3g line out without charger cable? It exist?

You could just use the dock connector part of the SIK. You don't have to use the charger. Works great with an exo case.

Originally posted by Pnkrck83
Just buy a firewire cable that has the dock connector on one end (its the cable that comes stock with the 3G ipods), cut it open, and solder a mini stereo plug onto the line out pins. I'm sure if your search around here someone has done it/knows what pins are what.

Wow good idea...i searched the forums with no result...may have been in with the lost forum data that was lost...anyone know how to do this? Any links? Thanks

Steve

I think SiK is better solution. It cost only $10 more than USB cable, but you do not need to buy a mini stereo plug and spend 15 minutes for soldering.

I have an imp and use it with a power injector (i have an unpowered firewire card) for desktop use at home (with lineout like the dock that lets me still use the case). It also has data pins on it so you can use it like a sync cable if you have a spare firewire cord.

Has anyone found a source for female firewire connectors? I'd like to get a female end to plug the 3G cable into, and just wire out a line-out jack and power input, put them into a small project box from radio shack, and voila...

Is the line-out definitely as simple as just connecting to the wires? If so, this should be a trivial little project...

Also, anyone figure out yet how to modify the cable so when the power drops, the ipod sleeps? (The Belkin adapter is said to do this - I don't have one, so I can't confirm...)

Okay - much googling has turned up no info on the 3G dock pinout. So, after spending some time going blind counting the tiny pins in the dock connector and listening for the beep of an ohmeter, here's a quick and dirty layout of the dock connector. (Apologies for the ugly ascii - I might slap together a gif if people would like.) Unfortunately, this means you need to rewire the ipod->firewire connector before you can get a single-cable solution.

Dock connector, shown with pins in connector down. (Looking down at the dock with the line out port to the back, or at the cable with the symbol facing down.)
xCBAxxxxxxxxxxxxxx11x5x6x3x422

Line out plug: -wire---[C|B|A> <-tip

RCA Adapter: -red/right--[C]=B>
RCA Adapter: -white/left--[C]=A>

6-pin Firewire: (from http://www.pccables.com/cabtech.htm#firewire)
|---\
| 1 3 5 |
| 2 4 6 |
|---/

Key:
x=unused
C=line out- common ground/shield
B=line out- right
A=line out- left
1=Firewire power (12v)
2=Firewire ground
3=Firewire twisted pair B- (differential signals)
4=Firewire twisted pair B+
5=Firewire twisted pair A- (differential signals)
6=Firewire twisted pair A+

The dock takes A,B, and C and reroutes them to the line-out port, and the six firewire pins are power and data. So, to turn a firewire data + power cable into a audio + power cable, all that should be necessary is to open up the 30-pin side of the cable, and switch the audio pins onto three of the data pins. Then make your female firewire connector the same. As an aside, I'm sure you'll want to use separate grounds for 2 and C!

Unfortunately, this means you can't just take a stock docking cable and get sound and power through it. It also means the average mortal will never be able to control the ipod, power it, and get sound through one cable. (Which would have been awfully nice!)

No idea why Apple hasn't made this public... but now it is! Go ahead and use the info, but if anyone makes an adapter for this, I'd love to hear about it! (Since it may happen before I come up with one of my own. ;) iPodAdapterCableNO@SPAMhotmail.com...

(BTW - the usual disclaimers apply... use this at your own risk!)

Not a problem! BTW, I had originally used an apple posting to get the firewire numbering, and it was confusing... I've edited my post above to be correct (Ground, or 2, should be rightmost on the dock connector!) Make sure to use the edited post, and remember to double-check a bit on your own...