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iPhone 3G not charging in BMW with BMW factory kit

When I plug my iphone 3G into my BMW factory integration kit it does not charge the phone. All other functions work fine. The phone does charge if I charge it with using the A/C adapter. Any known issues with this? Could the iPhone be defective?

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.4), iPhone 3G

Posted on Jul 12, 2008 7:49 PM

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69 replies

Jul 12, 2008 9:33 PM in response to alexznj

Apple Support Site wrote:
(Note: iPhone 3G does not support FireWire and will not charge from any FireWire-based power source.)


The phone's hardware has changed and as such it has pretty specific requirements for it's power source. Turning off the radios (ie: Airplane mode) will have no effect on the issue. I imagine we'll see some 3rd part adapters on the market in the coming months because of this issue.

I have a DICE SilverLine iPod integration kit in my 2001 BMW M3 and it will play & control the iPhone but will not charge it.

Jul 12, 2008 9:55 PM in response to fonnas

I used mine in two different cars every day for the past year and it's been fine as well, but if you remember over the past year there were a lot of stories about premature battery failure with iPhones. Could have been bad batteries or bad design, or it could have had an outside cause like poorly designed accessories.

Not sure how Apple redesigning their product could be much of a monopoly with the car charger market seeing as how they don't (and never have to my knowledge) sold an iPhone automotive charger. The last thing Apple wants is for lots of stories to come out about product incompatibilities, all that does is creative negative hype against their products.

Jul 12, 2008 10:10 PM in response to alexznj

I'm pretty sure (and the iPhone 3G not charging all but confirms it) that the internal components are still more or less Firewire based though, regardless of it still having an auxillary jack & USB port. At the time when Apple & BMW worked together on the integration kits Apple was still pushing Firewire quite a bit and hadn't started to force folks into USB yet, that didn't occur until about a year and a half later.

I'm in the same boat as you though and it *****, I hate having to charge my phone whenever I'm near a computer. Give it a few weeks or so and surely a 3rd party will step up with an adapter for just this kind of situation. It's not just affecting car integration but the majority of electronic 3rd party iPod/iPhone accessories.

Jul 12, 2008 10:26 PM in response to A A P L

Not slamming anyone, just pointing out all the information I have. In the BMW all I see is USB, I don't see firewire. If the circuitry did change Apple should have made this known publicly. Its not on any web site I've seen and no one at the Apple store said anything even though I brought my first gen iPhone with me when I made the 3G purchase.

Anyway, I'm going to call the car dealer on Monday to see if there is a replacement adapter coming soon.

iPhone 3G not charging in BMW with BMW factory kit

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