BMW Car Charger Not Working With New iPhone 3G S

renz13,

I'm looking into this, and yes, I have the same problem. I have a 7-series with an iPod cord in the glovebox. My iPod Classic (160GB) charges while plugged in. When I plug in my new 3G S, it gives some message about "charging is not supported with this accessory." The first time I plugged it in, it also said something about not interfacing or something (but I could still get music to play). Now it just says charging not supported. When I bought my iPhone, the lady at the Apple store said something about these new iPhones not charging via the integrated iPod cords because changing or omitting part of the pin interface on the new hardware. I guess that leaves us with a three options:

1. Playing music without charging via the iPod integration cord
2. Charging the iPhone with a car charger and using a different device for music (iPod)
3. Hope BMW decides to give us a iPhone cradle (that goes in center console) that can charge, integrate phone through the iDrive system AND play music.

I personally am not going to pay to have a new iPod integration cord put in that charges the new iPhone... not worth the money to me. I'll keep digging around to see if I can find more. When I bought my car, one of the best forums I found was in www.bimmerfest.com. You can pick your model Bimmer and see what they say about it. I know some of the newer 3 and 5-series have much better iPod/iPhone integration off the factory line than some of the 7-series.

Message was edited by: Bunky

Scosche makes an adapter called Passport that should solve your charging problem.

http://www.scosche.com/products/productID/1667

Sweet! Thanks for saving me some work! Do they only carry this device on that website or is it sold in retail stores?

Guess I should have looked first. Yes, they do sell them all over the place. Looked on Best Buy's website. Any idea what the difference is between the model IFWA and IFWAR? They both look the same and say are compatible with Bimmers.

Message was edited by: Bunky

Message was edited by: Bunky

Same issue in my infiniti. Nice find on the adapter!! Glad I just spent 30 bucks on the dang car charger last night!! lol oh well!

quote

Scosche makes an adapter called Passport that should solve your charging problem.

http://www.scosche.com/products/productID/1667

end quote

It doesn't work... I bought one and it now doesn't give the "charging not supported" message but it still doesn't charge.

Message was edited by: prbarnard

prbarnard,

Which model Scosche did you get? Where did you get it?

Anyone have any new updates? I also bought the Scosche adapter from the apple store and no luck.

Have a 2008 335xi, iPhone 3G worked fine.

I don't think it's anything involving your car. I believe it's the phone or cable itself. Mine gives me the same message when plugged directly into an electrical socket in my wall. I've also talked to others who get the message when plugged into their MacBook Pros. (All iPhone 3GS users).

A lot of what has been said thus far is exactly what I found out after I called Apple yesterday (6/25/9).

Not only to voice my concern about the charging issue within my 04 3 series, but also to bring up the fact that my phone now won't charge in either of the Apple speakers I own.

The answer I received was basically:
"Newer technology is not able to talk to the older equipment"

Very frustrating considering my 1st gen iPhone had no problem "talking" (charging) with both the products I mention above.

I see the scosche option posted by several people, but I am not prepared to buy it until I see some positive feedback reggarding its use. So far, not looking too good.

Poor job by you Apple, however, I'm holding out hope that this problem will be fixed as most issues I've ever come across have been solved.

I bought it from Scosche's website and it charges and plays fine. The "not made for iPhone" message still appears but can be ignored.

Scosche's part number is: IFWA - Charging Adapter - iPod & iPhone.

My car didn't come with any iPod/iPhone connectivity so I purchased an "IPOD Interface" from Crutchfield.com and had BestBuy install it for my original iPhone 2 years ago.

Both companies are highly recommended.

Excellent!
Thank you for the vote of confidence.

I too had to buy a ipod kit for my car and did so about 3.5 years ago. Never had any charging problems with ipods/iphone (other than the "accessory not compatible" message) until I plugged my 3gs into it for the first time.

Thanks again

Hi
I Just got mine (Scosche Passport) today for my Audi at Wal-Mart 29.95

they are in stock too. works great!

I'm interested because I'm buying a 5 series with the USB interface.

Is this not the problem where they moved the charging on the pins from the legacy firewire locations? Most of the 'it works with my ...' comments are the older iPods. A good error check would be to try the current Classic or Nano... If it is this, then I wonder if BMW have a USB cable for the new generation iPods - I'd expect that to work with the 3GS. Otherwise, the mentioned dock converters will work because it re-maps the pins. 'Not made for iPod' is about certification not whether it works or not.

Anyone else have any more luck with this adapter?