[MDA III, XDA III, PDA2k, 9090 Accessories] derekcfoley:
I'm sick of trying to find a car cradle that has audio out, ps2 and 12v for charging!

Why is it that no manufacturers of xda cradles ever realise that some of us want to listen to mp3's in the car and have tom-tom voice prompts coming through our stereos!

Being right handed, I want my PDA on the right of the steering wheel, so I can operate Tom-Tom before setting off, or change tracks on media player. I did look at the Brodit pro-clip solutions, but they all seem to be for the centre console for my car (a citroen AX)

I've discovered that the driver's side vent mount has a removable panel, which means I can easily mount a small piece of wood (effectively a small flat shelf) for mounting a cradle, this also brings the device out of the reflective glare zone in the windscreen during night driving. It also means all I need is a standard xda iis cradle to do this mod.

So with much careful thought I've decided to do the following:

Buy a spare cradle:

http://www.my-xda.com/xda2s_other.html

Which leads me to the next question....

Has anyone got any modding experience with the xda2/xdaiis cradle?

similar to this old posting for the Wallaby...

http://xdaforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=256&highlight=cradle

(although I couldnt see any of the images on this old posting!)

In theory, this project has 3 key issues to resolve...

1) Powering the cradle and Bluetooth GPS

Three options seem to be available...

a) The hobbyist approach...I've seen various "car-kit diagrams" like this one,

http://xdaforums.com/files/xda_car_kit_circuit.jpg

but to be honest I have no pcb making experience.

b) 12V to 5dc cigarette socket transformer adapter to provide power to the cradle, and perhaps to the bluetooth gps for charging. This should be easier to achieve!

Anyone have any links for low cost solutions for this, obviously it would need to convert 12VDC to 5DC at 2-3Amps

c) As the xdaiis usb cradle charges directly from a USB power source, this seems an Ideal solution!

http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=EXP_USB-CLA

2) Audio out: THE MAIN PROBLEM!

Ideally I just want to get in the car and cradle the device, no other connections being required.

Therefore I need to modify the xdaiis cradle for audio output...

Ideally, the feed for the audio should come from the bottom connector, when the xdaiis is cradled.

With this in mind, I found this article about dismantling an xdaii cradle...

http://en.pdamobiz.com/en/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=42&PN=1

If you look at the images on this web-page, you can see that - at the back of the cradle on the opposite side of the usb cable from the 5volt dc input is what looks like a pcb pinout for a headphone connector...

is this right? Can anyone confirm this.

Would it be possible to solder a connector onto here (assuming the solder pads connect to the 22pin connector!)

As this would be far easier than mucking about trying to solder onto the miniscule pins on the bottom of the 22pin connector on the cradle as it goes into the pcb!

If it works of course!

b) modify a headset

I did consider modifying an old wallaby headset to wire it into my car amp

http://wiki.xda-developers.com/wiki/Connectors , does anyone have any info on the pinout for the himalaya/blue angel headphone socket? I have also tried a friend's xda II headset on the IIs and yet again they have changed the pinout! The audio connections are once again totally different, resulting in the "echoing" effect when one headset is plugged in from the other device. This means that the audio ground pin has changed since the xdaII headphone socket schematic! This difference is also confirmed by looking at the handsfree "pod" on both headsets... The IIs has one button for answering a call, where the II has two buttons, wether it is the same as the XDA1 (Wallaby) remains to be seen....

c) buy a PDA2k 3.5mm headphone adapter...

http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=118289&sbadd=118289

Then use a standard lead to connect it to the hi-fi amp in the car.

3) charging the TOM TOM BLUETOOTH GPS

I'm wary of putting anything other than the recommended voltage (5VDC) into this device, so the best option is to supply power using (1b) or (1c) above, perhaps cutting into the supplied RJ cable to minijack psu to hook it up from the same supply.

While I'm on the subject of the bluetooth gps.... Does anyone knopw how long does the tom tom bluetooth gps work with a full charge?

Does it vary based on an active connection, or is it the same as on standby?

Do I need to power it in the car at all? Can I not just charge it as required at home? There doesnt seem to be much literature about the Bluetooth GPS reciever's battery life in the box!

Anyone care to comment on these ideas?

:lol: :lol: