What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Panel Mount Ipad Jack

Jim Lewellyn

Well Known Member
My Silverado has a console mounted USB jack for connecting your Ipad/Iphone, etc. It charges the Ipad and connects the Ipad audio to your car stereo.

Anyone know where to get a jack like that? I want to put one in my panel to charge the Ipad and grab the audio out.
 
If you have a power port (cigarette lighter port), then you could get one of these. Do a google search & you'll find lots of other options, including making your own.
 
What you will need are two things. A 12v charger capable of the 2.1A needed by the iPad and a special cable that has both USB and audio out.

I have an older cigarette lighter unit for my iPhone in my truck. Here is a google search string to get you started on options:

iPad car charger with audio out​
 
Thanks guys, but I am trying to avoid using a cigarette lighter.

Whats in my truck is a USB jack only. You just plug the ipad/iphone/ipod into it with the standard ipad USB cable and it charges the unit and connects it to the cars audio.
 
"if I were doing this ..." I'd google to find a source for a panel mounted USB jack as well as an audio jack (USB pinout does not include audio). Then I'd google to find a suitable cable. Then I'd google to find a suitable car charger. Then I'd take the car charger apart and install the guts behind the panel. Alternately, to minimize the panel connections, I'd consider hacking an Apple cable to route audio where the data usually goes on the USB end and then wire the panel jack accordingly."... if I were doing this"

I do not believe there is a pre-built solution that is 100% of what you are describing but a DIY and you can create it :)
 
Last edited:
Get one of these, and one of these.


Apple would have to support any USB device that allowed audio as well as power. Your vehicle has the support of GM to accomplish this. If and when a standalone device can accomplish the same, it will be a lot more expensive than $20.
 
More info needed

Jim,
What year is your Silverado? I'm sure that port would be available through your local Chevy dealer's parts department. Once I know the year of your truck, I can look up the wiring diagram for it using AllData or Mitchell On Demand.
I'll bet that vendors like Mouser or DigiKey could supply that connector. A quick Google search led me to this photo. See

http://images.search.yahoo.com/imag...bk&sigi=16nmd17nd&sigb=12dlpt06c&fr=altavista

and

http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml

Use the red wire for a 5 volt positive input. You'll need a voltage regulator to drop ship's power down to a regulated 5 volts. The black wire would be ground. The green & white wires are your positive and negative data wires. If all you need is audio, the data wires are used for that. Speaker red becomes data green. Speaker black becomes data white.
Charlie
 
Last edited:
Thanks Charlie & others,

The ipad USB cable consists of the power wires and the data wires. The data wires are a serial communication link between the ipad and whatever it is communicating with (Computer or other smart device). To get audio out of the serial communication link there would need to be an electronic device to convert the serial data to an audio out signal. I am guessing that in the new vehicles like my Silverado, the serial data connects directly to the radio, and the radio has all the necessary conversion electronics for audio, data, etc.

When I originally posted this, I had thought that maybe someone had already invented a nice little panel mount connector/data converter. It sure would be a nice device in our panels if it existed.



Jim,
What year is your Silverado? I'm sure that port would be available through your local Chevy dealer's parts department. Once I know the year of your truck, I can look up the wiring diagram for it using AllData or Mitchell On Demand.
I'll bet that vendors like Mouser or DigiKey could supply that connector. A quick Google search led me to this photo. See

http://images.search.yahoo.com/imag...bk&sigi=16nmd17nd&sigb=12dlpt06c&fr=altavista

and

http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml

Use the red wire for a 5 volt positive input. You'll need a voltage regulator to drop ship's power down to a regulated 5 volts. The black wire would be ground. The green & white wires are your positive and negative data wires. If all you need is audio, the data wires are used for that. Speaker red becomes data green. Speaker black becomes data white.
Charlie
 
The ipad USB cable consists of the power wires and the data wires. The data wires are a serial communication link between the ipad and whatever it is communicating with (Computer or other smart device). To get audio out of the serial communication link there would need to be an electronic device to convert the serial data to an audio out signal. I am guessing that in the new vehicles like my Silverado, the serial data connects directly to the radio, and the radio has all the necessary conversion electronics for audio, data, etc.
It's more complicated than that. The iPod/iPad/iPhone connector is a 40-pin connector. In amongst those pins are pins for USB communication, and both digital and analog audio. And the audio lines include both volume controlled (by the iDevice) and line-out connections.

In order to sell a product that accesses all of the pins in useful ways requires that you pay royalties to Apple to get the proper communications protocols for them. They are not all standardized. Getting analog audio out isn't difficult, so there are lots of cheap products on the market with analog audio connections through dock connectors.

Personally, I use a cigarette-lighter based USB charger under the panel, and run a standard iPod charging cable out to the front of the panel. On the panel I have one half of a velcro patch, and on the back of my iPhone case I have the other half of the patch. iPhone sticks to panel, and gets power from plane. Bluetooth connects it to my Lightspeed. When I can connect it to my intercom with Bluetooth instead, i'll be even happier.
 
It's more complicated than that. The iPod/iPad/iPhone connector is a 40-pin connector. In amongst those pins are pins for USB communication, and both digital and analog audio. And the audio lines include both volume controlled (by the iDevice) and line-out connections.

In order to sell a product that accesses all of the pins in useful ways requires that you pay royalties to Apple to get the proper communications protocols for them. They are not all standardized. Getting analog audio out isn't difficult, so there are lots of cheap products on the market with analog audio connections through dock connectors.

Personally, I use a cigarette-lighter based USB charger under the panel, and run a standard iPod charging cable out to the front of the panel. On the panel I have one half of a velcro patch, and on the back of my iPhone case I have the other half of the patch. iPhone sticks to panel, and gets power from plane. Bluetooth connects it to my Lightspeed. When I can connect it to my intercom with Bluetooth instead, i'll be even happier.

Thanks Rob

Sounds like you have really done your homework on this. Thank you for sharing!
 
...
Use the red wire for a 5 volt positive input. You'll need a voltage regulator to drop ship's power down to a regulated 5 volts. The black wire would be ground. The green & white wires are your positive and negative data wires. If all you need is audio, the data wires are used for that. Speaker red becomes data green. Speaker black becomes data white.
Charlie

Ah, if only it were that easy. Not only does power need to be ?intelligent? for charging from a USB device, but the USB signal is digital so you would need intelligent logic to convert the USB digital signal to analog audio signal after a fair amount of ?handshaking? protocol.


..
Personally, I use a cigarette-lighter based USB charger under the panel, and run a standard iPod charging cable out to the front of the panel. On the panel I have one half of a velcro patch, and on the back of my iPhone case I have the other half of the patch. iPhone sticks to panel, and gets power from plane. Bluetooth connects it to my Lightspeed. When I can connect it to my intercom with Bluetooth instead, i'll be even happier.

A device like this might meet your needs. Connect this to your aircraft audio system and this will receive audio wirelessly via Bluetooth from your iDevice. It will also allow track selection, volume up/down control of your iDevice. You can then use a "power only" USB cable for charging the iDevice.

http://www.dragonext.com/black-dog-tag-stereo-bluetooth-wireless-handsfree-a2dp.html
 
Back
Top