Can you use iPhone with car stereo dock connectors?

I have just installed an Alpine unit in my truck. Works fine with the Ipod. I connected my iphone 3g today and managed to play music, but cannot charge the iphone, as I get an error message saying that the accessory is not compatable.

Many car systems use the firewire pins of the connector to charge the device, and the iPhone 3G cannot draw power from those.

If you have an alpine deck with the usb high speed connection it will charge the unit an play music!

That is what it is supposed to do, but it will not work. I have a new iPhone 3G and I get the same error message on my alpine deck and the phone is not charging. My first generation iphone works fine, as do nanos and an ipod touch.

I wonder whats up with that. The answer below suggest the firewire power pins are being used. That is interesting and hopefully means if we get a new cable it may fix the issue.

I wonder why the 3G makes a difference over the original one.

I am going to send apple and alpine some feedback, because I listen to my iphone in the car like an 1.5 hour each day. That will serious drain my battery.

Ok, I just got off the phone with alpine and they said they are aware of the problem and are working on a solution. He expects a new cable to be available by the end of August.

I called the tech support line at 1-800-832-4101.

At least they act like they are working on it.

I have same problem with car stereo connector that has worked with every other ipod & iphone I have used - why do they need to change it on the 3G - is this a moneymaking venture to push-up spend on car chargers etc? So far the iphone 3G as a replacement for my old iphone is a real disappointment - why? - no car charge from stereo - phone body is marginally bigger - does not ship with dock (like old iphone did) so £25 moneyspinner from Apple - and the 3G effect is frankly only a marginal improvement on speed. Seriously disappointed and considering putting back in box and setting-up my old iphone.

The iPhone 3G ONLY uses USB connectors. Your old 1st Gen and previous iPod's worked in your car with USB or with Firewire. If you have a FIrewire connector, it will not work with the iPHone 3G.

Nobody here can answer why Apple does that, and they won't respond to questions about why they do things like that.

The previous post about a replacement possibly available by August is a cool thing for those with that particular charger/player. For others, they should contact their own manufacturer.

In many instances, you will find you just plain old have to bite the bullet and buy a different charger/player.

Many other threads on this here that a search will bring up. They list which work and which do not.

I called up Alpine tech support about a new connection cable, and the rep said that they're waiting to hear from Apple as to whether (a) Apple will make a iPhone 3G compatible cable, or (b) provide specs so that 3rd party vendors can make such cables. So unfortunately that situation seems to be up in the air.

I have the Alpine CDE-9874 head unit with the KCE-422i connector cable. Like others, I get the warning about it not being Apple compatible. I haven't tested to see if it'll charge, but wonder if others have been able to charge their iPhone 3G's with a similar setup?