[mike one]

i am thinking of rigging an ipod dock to my dashboard and have two quick questions
1) i have a 12V car charger for my clickwheel ipod, can i plug this directly into the dock to recharge my pod.
2) i'm thinking of trashing my crappy cassette deck and just using a line out from the dock directly into an amp. can you control the line out volume from the ipod itself, or does it just give a fixed volume out, and you have to control it via the amp/stereo/whatever you plug it into?

thanks in advance.
m1.

[Randman]

There are iPod players that will charge your iPod while on the road. Be a little simpler and elegant than attaching a dock to the dash.

[mike one]

Originally Posted by Randman

There are iPod players that will charge your iPod while on the road. Be a little simpler and elegant than attaching a dock to the dash.

this isn't really helping me. do you even own an ipod dock? this is what the question is about. apple's site doesn't answer these questions and rather than drive somewhere to investigate, i come here to ask for advice.

[ChrisF]

The dock does provide line level output. By definition, that's not adjustable by the volume control. Yes, you can likely use the car charger to power the iPod in the dock... but the iPod is not going to stay in the dock under the stresses of cornering, braking, and accelerating in a car.
As Randman mentioned, there are other options which will work better in a car, and provide line out as well as car charging capability.

[Cheetah223]

Pioneer, Alpine and one other brand that's slipping my mind at the moment all make iPod adapters that will work with any compatible head units of theirs. That's the route I've decided to take.

If it's a dock connector on the charger, it will work with a dock. I was going to install a dock in my Jeep's center console, flush mount it and paint it so it looked as if it was supposed to be there. I put my iPod in the dock and did some driving with it just sitting there, and ChrisF is correct, they tend not to stay in under the stresses of normal driving.

Taking corners it would occasionally want to fall sideways, but not often. Under braking it fell out several times, and when accelerating it would try to lean toward the rear of the car too much to be comfortable with, knowing the connector is bending around that much and could easily break. It could be done I guess, but it's not really the greatest idea, especially if you're driving on any rough terrain, simply coming out of my driveway it would fall out every time.

For now I've just got a tape adapter (FM transmitter if you don't have a tape deck) and plug my Griffin PowerPod into the dock of the iPod and stuff it in next to my parking brake. I'd suggest researching any other options than a dock, even if it means hooking up another wire each time.

[mike one]

thx tons!
that pretty much is my setup now, but my stereo is failing me and i have an amp handy.
will not get the dock based on looseness issues, good to know!