mass27

2 questions:

1. My understanding is that PCNA is working on a solution to the latest generation IPOD and Iphone that will not charge using the previous generation wall chargers or cable that is supplied with Ipod Kit. Anyone hear anything?

2. Should the IPOD turn off when you turn off the car. I would think yes, but mine seems to stay on thereby draining the IPOD battery. If I don't drive again for 2 days the IPOD battery is now dead. Even when the cable will charge the IPOD (when the ignition is on), this can't be good for the IPOD to go completely dead every couple of days then be charged for 20 min (or however length of your latest drive).

Seems counter intuitive. I would think the IPOD should shut off when the ignition is off.

Dr_KarlB

For #2, do you have the ipod in "Sleep Mode"
I have the dension adapter and if the ipod setting (on the ipod itself) does not have sleep mode enabled, then it drains after a few days.
Good Luck

Minok

My biggest issues are:

The plug/cable design in the space of that console tray is too tight and results in a very sharp bend in the cable that is surely going to destroy the cable at some point. If the IPOD dock connector end had a right angle feed out of the cable on it, it would be better. I'm using an old iPod Photo with a protective case - so its a tight fit.

The vibration the unit gets in that console location seems to cause the iPod to lock up every once in a while - totally.. where only a soft-reset (hold center and top button) brings it out of the locked up state. I'll have to see about fixing this with some padding.

I so wish the PCM would remember my choices after not driving for some time. It seems to just have the iPod remember things, but if you don't drive it for a while, then things power up as if new to the world. EG for shuffle, the PCM could reimpose the setting when I start the car up again, rather than the ipod always starting playback with the same song and me having to reselect shuffle and then 'next track' to get into a mix mode again. Similar for playlist that may have been selected, etc.

jcnesq

I plugged my ipod in a few months ago and haven't touched it since. I will have to check to see if it stays on when the car is off (this is my DD). When I select ipod, it always goes back to wherever it left off (i.e. middle of a selected song where I last left off).

Coochas

As for question 1, I'm assuming that Porsche and MANY of the other car makers are working on a solution. In the meantime, you can get a "passport" from Scosche which will allow your iPod to charge in the car. Best Buy now carries these or you can order it on the web.

KeninBlaine

On a somewhat related matter, you may wish to check the post by Suncoast in the 6speedonline forum re a software fix (CD) for the PCM glitches on the 09 997's. Sorry if it was already posted here and I missed it.

mass27

So, noone has an issue about the ipod staying on the entire time while the car is off. If you drive every 2 days, the ipod is dead. I tried to put the ipod in sleep mode while it is connected and the car is off, yet it will not. It just stays paused on the most recent song.

Additionally, it is bad for the ipod battery to be completely drained that often and only charged for however long you drive the car.

Am I missing something?

jster

I have this issue (video ipod, not 5th gen). The dealer has replaced one part in an effort to fix the issue but that did not solve the problem. What appears to be the problem is that the car sends the signal to put the ipod in "pause" mode (which sets the location in the song) and then keeps the port hot which keeps the ipod from sleeping. The higher resolution screen, even though the backlight is off continues to stay on as does the HD. Dead battery within about two days if you don't drive enough to overcome the non-driving hours of drain. I have used a different ipod (old simple lcd screen) and the problem doesn't happen. I am trying to figure out if it is a s/w difference between this older ipod type and the car or the ipod's power requirements are just lower so it doesn't die.

SciFrog

Ipod discharges: big deal. Just start the car and within 15s the iPod is back on...
I use old iPods with quasi dead batteries anyway...

ADias

To me the pausing issue is not any big deal. The iPod is a portable device, which is constantly reloaded with new content and I would not leave it in the car anyway. What is an issue is the correct cable to properly charge any iPod generation, and as Minok pointed out a smartly designed cable that is less bulky and more flexible. Hey PAG ask Apple to design one for you.

jster

Maybe you don't have this issue but in my case the behavior is one of two possibilities: the ipod cannot remember where it was and so starts over on the first song of the first album every time (making it dificult to get any play out of either my playlists or albums) or the ipod goes into "deep sleep" mode which, if you have ever experienced it, takes quite a bit more than 15s to come back on and when it does, it starts over at song one, album one. I am glad to see more people are experiencing this so we may get a fix down the road. (BTW, the ipod charges correctly when the car is turned on. This used to be a problem with non-powered USB ports and ipods on PCs. The USB port kept the ipod active but since there wasn't any power, the ipod would completely drain. Sounds to me like the P guys are going down this same path.)

Minok

To clarify my experience (though I'll have to validate what is happening when the car is off - is the iPod still on or not):

When I park the car and drive it again that day or the next day - the iPod picks up where it was just fine - it continues from what it was playing when I shut the car off.

However, when I don't drive the car for a while (this is with an LCD driven iPod Photo ) and I start the car up, the iPod starts out fresh - track 1 in the content directory and no longer in the shuffle mode I left it in. This IS a problem.

Its a major problem for anyone who might be listening to an audio book, for example. I was listening to some longer books years ago, and over the commute time, it took weeks to go through the books. If I parked the car for 3 days and then it restarted from the front of the book I'd be very upset. If the ipod was docked in a more accessible location, it may not be as big a deal, but given where it is, its impossible for me to work its direct interface- or hardly see the screen, without unplugging it first - and thats just too clunky.

The software should take care of this and shut down the ipod (as I could do by hand) after 10 minutes or so of non-play. I don't think thats what is happening.

ADias

I think that is the iPod normal behavior. If you do not use it for a couple of days it just shuts off. I do not know if it can be controlled in a different mode via its external interface.

I think though that there are other problems with this interface:

1 - bad bulky cable
2 - does not support charging of iPod touch and probably iPhone

and someone on 6speedonline is reporting worse problems. See HERE where an iPod was 'bricked' when the car was switched (or switched itself) from English to Metric units.

Minok

Could be normal behavior for the iPod. The PCM can read tracks and where it is in a track though, so there is no reason the PCM cannot, via software, remember the track title and location it was on, and when the ipod is restarted, spool up that track and go to that location (if not already there). Unless the interface via the docking port only extends the existing ipod display and buttons from the ipod itself to the PCM console...being effectively a remote keypad/display without any real 'control' capabilities that are not explicitly allowed by Apple (which would not surprise me, to be honest).


The car bricking the iWidget would be a design flaw in the iWidget. Nothing short of a major over-voltage on the docking connector should brick an iPod, if the interface was designed well by Apple. There may have been other reasons why the iPod got bricked... I'll have to read the thread.


FWIW.. today I drove the Targa and the iPod was reset to starting from track #1 in the file system (I'm getting tired of hearing "another face in the crowd" by Tom Petty to be sure). The battery on the iPod appeared 'charged' so I don't think it ran the battery dry.. so its probably just what you say.. normal iPod behavior that when coming out of sleep it restarts from scratch.

docjohnM

don't worry Minok, I was able to unbrick my iPod. BUT I though she was a goner! I made 10 attempts to restart/reset the device and it did not work. Even connecting the nano to the power cable and/or mac usb did not work. I was also getting bizarre errors about fatal system errors and such. (has anyone ever seen that before?) AppleCare service made a good commentary on what could have thrown the device off. As you pointed out, a voltage spike or short is possible, but unlikely. I am borrowing another nano to see if this occurs again. But, remember that when you turn your ipod on, when connected, displays a porsche logo. There is plenty of interaction between the OS of the PCM and the Mac OS. Applecare pointed this out. Porsche goes through a developer process that is approved by apple, but bugs can still remain. Apple refused to comment on any 3rd party issues, and merely had me re-install my ipod's software. What was spooky is that all the settings on my PCM went haywire at the same time my ipod crapped out. I am going to make a polite call to the service dept. tomorrow, just to let Porsche know that there may be a bug. Anyway, all works now, and the PCM is still OK!