Cheers, all.

We took our Cooper S on a road trip the other day, with my iPod providing the soundtrack via the built-in USB/audio ports.

And things were great until the iPod shut down because its battery was very dead. Isn't it supposed to charge when using the USB port? The menu function of the interface was working fine, and I was able to browse my iPod's contents using the MINI radio buttons, etc. But it apparently wasn't getting power via USB.

Anybody else seen this one?

Tnx,

Spridget

 

There are several threads Navigation and Audio section that address this.

 

He never said he was trying to charge an iPhone though..?

Spridget - I had my ipod stop charging one time and all it took was for me to unplug the usb cable and reseat it. Then I just made sure that I saw that it was charging before tucking it back down into storage. Not sure if this will help you but it helped solve my problem with it charging.

Edit: Nice quick editing Xeraux

 

I have a 2009 MCS with factory Ipod cable - when i went to the dealer for my 1 year service - I told the mechanic that my Ipod nano was not charging - after a while I was told that the factory did not install the correct cable (there seems to be more than 1 Ipod cable) They replaced the cable under warenteen and all is working now

 

I have a 32gb ipod touch and it only leaves my car when I am working out at the gym. I have had it plugged into my USB/Aux ports with the factory Y cable. It charges my ipod EVEN THOUGH when it is plugged in it briefly displays a message: Charging not supported with this accessory (or something like that)

Happy to say... it's totally being charged by the car even though the ipod says the Y cable won't charge it. Weird. I've never taken it out of the car to charge it, and the batter life has never been below 80%.

I think with the right cable... your car should be charging your ipod or iphone. I know that the touch and the iphone use a different interface for charging so they require a different cable.

 

I have the same thing with my touch. OP is it a touch or Ipod?

 

Are you using the MINI supplied Ipod cable or the USB cable that came with the Ipod?

 

I am pretty sure the cable that came with my Mini does not charge my Iphone 3G.

 

I was told by an employee at Future Shop (not the most reputable source of info I know, but what they did tell me makes sense...) that the ipod Touch models and the iphone have a different way of being charged that doesn't allow for the use of cords, adapters, chargers etc. from previous generations of ipods. She was quite adament that my BMW "Y" cable that came with my MINI would NOT charge my ipod.

Totally wrong. I am 100% positive that it charges my ipod becuase I use the ipod EVERYDAY in my car, and unless I transfer songs onto it or take it into the gym with me-- it lives in the car. I have NEVER taken it out of the car because the battery was low for the purpose of charging it. It has been a year now and the battery has never run out. I probably use it 3 hrs a day.

My only explanation is that perhaps there are multiple versions of the "Y" cable?

 

To some extent she is correct. The newer iPods and iTouch and iPhone CAN require more current to charge the battery than the MINI can put out. So if the battery is more than half charged usually the MINI can charge or keep it charged, as it only requires less than 500MA of current to do so. If the battery is less than 50% charge it pulls up to 1500MA and the mini can not provide that so the iP??? will set itself to not charge as it can not get what it thinks it needs and thus the battery dies as it is not charging.

this is very possible also as above it may not be going below 50% battery or it may be one of the earlier generations which can charge on the lower current.

Yes there are two versions the second is "supposed" to charge the iPhone 3G and 3GS and latest version of the iTouch but some people still find that it does not work.

 

Schatzy62: Thank you for helping to clear up all these mysteries! I get a kick out of the error message saying my ipod won't charge when I plug it in, then seeing it charge as I drive to work. So odd! What you said totally makes sense: many variables here including model of ipod touch, model of iphone, and model of "Y" cable.

If this helps: My car is an April 09 build, and my ipod touch is a 32 gig second gen.

 

Once again, the cable that came with my August 09 Justa Automatic works just fine for my nano5 (I bought a little gadget from Scosche which was supposedly needed but wasn't -- perhaps its needed for the iPhone but I don't have one of those).

 

Until I read this thread, I thought my 3GS iphone wasn't being charged because of the error message that we see when we plug it in. Granted, sometimes I would get the "charge" symbol, but 90% of the time I didn't.

Today I had a lot of driving to do and left it plugged for an hour or so. Sure enough, even though it said it wasn't charging and the charge symbol wasn't on, I went from 55% at the start to 75% at the end.

 

Getting back to my original post, my iPod is a 30GB model, and is a few years old. Not being a newer one, or a Touch or iPhone, you'd think it wouldn't have any charging problems. I'm using the cable that the dealership included with the car. Sounds like I may need to ring up the dealer and see what they can suggest.

Spridget

 

I think that's the same iPod I'm using and it charges just fine. I think you're right. Give the dealer a call.

 

I have a 80GB Classic iPod that has been in my car for the past 18 months. 2 or 3 times in the past the iPod was dead. All that showed on the cars dispay was AUX not iPod.

I disconnected it from the Y cable, brought it in my house. Connected it to a charging cable and did a reset on it by holding down the menu and and center button. After it charged, I put it back in the car. And all was working again.

I think the Y cable comes loose from time to time and it goes into a dead state.