Ipod Auxillary cable for in car

[Easter Bunny]

Can any of you guys help?
I have an Ipod - (4th Generation I think) and have a Griffin Itrip transmitter for some time which I do not find is very satisfactory as I either cannot get good reception or it loses the station each time I disconnect.

Someone has told me you can get a cable to connect your ipod to your car stereo - but my car stereo (around 18 months old) does not have an external aux jack point at the front.

My question is - if I managed to get a cable somewhere - would there likely to be a jack point at the rear of the stereo that an auto electrician could connect the cable for me ?

I dont really want to to go to the expense of dismantling my 'integral' stereo only to find it cant be connected.

[TheTramp]

Might need a few more details, like make of stereo for example.....

It's certainly possible

[Tiggerbabe]

I had such a cable in my old car, but Trampy's right, look online for your stereo and you should be able to find out if it has the relevant jack point.

[Easter Bunny]

Might need a few more details, like make of stereo for example.....

It's certainly possible

Ooooh Thanks Trampy and Tiggerbabe for coming back so quickly!

Will check out my stereo and see what I can find out - may come back to you tomorrow if I get stuck. (Dinner burning at the moment!)

x Lesley

[Tartaniad]

I think you may be unlucky on getting o cable for your Stereo. I have looked around for a while and most of the stereos now come with attached cables or jack points. If yours did not openly have one on view then I think not. Pop into Halfords as they have a large range on show and also in catalogues to view

[ducasi]

I've seen some car stereos which come with an iPod connector, allowing you to control the iPod using your normal radio controls. The connection is normally in your glove compartment so you can just keep your iPod in there all the time.

[DavidY]

Might need a few more details, like make of stereo for example.....

If it's the original stereo fitted to the car, there's probably an owners' forum for your make of car which might help - a search there would probably reveal it because you can guarantee that question will have been asked before.

I know that for my stereo, there's a connection at the back that can be used if you have a CD autochanger (which I don't) but you can also buy an MP3 adaptor which can use that connection. You have to take the radio out to do it though, which is sometimes tricky.

[Tiggerbabe]

If yours did not openly have one on view then I think not.

My stereo had a jack point at the back, you could not see it when the stereo was fitted in the car. I bought a cable which a lovely "motor electronics expert type" person then fitted for me. My stereo was a Blaupunkt Daytona MP53.

[Dreadful Scathe]

you could always get a new stereo - my mp3 / usb / jack / sd card, stereo was only £45

prior to that i had a little £20 fm transmitter that took either usb or any player that took headphones... i'd give you it, but i gave it to someone already

[Tiggerbabe]

you could always get a new stereo - my mp3 / usb / jack / sd card, stereo was only £45

Or a Tom Tom, you can work your iPod from it, it'll connect with your phone, so no more handsfree earpiece thingy, and it'll play through your car stereo using the FM transmitter - as well as taking you where you want to go

[martingold]

I've seen some car
stereos which come with an iPod connector, allowing you to control the iPod using your normal radio controls. The connection is normally in your glove compartment so you can just keep your iPod in there all the time.

I have an alpine with the ipod adaptor
it has some bugs firstly being it automatically switches on repeat all on the ipod
both alpine and apple have told me this is a bug but all adaptors bought about 1 to 1 1/2 yrs ago have the same fault i dont know if that is still true

also being able to see only one line on the front screen of the head unit makes it hard to navigate

lastly I have over 4000 tracks on my ipod and finding something with the control knob on the head unit takes ages because whenever you start looking it always starts at track one or artist one etc

thats the bad now the good
it does mean i can take all my music wherever i go
i set up loads of playlists so normally all i have to look for is one of those which works very well
I think a company called dension make a cradle that will fit most cars for the ipod
all in all i wish i had gone that route now

on a by note dont leave your ipod in teh car over night the battery goes flat if it gets cold enough then wont work in your car even with the head unit charger type system
I know this from experience

[Paul F]

Blinking ipod links

I phoned my dealer to ask how much it would be to integrate my ipod into the car. In retrospect that was a badly worded question.

They quoted me £200 to actually connect it to the car's system (whatever that means). If that wasnt bad enough they then told me they would have to re-program the little LCD screen thingy so I could control the ipod from the wheel controls. That, including labour, would be an extra £400 making a grand total of £600 to get my ipod working

After a little bit of sobbing I then realised that they were under the impression that I wanted to fully integrate the ipod. When I mentioned I just wanted to connect it and use the ipod controls they quoted me £95 for a lead that connects to the back of the stereo unit. Not good but better than £600!

[Lory]

Just buy a Lexus, its all set up, ready and waiting for your iPod to simply plug in

[Tiggerbabe]

they quoted me £95 for a lead that connects to the back of the stereo unit.

I'm guessing that this includes the fitting cost too You can buy the cable for much less than that, but can you take the stereo out and refit it properly?

[Paul F]

I'm guessing that this includes the fitting cost too You can buy the cable for much less than that, but can you take the stereo out and refit it properly?

Nope. They will add the fitting on top.
I am pretty reluctant to touch anything thats not immediately obvious. Im assuming the dealer plays on peoples reluctance to do the same

[Yliander]

Nope. They will add the fitting on top.
I am pretty reluctant to touch anything thats not immediately obvious. Im assuming the dealer plays on peoples reluctance to do the same

buy the cable else where and get them to install it ....

[Tiggerbabe]

buy the cable else where and get them to install it ....

Absolutely! I can't remember exactly, but I'm sure the cable I had to buy before cost about £12

[Paul F]

buy the cable else where and get them to install it ....

Good idea. I will have to dig further into it.

[Tiggerbabe]

I think that this is the cable I had to buy (for my blaupunkt stereo), cost is £6.99

[Paul F]

I think that this is the cable I had to buy (for my blaupunkt stereo), cost is £6.99

Thats amazing value.

I just had a look and the cheapest cable I found was £49-95.
To connect an ipod in this way means I have to sacrifice my cd changer (which im obviously not bothered about) BUT I still have to get the dealer to fit it.
That will take the total to over £100
It does mean that I get to use my wheel controls though but need to rely on the ipod screen for song info.

Oh well.