Filed under: Hacks, iPhone, iPod touch
Hack your VW's budvase for the iPhone
Perhaps you've seen a Volkswagen Beetle driving around with a flower in its dashboard bud vase. People put all sorts of things in there, but we say ditch the gerbera daisies and go for something more useful. Bug owner Nathan Barry has hacked his bud vase to accommodate his iPhone. By sawing away one slot for his USB car charger's cable and another to steady the iPhone, he made a clever stand that's easy to see from the driver's seat.
Good job, Nathan! My iPhone can be found bouncing around the passenger seat when I'm in my wife's car. The audio jack in my car is hidden inside the arm rest, which is even less convenient. Yes, I've tried FM transmitters but decided that they're manufactured by Satan himself.
So, how do you listen to your iPhone (or iPod) in your car?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tony C said 11:05AM on 11-14-2008
Cute idea, but what happens when said New Beetle gets into an accident, even a minor one...?
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Jay said 11:27AM on 11-14-2008
I have a question...how do you keep the iPhone from interfering with the speakers? I have a set up in my VW to play my iPod but when I hook up the iPhone I get terrible interference.
Mez Jr said 7:09PM on 11-14-2008
Jay:
go here: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062214 this is bulky, but it should cut down on the interference you may get if the iPhone is charging while you have it plugged in.
This solution is presuming you are running the iPhone off the cars power while outputting audio, which can cause interference.
Josh Burks said 11:35AM on 11-14-2008
personally, i took out my ashtray, which is between my gear shift and center console. i made a custom dock out of those little dock adapters that come with any iPod and glued a USB cable the bottom. then i made a box around the jerry-rigged dock so that it fit snuggly into the spot where my ashtray once was. the USB goes directly to the rear of my CD deck, so all i have to do it plug and play. another bonus is that when the iPod is not connected, i can simply shut the lid to the ashtray holder, and you never know it was there, but when an iPod is plugged in, the dock has a slight tilt and is flush with surface, so i literally have an iPod dock right at my fingertips with full functionality and charging. when i have the time, i am going to rebuild the dock to accommodate my iPhone OR iPod, bc i leave my iPod behind more and more often, and i just have a headphone jack for the iPohne as of now.
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dandaman said 11:50PM on 11-14-2008
that's pretty smart. My Toyota Highlander has a spot that could be used the same way. I like the idea of having the top flip down, but the top comes out with the storage area. What I do want to do though is take the door for the cd holder on my other car, a Prius, and turn that into a dock - that way, when the door is open and flipped down, I can throw the iPhone in, and when it's up, the dock is out of the way.
Randy said 2:58PM on 11-17-2008
Interesting. Can you post a couple of pics? I want to do something similar with my car, but I'd like to see what others have done.
Josh Burks said 4:02PM on 11-17-2008
i would, but i tore it down just yesterday lol. after almost a year of use when i could have taken pictures, you ask ONE day too late. if you'd like, when i get moving on the iPhone/iPod ashtay dock I could post some progress pics. unfortunately, it may be a while since my head unit randomly shorted out and caught fire, so replacing that will be first. now i will have to rewire my whole harness and RCA's to my amps, so the dock has rested itself firmly at the bottom of my list till i get that all fixed up. however if you'd like to send me some pics of your situation, id be happy to shoot you some ideas. i do car audio installs part time, so i could offer some advice if you'd like.
lmao, i just watched a vista laptop freak out and crash in my college cafe. shoulda gotta Mac.
Jimbeam said 11:35AM on 11-14-2008
"The audio jack in my car is hidden inside the arm rest, which is even less convenient."
My old car had it on the passenger side, very close to the floor, in a tray with barely enough room for two fingers to get in there. Required a 6 ft cable so I could run it under the dash to the cup holder near the driver side window. Everything in the car was rounded so the cup holder was the only place you could put anything without it ending up on the floor.
My new car has it right next to the steering wheel and a cup holder right under it. Now I have 6 feet of cable tangled around everything. I cant find a foot long cord.
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Zachariah said 11:47AM on 11-14-2008
I shelled out a bit of cash for a Pioneer replacement deck that can
control the iPod right from the head unit. I ran the usb cable that
comes with the deck through my console between the seats. Into that, the iPod dock connector gets plugged in. The iPod remains hidden there but I can control it from the deck itself and it charges while plugged in.
The other great thing about this deck is that it isn't restricted to
only iPods. Anything with a usb connector can be plugged in. Most of
the time I just have an 8Gb memory stick plugged in. Again, even with
this, the songs, artists, etc. show up on the head unit and can be
controlled.
Well worth the investment if your vehicle can accept a replacement
deck.
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Sam du Rose said 11:48AM on 11-14-2008
I've hacked a line-in jack into my stereo's mono audio-in that's meant for wiring handsfree kits, but I still don't have a good way to mount it.
The cheapest simple car cradle I found is at least £50, which is completely ridiculous. I just want something simple to suction-mount it above the dash with a dock connector in the bottom, so I can just drop the phone in.
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eom said 11:49AM on 11-14-2008
Velcro and a iPhone case on near my radio. Also a cassette adapter, love the static sound /sarcasm. Crude, yet efficient.
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George Glass said 11:50AM on 11-14-2008
I bought a Naja King iPhone stand (http://thoughtout.biz/NAJA_King) and wrapped the coil around my emergency brake handle (center console) in my Honda Civic. Works perfect. I can twist it for any desired use or any viewing angle and it stays in place. Also can twist for landscape or portrait.
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Tony C said 11:03AM on 11-17-2008
Wish I could do that, but my RDX doesn't have a parking brake handle. Acura in their infinite wisdom opted for a foot pedal to perform the task instead.
JoshK said 12:02PM on 11-14-2008
I use neocaraudio.com's iPod hook up to my 2003 Civic. Works like a charm, plugs into the back of the head unit (where a trunk cd changer would plug in) and interfaces beautifully. I tried an aftermarket player like Pioneer but the heads up display was really slow, I couldn't shuffle the ipod or wait years to get to the B section. I like neo's option better because it doesn't freeze my screen, I can control the device while it's plugged in. Now if only apple would send phone calls through the iPod jack I'd have an awesome speakerphone too.
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mlaz said 12:08PM on 11-14-2008
I use one of the Dension Ice>Link direct connects. Comes with an ipod cradle that holds the iphone pretty well. I got a pro clip mount to mount the cradle to my dash near the deck. When I get in the car, I just drop it in and I'm ready to rock. Also, when a call comes in, it auto fades the music, and rings through my cars stereo speakers. From there I've got a Blue Ant bluetooth speaker phone on my visor for hands free talking. When I end the call, the music comes back on.
For some reason, the Dension link isn't charging my iphone anymore. It used to, but no longer. That kind of stinks.
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Mattazuma said 12:32PM on 11-14-2008
I have an ipod & aux in adapter from Vais Technology for my car. It works great, fools the system into thinking the ipod is a minidisk changer and each playlist is a different MD in the changer. The nav screen shows the artist & song title info from the iPod.
http://www.vaistech.com/home.php
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Chris said 1:05PM on 11-14-2008
I have a kenwood head unit which connects to the dock connector, it has Bluetooth too so the phone just goes in the glove box.
Interference can be suppressed with RF chokes - those things you see on the ends of some USB cables just before the plug, wrap the speaker cables around one
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spike said 1:20PM on 11-14-2008
I use this...
http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-LiquidAUX-Deluxe-Auxiliary-Remote/dp/B0011UK2HO/ref=pd_cp_e_2?pf_rd_p=413863501&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0015G2EZ2&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0T4JEMM62R051D52PCA9
and I love it.
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Dave said 2:05PM on 11-14-2008
I just velcro it to the dashboard of my Focus. much cheaper than a $100.00 stand that mounts to the car.
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Sonny said 2:09PM on 11-14-2008
I use an iPhone/iPod interface from Grom Audio in my 2008 Prius. I connects directly to a plug on the back of the radio. The adapter box can fit behind the dash or in the glove box depending on your level of laziness. It charges my iPhone and appears as a cd changer to the vehicle audio system, which allows you to control playback from the steering wheel controls. It has had problems locking up, where the audio system will not recognize it. I've been able to resolve it by unplugging it from the audio system and iPhone, shutting the vehicle off and then reconnecting before the car is powered-up again. It happened 3 times in the 6 months I've had it. I contacted support about it and they sent me a new chip for it, but it happened again after the replacement chip was installed. I still need to find an elegant mounting solution, but they seem extremely over priced.
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