Pin

Signal

Description

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

GND GND Right Left Right In

Ground (-), internally connected with Pin 2 on iPod motherboard Audio & Video ground (-), internally connected with Pin 1 on iPod motherboard Line Out - R (+) (Audio output, right channel) Line Out - L(+) (Audio output, left channel) Line In - R (+) Line In - L (+)

?
Composite video output (only when slideshow active on iPod Photo)

Video Out
or Component Video Pb

S-Video Chrominance output S-Video Luminance output AUDIO_SW Tx Rx RSVD GND GND RSVD

for iPod Color, Photo only

for iPod Color, Photo only

10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

If connected to GND the iPhone sends audio signals through pin 3-4, otherwise it uses onboard speaker. ipod sending line, Serial TxD
ipod receiving line, Serial RxD

Reserved Ground (-), internally connected with pin 16 on iPod motherboard USB GND (-), internally connected with pin 15 on iPod motherboard Reserved 3.3V Power (+) Stepped up to provide +5 VDC to USB on iPod Camera Connector. If iPod is put to sleep while Camera Connector is present, +5 VDC at this pin slowly drains back to 0 VDC. Firewire Power 12 VDC (+)
Different resistances indicate accessory type: 1kOhm - iPod docking station, beeps when connected 10kOhm - Takes some iPods into photo import mode
6.8 k - Serial port mode. Pin 11-13 are TTL level. Requires MAX232 chip to convert to RS232 levels.

18

3.3V

19,20 +12V

21

Accessory Indicator/Serial enable

68kOhm - makes iPhone 3g send audio through line-out without any messages 500kOhm - related to serial communication / used to enable serial communications Used in Dension Ice Link Plus car interface 1MOhm - Belkin auto adaptor, iPod shuts down automatically when power disconnected Connecting pin 21 to ground with a 1MOhm resistor does stop the ipod when power (i.e. Firewire-12V) is cut. Looks to be that when this pin is grounded it closes a switch so that on loss of power the Ipod shuts off. Dock has the same Resistor.

22 23 24 25 26

TPA (-) 5 VDC (+) TPA (+) Data (-) TPB (-)

FireWire Data TPA (-) USB Power 5 VDC (+) FireWire Data TPA (+) USB Data (-) FireWire Data TPB (-)
USB Data (+) Pins 25 and 27 may be used in different manner. To force the iPod 5G to charge in any case, when USB Power 5 VDC (pin 23) is fed, 25 must be connected to 5V through a 10kOhm resistor, and 27 must be connected to the Ground (for example: pin 1) with a 10kOhm resistor. iPod 5G can also be forced to charge by attaching the data + and the data - pins to the 5v via a 10k Ohm resistor ( BOTH PINS) and connecting pin 16 to the 5v (ground). (Confirmed working with iPod 5G 20GB). This provides 500mA of current for charging. For quicker charing, up to 1A, see below.
To charge an iPhone, 3G, 3GS, 4 / iPod Touch, 2nd gen, 3rd, 4th or Ipod Classic (6th Gen), usb data- (25) should be at 2.8v, usb

27

Data (+)

data+(27) should be at 2.0v. This can be done with a few simple resistors: 33k to +5v (23) and 22k to gnd(16) to obtain 2v and 33k to +5v and 47k to gnd to obtain 2.8v. This is a notification to the iphone that it is connected to the external charger and may drain amps from the usb.
To charge iPod Nano pins 25 and 27 should be tied together and

then connected to a 10K ohm resistor, and the other side of this resistors then needs to be connected to 5v power. It's also possible to charge the iPod's or iPhone's battery to make use the of internal +3.3v output (18) terminal to connect the USB Data + (27) thru a 47k ohms resistor and the USB Data- (25) thru a 47k resistor to the USB Power source +5v (23). This way the USB function is still useable for normal operations and makes it easier the fit in a plug. The resistors are not to critical 2x 150k's still work.

28

TPB (+)

FireWire Data TPB (+) FireWire Ground (-)

29,30 GND

Back side of dock connector; 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 Pins 1,2 connected on motherboard. Pins 15,16 connected on motherboard. Pins 19,20 connected on motherboard. Pins 29,30 connected on motherboard. If you disassemble the original apple-ipod-dock-connector-cable and look at the connector itself, on the back side, where it is soldered, you can see the number 1 and 30 (e.g. pin 1 and 30). In this description NUMBERING is INVERSED: pin 1 is pin 30 and pin 29 is pin 2, so, don't look at numbers on connector. The remote control, iTalk and other serial devices use Apple Accessory Protocol for communication with iPOD. This protocol was introduced with the 3rd generation iPods, and is also compatible with the 4th generation iPods and mini iPods. The connections uses a standard 8N1 (one startbit 8 data bits 1 Stopbit) serial protocol, 19200 baud (higher rates up to 57600 also possible, but speed faster than 38400 may cause problems with large amounts of data), delay of 12 microseconds inserted

between end of the stopbit and the beginning of the next startbit (also working without this delay). Electrical: high +3,3V low 0V default line state: high. Codes used for communication with peripherals are here This device may be connected to the firewire computer port by straight cable (TPB+/-, TPA +/should be twisted pairs in cable)
iPod Nano 4th Gen no longer will charge from 12 volts on the firewire pins. If you tie pins 25 and 27

together and then connect a 10K ohm resistor to +/- 5 volts to pins 23 and 15 (or 16) then it will charge. If you don't tie 25 and 27 together, it won't charge.
iPod Touch 3G: may also require for pins 1 and 2 (GND and audio out GND) to be connected in order

to output audio (pin 11 to GND). Works with appr. 500 kOhm between pin 21 and GND.
iPod Touch 2G requires pin 11 connected to 15/16, then connect that to pin 21 with a 68kOhm

resistor to use the audio line out. This is because the device needs to be told to redirect the signal to the Line Out pins rather than to the built-in speaker. This explains why certain accessories won't work with the iPod Touch 2G and maybe even the iPod Touch 3G. The Nano 5G will require the pin 11 connection but not the 68kOhm resistor for redirecting audio.
Nano 5G: connecting the 68kOhm resistor to ground will disable the audio redirection accomplished

by connecting pin 11 to ground. You may need to ensure 1 and 2 are connected to GND for proper charging to occur.

http://courses.cit.cornell.edu/ee476/FinalProjects/s2007/awr8_asl45/awr8_asl4 5/index.html#intro http://ipl.derpapst.eu/wiki/Apple_Accessory_Protocol

connectors: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8295 http://www.chargeconverter.com/store/