Damn, and here I am thinking of getting an iPad, which sucks even more juice.

My iPhone 4 does charge correctly (~July 2009 build) but I am _not_ optimistic the iPad will charge. Guess I might actually have to get that ridiculous contraption......... and hardwire it behind the cig lighter with a fuse tap. Hehe.

 

No way will the USB port in the MINI power the iPad...just not enough juice. I'm not even sure that the octopus contraption shown above would charge it either, since it's probably injecting 5W (which is all the iPod/iPhone need) and not the 10W needed to charge the iPad. You'd need an iPad-specific 12V adapter...

 

That's the feeling that I am getting. The problem is, though, that I want to use the USB/AUX combo cable to get track controls, sound, etc. - so the USB cable is kind of .. uh .. "occupied". Hm.

 

If I were using an iPad in the car, I'd just run it off the "normal" USB connection, which would allow it to function just fine, while either not charging it or perhaps contributing a slight trickle. Then, if/when it really needed to be charged, I'd plug it directly into a USB cig lighter socket adapter. The battery lasts so long when fully charged that I don't see this as much of a concern.

 

Wow...just wow.

The wife brought the 09 mini in for overdue yearly service today. I wanted the dealer to fix it so that her 3gs would charge, thinking that surely after a year and a half, they would have a simple solution to the problem. When she got to the dealer, they had no idea if there was a fix and seemed clueless and mentioned an $80 adapter. Livid, I spent almost a solid hour this morning reading up on this issue, ending at this thread. I have a couple of questions though.

1. Has anyone purchased this $80 adapter for the y-cable adapter? Does it work? Is it as hideous at the picture in the post above describes?
2. It sounds the iphone 4 works flawlessly with the old adapter? I'm surprised by this. Could this be that for some it works and for others it doesn't like the 3GS?
3. I saw some info on iphone/ipod out support with iOS4 that would allow control of music via the ipod/iphone instead of the dash stereo controls. Am I correct, and has this been implemented yet?

 

Why in the world didn't they just make one converter box and replace the first dongle with the second dongle, instead of having the user deal with two dongles linked together. Craziness.

 

I have a 2011. Iphone4 charges and plays with the dongle. The iPad is plugged into the socket using a 3rd party charger capable of handling the ipads voltage requirements. I'll test the MINI dongle with it this morning for you but I agree it's doubtful. I use the iPad for nav...

 

iPod Out is an iOS4 feature that actually does the opposite of what you're suggesting - it allows another device (car head unit, home stereo system etc) to completely control the iPod/iPhone including running apps etc and exporting the entire display of the iDevice to an external display. I believe this is how MINI Connect in the 2011's will work.

 

Just following up: iPad doesn't want anything to do with the dongle. Won't charge and won't communicate. I keep my iPod attached to the dongle permanently and have the iPad just connected to an incase 12v charger.

I do wish they didn't put the connection point for this system in the front though. I'd have liked it routed to the glove box. Strange decision in that design.

 

+1.

In my X5, it's in the center console. Safely tucked away.

 

Update: complete fail @ connecting an iPad to the Mini. iPad goes into a frenzy saying "ACCESSORY NOT COMPATIBLE WITH IPAD" ... and the message pops up and goes away every 100ms or so. So you can't really click it, but you can't use the iPad either. Complete madness.

 

Whoever came up with that just can't be someone that likes MINIs or iPhones

 

A note to all of you with iPads. It seems that all the aftermarket manufacturers are having the same type problems with the iPad and their iPhone/iPod connections.

Just read thru forums about JVC, Pioneer, Kenwood, Sony, Alpine, Clarion.

They all seem to not recognize the iPad on a regular iPod/iPhone connector or dock connected to their head units.

So it would seem that yet again Apple has done something to the connection protocol that is not compatible with the older version of hardware.

Now hopefully Apple will change this when iOS4.2 comes out. But I would not hold my breath over it as they seem to break things more rather than fix them.

 

This is the solution after two years?

They should give this to anyone that has an iPhone that was sold a car and told it would charge and work with iPhones.

 

FYI - I bought this cable from Amazon for $22 and it works perfectly. Also charges my iPod 5.5G (Video) http://amzn.to/hrZkif

I have an 09 MC I bought used; so it did not have the OEM cable...

 

Has anyone bought one of these? How well does it work? Is it large and clunky? How long are the wires?

I got my VZW iphone on Monday and would like to have all connections from the bottom of the phone instead of power on the bottom and audio in on the top.... but wow that is a high price -nearly half the price of my phone.

Thanks in advance for any insights.