7816271#7816271

William.

Classic BMW, Plano Texas.
Check with the parts department.

The original Y-adapter cable was part # 61120440645. The new one, that I received in my 2008 X5 which charges just fine, is part # 61120440796. I got this in Nov 2007.

You can see which cable you have by looking at the (hard to read) part # printed on it. Mine is "0 440 796" (which are the 7 digits of the actual part #).

Is the "Y" adapter cable your referring to part of the iPhone installation kit / snap-in-adapter kit located under the armrest of a BMW X5?

Contrary to the statement on the BMW web site, the charging is done on the firewire pins, not the usb pins.

That's why it doesn't work. QED. How much more proof do you need?

The only thing the bmw kit uses the usb pins for is playback.

Its a BMW cable problem. Iphone will charge on a $19 car charger. How much did you pay for that BMW kit?

William, read your post on a DYI approach to this problem. I have a factory kit on my MBZ. I understand your approach on the 12v to 5v side but I must be missing something on how to identify the data conductors in the factory kit cable and in the Apple USB to dock cable. How many data conductors are there and how does one match them up working from only one end of a cable? Could you amplify a bit on this point? I'm technically proficient and have the necessary tools but not sure just how you went about identifying the data conductors. I guess I should note that I know how to use continuity testers....not the issue.

How many data conductors are there and how does one match them up working from only one end of a cable?

Well you look up the specs of a standard USB cable connector that is on one
end of the iPhone cable so you know what those are used for.

http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml

Your trace those to the other end of the of the standard iphone connector, where there are 5 wires, so that gives you an idea of what the iphone wants on each of those pins.

Then you use William's wiring tips to make sure those pins of your car's kit carry the appropriate signal.

The little wall wart that Apple supplies has voltage on more than just the positive and negative USB leads. That voltage is what tells the iphone to charge. On a computer they do this with a data command, but the wall wart is not that bright. Meter the pins on the standard Iphone cable when plugged into the wall wart, and make sure you never exceed what it is supplying.

RIDAX has announced that they will begin shipping the Iphone 3g Charge Converter (adapter). I have mine on order, so i can't verify if it works yet.

http://home.swipnet.se/ridax/connector.htm?connipod.htm

I am having the same problem...my old ipods work well with the connection but the iphone wont charge or play!! Any updates on an adapter??