Firewire cable won't charge iPhone 3GS.......Why

"On to the power adapters. Here’s the story: We learned a while back that iPhone 3G doesn’t support charging “via FireWire.” The thing is, there are lots of devices out there that don’t actually have a FireWire port, but are technically FireWire chargers because they’re sending power on the dock-connector pins that were used for power by the FireWire interface. There are a lot of reasons for this, chief among them the fact that the FireWire spec allows as much a 18 volts, while USB is a 5-volt connection. Since cars provide 12 volts of power, many if not most car-chargers used the FireWire method to send power.

However, in the interests of space and simplicity (i.e., not having to engineer for two separate power paths), Apple has dropped support for FireWire charging with the iPhone 3G. This means that many accessories won’t charge an iPhone 3G. Borchers said that Apple gave accessory developers a strong hint that this was going to happen a while ago, but he said that some companies have continued to implement FireWire-based chargers despite the warning.

But there’s some hope in sight: Borchers told me that at least a couple of third parties will be releasing converters that will pass through the dock connection, but convert the power to a USB standard. That adapter may make many of those charging devices come back to life."

That is from the link he provided.

Apple dropped support for FireWire charging with the iPhone 3G.

http://www.macworld.com/article/134451/2008/07/iphone3greviewnotes.html

I was just looking for a similar answer and stumbled upon an answer that looks like it should work for me:

A firewire to usb charging adapter that converts the older dock connection to the new one. Here are two reviews:

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/griffin-charge-converter-firewire -to-usb-for-iphone-and-ipod/

and

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/scosche-passport-charging-adapter -for-ipod-iphone/

You might need to plug both the firewire and usb cables in at the same time in order to get power and also to sync music and contacts.

Hope that helps!

Dave

I used a new ipod car charger/FM transmitter to charge my old original model iphone and got a message popping up that the device isn't made to charge the iphone but it would charge so I left it in. Ever since then, my battery seems to be dying much, much faster than normal. Could I have damaged the battery?

Firewire was definitely dropped with the 3G...that PIN assignment was pulled away from firewire and seems to be in use for other items...

I'd recommend the Scosche Passport. It's kind of bulky, but does the job beautifully.

FYI - I'm using the passport for an Alpine Deck with a iPod High Speed Cord for my car. I needed the ability to charge and play music at the same time.

Loves it.

iPhones don't ship with a FireWire cable when you buy it....they only give you a USB cable.

If they wanted you to be able to use FireWire, they would have included a cable in the package.

Just use the cable that came with it.