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Ahh, phase one of the project to ‘properly’ connect an iPod to a 2006 Honda Civic is done. In short, I built this box and the cable running to the iPod. The box contains a filter to (hopefully) cut down on car engine noise and the break-out to provide the audio signal as two RCA connectors.

Inside of the shell of the iPod connector itself is a 1MΩ resistor which signals to the iPod that it has a car adapter connected so it should pause the iPod when power is disconnected, as this would typically happen when the car is shut off.

For now I’ll use this bundle of hardware to connect the iPod to the new car. It’ll power/charge the iPod, pause it when things are disconnected, and provide audio into the ‘aux in’ connector.

The next phase of the project is to wire the box (or perhaps just the iPod cable) into the car itself, either via factory-compatible connectors or straight hard wiring. My goal is to have the iPod powered from a keyed, filtered accessory line and the line-out to run straight into wherever the aux in connects to. I also want the iPod nicely mounted in a good location, within arm’s reach, and easy to navigate while driving. That kind of fitting (along with the factory-type connectors) I can’t do until I have the vehicle.

But, yeah. At least this much is done.

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Well, the damn thing works. I got the connector wired properly, closed it up, and tested it with a 12v supply from the car. The iPod charges, and if it is playing and the power is disconnected, the iPod pauses. Tomorrow I’ll go get the stuffs to enclose the power filter and end-of-iPod-cable junction in a box. I’ll also stick a pair of RCA jacks on the outside of the box so that I can get audio out of it all.

I should have left the DIN5 on the far end of the cable for the time being so that it could have simply been plugged into the project box, but that’s okay.

The end result of this should be a temporary single cable iPod hookup which I can use until I get the car’s wiring figured out, connectors ordered, etc.

Earlier while working on this I became pretty frustrated with myself because after screwing up the first connector I made a second. Everything was going absolutely great until I realized that I’d wired it backwards, mixing up pins 1 and 30. And it was going so well, too. Ah well, at least it’s set for the time being. I’ve already got the RCA panel connectors, so I just need a project box. That shouldn’t be too hard to come across, I hope.

Now, I just wish I was tired. I thought the coffee I grabbed on the way home from ‘s place was a bad idea. It was. I’m nicely awake.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention what a pain it is to solder inside of these connectors. They are 0.6mm pins spaced 0.6mm apart. To make it a bit easier I took to removing unneeded pins from the last connector used, the one that was properly done.

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An easier way to think of it is in regards to mechanical pencil lead. Most mechanical pencils that people use are either 0.5mm or 0.7mm. Most rollerball pens that people use make a 0.7mm wide line. That should give you an idea of what I was working with. Soldering one (or sometimes two wires) to something that small is a bit interesting.

In case anyone is interested, I’ve got some photos here (photo gallery retired) of the initial work I’ve done in an attempt to fit my iPod into my new car:

http://www.nuxx.net/gallery/v/stuffivemade/ipodin2006civic/