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Sunday, February 17, 2013

iPhone 5 - ProClipUsa - AV cable adaptation

My wife listens to music from her iPhone 4 by docking it in the ProClipUsa cradle.  The cradle connects the iPhone to the AV cable and connects to the SUV sound system.  With the iPhone 5 the cable connections have change so I had to figure out a new configuration.

In order to avoid changing the existing iPhone RCA AV cable, I bought the iPhone 5 Lightning to 30-pin Adapter which converts output of digital to analog.  The problem I ran was that the cradles for the iPhone 5 were limited to the original power cable and non of the cradle at that moment will fit the AV cable required for iPhone 5.  The iPhone 5 cables had different width at the phone plug side, which made the fitting non-generic.

FYI - as I wrote this post, I found ProClipUsa  now has an option to buy a cradle which will fit the AV cable.  So no need to do this modification anymore.  But if you have the original ProClipUsa cradle for the power cable, then keep going to see how easy is to modify.

ProClipUsa - iPhone 5 cradles


Quick How To:

First get the tools for stripping the phone plug in the Lightning to 30-pin Adapter.  For this I used a vice-grip and a picker tool with a sharp edge.



With the vice-grips hold the phone plug close to the bottom so you have room on the upper side to break the protecting plastic coating.  Insert the picker in between the plastic coat and the other inner coating.  The idea is to insert in between and break the plastic by pressuring outward such that the cable doesn't get harmed.



This is how it looks once the plastic is stripped.



Now the cable is too thin for staying lock in the cradles opening.  Let's fix that!
 


Roll a little of electrical tape over where the plastic shield existed.  This will protect the cable plus give the thickness we need to keep the cable in place.



Insert the cable in the cradle and make sure it sits firm.  Then test the cradle a couple of times to make sure the phone plugs and disconnects smoothly.



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