Another simple project, tonight we will see how to create an audio connector for iDevice. After testing, it works on a 5.5G iPod, an iPhone 4 and iPad. The purpose of it is to play the sound via the dock connector rather than by the jack. At the other end of the cable I have two RCA, but you might as well put a 3.5′ jack or a 6.25′, do as you wish.
Materials needed:
- an iDevice connector. I found mine here: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/633. Again you are free to choose another. I chose it because there is room in it if lots of cables are needed.
- RCA audio cable (or other, it depends)
- heat shrink tubing, available in all good dairies
- A little bit of wire
- obviously a soldering iron, tin wire, and a third hand if possible.
Theory: after some research on pinouts.ru, here’s how to wire the connector. First, we must recognize the direction of numbering. By convention, if the port is inserted into the iDevice, screen facing the sky and connector pins facing you, then pin 1 is on the left. Now, here’s what pin you need:
- Connect pin 11 with pin 1 (GND). This allows you to send audio to the dock connector rather than the internal HP.
- Connect pin 2 to ground on the audio cable
- connect the audio cable’s right to pin 3
- connect the audio cable’s left to pin 4.
To prevent the pins from touching each other, I suggest you either cut those that do not serve or use shrink tubing to insulate them one by one:
I also added the braided sheath recovered from an old PSU, just to protect the cables:
To prevent solders from moving too much inside the connector, I have filled it with glue. It is dirty, but it serves the purpose! Please do not abuse with glue gun, if you can not manipulate the metal fasteners once the glue has cooled, your plug may get stuck in your iDevice!
The result: