Comments on: iPhone 3G not charging with BMW factory kit

By: David J Dean

David J Dean — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:52:32 +0000

The solution appears to be here

http://iconfessimageek.com/?p=156

By: mjkrooker

mjkrooker — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:30:01 +0000

Looks like there’s an iPhone 3G Charge Converter coming out. Available from CableJive.com:

http://cablejive.com/iphone_3g_charge_converter.html

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:14:34 +0000

Hey – what is going on with that 3G iPhone info black box at the bottom of the article!? It says the screen is smaller and fits less icons!? And that the camera is now 3.5 megapixel? FM Radio? TV? Bluetooth file sharing?

Where did they get this totally wrong information!?

By: InfinitiGuy

InfinitiGuy — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:08:36 +0000

I had the same problem in my new Infiniti G37. I purchased the Kensington 4 in 1 charger for ipod and it works great! It has a passthru that allows me to connect the factory Infiniti cable and it plugs into my aux power port for charging. For me, my ipod cable and aux power port are under the armrest, so it is not obtrusive at all. I hope this helps. It may work for BMW too. Now, I can listen to my music and podcasts and charge my phone (which is the most important part!)

By: bsd107

bsd107 — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:52:21 +0000

@Paul: “Mercedes announced two weeks before the iPhone 3G, full integration with the Comand product for the 2009 Model year with a $400 USD kit available in August 2008.”

BMW needs to catch up here and offer a new, fully-functional Snap-In adapter for the Iphone 3G. The current Snap-In adapter for the iPhone supports using the roof antenna and charging, but rediculously does not support simultaneous use of 6FL (the iPod audio integration).

This should be such a simple fix that it’s rediculous – hopefully with Mercedes jumping ahead BMW will finally address this…

By: Noushy

Noushy — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:59:56 +0000

BMW did update this cable for the vehicles that have the USB port. This is true for my X5, which when they changed the cable adapter, charged both my old iphone and new iphone 3g. The built in setup in my M6 does not charge the new iphone 3g but did charge the old one fine. This is the sucky part of the deal, since there is not a simple adapter swap to fix the problem.

By: Baron Selman

Baron Selman — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:31:02 +0000

BMW has a revised iPhone/iPod USB/Audio Y cable that charges the iPhone. The revised cable was issued in August of 2007. Check with your local BMW dealer or do a Google search for the adapter.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:44:32 +0000

BMW is not alone, Mercedes has the same defective design. Three years ago Apple informed developers that the Firewire portion of the iPod 30 pin connector was being phased out and to stop using it. The 3G iPhone is the first of the iPod products to no longer accept power on pins 19/20 (+12vdc firewire) but instead uses pin 23 +5vdc USB. All of the automobile manufactures have had three years to redesign their products to be compliant with the Apple specification for the 30-pin iPod connector. Using the +12vdc saved them $2 in the price of the adapter, we expect more than that for these companies.

It is a B.ll Sh.t line to state that it takes years to develop a car… Mercedes announced two weeks before the iPhone 3G, full integration with the Comand product for the 2009 Model year with a $400 USD kit available in August 2008.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:31:31 +0000

@Dean: Really? I’d love to see how you think you’ve added to this thread in any way except to add petty accusatory comments. As it doesn’t give me a juvenile thrill to nitpick every sentence you type and interpret it in the most negative light possible, I’ll pass.

If you can look back upon the comments you started today and actually say you think the thread is better for them, then we have a different definition of what’s valuable. I owned up to a mistake. You’re apparently more interested in trolling and flaming than anything constructive.

I’ll let you have the last word now, as I’m guessing you’ll need it. And again I’ll predict it’ll be more of the same, because God forbid you could acknowledge having made anything remotely resembling poor judgement in your posts.

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:21:59 +0000

@Kevin: LOL, seriously, you couldn’t be threatening to list *MY* factual inacccuracies?!? Classic! Bring it on, kevin, I learned from the best. All I have to do is say “Um…no” and then list some shit that ain’t true and I’m covered. I’ll even throw some more spelling mistakes (again, classic) in for ya.

Can I look back and say that I’ve added anything helpful? I most definitely can, but apparently it has been lost on you.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:54:58 +0000

@Dean: Sigh. Apparently the word ‘gracious’ isn’t in your vocabulary. Were I similarly petty, I’d probably list your factual inaccuracies and misspellings in this thread alone.

On reflection, I admitted a mistake, and had I not made it, this thread would be cleaner and more helpful. I wonder if you can look at what you’ve added and say the same.

I’m guessing not.

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:25:05 +0000

@Kevin: Yes, you clearly weren’t aware, announcement or not. John clearly was aware when, in the first first response to this post, he stated that the iPhone 3G only charges via the USB charging pins. So, we all agree that you didn’t know as much about this as John and that you jumped the gun in responding. The tude part, as I see it, is you starting off with your “Um…no.” That is called dismissing someone. So, if you weren’t being glib and blowing people off and your idea of “actually trying to help” is to give the “Um…no” to the correct response and follow it up with incorrect BS then I stand corrected. The funny thing about all of your helpfulness is that had you stayed out of this thread all together, the correct answer would have been given in the very first reply and not clouded with a bunch of crap, which you later had to retract. Holy shit, you’re right…that really was helpful afterall!!

I’m completely chilled, thank you.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:18:23 +0000

Also note that the reason I originally (incorrectly as it turned out) thought that it couldn’t be a FireWire/USB issue is that the factory integration kit actually uses a USB connector in the armrest. So it was quite surprising to learn that the USB connector in the BMW either isn’t really a USB port, or that the BMW adapter doesn’t pass along the 5V USB power from that port.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:02:34 +0000

I provided information that I thought was accurate, and had been on every product up until the iPhone 3G. I was wrong (sorry if that wasn’t clear enough the first time).

I later posted information that indeed, there were two different charging pins on the connector (added information regarding different voltages which wasn’t present in any of the previous comments) as well as mentioning that there had been no official announcements I was aware of regarding possible adapters, as I have been keeping an eye out for such after being surprised to learn the exact nature of the problem.

All that said, perhaps next time I shouldn’t bother admitting a mistake, or adding information, or even acknowledging a previous post.

Perhaps you might try assuming that posters aren’t being glib, or blowing people off, but are actually trying to help with the best information at hand before giving a ‘tude, yourself. I didn’t realize it was a ‘keeping score’ thing.

How about you just chill?

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:55:50 +0000

@Erik: LOL

By: Erik

Erik — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:54:48 +0000

@Kevin “Um…no.”

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:49:18 +0000

Owning up is different than glibbly blowing somebody off with such arrogance and then just repeating what that person said later with no reference to them or the fact that they were right in the first place and you were wrong.
It’s bad enough if you’re giving a ‘tude when you dismiss people who are trying to help, but to do it when you are completely uninformed doesn’t help anybody.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:30:13 +0000

Yup. I’m the same Kevin, but with more information. Sorry to hear that owning up to being wrong and adding a bit more info is “lame as hell”.

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:25:55 +0000

@Kevin You’re not the same Kevin as above who completely dismissed the first guy who actually had the right answer and now are basically repeating what he said as the solution, are you? I hope not, that would be lame as hell. If you’re a different Kevin, I apologize for pointing this out.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:13:40 +0000

Turns out there are different pins for charging for USB & Firewire, and Apple did not include Firewire charging on the iPhone 3G. Only solution is an adapter, or replacement adapter for the factory iPod kit, that provides the USB power (5V) instead of the Firewire power (12V).

Technically doable, but no word on an official (or unofficial) adapter as far as I’ve seen.