iPod Interface Accessory Question

[pinksteady]

Hi,

I just bought a 2010 XC70 and it has a USB port in the centre storage compartment, but nothing happens when I connect my iPhone. I guess this is designed for playing MP3s off a USB stick, and that I need to get the official "USB and iPod Music Interface" (http://accessories.volvocars.com/en-...2.4D/Automatic) to get my iPhone to connect? Is that right, or should the existing USB port work with an iPhone?

Second question is whether anyone has this accessory and can confirm it works with new iPhones (e.g. iPhone 6) and charges them?

Thanks!

[raganwald]

Hi,

I just bought a 2010 XC70 and it has a USB port in the centre storage compartment, but nothing happens when I connect my iPhone. I guess this is designed for playing MP3s off a USB stick, and that I need to get the official "USB and iPod Music Interface"

I have a 2012 XC70, so things may well have changed between models. I can plug a phone into the USB port via a USB-to-lightning cable, and I can use it as an iPod. However, and forgive me if this is obvious, but I have to select “Media” and then “iPod” explicitly. Does your model also support a Bluetooth device? The next thing is that I have discovered that my Volvo does not like having the Bluetooth device also be the iPod device.

For example, if I am playing music from a modern phone via the iPod interface, it will randomly stop and give up. I have to unplug it and plug it back in. After some experimentation, I discovered that at certain times, the car tries to talk to whatever is connected via Bluetooth. If that is my phone, the phone seems to stop acting like an iPod.

The solution for me is to not use my primary phone as an iPod device. I happen to have an old (iPhone 5) phone I keep as a backup in case my regular phone needs service, so I synced it with the music I like, and turned off its Bluetooth outright (although I suspect it is enough simply not to pair with the car). It works perfectly as an iPod device.

I believe that if I wanted to, I could use my iPhone 6, but I’d have to make sure it wasn’t simultaneously connected to the car as a Bluetooth device.

Now about charging. I believe the USB outlet only puts out 1amp, so it charges an iPhone 5 ok, but will charge an iPhone 6 rather slowly, and an iPad doesn’t charge at all. I have found that if I plug my iPhone 6 into it and then run some heavy apps like navigation (which are hitting GPS and the Internet continuously), the battery will not charge, it will just maintain, and sometimes drain slowly (although much slower than running an app like Waze without a charger at all).

For pure music, it is fine. But if you want to use your phone for navigation, I suggest you need to charge off the 12V port, and you need an adaptor that puts out 2 amps. I believe the USB port is limited to 1 amp, which makes it compatible with older devices that were not very smart about chargers, but it’s terrible with heavy app use or with an iPad.

Finally, the interface you mention is something that lives in the glove compartment. I believe it replicates the behaviour of the USB port in the console.