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DIY iPad Female USB to Dock Cable Idea (Camera Connector)

jahsavi

jahsavi

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 3, 2007
98
12
I have this idea that If you take the supplied USB to dock cable, purchase a female-to-female USB connector you will be able to connect any usb device without having to purchase anything extra. Would this work?

iPad > Dock-USB > USB-FEMALE/FEMALE > Any device!

base_media

usb-female-to-female.jpg
 
P

patp

Guest
Apr 10, 2008
849
1
is this so you can extend the usb cable? I'm not seeing what purpose this would serve other than to extend the cable?

I am probably missing something very obvious here.
 
S

Skystar

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2007
269
0
patp said:
is this so you can extend the usb cable? I'm not seeing what purpose this would serve other than to extend the cable?

I am probably missing something very obvious here.
Click to expand...

Essentially he's trying to avoid buying the camera connection kit which provides a female usb to dock connector. Would be interesting to find out if that is the way it works, or if apple includes some kind of verification chip in the circuitry of the camera kit.
 
P

patp

Guest
Apr 10, 2008
849
1
Skystar said:
Essentially he's trying to avoid buying the camera connection kit which provides a female usb to dock connector. Would be interesting to find out if that is the way it works, or if apple includes some kind of verification chip in the circuitry of the camera kit.
Click to expand...

I see.

he should try it on his iPad and let us know!:D
 
M

Milt

macrumors newbie
Apr 28, 2010
2
0
Nope

I can confirm that this does not work (and thankfully the iPad lived). I am guessing that the camera connection kit is like other ipod/iphone accessories, which use a resistor between pin 21 and ground (pin 15 I think) to tell the device what to do with its usb line. Problem is, the kit is so new that no one has taken a multimeter to the pins to figure out if this is the case and if so, what the right resistance is. So basically Apple isn't charging you $30 for a F<>F USB adapter (along with the same, routed to an SD card slot), but $30 for a F<>F USB adapter and a <1 cent resistor, which is still kind of a ripoff really. It would be lovely if someone who has access to the kit would test my hypothesis, otherwise I will be able to do so next week. I highly doubt that apple has anything more complex than that in the thing (like a chip or IC), but I suppose it is possible if they really wanted to be jerks and stop people from making their own. Hope that helps, I'll post here again if I find anything more.

EDIT: Another possibility is that the iPad uses some of the other pins in a creative new way, for instance those formerly used for firewire... I dunno, someone might have to sacrifice a CCK to science :rolleyes:
 
jahsavi

jahsavi

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 3, 2007
98
12
Milt said:
I can confirm that this does not work (and thankfully the iPad lived). I am guessing that the camera connection kit is like other ipod/iphone accessories, which use a resistor between pin 21 and ground (pin 15 I think) to tell the device what to do with its usb line. Problem is, the kit is so new that no one has taken a multimeter to the pins to figure out if this is the case and if so, what the right resistance is. So basically Apple isn't charging you $30 for a F<>F USB adapter (along with the same, routed to an SD card slot), but $30 for a F<>F USB adapter and a <1 cent resistor, which is still kind of a ripoff really. It would be lovely if someone who has access to the kit would test my hypothesis, otherwise I will be able to do so next week. I highly doubt that apple has anything more complex than that in the thing (like a chip or IC), but I suppose it is possible if they really wanted to be jerks and stop people from making their own. Hope that helps, I'll post here again if I find anything more.

EDIT: Another possibility is that the iPad uses some of the other pins in a creative new way, for instance those formerly used for firewire... I dunno, someone might have to sacrifice a CCK to science :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Makes sense to me. I guess we'll have to wait and find out. I already ordered a F<>F USB adapter from ebay .99 cents. If I need to rewire some thats fine. I figured they wouldn't make it super easy.

Also we need ipad camera kit disassembly photos. No one has them... come on ifixit!! :p joke


***UPDATE: Remember the old (2005) ipod USB camera connector almost looks the same as the new ipad connector. Will that work with the ipad?

pod-pad-camera-kit.jpg

ipod.jpg
 
M

Milt

macrumors newbie
Apr 28, 2010
2
0
iFixit is sleeping... or maybe trying to do too much now!

Yeah, it sounds like a pain... you would need to crack the case off of a dock cable (which would need pins in the right places, which is another question), add the resistor, and then chain it to the F-F adapter. I guess it is just a question of whether or not your time spent is worth more or less than $30.

As for the iPod camera connector, it has been confirmed that this does not work. My guess is that it is identical, save for that one pesky resistor! Voodoo... :mad:
 
T

terrymr

macrumors member
Jul 11, 2006
69
3
It's also entirely possible that software to drive the usb interface is actually loaded from the adapter itself.
 
jahsavi

jahsavi

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 3, 2007
98
12
terrymr said:
It's also entirely possible that software to drive the usb interface is actually loaded from the adapter itself.
Click to expand...

Really? I don't know... I feel like theres not much to the adaptor but maybe I'm wrong.
 
jahsavi

jahsavi

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 3, 2007
98
12
Make a USB connector?

Anyone figure out if there is a way to make a USB connector?
 
H

HiFiGuy528

macrumors 68000
Jul 24, 2008
1,874
64
The old iPod camera kit does not work on the iPad. The iPad and the new camera kit have chips in them that ensures you must buy Apple approved accessories. Just like the video kit.
 
L

lakrides

macrumors newbie
Oct 31, 2011
1
0
Master and Slave

Remember that the usb only works one way

PC(master)>iPad(slave)

iPad(master)>camera(slave)

although you can work both ways when plugged into a pc, the main iPad plug uses different pin in the iPad to pc cable compared the the camera to iPad plug( i think it uses 4 of the 10 or so pins)
 
X

xArtx

macrumors 6502a
Mar 30, 2012
764
1
I think there is more than one chip in it, and that the camera kit IS the host (not the iPad),
and provides a simpler connection between the camera kit & iPad.
Otherwise I find it unlikely that a simple JB tweak could be written to get it working with the iPhone as well.
 
R

ramsmash102

macrumors newbie
Apr 5, 2013
1
0
This helps alot.

This actually looks like just the thing I could use to connect an
XBOX-360 Controller to my Kindle Fire. But I'm not sure it would
even work.:confused:
 
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