Ulitmate Docking Solution for the Car

[Mark Booth]

OK, I see that DLO is releasing black and silver versions of the Transpod Direct. The black one would be EXACTLY what I am looking for as the "ultimate" car mount except for the fact that it is designed with the cigarette charger plug mechanically attached to the back of the Transpod unit. Does anyone know if the attached charger plug can be removed (permanently) so the Transpod Direct can be "hacked" to have a cigarette charger plug attached to it via a length of wire? I want to mount the Transpod on a dash bracket and then run the wire behind the dash to plug into a "hidden" cigarette lighter jack I have behind the dash.

Why has nobody yet released a docking cradle for the car that features both a cigarette lighter adapter at the end of a cable/wire, along with an audio line-out jack or cable?

ProClip got oh-so-close with the release of their new adjustable padded iPod holder with dock connector for charging (cigarette charger at the end of a short cable). But ProClip did not include an audio line-out jack.

I want a basic docking cradle holder specifically designed for permanent mounting to a dash bracket of some kind. Heck, I don't even care if it has a cigarette lighter adapter. Just give it a nice length of wires to reach the fuse panel and I'll tap a fuse. Once it is mounted in each car, I simply drop the iPod into place and I'm done. No separate cables to connect to the top or bottom.

I am very surprised nobody has made one of these yet. Companies are releasing all kinds of products that miss the target. They are duplicating each others efforts. Why can't somebody be innovative enough to release the ULTIMATE iPod Docking Solution for automobiles?

Mark

[Mark Booth]

BTW, I am sending the link to this thread to ProClip. I wrote them to ask why they didn't include an audio line-out jack or cable and they responded that they will look into it.

ProClip's new adjustable padded holder/cradle/charger would be PERFECT if it also had an audio line-out jack.

Since ProClip may possibly be reading this thread, I'm sure they would appreciate hearing the comments and opinions of folks that are looking for the Ultimate Docking/Holder Solution for the Car. The more of us that tell them we want one, the more likely it might be that they will make it.

Mark

[armandocerna]

The DLO Transpod does have a direct line out and you can choose if you want to hook it up directly to the lighter or hook it up with a vent clip and plug an external power source which is also includes into the back of the transpod. I don't know if this anwsers your question or not.

[Mark Booth]

Yes, I realize the DLO Transpod Direct has a direct audio line-out. But, according to the descriptions I find on the web, it's charging connector (cigarette lighter plug) is hard-mounted to the back of the unit. DLO also supplies a charging extension arm. I can not find ANY information on the web that shows that the charging connector is completely removable and can be replaced by a wired cigarette lighter plug.

I do not want to use my cigarette lighter socket as the method to MOUNT the DLO Transpod Direct. Yet, everything I read on the web seems to indicate that is the only way it can be used. I'd be thrilled if you are correct but I can't find any information to support that.

It would be helpful if DLO supplied more information on their own web site. But, not so surprisingly, they don't even show the Transpod Direct on their own site.

Somebody with photos to prove me wrong, please send or point me to them.

Thanks,

Mark

[armandocerna]

I actually have a DLO Transpod in my car, so let me just clarify my original post.

On the back of the cradle/dock whatever it is there is a little port it looks like a standard port that an ac adapter would plug into, something you would see on a portable cd player. You then have the choice to use the little arm which connects directly into the cradle then into the cigarette lighter. Or optionally you can bypass the whole arm thing and use a vent clip in which you connect a stand alone charger that goes into the cigarette lighter.


Now one of your options is to get the power source attachment from radio shack and actually hardwire another cigarette lighter behind your dash and plug in the transpod vent power attachment into there.

Or I suppose you can just hack the end off the part that plugs into the lighter and open it up so that you can run the wires from there. Not really sure, good luck


I'm not sure exactly what all this acomplishes but I suppose it's worth at try

[Mark Booth]

The only site where I can find any reasonable amount of information on the DLO Transpod DIRECT (not FM) is at everythingipod.com. (Sorry that I can't post the direct URL but iPod lounge requires you to have at least 25 posts before you can post URLS.) Just go to everythingipod.com and click on the "New" silver edition of the DLO Transpod Direct on the front page.

The site says NOTHING about an aux power port nor does it say anything about any mounting method besides the "charger arm".

That said, if you are correct, I will likely be buying a black DLO Transpod Direct. But please understand that I am hesitant to drop the cash when the product descriptions seem to conflict with what you are telling me.

Is there any chance you could take digital photos of all sides of your DLo Transpod Direct and send them to me? Or, how about a photocopy of the pertinent pages in the user manual?

Thanks!

Mark

P.S. I much prefer the ProClip holder/charger design as I believe it looks more elegant than the DLO offerings. But I will buy a black DLO Transpod Direct to use in the meantime, hoping that ProClip eventually releases a version of their holder/charger that also has a direct audio line-out jack.

Oh.. and the thing I am trying to accomplish is to have a VERY custom install. One where the Holder/Cradle is, basically, all that you see. (That, and a very short section of wiring -which I will hide with cable wrap- before the cable's disappear behind the dash.) One where I simply drop the iPod into the Holder/Cradle and that is all the "connecting" I have to do. The holder/cradle is PERMANENTLY mounted.

[DrewT]

give me a little time, I'm doing something like that. look for the ice>link cradle hack thread(s). Same concept.

I'll have my cradle finished up within two weeks, probally sooner (may do it sunday...lol)

-Drew

[Mark Booth]

Drew,

I look forward to your cradle design. Please post a note here when you have it finished and have a thread up with photos.

In the meantime, I found the thread on the Ice Link cradle hack. Thank you for mentioning it! Now that we know the pin outs, seems like a breeze project. I wonder if Dennison would mind selling me one. :)

Mark

[Mark Booth]

Drew,

I look forward to your solution. But, in the meantime, I've gone ahead and ordered the the Dension cradle. I hesitated because their site says it won't work with the 30g iPod Photo (the model I was considering getting). But the Dension rep said that it does work, it's just not as smooth of a fit. They make the cradle deep enough to fit even the fat 60g iPod Photo and then provide an adapter backing plate that is used for the thinner iPods. And all would be well with the 30g iPod Photo except for the fact that Apple moved the dock connector a slight bit forward on that model. So, the Dension rep said that using some adhesive felt on the inside bottom of the cradle is all that it takes to get the 30g to slide in there fairly smoothly.

I'm not even going to bother with a cigarette lighter adapter/charger. I'm going to hard wire the +12v and power ground directly from the car's fuse block to a female 8-pin DIN plug. Likewise, I'll wire the audio-line in from the factory radio directly to the female 8-pin DIN. Then I simply plug the two DIN connectors together and I'm all set.

I'll post updated photos when I'm done with it (a week or two).

I guess this means I won't be buying either a ProClip holder/cradle nor the DLO unit. The Dension cradle IS the Ultimate iPod Holder/Cradle for the car. Those other guys don't need to reinvent the wheel.

Mark

[DrewT]

lol. my thought exactly.

I was going to wire up the cradle today, but I was really busy and had to go into work for a little bit. I *may* get around to it tomorrow, but if not, then It will be thursday or friday before I get around to it.

One thing you may want to consider is that the ipod may not like the 14.1 volts or so it would get when your car is running. that may be well within tolerance, but it also may fry the thing, so just check up on that. Also, if you want to use the din plug on the cradle, you'll need to get a female 8-pin mini-din plug. Those arn't too easily found, but the person who started the cradle hack thread mailed me one. He may have some left over, you can check with him. I just eneded up cutting the cord from the cradle and soldering the connertors onto that. Soon I am going to try to get my autopause feature back. When I do that I'll try to rember to take pics and post a little how-to.

Good Luck!!
-Drew

[Mark Booth]

Drew,

The Belkin charger cable that everyone uses simply passes the car's +12v directly through. To my understanding, NONE of the cigarette lighter chargers do anything to regulate the car's voltage. So, the iPod must be able to handle +11 to +14 volts no problem. Otherwise, we'd already be hearing about blown iPods.

The circuit board in the Belkin charger serves just these two purposes:

1) Little adjustable line-level amp for the audio (which I wouldn't want to use anyway)
2) A 1M ohm resistor to handle the auto-power off feature

The dock connector's pin #21 is the "magic" pin for the auto-power off feature. Simply connect pin #21 to pin #30 (ground) through a 1M OHM (1%) resistor and, when +12v is removed (car is turned off) from the dock connector's pins 19 & 20 (+12v) the iPod automatically shuts off.

It does not appear the Dension cradle has pin 21 wired. Maybe that is really what the Dension cradle's 8-pin DIN pin #5 is for? But the earlier report is that the 8-pin DIN's pin #5 is not connected to any pin on the dock connector. So... without that connection in the cable, you would manually have to add a wire to PIN 21.

Perhaps the newer Dension cradles already have the 1M ohm resistor from 21 to 30? I seem to recall that they fixed the auto-power off in later versions.

Either works for me. On my 2nd Gen iPod install, I am in the habit of pausing the iPod when I turn the car off. Once in pause mode, it auto-powers off by itself anyway. Once I'm back in the car and power is applied again, the iPod comes back on and a simple press of pause resumes where I left off.

Mark

[DrewT]

that's not what pin 5 does, pin 5 dosen't have a connector on it at all (I cut the cable, and there's only vcc, ground, tx, rx, and audio L, R, and gnd.)

There has to be a connection to pin 21, since a different ohmage (hmm...wonder if that's a word) resistor tells the ipod to accept serial commands from the icelink. My guess is there is a resistor soldered into the cradle circuit board. What I'm gonna do is pull out that resistor, connect one of the serial connection wires to pin 21, and then run that off a relay where the ground is switched, and the switched power from the car runs the coil. That way (hopefully), the ipod will pause when I turn off my car, but still charge. It may not work like that, but I'm at least gonna try.

-Drew

[Mark Booth]

Drew,

I decided to skip the use of the female 8-pin DIN and, instead, hack into the Dension cradle wiring. MAN those wires are tiny!

I double-checked the pinout scematic in the Dension cradle hack thread and compared it to my own findings using an ohm meter. Those pinouts are spot on the money. Here is the wiring color coding for the wires I used in the Dension cradle cable:

Blue: Left Audio (Both + and common - see note)
White: Right Audio (Both + and common - see note)
Red: +12v
Black: Ground

(NOTE: The two audio wires are each indivudually shielded. Great care must be taken in removing the outer insulation on these small audio wires. Inside each is another, smaller wire of the same color surrounded by its own shield.)

Since I was not using the two serial wires, I did not pay any attention to which was RX and which one was TX. I don't even remember what colors they were... Yellow and Green I think. Sorry.

I hacked into the cable at the point I needed (for my installation) and, using various sizes of heat shrink tubing, split the cable into a "Y". One branch was the audio line and the other brank was the power lines. Since the power wires are so fragile, I soldered thicker wires to them and then carefully used electrical tape and another layer of bigger heat shrink tubing as a strain relief so all flexing would be on the larger power wires at a point a few inches from the solder joint.

I added a 1/8" male stereo plug onto the audio wire branch. I carefully stripped away the outermost insulation on each audio wire to expose the inner insulated wire and the shield. I twisted both L & R shields together and then carefully stripped off the insulation on the two thinner wires. I then soldered these three wires (tiny blue (L), tiny white (R), and the two common shields to my 1/8" stereo plug. Again, I used shrink tubing to make the audio wires "thicker" to give the assembly strength and protect against damage.

The reason for the 1/8" audio plug is because, early last year, I added a 1/8" line-in (AUX-IN) input jack to my factory radio. The car is a Mazda Miata and, due to the Miata's popularity as an enthusiats car, there is TONS of information on the web about hacking the factory radios. I was lucky in that my 2001 factory Bose radio had the necessary pinouts (via the optional cassette player jack) to add an line level AUX-IN without having to use any PIE interface or anything like that. I did have to add an external switch to put the radio into "LINE" mode but it works great. I mounted the switch and the 1/8" jack on the side of the center console, directly below where I mounted my iPod.

Anyway, I wanted to retain my ability to plug another stereo device into my car's sound system (walkman, portable DVD player, or whatever) so I kept the 1/8" jack instead of wiring the cradle directly into the AUX-IN wiring.

On to the power connections... Per my last message, I connected the Dension power wire directly to a switched (ACC key position) +12v source and the ground wire to a grounded screw. This was easy because I had a "stealth" cigarette lighter socket behind the dash for my prevous (2nd Generation) iPod install (I powered it using a Belkin PowerPod and Firewire cable). I cut out the cigarette lighter socket completely and used its (fused) power wires to connect directly to the Dension cradle power wires.

Unfortunately, the Dension cradle has a much smaller footprint than my previous Akron Gripmatic Cell Phone holder I was using to hold my 2nd Gen iPod. The Akron Gripmatic was mounted to a PanaVise dash bracket (HIGHLY recommended!) and it completely covered the face of the PanaVise bracket. The Dension cradle, however, does NOT cover the entire face of the PanaVise bracket and there are exposed mounting holes around the perimeter of the Dension cradle. I am going to get a piece of flat black plastic to cut to proper size and sandwich between the two to give a very clean installation. That is all I need to do to complete my installation.

I did test it and everything works GREAT. The new iPod I purchased (just last night) is the 30GB Photo. Despite Dension's warnings on their web page, the 30GB iPod Photo DOES fit the Dension cradle, albeit a bit snugly, when using the supplied cradle backing plate. Without the backing plate, the 30GB is WAY too loose. To protect the polished metal back of my new iPod Photo against scratches, I added a PDA screen protector film to the back of the iPod. Works like a charm and it is thin enough that it doesn't change how smoothly the iPod slides in and out. I'll keep an eye on the screen protector and change it if it appears it is wearing through.

At some point in time, I'll have the ability to post links to photos of my install. But I think I need to post at least 10 more messages before I can do that.

Mark

[lightning iPod]

Mark,

Good info, thanks for sharing.

Would you mind mentioning where you got the Dension cradle without having to purchase the entire iceLink?

Thanks!

[lightning iPod]

By the way, the PanaVise vehicle specific holders are very nice. Cheapest place I found them online was the Canyon River Cellular company - only $20.87 for my vehicle, nearly $10 - $15 cheaper than other sites. (S&H $6)

[Mark Booth]

IMPORTANT!! I made a mistake in the Dension cradle wire color coding listed in my last message. I was going from memory and I later looked at my paperwork again and noticed my mistake. The CORRECT wire color schematic is:

Blue: RIGHT Audio (Both + and common - see note in message above)
White: LEFT Audio (Both + and common - see note in message above)
Red: +12v
Black: Ground

lightning iPod,

I purchased the Dension cradle directly from Dension USA. The cradle cost $40 plus tax and shipping.

Thanks for the tip on lower priced PanaVise brackets! I think I'm going to install an Ice>Link in our Lexus if Dension ever makes one for our car. I'll need a PanaVise bracket for the Lexus so you just saved me a few dollars! :)

BTW, I found a simple, yet elegant, solution for covering the exposed unused mounting holes in the PanaVise bracket. I picked up an inexpensive 3-ring binder at Staples... the type with a colored plastic front and back. Got a black one, of course, then cut out a 2" square piece with my paper cutter and punched the necessary four mounting holes in it with a hole punch. It sandwiched perfectly between the Dension cradle and the PanaVise bracket and it looks fantastic.

All in all, I am EXTREMELY pleased with my new iPod install. It is much more elegant and practical than the Gripmatic cradle and dual wires (Firewire and Audio) that I was using before.

Photos coming... someday. :)

Mark

[lightning iPod]

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the info. Did you call their general sales number and order over the phone? I tried to email them and they said they don't sell it separate! Would be nice to order online...

Thanks for the help.

[Mark Booth]

Yep, I called the number they had listed on their web site and then pressed the buttons that seemed appropriate. After a bit of wait on hold (about 10 minutes), I was connected and placed the order. It arrived in one day via FedEx ground (they are located in LA and I am in San Diego).

Mark

[Mark Booth]

Looks like I can finally post a URL. The page below is my photo page for my Miata. The photos of the most recent iPod upgrade (Dension cradle) are on page 3:

http://thephotobooth.smugmug.com/gallery/137043

Mark

[CBailey]

I have been looking for exactly what you were looking for, Mark. It seems odd that there is no market for an ipod mount with audio and power. I guees "ipodders" are too lazy to hardwire a mount to thier vehicles. Oh well, maybe we should produce one and become millionaires!!