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Podapter - Mini-B USB to iPod (Black)

Replacement: None. It's time for this product to step aside and make room in the catalog for even more cool stuff. This page is for reference only.

This is a simple adapter which allows you to charge your iPad, iPhone, or iPod from a mini USB cable. It's as simple as that! It works with 3rd gen iPods, iPhone 3Gs, and pretty much any Apple product which has an 'i' in front of the name that uses this connector. But keep in mind, this is JUST A CHARGER and will **NOT **allow you to access data from your computer or make a USB data connection. It's just a charger. What you see is what you get. This does not come with a cable or an 'i' product.

Comments

Looking for answers to technical questions?

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  • Jonbowen234 / about 14 years ago / 1

    Just got an Ipad and it will not charge from most USB ports but trickle charges from some more powerful ones. Does anyone know if the Ipad tests the available amps of the circuit before trying to charge or is it some kind of identification system? (i.e. resistors) I just don't want to blow a usb port. I do have a car adapter for my phone and it should work so I might just buy it and test it out. I just want to keep the ipad charged for long road trips.

  • Laen / about 14 years ago / 1

    Huh! I wonder why they wouldn't just connect USB D+ and D- to the appropriate D+ and D- on the iPod connector.
    It seems like that would be such a simple thing that would make the product SO much more useful!

    • Makertronic / about 14 years ago / 1

      When we first developed the Podapter we weren't sure if the USB lines would interfere with the charging so we left them out. When we actually tried it took some fiddling to make it work because of the voltage dividers on the D- and D+ lines.

    • Laen / about 14 years ago / 1

      Oh, in fact they make a separate product (the "PodSync"), that does exactly that, and they sell it for the same price. How odd.

      • rglenn / about 14 years ago / 1

        This one probably has the resistors connected to the D+ / D- lines on the 30-pin connector, so that recent iGadgets will charge nicely. Including those resistors probably makes the USB connection stop working, but does allow most any USB charger to work.
        More on the resistors here: http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/icharge.html

  • thisupend / about 14 years ago / 1

    so from the photos it looks like the ipod connector that you guys sell http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=633 the question is does this have the other pins free or are they removed?

    • RobertC. / about 14 years ago / 1

      From what we understand, it's probably just the necessary pins to get a charge to the device. You can open one up and see otherwise, but all we know is that it can charge phones and such.

      • Makertronic / about 14 years ago / 1

        Actually we don't recommend opening the Podapters due to the delicate pins of USB female connector. During our testing we ripped traces off the pcb, this is why there is a big glob of hot glue in there to keep things from wiggling around.

  • rglenn / about 14 years ago / 1

    I think the writeup is wrong - it says MicroUSB, but the pictures clearly say / show MiniUSB.
    Kind of an interesting product, though, as long as it includes the resistors required to charge the 3GS / 4G properly.

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