I am sorry if this has been covered at length, but I cannot seem to find the right response. I want to mount a universal iPod dock into my ashtray space for my iPhone, but I need to dremel a bit of the ashtray in order to make it fit.

I removed the shifter trim and the two nuts that hold the front of the ashtray in place. I can then pull the ashtray up and out about two inches... not more. Do I need to remove the climate control panel in order to remove it the rest of the way out?

My ashtray assembly also has an integrated cigarette lighter; can I tap that line for AC power?

Thanks!

 

That's all I had to do for removing my ashtray. I took out the screws and manipulated it back and forth until I was able to pull it out. It is a tight squeeze, but should be able to come out.

I don't know about tapping in the cigarette line - I've never done that.

 

I'm not positive but, can't see any reason you can't tap into the cig power... Also, It should charge the iPhone even if off. I know my radar has to be unplugged or it stays on.

Jason

 

I agree. I will have a look at how to tap the power. Any ideas?

Also, in order to remove the ashtray, I did need to take out the AC assembly. After the radio is taken out, the AC console just pops out... no screws or anything.

Unfortunately, I now need to dremel the ashtray in order to make the dock fit. Has anybody done this with the A4 ashtray / cigarette lighter combo unit? I have seen posts that detail how to do it with the non-lighter ashtray.

 

i know there is an extensive DIY on this site about manipulating an ashtray into a universal dock, either on this site or a4mods.com


here are someideas that might make it a little easier for your install,

if you have the symphony radio set up with nav and what not you had the option of either a 6 cd changer, sirius radio, or an ipod integration i know that you can ONLY have 2 out of the 3

audi makes an ipod integration that piggy backs off of the 6 cd changer you might wanna see if you can find those cords because you dont have to tap into an ac outlet and it you will be able to navigate your ipod through your radio which is a big help especially if you have the radio controls on the steering wheel


the problem you may be having with pulling the ashtray out is that the plug for the ac power to the cigarette lighter may be holding you back not the airconditioning unit


if you are hell bent on tapping the ac line its really not that hard however you might not have enough power for the ipod, figure out whether white is positive and black is negative, tap the positive, and then find a solid metal ground (i think underneather the shifter boot you could findsome frame work and it will be hidden by the shift boot)

any question feel free to pm me

 

Thanks for the tips, dmfan016. I will open 'er up this weekend to see what's what. The DIY that I found has almost exactly what I want to do, but the ashtray used in the article does not have a cigarette lighter, and it seems to have more space.

I looked into the spec.dock, but at almost $200 (with cables), that's really expensive. I like the idea of a universal dock (for my iPhone and iPod) with a remote.

Wish me luck!

 

yea thats pretty pricey lemme know how u make out with pictures and whatnot

 

After much deliberation and analysis of the ipod dock and my ashtray, I decided to go with the 2point5 spec dock. I have to say, it was definitely the right decision. Yes, it is a bit more expensive, but it fits the location perfectly.

 

I just googles the spec dock (I had never heard of it) and that is a cool idea... I've been following your thread cause I though it would be a cool location fot the iPod...

Did you hook it up yourself? How hard is the wiring, is it just plug-n-play? How hard is it to take out the radio and whatnot for instillation?

Thanks,
Jason

 

Yes, I installed it myself, and it was not too hard (assuming that you know how to take out your stereo, etc). I had to take off the gear lever trim, take the stereo out, slide out the climate control cluster (I did not disconnect as I did not have to) and take out the ashtray. there, I drilled a hole in the bottom of the ashtray, routed the cable to the back of the stereo, plugged it into the Blitzsafe adapter and put everything back together.

You can see the directions here:
http://www.tunertricks.com/guides/in...A4_install.pdf

I wanted my iPhone to charge and play music, so I bought the Blitzsafe M-Link, and it works like a charm. Honestly, this is the best Audi iPhone / iPod integration I could have imagined... it's exactly what I wanted (minus the remote, of course).