i have an ipod plugged directly into the aux. slot in the back of the harmon kardon upgrade stereo. the ipod is also plugged into a dc to ac converter via the cig. lighter, so as to keep it charged up. problem is: when i play the ipod through the stereo there is loud hum when it is plugged into the dc/ac converter. when i unplug it from the ac/dc converter there is no hum but then the battery runs down. any ideas how i could fix this? thanks so much.
I have mine plugged into a Belkin cig lighter charger. The AUX jack plugs into the Belkin then the Belkin plugs into the iPod. I get the same feedback. Any ideas would be great. I think someone mention a ground loop insulator?
If you're ambitious, someone on MINI2 posted diagrams for building your own smaller and cheaper Ground Loop Isolator, but I'd say just chip in the $15. Depending on the location of your AUX input, you can hide the GLI under the dash (I put mine behind the little pull-out panel behind the toggle switches)
Don't worry, its just plug in and go. In the picture, there's a little adapter that converts the Stereo RCA (Red and White) plugs to a mini-jack. It comes with one of these adapters, and you'll need a second adapter (Here at Radio Shack, around $5). That way you essentially have two mini-jack plugs with a Ground Loop Isolator between them.
Not to be controversial but I have to ask. What's the big deal with the ipod? It has 4 hours of battery life, non-replaceable batteries. It is only Mac compliant, not further elaboration needed. Why not get a windows compliant unit? I can't figure out why everyone is so gung-ho about the ipod. Ooohhh, the ipod; I don't get it, can someone please explain.
I use the belkin as well and initially got the hum. you need to lower your aux input volume on the head unit. if it is set too high you will get a hum or static. using the belkin and the dock connector as the audio output you can achieve great volume w/o maxing out the aux input level on the head unit.
if you try to use the headphone jack as your audio out you will have to use the volume on the ipod instead of the head unit and then you will have all sorts of volume annoyances.
-averyocooper
ps. i use my ipod with windows xp running musicmatch (not itunes), the battery last MUCH longer than 4 hours but i don't have to worry about that since i charge while i drive with the belkin audio out/charger dock connection.
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feedback with ipod 
