Well, on spur of the moment today I decided to make a connection so I could use my iPod in my car with my Pioneer DEH-P5550MP.

This cd player, although great has left a slightly sour taste in my mouth in regard to the Pioneer brand. The unit is only two years old and is already having trouble reading some cds with mp3s on them. The cds used to play perfectly.

Anywho, I was initially going to get the RB-10 IP-BUS cable, but who can justify spending $60 for a bloody cable. So I searched high and low on the interweb and came across the following pages.

http://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=21829&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15&sid=ae2d20e3b3fd208ad7d011d552b4cc57

http://www.gutterslide.com/ip-bus_hack/

The later link details what to use for the cable. I just spliced the small plugs onto a headphone jack and bob's your uncle. Great sound, extremely cheap, and I made it all myself.

Next task is to hardwire the car charger I have into the cig lighter, and look at some sort of cradle option.
Sadly the pics I took of the behind the scenes install were all blured. =\

Has anyone else rigged up their iPod or similar?

Yep... did mine for my jvc...

Custom Suction mount into ashtray (I hate ppl smoking in my car anyway) - Extremely solid, cannot ever fall off. You can still use cupholders and can flex it full left/right for driver/passenger.

20 gb iPod
Sony 3.5 mm -> rca lead
Belkin Auto kit: Charger/audio out/pause controller on ignition off.
ks-u57 adapter ~$70 from JB hifi - Cd stacker input -> rca's
JVD kdsx-985 headunit
Spliced into cigarette lighter with two more plugs in behind the dash. (1 More for phone charger later on maybe)
iPod remote wired into the centre console (underneath the stacker display) Plugs into the top of iPod

My h/u already had aux in in the front, but the wires were pissin me off.
Works a treat! :)
Although I was thinking of mounting it a bit higher on the dash its hard to change tracks whilst driving. Wheres the I-R iPod remote??? ;)
And annoyed with the Belkin charger as it has no line out. So hard to get it at the right volume compared to my other gear. Apparently you can disable the volume control but meh...

Peace

Tim

I am looking to do this with the cd changer input on my kenwood deck.
I wonder if I could get that info in relation to the kenwood plug.
Maybe I should start digging as I dont really want to pay 55 odd bucks either. :D

You can pick up a cheap ipod car charger from ebay. I got mine for about $20 delivered. Works a treat.