Replaced Touch G2 with iPhone 3GS - now car charging doesn't work

[Taustin Powers]

I drive a new 3 series BMW, and I had a USB connector for iPods built in. When I hooked up the Touch, it recognized it as an iPod, I could control everything via the car radio controls, and it would charge the iPod while playing back the music at the same time. Pretty much perfect!

Now I got an iPhone 3GS, thinking it would behave the same way. I hook it up, my car recognizes it as an iPod, and the whole music playback and controls work fine. But on the phone's display I get the message "charging not supported for this device". What the hell? Why wouldn't it allow charging? Is there a technical reason for this, or is it just Apple being a pain in the butt about needing "special accessories" for every single gadget?

 

[dopipod]

I had the same problem when I upgraded from my original iPhone to 3g iPhone. My in car controls work as before except for charging. Newer iPhones (3g on) charge from a different part of the charger. If your situation is the same then you will need to have another cable fitted in your car. I have been looking for a widget that could convert these interfaces without success.

 

[D1G1T4L]

This is what you need

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TS696LL/A?fnode=MTY1NDA4NA&mco=MjIwMTg2NQ

I had to order one for my Alpine stereo in my truck. Apple stopped charging with the firewire pin which many 3rd party companies had been using.

 

[sallythemac]

I heard that the voltage changed between the iPhone EDGE and iPhone 3G - it was hard to get hold of a car charger that actually worked with the 3G during launch week! 3rd party manufacturer's had to alter their products to work with the new iPhone.

 

[Taustin Powers]

Ah, makes sense.

I guess I just expected the 2nd gen Touch to already sport the same technology as the iPhone 3G, since they were released around the same time.

 

[jacobgaul]

i am using a DLO charger from bestbuy, it was $26.99 last year.. for the iphone 3G and it works just fine on the touch1/2 iphone 3g/3gs ipod3/4g i thought it was expensive but oh well, it works great until tomtom releases their combo kit

here is a link to it..

http://www.sfplanet.com/product/DLO...dium=cse&utm_source=Google&utm_term=DLO-95543

 

[Ivan P]

This is what you need

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TS696LL/A?fnode=MTY1NDA4NA&mco=MjIwMTg2NQ

I had to order one for my Alpine stereo in my truck. Apple stopped charging with the firewire pin which many 3rd party companies had been using.

It still doesnt make total sense in the OP's case though, IMO. They said that it'd charge a 2nd gen iPod touch without problems, yet it was one of the first iPods that dropped firewire charging (along with the 120GB classic and 4th gen nano)...

 

[flurffmeister]

It needs far more juice than the iPod touch, due to a bigger battery and higher power requirements overall. If you had an iPhone 3G, it might have worked, but the 3GS has an even higher power requirement than that, not only to charge at an acceptable rate, but also to maintain operating power, so that's most likely why it tripped the "charging is not supported" alert.