DIY: Permanent integrated iPod Dock (cheap mod!)

[Ryan T]

DIY Finished/Rewritten! Mods, could you move this to Interior Style Mods? Thanks

Mount Your iPod to the Dash -347 Easy Steps!
Click here for illustrated PDF.
The concept of this mod is very simple. I want to mount my iPod to my car’s dash somewhere. After considering a few locations, I finally settled on this location:


That awkward sunglasses/accessories/trash/ bin (henceforth “the bin”) is not that useful for me. Prior to doing this mod, it’s sole job was to hold several Bar-B-Que menus and a DVD, which promptly went in the trash.

This location is fairly ergonomic, allows easy finger-tip control of songs, isn’t too distracting to check the screen, and it’s easy to pop out when you leave the car.

Best of all, if you screw up, click here and you can replace the junk bin for less than $10.

When we’re finished, about the only part of your iPod setup visible will be the iPod itself:


So, in a nutshell, we’ll be doing 4 things:
1 - Creating a slot in the back edge of the bin to insert the iPod into
2 - Mounting the iPod dock on the other side of the bin along with a charger to connect the iPod
3 - Wiring a plug to attach the finished assembly to the car’s 12v power
4 - Adding an LED light to illuminate the bin only when the iPod is inserted.

Overall, here are the supplies and tools I used:

Tools:
Screwdrivers: #2 Phillips, Flat, #20 Torx
Needlenose, Wire Strippers, Channel Locks
Power Drill with 1/16”, 1/8”, 7/32”, 15/64” bits
Rotary Tool with 1/16” bit from above, grinding bit, 120 Grit sanding drum
Multimeter
Sandpaper (220, 400, 1000)
Super Glue
2-Part Epoxy (or Poster mounting tape, for the cowardly)
X-Acto Knife
30-Watt Soldering Iron (Rosin Core Solder)

Supplies:
iPod Dock
iPod Charger
3’ 3.5mm Stereo cable w/Right Angle plugs
12v Socket (Pic of the one I used, $4 at Pep Boys)
Lever-action switch (Radio Shack)
Accent LEDs (Pep Boys)
16 Gauge Hookup Wire (Stranded)
T-Taps (4)
Perfboard (As a spacer)
Also one of these:


So let’s get started!

First of all, you need to pop the bin out. Look at:
DIY: CSX Center Console (with storage bin sliding door)
That tells you how to take it off. It’s even simpler if you have an Automatic. With an AT, you will have to put the shifter in N and pull the E-Brake.

Once you have the bin out, you need to figure out where you want the iPod. If you have a full-sized iPod (1st-5th Gen, Classic, Touch) you will find it’s just long enough to balance between the front lip of the bin and rest it’s bottom flat against the back wall. Just play with it - there’s a balanced spot, but you have to find it.

Using a scoring tool, mark out the corners of the ipod so you'll know where to drill. BE CONSERVATIVE. Mark the corners very close to the iPod, so that the slot can start out too small and you can sand it large enough.

Now you’ll need to remove the bin from the larger console piece. Flip it over; you’ll find 4 #20 Torx screws.


Now, carefully use the 1/16” bit to drill a hole at each of the corners of the slot you marked.

At this point I switched the bit over to the rotary tool and connected the four holes (again making sure to make the slot too small). After I had hollowed out a small slot, I switched to a grinding bit:

This bit has a more aggressive bite to it, and will allow you to shape the hole closer to it’s final shape and size. I used a slow RPM, and made it as straight as possible. Being that it was a very aggressive bit, a little bit went a long way. The slightly irregular hole looked like this when I was done:

Don’t worry about it being perfect at this or any point. Remember that the hole won’t be readily visible once it’s installed. Test-fit the hole. If it’s close, it’s time to switch to the sanding drum. Use a small diameter one.

You’ll be looking to make your edges straight with this part. It’s tough to do freehand (in fact, this whole thing would’ve been quicker and more precise with a router jig but we work with what we have).

Use medium speed and MOVE FAST. Don't bear down at all, just let the drum pass over the edge lightly, spending more time on the high spots and less on the low spots.

In the corners, you can use the roundness of the drum to make the corners nice and rounded. My initial hole was too narrow for the iPod, so this made it the perfect width.

If you're satisfied with the shape of the hole, use the X-Acto knife to trim off any excess trimmings and wipe it down to get a good look at it.



At this point, the iPod fit but it was very snug. So now you start hand-sanding. I used the perfboard above as a sanding block because it’s perfectly flat and slightly flexible. I started with 220 Grit and worked my way up to 1000.

With your lowest-grit sandpaper, you’ll also want to scuff the area of the bin on the bottom side. This will make it easier for the epoxy to stick later.

Test fit, and if you're satisfied, good. The scary part is over. At this point the iPod should smoothly slide through the hole, but not have much, if any wiggle room.

[4door]

nice job

[07mugencivic]

looks alright...good job

[leetcoder]

nice! Im doing something similar, but im actually fiberglassing me a dock which fit in the compartment. The dock will also have remote control to change song on ipod. I'll post picture when it is completed.

[F-1 Si]

looks good

[Ryan T]

Okay, on to task #2, Mounting the Dock!

You need to be very precise where you mount the dock, because you want the iPod to be easy to pull in and out of the slot and you don’t want to put stress on the dock connector.

You’ll have to use the flat-head screwdriver to pry the white cover off the dock (leaving it on makes the iPod go too deep into the slot).



You can see here that I super-glued some Perfboard to the Dock's circuit board. This was to make a flush platform to contact the plastic of the dash piece, and the holes are great because they increase the surface area of the epoxy’s bond.

Now you’ll want to test-fit the iPod and the dock to the bin:

If your iPod doesn’t have any play, then that is the place where you need to mount the dock.

With the iPod still in there, flip this over, and mark TIGHTLY around the edges with either a scoring tool (X-Acto knife) or a Sharpie. I used Sharpie because I figured I could see it better with the epoxy on there (I was right).

To stick it on there, I used Loctite Quick Set Epoxy. I didn't think CA (super) glue would give me the strength I needed for inserting the pod day in and day out.

So, be careful with this stuff. It is PERMANENT. It comes in a double syringe. Squeeze an equal amount of both onto a paper plate, and mix it with a plastic spoon. Mix it for about a minute until it's thoroughly blended. Then apply a thin layer to both the console well and to the dock.

Place it, lining it up to the outline you had drawn before. You’ll have to hold it in that exact position with light pressure for about 5-10 minutes. During that time it will be VERY MOBILE. It’s imperative that the dock not move during this time. A QuickClamp might be helpful here, but it’s best if you just suck it up get the arm cramps.

After 10 minutes, the epoxy should be a little stiffer, and you can let it dry without any pressure. You'll need to rig something to support the piece so that the dock is flat and level as the epoxy sets. I used a couple of books and a roll of duct tape.

Give it another 10 minutes and then carefully inspect your slot, being mindful that the dock doesn’t move around. If you got any epoxy on it, you can wipe it off with alcohol. Then leave it to dry for another hour or two.



Okay, now that’s done. . . .

[Ryan T]

3 - Car Wiring
While this is all drying, you can head out to the car and start the knucklebusting part of the mod. Head out to the car with these tools:[list][*]Flathead and Phillips Head screwdriver[*]Channel Locks[*]Wire cutter[*]Wire Stripper[*]Electrical Tape[*]Taps[*]Hookup Wire[*]This guy

We’ll be using these to tap into your 12v Power under the dash and routing it to a handy-dandy little connector you can use to connect the modded bin to.

First of all you need to disconnect the screws and clips holding the center console in.
First, there are two screws below where the bin used to be. You’ll see four screws connecting the plastic parts to the shifter. You’ll want to undo the outer two. You can see one un-done here:

Next, remove the two screws under the rubber mat under the armrest.

Finally, you need to pop off the kickplate in the passenger footwell:

You can see on the left there, there’s a clip you need to pop off:

It’s the kind you have to pop the center out and then gently remove the whole clip.
There’s another one on the driver’s side, but it’s not covered up:

Now you go back around to the passenger side. Pull the plastic aside to look down the right side of the shifter, and you’ll see this:

That’s your 12v connector! Now, it’s connected to the Accessory Socket in the armrest so disconnect the plug from it, and slide the console back as far as you can; this will give you more room to work.

Make sure your car is off! Disconnect the negative battery terminal if you’re paranoid. But at least turn the car off (resist the urge to listen to the radio), because you’ll blow your fuse, and wonder why it’s not working later. Trust me. I did that. Anyhoo . . .

Peel away the electrical tape and conduit from the wire, and using the taps, attach your hookup wire to the yellow and black wires.

Yellow = +12VDC
Black = Ground

Once you’ve attached your wires to honda’s, use electrical tape to seal off the taps and to take the stress off the taps, tape your wires to theirs.

Now reattach the plug to the rear accessory socket, and run your wires up about 12” to where they will be accessible even with the center console reattached. Clip them off here.
Now we come to that molex connector. I used a connector that has a male and female Molex connector on it (from a computer power supply. The particular one I used also had an extra two wires running out of it to splice in a fan to the power supply. I used these extra wires to provide power to my LED later.

Cut this adapter in half. Now you have a female connector with red, black, black, and yellow wires. Cut the red and black pair off short so they don’t confuse you. Also on this female connector, you should have two other leads coming out from the yellow and black. These will be connected to the LED. Set this aside for now.

Now you’re left with a male molex plug with four wires. Again cut the red and black pair short, and connect the yellow and and black pair to the hookup wire coming out of the dash.

Tape it off to make it nice and tidy, and you’ll have something like this:


Now, I used Taps (since soldering was out of the question in the car) to attach my 12V wires to the molex connector. However, had I been thinking, I could’ve soldered the molex plug to my wires in the house and pre-cut and attached them in the car. But I wasn’t.

Anyway, this basically completes your work inside the car. You can now start the car and test the connector with a multimeter for voltage.

[Ryan T]

4 - LED Fun and Final Wiring - I would wait until the next day to do this part, because if you’re paranoid like me, you want the epoxy to cure.

This step will have two parts. Wiring the plug to the Accessory socket, and wiring the plug to the led/switch. The LED and switch are totally optional, so I’ll leave them to last.

For $4 at Pep Boys, I bought this:

I clipped off the battery clamps, and now i have a 12v socket to plug my iPod charger into.

Since I was inside, I chose to solder the leads of the socket to the Molex plug (from step 3. If you’re unfamiliar with soldering, you could use Taps or butt splices, but soldering is better.


Tape these off. Now you can attach the socket to the bottom of the bin if you like. Plug the charger into the dock and the socket and manage the cords however you wish. This is what I did.

Duct tape seems to hold just fine. If the stuff falls off inside the console it doesn’t have anywhere to go anyway, so it just needs to hold as you install it.
Now to the LED. First of all, installing the LED was an interesting experience in itself. I installed an LED (from PepBoys, $7 for a pack of 3) on the side of the well opposite the iPod dock.

The instructions say drill a 7/32" hole for the LED and it's little plastic grommet:

However, the plastic of this particular box is pretty thick. The LED grommet wouldn't fit through the hole with the LED, and if you removed the LED, put the grommet through, and attempted to install the LED from the back, the grommet's opening was too small to fit the LED in. I ended up having to cut off two of the four "arms" of the grommet with an X-acto, drill out the hole the next size larger (15/64") and make it oblong with an X-acto for the two remaining grommet arms. I was finally able to CRAM it in there. From the front, it looks fine:


To add an added layer of peace of mind, I used Ol' faithful:


Now, if you want, you can just connect the two wires of the LED to the two small wires coming off the molex connector, and the light will always be on. Red to red, black to black.

However, I didn't want it to be on all the time (when there's no pod in the dock). So I devised a way to switch it on and off with the pod itself. I started with this switch here:

The idea was to depress the switch when the iPod was inserted. The switch would have to be installed here:

This way, the lever would be inside the dock area. However, due to the tight area we're talking about here, I needed to modify the lever. So I first bent the lever out like so:

But that wasn't very effective. So I clipped it shorter (so that less movement was required to trigger the switch), and folded it over to make a smoother surface for the ipod to actuate. Here is what the final lever looks like:


You’ll want to position the switch so that the ipod juuuust activates it when you put it in. It’s a complicated process of holding the iPod, the bin, and the switch, and pulling the ipod in and out and listening for the click of the switch. Once you’ve found a position for the switch where it’s not hard to get the ipod in and out, and it throws the switch, put the iPod down and without moving the switch, mark off the corners of the switch. I had to use an X-Acto for this, because a sharpie wouldn’t be precise enough.

Epoxy the switch in there, and once that’s dry enough (an hour), you can solder it to the LED and the power source. I’m not going to get into the specifics of wiring a switch, but basically you wire it so that when the switch is depressed, the 12v source is connected to the red wire of the LED, and when it’s let up, it’s not connected to anything.

Round the wires up and tape off your connections. Now you’re ready to put it in the car. It’s plug-and-play from here.

Good luck!

[Duce2k]

Looks good so far

[eSeYe]

Looks nice...

[definingmoment]

or.......................intead of potentially voiding your warrenty you could just have used an add-a-circuit that plugs right into an empty fuse slot(#7/empty acc) and used that to neatly power it................but to each his own

[NIGHTHAWKSI]

^lol at voiding his warrenty. what part of the warrenty are they going to void? the power socket part in console. thats about all the dealer could claim.

[definingmoment]

Originally Posted by NIGHTHAWKSI

^lol at voiding his warrenty. what part of the warrenty are they going to void? the power socket part in console. thats about all the dealer could claim.

lol at that. Its common knowledge that if you do something to your car that could cause electrical damage you run the risk of (notice i said POTENTIALL) voiding your warrenty. So are you saying that the socket he's tapping into runs off some magical power that doesn't flow through the fuse box?

[NIGHTHAWKSI]

^yes..because tapping into a 12v source that only leads to a power socket will cause devestation to the car.....
the worste that can happen is a blown fuse.

[definingmoment]

^ hater ........anyway, just giving you my informed 2 cents, thanks

[NIGHTHAWKSI]

[Ryan T]

Originally Posted by NIGHTHAWKSI

^yes..because tapping into a 12v source that only leads to a power socket will cause devestation to the car.....
the worste that can happen is a blown fuse.

Exactly, like happened this afternoon when I spliced into the circuit with the car on Accessory (listening to the radio, duh). Fuse blew. Big deal. Finished wiring up my power plug, turned the car off, replaced the fuse, turned it back on, worked like a charm. Now, if I decided to put a 30A fuse in because I wanted to run my cooler off the same circuit . . . my car could catch fire and causes me to run off a cliff, breaking every bone in my body.

In that case, I'd have my wife send definingmoment the hospital room I'm in, so he can come by and laugh at me.

The project's now finished, save for the fact that my old-@$$ iPod Charger is flaky and likes to wiggle out of the socket. A new charger is on the way, but the dock, light and audio interface work PERFECTLY. I'll take final pics tonight and rewrite the DIY tomorrow.

[definingmoment]

I was just trying to give some constructive input you 16 post having noob, just what the 8th needs, another sarcastic know it all

[Ryan T]

Ehm . . . I have only 16 posts including this one. That's my age your're looking at.

Dude, I'm just saying lighten up. Car chargers for iPods and phones typically pull around half an amp. The led draws .015 amps. THe circuit's rated for 15 Amps. Even if I charge my phone in the outlet in the console, I should be fine.

It's not like I didn't think about this before I did it. And it's not like I'm an idiot just because I don't have a million posts. Having more posts on an internet bulletin board than another person doesn't confer more experience.

Anyhow, Here's a video of it in action.

Sorry about the popping and clicking drowning out the music, that's my old digital camera's aperature not coping well with the dark. But you get the point.

[Ryan T]

Bump for finished project and rewritten DIY.