# Anyone hardwired an iPod into their car?



## Steve-O (Apr 7, 2005)

I'm currently using the iTrip as an fm transmitter. It is probably the worst product i have ever purchased and im not taking teh risk with teh monster cable version. Constant static interference from big rigs and radio signals have made me switch back to burning CD's. I was just wondering if anyone has hardwired an iPod into their car and where they got it done (GTA preferred). Thanks in advance.


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## epsilon (Apr 4, 2005)

What kind of car do you have? with a factory stereo? 

how much integration do you want? just audio input, or would you like to be able to control the ipod with the stereo / steering wheel control?

personally, i'd do it myself...


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## Steve-O (Apr 7, 2005)

2001 Mustang GT ~ stock radio

All i want is an audio input that would play clear sound through the speakers. No radio controls on the steering wheel or anything to that nature. Maybe I'll just pass by an audio place and see what they have to say. I'll post back here if I get any interesting news.


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

Find yourself a decent stereo head unit with an aux input. These units dissappeared from the market for a while but are making their way back in due to portable music player popularity. I have a Clarion unit with aux in and it works great. The biggest issue I have with it is that the aux in is in the form of two RCA inputs on the back of the unit. The rear inputs force me to have an adapter wire hanging out of the dash. A unit with a front mini-jack input would be a cleaner solution although with a little bit of work I could make a simple input plate to mount in the dash.

You should be able to find a unit in most manufacturers lines that supports aux in. JVC and Clarion have them for sure but you can probably find them in Panasonic, Sony, Alpine, etc.


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## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

If you are not happy with the iTrip then you probably want a "real" line-in for the iPod to head amp (or whatever they feel like calling it on yours). You will need to use the dock connector to get that; the 3.5 jack on top is optimized for headphones.

How's your iPod's battery? Freezing will kill a Li-on so fast it's not funny. New, old, doesn't matter. There's plenty of heat when the iPod is running but don't let it sit unused in the cold.

If you plan on using it kind-of-permanently in the car, just leave the battery in there, dead or not, and run it with car power.

It's fairly important to have it on power all the time in that case, especially if it's sitting unattended for a time; every Li-on has a cutoff voltage (on the iPod it's 2.5v I believe) and if the charge falls below that, a circuit inside the battery basically kills it to avoid the explosion hazard that comes next if you don't.

If you care about preserving the battery life, take it with you when you leave and NEVER leave it in the car overnight or in winter.


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## shoe (Apr 6, 2005)

http://www.neocaraudio.com/prod-ion.html

shoe


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## scootsandludes (Nov 28, 2003)

I saw in the futureshop flyer last weekend a JVC head unit. They re-introduced the front line-in which they took out for the past couple of years. So i have the older unit which has the front line-in, and it works great. I use a Belkin car charger because it's got a built in amp and allows you to have a line out through the dock port, and a male to male headphone jack cable, so it plugs into the charger and into the head unit. The cd player also plays mp3 discs, which is an added bonus (though I haven't used it since I plugged my iPod in). See attched pic.

Another option is. Does your stereo have have a cd changer option? You can tell if it says disc 1, disc 2 etc.. if you have that then you call your dealer and ask if they have a line-in adaptor for your stereo, this is usually a 2 channel input that you can get usually for universal cd changers. you can plug your pod into that too.


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## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

I used an iTrip for all of about 2 days. I agree it's crap. However I took the risk and plunked out the $90 for the Monster product, and I can tell you it was like night and day. I loved the Monster cable, for 3 reasons:

1) Ran on the 12Volts. The FM transmitter was powered by the car, and the rig also powered the iPod and recharged the iPod's batteries. The FM transmitter had the strength to get through any other local low-power RF signals. It couldn't beat an actual radio station, but in the (west side of the) GTA I had at least 4 or 5 empty stations to choose from, IIRC.

2) Used the Dock Connector. This meant that the signal was running on the line-out and not the headphone connector. So the signal going into the FM transmitter was pure, unaffected by iPod volume, only the car stereo volume knob was required.

3) hardware button to select FM station. The iTrip method of selecting a frequency was 'clever' but imprecise and imperfect. The monster may have only had 8 frequency choices but you had positive visual feedback of which station you were on, and if there was interference it was one pushbutton to change stations.

A fourth good point for the Monster was it used it's cable as the transmission antenna, the cable was about 2 or 3 feet long. The iTrip used a 2 inch stubby wire bent around inside it's housing. If you know the physics of RF antennas, frequencies in the FM band simply don't work worth a damn on a 2 inch radiator. That's why most car antennas are the length they are - not for looks but for efficiency. I never had a problem with interference while using the Monster.

Anyhow, I apologize for all that being off-topic to your actual question. My Monster cable was destroyed when my car was broken into and they stole half of it.

I now have a Cheap AIWA stereo that has a 1/8" stereo AUX input on the faceplate. I use an iPod Dock and a 1/8" stereo cable from my dock to my car radio. Volume is controlled by the car radio, but music selection is controlled on the iPod. I dial up whatever playlist I want, hit play, and then adjust the volume on the car radio. I never leave the iPod in the car, so i'm not worried about the battery freezing or anything. Sooner or later I'll get that Belkin adaptor so I have the luxury of running off the 12v and having the pre-amp on the line-out as well.

-Stephanie


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## harzack86 (Jan 30, 2005)

I also paid the big $ for the Monster cable (to be honnest, I was urgently looking for a cable as I was leaving for a trip, and being at the store with only this option, I've been easily convinced by the sales rep  ), and I never had any trouble with it: it charges the iPod, and I can always find a frequency that works well.
Only sometimes, downtown, where there's too many radio stations, I have a crap noise... I just turn the radio on then ;-)
Other advantage: I can take it with me in any other car (friend's or a new car I'd buy)...


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## agent4321 (Jun 25, 2004)

I'm going to hard wire my iPod in the near future just need to save up a few bucks. I just recently purchased Alpine's CDA-9835 which is iPod ready the only thing I need to buy and install is the KCA-420i iPod interface unit which is $200. I can't wait I'm using iTrip at the moment and it's ok for what it is, but it is getting to be annoying.

iPod Interface


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## Steve-O (Apr 7, 2005)

thanks for the info guys


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## focal (Jan 7, 2003)

wife and I both have aftermarket decks so they had Aux-in

we just ran a cable through the glove box

One car has the Belkin power adapter/dock 
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProd...=&Section_Id=201526&pcount=&Product_Id=149006

the other car uses the SendStation PocketDock 

http://www.sendstation.com/us/products/pd_lineout.html


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## mike_l (Apr 5, 2005)

suffice it to say, no FM solution has ever really satisfied me.

The best solution was the one I installed in my dad's Legacy was the Alpine CDA-9833 head unit, with the KCA-420i iPod adaptor.

The adaptor connects via the dock connection port, and allows you to access your library via your head unit. The interface is a little clunky, but the sound is of course lossless, and it is the only adaptor which gives you full access to your library, unlike most adaptors which only have playlist access.

This particular head unit is rather pricey, but a cheaper Alpine head unit and the adaptor could probably be found for under $600 CAD.

The more primitive solution, which I have currently installed in my Jetta, is one of the few JVC head units that have an Auxillary input jack on the faceplate. The sound quality is good, provided you use a decent mini-jack cable... and purchase the Pocket Dock,(http://www.sendstation.com/us/products/pd_lineout.html) which gives you an attenuated line input via your dock connection, otherwise the amplification of the ipod will distort your head units amplification.

I got the JVC head unit almost 2 years ago, refurbished for $140, and the pocket dock for around $30.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

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