What I want to do is turn my AM/FM/CD PLAYER Alarm clock radio into an iPod player.
So maybe have add a usb port to allow me to connect my iPod into radio flip a switch and have the internal speacker/AMP play out.
Maybe have it when the alarm goes off to play a song.
I need websites:
1) Pinouts
2) Schematics
3) Vidos on similar projects.
Any help would be appreciated. I have a couple of old alarm clocks.
The older ipod touches (maybe not the latest one) had analog audio output (aka line output) on the ipod connector, so there was no need to be accepted on any Apple program to use it. You could easily take the line output and feed it into an amplifier if you wished.
If you can get hold of the connector, you could try soldering it yourself (as shown in the image here), but it's a delicate operation (the connector is tiny). Better to use an existing ipod dock connector with audio line outputs.
Regarding what the pins do, here is a reverse-engineered diagram from a 'Griffin Autopilot' cable. The ones that contain the audio are pins 27 and 28. Ground is pin 29.
If you wanted to play, or skip left/right, this is possible by using the serial RXD and TXD pins. It requires the use of a microcontroller. I did manage to get this working on an older ipod touch so I have some code snippets, but the most recent ipod may not work (I have not tried anything but the oldest ipod touch).
If you want to do anything much more advanced, it is not possible. Apple use authentication on the serial lines for the most advanced functionality. It can be annoying. It means people need to buy Apple cables, which contain a tiny chip inside the connector, to perform the authentication.
