Anyone know how to wire an iPod into your camper?

[Craig & Lisa]

We are currently in the process of restoring our camper and one of the new features that I want to add which they did not have in 1969 is a connection for an iPod. I am not sure how I would go about this, but I would also like to be able to plug it in and be able to recharge it while its plugged in.

 

Has anyone done this or know where I can find information about doing this? Thanks fellow campers.

 

Craig & Lisa

[Robert Wesner]

I'd look for an adapter in the automotive section that wires to 12v system like a cig lighter

[Craig & Lisa]

I didn't think about going to an automotive store to see what they have. That might be a good place to start. Thanks Robert.

[John "T" Nordhoff]

Theres a few cheap n easy ways to do that, my I Pod travels everywhere in my RV. If you go to Wally World or Best Buy or Radio Shack they have several options. One is made by Garmin I think called road trip or something, it has an I Pod dock,,, the I Pod fits into with a cord that fits in your cigarette lighter. Then it has a tuner you set to an empty FM frequency and the I Pod plays out your FM radio as the I Pod also charges........ Some car stereos are I P:od ready with a 1/8 micro input jack and you use a double male cord with a plug for the radio and one for the I Pods output jack. They also have all sorts of cheap FM AM radios with I Pod docks that play the I Pod or radio and charge it also.

I collect old time radio programs MP 3 files and have 6,600 of them in my I Pod plus 2100 songs plus all my pictures and backed up computer word documents and files woooooooooo hoooooooooooo

Ol John T

[Craig & Lisa]

Hi there John. I will have to go check out some of those places to see what they have.

 

I guess what I am trying to do is build a docking station into the wall of my camper. Then I can slip the iPod into its charging base and then play through speakers I wire into the camper. I want it to be able to blend in with the interior and be very unobtrusive in its appearance.

 

I am not into my music as much as you are that's for sure, but that is also very cool that you are. It sounds like you have one impressive collection John.

 

Thanks for the ideas John.

 

Craig

 

[John "T" Nordhoff]

 Theres one product called "I Home" with a dock and speakers. NOTE if you want to spend the big bucks you will not believe the sound that comes out of the Bose system wowwwwwwww

 

  Im not aware of any stand alone docks only (that you could custom build in), they usually have FM AM and/or speakers etc. The small 1/8 mini stereo jack on top the I Pod can, of course, feed the sound to your own stereo system input while the regular bottom I POd connector is what sends the audio to devices like I Home etc

 

  Best Buy or Circuit City or Freys Electronics or Radio Shack etc can fix you right up

 

  I wont live long enough to listen to all 500 of the hour long  Lux Radio Theatre Presents old time radio shows (or the other 6100 lol) but it was fun collecting them on my I Pod. And now I subscribed to Net Flix to watch classic films of the 30' through 50's via my computer to TV when Im on the road geeeeeeeeeee theres hundfreds of them to watch now lol

 

  Gotta Love RV life on the open road

 

  Ol John T

 

 

 

[Craig & Lisa]

One of my daughters has the iHome and then we have a dock with speakers and radio that we use as our alarm clock.

 

Your ideas sent me off in the right direction I think because I found something on amazon that I think just might work.

 

I thought about making some room in the cabinet above the dinette and then putting two speakers wired into the bottom of that cabinet. With this docking station it looks like I can charge my iPod and run a speaker jack out of it to listen to the music.

 

I could hide the iPod in the center of the cabinet and then have the music piped out of the cabinet which s centrally located in the camper. Take a look at this link and let me know what you think. Apparently it has a cable so you can connect it to your TV as well to watch videos on your iPod. Plus it seems to be a relatively inexpensive option as well.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8Z126-Power-Dock-iPod/dp/B000U9WU0O/r...

 

It sure is hard roughing it with all of those movies and videos at your fingertips isn't John. :o)

 

Have a great day.

 

Craig

 

 

[John "T" Nordhoff]

I dont think that dock ALONE will do all you need, I think you still need to run the I Pods output through an amplifier for enough power to drive bigger speakers. The I Home or a car stereo etc takes that low 1 watt power output of the I Pod (its 1/8" jack) and amplifies it to 5 to 10 or more watts necessary to drive bigger speakers. The I Pod output is very low power just enought to power headphones or ear buds and if you put it dirtect un amplified into big speakers it wont do much. That dock is to keep the I :Pods internal battery charged and so you can feed its audio to an amplifier or car stereo etc afterwhich only then can it power big speakers. I think the literature even says for listeninG out youR home audio system i.e via its amplifier to power big speakers. You still need a stereo or amplifier or home audio system or even a car type stereo FM AM so the I Pods low power 1 watt gets boosted to power big speakers I think. Some car FM AM now have 1/8 input jacks so you can feed your I Pod into it and its amplifiedr then runs the car spreakers. NO WARRANTY BUT THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE??

John T

[Martha F]

I am trying to do the same but using my iPhone. Depending on the generation of your iPod , the best route might be to go with the builtIn wall mount jensen. You can even use a flash drive in it AND hook it up to your tv cause it plays DVDs and CDs too. Lots of oin and outs... Can have outside speakers. The downside (for me) is that it's not compatible with New iPhones so be sure and read the guide before u buy. Lots on eBay and amazon

[Martha F]

Curious what route you took on the ipod. After spending much time and energy searching the matter, i decided to just use my memorex radio/ipod/iphone docking station for my music, then my laptop for my movies(and music) i purchased a $15 set of speakers that plug into both at Walmart and it all sounds great! Who knew! i actually almost went for the bose but instead saved a bundle...but then my little camper is so little and I use it only 8-10 times a year.