[jlfspook]

I have a 3G iPod (wheel + buttons up top). My firewire cable will only charge the iPhone. It won't, however, sync any of the data. I have a 17" Powerbook USB 1.1.

Anyone have the same problem? Do I need a new iPod firewire cable? USB 1.1 is painfully slow for transfering songs

[jaba813]

I don't have an iPhone, but I do have a 3G 20 GB iPod. I was under the impression that Apple had moved away from Firewire for data transfer. When I first got my 3G it only came with Firewire, and I didn't have a Firewire card. I had to get the USB and Firewire combination in order both transfer data and charge simultaneously. But now with the new iPods, you can only charge with USB and can only transfer with Firewire.

I would suggest that you get an expansion Firewire card that will go in the PCI Express card on your Powerbook.

I could be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure about the charging aspect and about the PCI Express slot.

Chris

[jlfspook]

Yeah. I just figured it out.

Will any standard USB 2.0 PC Card work with my Powerbook?

[analogika]

Since the 5th generation iPod / 1st generation iPod nano, Apple has switched to USB syncing exclusively.

It's pretty cool to know that the iPhone will still charge via Firewire! Means I'll have an extra power supply when I get my iPhone next year.

Any USB2 card should work fine.

Originally Posted by jaba813 

I would suggest that you get an expansion Firewire card that will go in the PCI Express card on your Powerbook.

Um. There is no problem with charging via Firewire (other than possibly requiring the split FW/USB cable) - he already HAS a Firewire port (Apple machine)!

His Powerbook (1GHz, 17") only has USB 1.1 though, which is a pain for syncing.

His Powerbook also does NOT have a PCI Express slot - it's four years old.

[aclottmann]

Are we sure it's charging via Firewire? I get the "battery charging" icon on my iPhone, but my battery seems to drain, rather than actually charge. A friend tried this overnight and reports his battery was dead in the am...

[CIA]

As posted in another thread, I've had no issues charging (Not Syncing) my iPhone using firewire. Both from the wall adaptor -->FW cable and FW cable plugged into iBook.

[mdc]

Originally Posted by aclottmann 

Are we sure it's charging via Firewire? I get the "battery charging" icon on my iPhone, but my battery seems to drain, rather than actually charge. A friend tried this overnight and reports his battery was dead in the am...

A Firewire cable used to charge my 5g iPod. I spoke to the Apple Store Genius and he said that the iPhone will charge through Firewire.

[Eriamjh]

I had to dig this thread up to ask one last iPhone charging question:

I have the 3G FW and USB in one cable from Apple for my 3G iPod. Will the iPhone sync and/or charge over just the USB side?

[analogika]

Sync and charge via USB.

Just charge via both.

[Eriamjh]

Sweet!

[mackman]

My wife plugged in my iPhone to charge using the wall adapter and firewire cable that came with my 3G iPod. I was a bit concerned at first, but then I saw the charging battery screen and figured it must know better. Two hours later my iPhone was almost too hot to pick up and the battery nearly dead. I would strongly discourage you from trying to charge your iPhone with the firewire cable, the voltage seems incompatible and possibly dangerous to your phone.

[butterfly0fdoom]

The 2007-generation Apple products seem to be completely Firewire-incompatible.

[mackman]

I just looked it up, Firewire is allowed to vary from 8 V to 30 V. USB is 4.75 V to 5.25 V. Plugging a 5 V device into 30 V is a good way to start a fire. Guess I got lucky I didn't leave it plugged in over night. Apple's own computers seem to vary significantly in their firewire voltages:

FireWire Developer Note: FireWire Product-Specific Details

[Drakino]

Anyone here have a dual USB and Firewire cable and an iPhone? I'm curious if the cable can be used to both sync and charge the phone. I'd like to do this for my iPhone to be able to charge it when the computer is asleep, as my firewire port is powered when the system is sleeping, where as USB is not powered enough to charge.

[butterfly0fdoom]

If you don't mind the risk of a fire....

[mackman]

As a follow up, the phone is dead this morning and won't accept charge. It seemed to accept a full charge over USB yesterday, but over night the battery drained (it was nearly dead this morning) and is now flatlined. Strange that it survived 2 days after being cooked via FireWire, but alas, time to try to get it replaced under warrenty.

[SSharon]

This sounds a bit similar to what happened with my phone. I used an ipod car charger and noticed that the first time I plugged it in it said charging for a moment and then never again even after plugging and unplugging it.
It was only plugged in a few minutes since it didn't work so I didn't think much of it. When I got home (the battery had died before I tried the car charger) I plugged it into the dock it came with and it got very warm and started having problems. my other thread details the experiences, but I ended up getting it replaced under warranty.

I always heard that ipod cables were ok, and I don't think I car can output 30v like firewire but now I am afraid to try that charger again until I find out for sure.

[Eriamjh]

Originally Posted by mackman 

I just looked it up, Firewire is allowed to vary from 8 V to 30 V. USB is 4.75 V to 5.25 V. Plugging a 5 V device into 30 V is a good way to start a fire. Guess I got lucky I didn't leave it plugged in over night. Apple's own computers seem to vary significantly in their firewire voltages:

FireWire Developer Note: FireWire Product-Specific Details

Based on this, I will not be using my FW cable on my iPhone. Although Apple could have designed the iPhone to charge only via USB regardless of the FW connections, but they didn't.