Apple iPod dock interface pinout

connector or cable wiring scheme

30 pin iPOD special connector
at the player ( white side up)

Pin	Signal	Description
1	GND	Ground (-), internaly connected with Pin 2 on iPod motherboard
2	GND	Audio & Video ground (-), internaly connected with Pin 2 on iPod motherboard
3	Right	Line Out - R (+) (Audio output, right channel)
4	Left	Line Out - L(+) (Audio output, left channel)
5	Right In	Line In - R (+)
6	Left In	Line In - L (+)
8	Video Out	Composite video output (only when slideshow active on iPod Photo)
9	S-Video Chrominance output	for iPod Color, Photo only
10	S-Video Luminance output	for iPod Color, Photo only
11	GND	Serial GND
12	Tx	ipod sending line, Serial TxD
13	Rx	ipod receiving line, Serial RxD
15	GND	Ground (-), internaly connected with pin 16 on iPod motherboard
16	GND	USB GND (-), internaly connected with pin 15 on iPod motherboard
18	3.3V	3.3V Power (+) Stepped up to provide +5 VDC to USB on iPod Camera Connector. If iPod is put to sleep while Camera Connector is present, +5 VDC at this pin slowly drains back to 0 VDC.
19,20	+12V	Firewire Power 12 VDC (+)
21	Accessory Indicator/Serial enable	Different resistances indicate accessory type: 1kOhm - iPod docking station, beeps when connected 10kOhm - Takes some iPods into photo import mode 500kOhm - related to serial communication / used to enable serial communications Used in Dension Ice Link Plus car interface 1MOhm - Belkin auto adaptor, iPod shuts down automatically when power disconnected Connecting pin 21 to ground with a 1MOhm resistor does stop the ipod when power (i.e. Firewire-12V) is cut. Looks to be that when this pin is grounded it closes a switch so that on loss of power the Ipod shuts off. Dock has the same Resister.
22	TPA (-)	FireWire Data TPA (-)
23	5 VDC (+)	USB Power 5 VDC (+)
24	TPA (+)	FireWire Data TPA (+)
25	Data (-)	USB Data (-)
26	TPB (-)	FireWire Data TPB (-)
27	Data (+)	USB Data (+) Pins 25 and 27 may be used in different manner. To force the iPod 5G to charge in any case, when 'USB Power 5 VDC' (pin 23) is fed, 25 must be connected to 5V through a 10kOhm resistor, and 27 must be connected to the Ground (for example: pin 1) with a 10kOhm resistor.
28	TPB (+)	FireWire Data TPB (+)
29,30	GND	FireWire Ground (-)

Back side of dock connector;
 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29

Pins 1,2 connected on motherboard.
Pins 15,16 connected on motherboard.
Pins 19,20 connected on motherboard.
Pins 29,30 connected on motherboard.

If you disassemble the original apple-ipod-dock-connector-cable and look at the connector itself, on the back side, where it is soldered, you can see the number 1 and 30 (e.g. pin 1 and 30). In this description NUMBERING is INVERSED: pin 1 is pin 30 and pin 30 is pin 2, so, don't look at numbers on connector.

The remote control, iTalk and other serial devices use Apple Accessory Protocol for communication with iPOD. This protocol was introduced with the 3rd generation iPods, and is also compatible with the 4th generation iPods and mini iPods. The connections uses a standard 8N1 (one startbit 8 data bits 1 Stopbit) serial protocol, 19200 baud (higher rates up to 57600 also possible, but speed faster than 38400 may cause problems with large amounts of data), delay of 12 microseconds inserted between end of the stopbit and the beginning of the next startbit (also working without this delay).
Electrical: high +3,3V low 0V
default line state: high. Codes used for communication with peripherals are here

This device may be connected to the firewire computer port by straight cable (TPB+/-, TPA +/- shoulde be twisted pairs in cable)

Pinouts.ru > MP3 players and other portable devices pinouts listing > Pinout of Apple iPod dock interface and layout of 30 pin iPOD special connector	Document status:	correct
Source(s) of this and additional information: Andreas Brendle, ipodlinux.org and other sources Contributor: updated by Andreas Brendle	4 reports
Last updated at Sun Jul 16 2006. Submit additions or corrections for this document.	Is this document correct or incorrect? What is your opinion?

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