@oryx: That's an interesting observation about the battery level... I've also noticed the lightning bolt more frequently when the battery is either fully charged or more than half... but it's not consistent. Sometimes even with a full or nearly-full battery I will still get the plug icon. Also very strange about the different behaviors in your husband's car. Did you try using your cable in his car to see if either iPhone would charge? It would be nice if we could narrow it down to a cable issue, although if that were the case, it seems like his iPhone would charge in your car, which you said it doesn't. Aggravating, isn't it?

@ahendy: I also considered the idea that it was related to connection sequence and whether the car was started or not, but I hadn't thrown the door opened vs. closed variable into the equation. At this point, I'll give anything a shot!

 

@ahendy:

Gave the connection sequence theory a few tests this evening. The first was an astounding success... but subsequent trials were not...

Maybe we need to point the car North first, snap our fingers three times, and say a few prayers to the MINI gods before connecting the iPhone?

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion. I'm always game for a possible solution!

 

Probably requires an animal sacrifice.

You must squash at least seven bugs on your windsheild...

 

I'm so blown away by robin's custom shift *****, I can hardly remember what I wanted to say...

Oh yeah. I've been going nuts trying to get my '08 Clubman (HC, of course!) to play nice with my iphone and Pandora. Worked OK with dealer supplied Y-cable at first, but then itunes kept shouldering Pandora aside - it would either freeze or quit. Itunes is great, but Pandora is fantastic. Excellent sound quality and an amazing library.

The clubman on board computer offers input options of "ipod" or "aux", but if you plug the usb end of the Y-cable to the car, "aux" disappears and the car insists the phone is an ipod - it only sees the itune library.

I finally found a cigarette lighter/usb adapter (accurian, but other, less expensive ones are available). I now plug the usb end of the Y-cable into the adapter, and the other (mini stereo) end into the aux input. Works! The car display doesn't show the itunes data, of course, but who cares, it's on the phone display. I can even use the cover flow feature, or whatever it's called. Pandora works great. GPS works great. Bluetooth works great. And check out Simplify, Which lets you access your entire itunes home library, not just the music on your phone. Also your friend's libraries, if they've granted you access.

Ideally Mini will come up with a firmware update that acknowledges the iphone as an iphone, not an ipod. In the meantime this works great.

But now I can't sleep at night trying to decide which shift/brake ***** to order (drool)! Hey Robin, my birthday's on the 26th!

Jim in Jersey,

'08 Clubman, HC, Convenience, Cold weather package

 

Woops. Simplify only works on WiFi, not 3G. Well, it worked in the driveway...

Jim in Jersey,

'08 Clubman, HC, Convenience, Cold weather packages

 

Question? Normally when you plug in an iphone to a dock, it disables the phone. Does this do the same when you plug the iphone into the connections in the car?

He's getting the full kit, with the satnav.

(asking on behalf of a friend in Ireland who is getting a MINI)

 

Not always true of the iPhone 3G. I can plug it into the iPhone 3G dock, connect it to my Mac & iTunes and still run apps on the iPhone. However, I have iTunes set to manually sync. While a sync is in process, you cannot use the iPhone.

 

You need to sign out/sign back in or reboot the app when you switch from Wifi to Edge/3g, at least according to the Simplify instructions

 

Hmmm...

Could be a nuisance in some areas, but thanks for the info!

 

I have been researching this issue for a while. It seems that in September MINI / BMW are replacing the 6NE USB Bluetoosh option with a new 6NF option. This apparently will improve the iPhone interface in that it will use the Digital output as opposed to the analog, be quicker, and detect the iPhone as an iPhone, not an iPod.

I have to presume (this is a guess) that it will therefore fix the charging problem.

 

I know this started as a 3G thread but rather that starting a new one....
Is anyone having problems with pairing the 1st gen IPhone version 2.0.2 with you R56?

 

ahendy! You may be on to something!

As crazy as this seems, I've found that if I connect the iPhone WHILE the driver door is open and then start the engine BEFORE closing the door, I consistently get the charging icon. By consistently, I mean the last 8 out of 10 times -- the other 2 times I got the plug icon, but it changed to a lightning bolt within a couple minutes.

I'll keep testing, but since my last posting a few days ago, these are the most reproducible results I've seen. Now if someone could only explain this oddity of automotive electrical engineering!

To summarize:

1. Open driver's door.
2. Plug in iPhone 3g.
3. Start car with door open.
4. Close door.

Anyone else care to add to the test data?

 

@buzzardboy: cool idea, thanks! Pandora is awesome, and I was thinking I was just out of luck when it came to playing it in the car.

Does anyone know if the phonebook contacts get uploaded to the car's memory? In other words, if you don't connect the phone through the USB port, will the phone contacts still be there? That would be the one shortcoming of this alternative setup, although I guess you could swap back and forth between USB cables as needed.

 

I would think that is part of the bluetooth package so the contacts would be sent via Bluetooth. Someone else will need to confirm this...

 

Yes when I pair my phone via bluetooth I get my contacts via the radio controls.

 

Sweet! Guess it's time to shop for a new USB charger.

 

How long did it take the first time to get your contacts over to the Mini via bluetooth?

 

Not long. After I paired the phone I could pull them up via the first letter.

 

just found this-

apple always changing something

 

Yah, maybe it's related to the amount of power being drawn by the device at any given time (which in turn may be due to the amount of charge left, the device state, etc.). Or maybe it's inconsistent current or voltage coming from the car, depending on what other electrical demands it's seeing at any time. That might explain the switching back and forth between lightning bolt and plug icons during a single session. Maybe the AC compressor kicks in and messes with the power distribution?

In any case... I give up! Even though I've been getting somewhat more predictable charging with the startup-sequence theory, it's still not 100%, and I need 100%!

I ordered a Griffin PowerJolt and will sacrifice iPod integration for reliable charging AND Pandora. buzzardboy, thanks again for that tip

 

This might be a dumb question and I haven't had a chance to even plug my iPhone in yet.... but - does the bluetooth work when the iPhone is working as an iPod?

 

yes, works great. also, when you receive an email, it lowers the volume for a second to indicate a new email received when plug in as ipod in the car.

 

Sweet - thanks.

Now I've just got to figure out where to stash it when in use...

 

If your dumb brick (one with no voltage on the data lines) ever charged an iPod it was a mistake on Apple's part, some versions of the iPod showed charging when they shouldn't, and they were only charging really slowly anyway. Apple has been pretty consistant in their charging story, just the accessory manufacturer may not have been listening to what they were told (or not in the program). Apple has an old patent application for the USB charging method. I think that works with any iPod which can be charged from USB.

If you want to hack a charger for you iPhone 3G, you might find it'd be easier to just short the data lines together (but otherwise leave them floating), rather than try to arrange the right resistors. That'll make your power brick say its a standard brick (the brick standard was only published this year), though the iPhone may not charge as fast as when plugged into an Apple brick.

 

Some charging randomness from my 3g.

I tried opening door - sticking one finger in air and holding left ear lobe to no avail - I couldn't get a lightning bolt no matter which position I held my finger.

However - when my 3g dropped below 20% I noticed that the icon was changing at random from the plug to a lightning bolt. For a while I was convinced that the only time it would charge was with the phone in the upright position so I drove for 15 minutes w/one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding the phone upright (it's an automatic). Again no consistent results to speak of.

Is the consensus that it is the interface in the dash of the HiFi or the Y-cable that has the brains to figure this out? I'd assume it's the Y-cable as the USB port is obviously live - it's just a question of the pins lining up correctly. I still can't get my head around the inconsistency of it!

Anyway - here's hoping that an update to the Y-cable will allow us to utilize fully our iPhone 3g's in the future.