Custom IPhone Dock

[benztrk]

Ok, so here's the deal. I got a new IPhone for my birthday, and couldn't find a charging dock I liked. All I need is to charge, I have bluetooth for everything else. So I came up with this in car docking station......

Started with the cup holder out of the center console, a single IPhone dock, charger cable, and a plastic electric outlet box.

I cut a slot out of the front of the cup holder to fit the charger through...

Then cut the electrical outlet box to make a plastic "L" shaped shelf....

Then cut slots in the cup holder to slide the new shelf into (the tighter the fit, the more stable the shelf will be when you're done).....

Then I drilled holes in the back of the shelf, for the epoxy to seep though (in the next step)....

Then slide the shelf into place, use plastic expoxy on the back side to stick to 2 together forever....

I used thin clear velcro to hold the dock to the shelf, and now I have a built in charging dock for your IPhone/ IPod.....

I have another 12V outlet mounted under my dash from my gps install to use for power. I dont like to see wires anywhere, hince the reason I didn't just want a "CHARGER" laying on the console.

I'll get pics inside the truck tomorrow. By the time I got around to doing this it was already dark tonight. But I think you get the idea. Would like to find the dock in black to better blend in with the cup holder.

Here are the pics aftersunrise this morning.....

 

[iwaslowr]

Nice mod, much better than seeing cords... Especially if it is stable enough to keep the phone in place over bumps, etc.

 

[Narco]

im still confused as to what the white box is...cant make it out from the pics. you said some sort of electrical box?

 

[jdpromo33]

im still confused as to what the white box is...cant make it out from the pics. you said some sort of electrical box?

Its an apple docking station that your iphone just docks into.

I have an iphone too and just charge it in the cig lighter. Not sure I want to cut up the cup holders just to replace the phones car charger.

Looks good but not for me.

 

[benztrk]

im still confused as to what the white box is...cant make it out from the pics. you said some sort of electrical box?

The little white box is the charging cradle from Apple for the IPhone.

---------- Post added at 08:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:19 AM ----------

Nice mod, much better than seeing cords... Especially if it is stable enough to keep the phone in place over bumps, etc.

Yeah, I rode around with it just sitting on the upper part of the console for a couple days to make sure it was stable enough before cutting anything. Works REALLY good.

On another note: the only thing I ever keep in the little cubby area is the gate card for my suddivision entrance, and it still fits on both sides of the bracket.

 

[1993 sierra]

i like that good job

 

[Rivieraracing]

Nice work!

 

[Eagle]

Looking at what you did, you could have saved your apple stand and just used the charger cable flushed in the bottom.


For your color issue:
A light sand with 1000 grit or a scotchbrite pad to provide some tooth, and you can spray that with Fusion satin black



something I built in my last vehicle to hold an Ipod nano 4g, using an existing recess in the dash, the 4gs included adapter, scrap clamshell packaging and super glue, a file and a little patience.

I later reused most of it and the same technique to build an indash dock behind a switch blank in my wife's Jetta so she can just plug and unplug her nano. When not in use, the switch blank still covers it. no pics of that one at the moment, though.

I'm looking around now for a place to install a dock for my iphone/nano4g in the tahoe, so thanks for this idea. I need to go see if the iphone will fit in the glovebox recess.

 

[Narco]

pretty good write up...could this be moved to the tech/write up section?

 

[NJ04HOE]

Nice work Benztrk! but I would do like eagle said and sand it then paint it black.
Eagle I like how yours turned out too.
I was thinking about doing something like that with mine a while back but I didn't plan on having my Jensen headunit as long as I have.

 

[benztrk]

I agree with the black paint, probably gonna get that done this week. I like Eagle's, but I need to be able to see the phone.

 

[Eagle]

that's a good point. If i tuck it away I can use it as a cell modem & run it via the PXAMG no problem, but I noticed that if I don't put it in airplane mode I can still take calls and use apps while doing the above too. lol. I love this thing.

 

[Eagle]

Well here is what I decided to do:

Haven't decided if i will leave the connector as a friction fit, or disable the retainer and glue it into place like I did on my old one.

 

[benztrk]

What did you use for glue on your last one?

 

[Eagle]

plain old Superglue (not gel). A year later and it is still OK after I don't know how much use/abuse. Needs to be a tight fit because you want to use VERY little for maximum strength.

 

[LazyAssLou]

I would like to do my phone charger like that... just that I want it to retract when not in use.

 

[justin146]

I would like to do my phone charger like that... just that I want it to retract when not in use.

I have this same dock mounted in my ash tray. It fits in there perfectly. Where it sits, its easy to see the screen (because my HU doesnt display all the information). And I just push in the ashtray when its not in use.